Speech #500117818

Leaving that subject. I will say. upon the policy of Chinese restriction. that I have always favored. since I have been in Congress for the last fifteen years. I believe. the strongest measure for the restriction of Chinese immigration to this country. and I am prepared now to sustain the strongest measures for the restriction of Chinese labor that are consistent with law and with reason. I was so inclined. not from any mere matter of prejudice. but from a feeling that the restriction of Chinese labor is necessary to preserve the rights. the prosperity. and the dignity of American labor. That is one of the reasons. Another reason which I had covers a broader and a more important field. if possible. 13y the strain which. as almost an inevitable necessity. fell upon the Constitution during the exigencies of war by the enfranchisement of some eight millions of people not heretofore enjoying the full rights of citizenship. and illy prepared to discharge the duties of citizenship. needing education and instruction to bring them up to a realization of what the rights and duties of citizens are. by the introduction into the country from Western Europe. from the Christian nations of Europe. perhaps three hundred thousand or four hundred thousand emigrants a year. which it has been the policy of this country to invite. so far as they are proper persons to be received. who. like our native element. were not informed as to the theory. the character. and genius of our Government. have to be educated into a knowledge of our republican system of dual governments. we have a strain placed upon the Constitution and character of our Government which. to say the least of it. puts in some measure of peril the preservation and the perpetuation of our constitutional form of government In the spirit in which it was made. It is a government intended for people capable of selfgovernment. intended for people whose intelligence enables them to understand the functions of government. and the duties of the officers necessary to administer that government. With our 7.000.000 or 8.000.000 blacks. or more perhaps. with the vast influx of foreign emigration. uninformed as to the nature. the genius. and the character of our Government. I was unwilling to see additional elements brought into this country. especiallya race which does notassimilate with ours in color. in character. in habits of thought. in religion. in their ideas of government. in everything that makes up a people. J mean those of them who come here. unless they shall remain hereafter for generations to be educated into a knowledge of our institutions. who are utterly disqualified to understand the nature and character of our Government and to become citizens whose authority is to aid in the making of laws and in the administration of laws.