Speech #510031381

Mo.. February 22. 1890. To the honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the United States: The "North American Turnerbund" (Gymnastic Union). an organization comprising some 40.000 citizens of this country. both native and naturalized. does hereby respectfully. but most earnestly. protest against the passage of any and all of the measures now before your honorable body designed to materially change the present national laws on immigration and naturalization. As some of the reasons (among many) for our protest we mention the following: First. These proposed measures are fraught with the same mischief and breathe the same spirit which caused the founders of this Republic to rise in rebellion against a British tyrant and to hurl at him the following indictment: "He has endeavored to prevent the population of these States: for that purpose obstructing the laws for naturalization of foreigners. refusing to pass others to encourage their migration hither. and raising the conditions of new appropriations of lands." All such legislation is therefore directly opposed to the very spirit of our institutions. and can not be defended upon any mere plea of expediency or selfinterest. Second. The industry. thrift. and honest intelligence at the immigrant has. for more than a hundred years past. been a chief factor in developing the mineral. agricultural. commercial. and industrial resources of this country and in raising it to its present proud position among the nations of the world. There is room in this broad land for many millions more of human beings. By maintaining the liberal policy of our forefathers. who extended to every newcomer the warm hand of welcome. we may and will continue to multiply our national wealth and the comforts and happiness of our people. By surrounding ourselves with a Chinese wall of intolerance we vill as surely invite stagnation and retrogression. Third. The patriotic devotion of those who have in the last century emigrated to our land and acquired a right of citizenship among us has been such as to win a proud place in its history. and not least among them are the members of our own organization. What right have we to assume that the character of those to come under a continued liberal policy of immigration will be one particle lower than of those who came before? In truth. the very proposal of these illiberal measures is an affront to the bearer of every nonEnglish name. no matter how long the line of his ancestry that helped to build up this nation! Fourth. Any material change of our present naturalization laws. looking to the discouragement of naturalization. must be regarded as uncalledfor and mischievous. Not merely should we encourage those who have cast their fortunes amnong us to soon become loyal members of our body politic. but the very existence of large bodies of unnaturalized residents would seem to cdOnstituto a menace to our institutions. Love of a free country can best be bred in men by securing to them the full and early enjoyment of its privileges and blessings. Fifth. The scheme proposed. of emigrant inquisition through our consular and governmental representatives abroad. is impracticable and unjust. It will aid the wicked merely and deter the good. No European government will assist in retaining its bad elements and in forwarding the desirable. Besides. a system of espionage like this is odious and degrading to all concerned. Sixth. Our existing laws. if rigidly and justly enforced. afford ample protection against all undesirable and criminal immigration. but no such system of laws as now proposed can be enacted without violating the fundamental principles of our national compact and darkening the brightest pages of our national history. In the sentiments of this protest the mighty host of men who sought this land for the freedom and enlightenment which it promised. we feel assured. will heartily join. They must regret. as they will resent. the apparent spirit of race prejudice and nativism which these proposed laws so liberally display. and for them all. as well as the members of our own particular organization. we do most earnestly petition you not to lend your voice and vote to their enactment.