The first section of each bill prescribes the classes which shall not be admitted. and they aim to cover the same classes. but the language of the bill under consideration. I think. is involved and more difficult of comprehension than the other. Now. one objection I have to this bill under consideration is that it provides for inspection of immigrants only at seaports. where they may reach our shores by water conveyance. I think that is a great defect in the bill. The bill I offered. on the contrary. or will offer. provides for an inspection not only at the ports where ships enter. but all along the Canadian border. British Columbia. and Mexico. and. in order that no inconvenience may result to the traveling public from this extended inspection. you will find a proviso requiring the Secretary of the Treasury to make and euf6rce suchrules and regulations as will not obstruct. or materially obstruct. or delay the ordinary transit and passage of people across these borders. You will at once see that it is almost impossible to provide by legislation any ironclad rules by which inspection can be enforced along these borders without creating very much inconvenience. So it was deemed by the Judiciary Committee much better to invest the Secretary with that authority. so that he could make rules of a flexible character. that would nevertheless answer the purpose of excluding objectionable persons and persons whoare characterizedas unfit or improper to be admitted as immigrants. while at the same time not to interfere with or delay intercourse between this and the other countries. That is one of the objections. I think. to the committee bill. the bill under consideration.
Keywords matched
immigrants