Speech #530032646

If the Ford committee. of which the gentleman from Alabama was a member. had taken the trouble to consult the census of 1880. if they had resorted to the records. they would never in this manner have vilified the good name and fame of the immigrants into this country. What does the census show? The census shows. as far as the insane population is concerned. the following total results: Of the insane in the whole United States the native element furnishes 65.630. and the foreignborn element furnishes 26.329. Thus the percentage instead of being 75 is less than 33 per cent. It shows. furthermore. that not only is it untrue that 75 per cent of those who fill the almshouses are foreigners. but it is untrue that that is the case in any single State in the Union. and there are only three or four States in which the foreign element exceeds the nativeborn element. Concerning almshouses. this same document (and I presume it is as reliable as the report of the Ford committee) shows the total number of nativeborn inmates of almshouses as 44.106. and foreign born 22.961. and it shows in the whole United States but two States. California and New York. where the number of foreignborn people in the almshouses exceeds that of the native born. Among the provisions in this bill which show the animus of the measure and the arrogance of the class that fathers it. is the educational qualification it provides for in requiring the applicant to be able to read the Constitution of the United States. Admitting even that this qualification should be a prerequisite to citizenship. it should be enforced alike against natives as welt as against the foreign born. It ill becomes the gentleman hailing from the State of Alabama to insert in his bill such a provision. while the statistics show that in his own State the illiteracy of the nativeborn white population exceeds that of the foreignborn population in any State to a degree which is scarcely credible. Referring again to the census. it shows that in the State of Alabama. the State from which the gentleman hails. the illiteracy of the white populationnot the blacksthe illiteracy of the whit: nativeborn population is 25 pdr cent. while the illiteracy of the foreignhorn population is 7.7 per cent. It shows further. in a number of tables. that throughout the South the percentige is substantially the same. that in Arkansas. for instance. another State in which immigration is inconsiderable. the illiteracy is 25.5 per cent of the nativeborn white population and the illiteracy of the foreignbgrn is 5.6 per cent. that in Virginia. within the very shadow of this Capitol. within the reach almost of my voice. the illiteracy of the white nativeborn population is 18.5 per cent. while the illiteracy of the foreignborn element is 5.4 per cent. It shows further that in all those States that have been blessed. and I say blessed advisedly. by immigration the state of education among the people is much higher than it is in States such asthat represented by the gentleman to which there has been but little immigration. These stubborn. disagreeable figures show further that in Alabama. where the foreignborn population amounts to less than 8 per cent. the number of those persons over 10 years of age unable to read amounts to 43.5 per cent. white in Minnesota. which has over 33 per cent of foreignborn inhabitants. the percentage is 3.7. in Illinois. with onesixth foreignborn element. 4.3 per cent illiterates. in Nebraska. with about onesixth foreign born. 2.5 per cent. and in New York. with about 25 per cent of foreignborn inhabitants. the percentage is 4.2. I hope that these figures will convince my friend from Alabama that illiteracy and immigration do not go hand in hand as he seems to imagine. but that other causes exist for lack of education wherever it exists. What these causes are. at least sofar as the gentlemans home State is concerned. is again shown by these persistent figures. Alabama. with a population of 1.262.505. spends upon her schools the magnificent sum of $430.131 annually. or about 30 cents per head of the population.