Speech #530129116

President. I have no right to interfere with the passage along the public highway of those persons who may be distasteful to me. The first bill which I introduced in the Senate. on the 10th day of December. 1891. was a bill to amend our immigration and naturalization laws. so as to restrict the immigration to this country to such classes of people as we desire here. or rather to prohibit from coming here such classes as we do not desire. he classes whom we have a right not to admit are only such as by reason of differences in our grades of civilization would render our commingling together unprofitable. unpleasant. disagreeable. and finally destructive to both parties concerned. By way of carrying out that idea I propose that our consuls and our representatives in different parts of the world shall be clothed with power to issue certificates of qualification for citizenship in this country. and that with copies of our laws before them they shall not admit to the rightof certificate aly person who does not come within the provision of the law. I propose that the consul shall give them a duplicate certificate to a person who comes within the provision of our law. and that copy be retained in his office. so that when the immigrant comeb to New York or New Orleans. or wherever he proposes to land the certificate shall authorize him to land upon our shores. and the duplicate is handed to the officer. In addition to that I propose to require the oath before the consul abroad to be the immigrants first p per of naturalization in this country. so that he need not after that swear that he has absolved all allegiance to princes. poteatates and powers. etc.. and that he will support and defend the Constitution of the United States. Then I propose that he shall be followed by the eve of the law wherever he goes up and down in the United States. and that he shall neither vote nor hold office until he has been here five years. Then let him take out his second paper. just the same as he takes it out now. and from that time forward he will b a fullfledged citizen of the United States.