Speech #530133884

Mr. President. whenthe first French Canadian migrations commenced into New Hampshire. Vermont. and Massachusetts.there was some prejudice against that migration because the immigrants were in the habit of coming only fora little while. They would come to work for the summer. would go back in the winter. they did not take root in our soil. and there was some prejudice against that kind of migration. But of recent years large numbers of French Canadians have come. and they have come to stay. They have acquired habitations. Not merely have laboring men come. but there have come their religious teachers. there have come cultivated men. educated men. and now. among someof the most intelligent and eloquent orators in New England. are those who have come from Canada to make their permanent residence in New England. I can confirm. from my own observation. everything which has been said here today in commendation of the French immigrants as a whole. They are industrious. they are economical. they are well behaved. they are patriotic. and I do not agree with the Senator from Maine that a majority of them belong to the party to which he said the Senator from South Dakota belonged. meaning the Democratic party. I believe. now that there have come tobe so many French Canadians in Now England. they have studied our institutions and studied our economic questions. they t4ave studied the tariff. they have mingled. in our politics. they have held office to some extent. and beyond all doubt the tendency of the mind of these people is in the direction of joining the Republican party.