Speech #540081414

Mr. Speaker. in these closing years of the nineteenth century we are witnessing an influx of peoples. nations. and tongues such as the world never saw. Fully half a million of immigrants. enough to people a large city. are yearly coming to these shores. Wise. thoughtful. and patriotic men are justly alarmed at this wholesale immigration. which many believe to be a menace to our free Government and free institutions It is important to notice that the voice of the people has found expression not only on the rostrum. in the pulpit. and in the press. but political conventions as well in many parts of the country have repeatedly memorialized Congress upon this important subject. Mr. Speaker. it is not words that the country wants upon the subject now under consideration. but it is action. I believe there is a loud. long. earnest. importunate demand throughout the country for radical legislation for the restriction of immigration. The substitute now under consideration for the bill . known by the name of my honored colleague. Representative MCCALL of Massachusetts. was introduced early in this session by Congressman MCCALL of Massachusetts and by myself December 6. 1895H. R. 168. It originated with the Massachusetts Immigration Restriction League. and at their request we both introduced it. The bill is the result of much careful and thoughtful consideration which that society has given the subject. after exhaustive examination and extensive correspondence. and was thought by the officers of that society to be the most feasible and practical method. and one that was likely to succeed if it should reach coiisideration in the House. One has only to examine the statistics of the class of immigrants that are now coming to these shoresenough to create a large and firstclass city every yearto be convinced of the necessity of the pending legislation. The Fourth of July orators in my boyhood used to declaim about this glorious land of liberty and asylum for the downtrodden and oppressed of every land. but in these later years it has come to be the dumping ground for the scum of all Gods creation. I submit. Mr. Slieaker. that we have as many Mormons. communists. anarchists. nihilists. bomb throwers. paupers. idiots. lunatics. criminals. and illiterates as we can digest at present. and it is believed that the educational qualifications. as contemplated in what is known as the LodgeMcCall bill. added to the existing restrictions. if rigidly enforced. would exclude a large number of these undesirable immigrants. There are grave reasons why this legislation for the further restriction of immigration should be had. A fountain will not rise higher than its source. and under our free republican form of government the citizen is the ruler. and upon the character of the citizen depends the character and stability of the government. and surely it is a question deserving the serious attention of the patriot. philanthropist. and statesman as to how much further our country can go in incorporating into its body politic the ignorant. criminal. dangerous. and hostile elements that are now being emptied upon these shores. All history confirms the lesson that our form of government can not continue to exist except upon the basis of the education and intelligence of the people.