Speech #540118197

Mr. Speaker. I have objections to this bill. and my principal JAuuArY 27. objection is -that it is not drastic enough to suit me. the bill does not go far enough in the way of radical legislation for the restriction of immigration such as the country demands. The door is still open for the admission of Mormons. communists. nihilists. anarchists. bombthrowers. and criminals who can read and write. I have no doubt. however. but what the bill will exclude a very large and undesirable class of immigrants that are now being emptied on these shores. My State is being overrun by a very undesirable class of immigrants from southeri Europe. whose wants and necessities are much less than those of the laboring people of Massachusetts. The labor market of my State is being glutted. and thousands of honest workmen are out of work in consequence. and the cry is loud and long and imperative for legislation on this subject. The laboring people of this country. especially in the great cities of the country. are being driven to the wall. I am in favor of the Republican principle of protection for the American manufacturer and the American laborer as well. Much has been said on this floor during this debate about the development which has come to oul country from foreign immigration. I grant the truth of that claim. but I call the attention of this House and the country to the fact that the class of immigrants which formerly came here and developed not only the Eastern but the great Middle and Western States were of an entirely different class from those that are now being emptied on these shores. Mr. Speaker. where did they come from? They came from England. from Ireland. from Scotland. from Wales. from Germany. from Norway. and from Sweden. They brought with them a standard of civilization kifn t6 our own. they came desiring to become American citizens. Where is the great tide of immigration coming from now? From southern Europe. from Russia. from Italy. and from Greece. Entirely a different class of immigrants. with a civilization. with wants and necessities. far below the American standard. And the purpose of this bill is to exclude that undesirable immigration. The gentleman from Louisiana read the FreeSoil platform. adopted in 1856. He read the clause to the effect that this country welcomed foreign immigration. that this country was "an asylum for the downtrodden and oppressed of every land." I believe that phraseology might be changed today. and might be amended. so as to declare that this country was the dumping ground for the offscourings of all Gods creation. It was well said at the other end of this Capitol building that som of the immigrants that were coming here now brought with them little else than an alimentary canal and an appetite. The gentleman from Missouri . chairman of the House Committee on Immigration. quoted Scripture to sustain his opposition to this conference report. about our duties toward "the stranger that is within our gates." about our duties toward "the widow and the fatherless." I admit. Mr. Speaker. that we have some duties toward that class. but I would like to read tp the gentleman from Missouri from the Apostle Paul.