Speech #540121945

The report of the committee of conference proceeds: Strike out present sections 4. 5. and 6 and insert as follows: "SEo. 4. That it shall hereafter be unlawful for any male alien who has not in good faith made his declaration before the proper court of his intention to become a citizen of the United States" Here the conferees. after the House and Senate had agreed upon a bill to admit alien immigrants coming in under the provisions of the illiteracy test. have added thereto that such alien must first declareHis intention to become a citizen of the United States. to be employed on any public works of the United States. or to come regularly or habitually into the United States by land or water for the purpose of engaging in any mechanical trade or manual labor. for wages or salary. returning from time to time to a foreign country. Requiring in this new section that the "regularly and habitually" coming to the United States shall be determined by the courts as to what constitutes "regularly and habitually coming into the United States by land or water." In other words. it provides against what is known as Ibirds of passage" in the character of immigrants. Neither the Senate nor the House of Representatives had ever passed such a feature of this section. it had never been presented before the Senate or the House. and its presence here is due entirely to the report of the committee of conference. Section 9 has been changed also by the committee of conference from that section of the House bill providing for violations of the act. and words have been inserted and clauses have been inserted in the sectionwhich were not in the section as contemplated by the Senate and by the House of Representatives.