Speech #540129863

And now. Mr. President. we recur to what is supposed to be the true inwardness of this measure. the "educational test." Here it 1.934 is. the test agreed upon by the Boston AntiImmigration League. agreed upon by the Senate committee. and passed by the Senate: Strike out the present section 2 and insert a new section as follows: "SEc. 2. For the purpose of testing the ability of the immigrant to read and write. as required by the foregoing section. the inspection officers shall be furnished with copies of the Constitution of the United States. printed on numbered uniform pasteboard slips. each containing not less than twenty nor more than twentyfive words of said Constitution printed in the various languages of the immigrants in double small pica type. These slips shall be kept in boxes made for that purpose and so constructed as to conceal the slips from view. each box to contain slips of but one language. and the immigrant may designate the language in which he prefers the test shallbe made. Each immigrant shall be required to draw one of said slips from the box and read. and afterwards write out. in full view of the immigration officers. the words printed thereon. Each slip shall be returned to the box immediately after the test is finished. and the contents of the box shall be shaken up by an inspection officer before another drawing is made. No immigrant failing to read and write out the slip thus drawn by him shall be admitted. but he shall be returned to the country from which he came at the expense of the steamship or railroad company which brought him. as now.provided by law. The inspection officers shall keep in each box at all times a full number of said printed pasteboard slips. and in the case of each excluded immigrant shall keep a certified memorandum of the number of the slip which the said immigrant failed to read or copy out in writing." No immigrant failing in the slightest degree to comply herewith shall be admitted. To be absolutely certain of the faithful carrying out of these important provisions. "the inspection officers shall keep in each box at all times a full number of said slips." etc. And yet. Mr. President. after all this thought and time and care of the Boston AntiImmigration League in formulating an "educational test." which shall turn back this monstrous. overwhelming tide of immigration from our shores. and one which has received the merit of his approval by the Senator from Massachusetts. as measuring fully up to his idea of all that is required in the way of "restricting" immigration. a subject which he says he has devoted ten of the best years of his life to the consideration of. this test is nothing. It has tumbled like a house of cards in the light of what the "conference committee" has added to this flawless production: If in any case from any unavoidable cause. the foregoing slips are not at hand for use. the "inspection officers" shall carefully and thoroughly test the ability of the immigrant to read and write. using the most appropriate and available means at their command. and shall state fully in writing the reasons why the slips are lacking. and describe the substitute method adopted for testing the ability of the immigrant. What a fall is here. Mr. President! What a "come down" from this highflown. stilted emanation. that was to bring dismay to the luckless alien who dared to come to our shores. other than as the anointed child of education might come! The real test of illiteracy is abandoned to innocuous desuetude. and the "inspection officers" are left to their will and convenience to test the capacity and ability of the immigrant to read and write. "using the most appropriate means at their command!" These available means at their command may most likely be a blackboard and a piece of chalk! What a slender test. therefore. Mr. President. do we discover this "reading and writing" test to be. upon which to reverse our nations proud traditions! "Parturiunt montes. nascetur ridiculus mus!" Mr. Carnegie. in his Triumphant Democracy. says: Were the owners of every gold and silver mine in the world compened to send to the Treasury at Washington. at their own expense. every ounce of the precious metals produced. the national wealth would not be enhanced onehalf as much as it is from the golden stream which flowsinto the country every year through immigration. America is only a favored land for the most efficient. drones have no place in her hive. but in whatever the immigrant may fail. whether in securing wealth or home. whether he remain poor or lose health. whether his lot be happy or miserable. there remains one great prize which can not escape himone blessing so bright. so beneficent as to shed upon the darkest career the glory of its entrancing rays and compensate for the absence of material good. The Republic may not give wealth or happiness. she has not promised these. It is the freedom to pursue these. not their realization. which the Declaration of Independence claims. but if she does not make the immigrant happy or prosperous. this she can do and does do for every oneshe makes him a citizena man! The Senator from Massachusetts has inveighed against the evils resulting from immigration. because. as he insists. immigration to these shores by aliens is to take away from the labor of this county what the labor of this country is justly entitled to as the reward of that labor. To that statement I reply that.today the State of Massachusetts. which has profited more by immigration than any State in the Union. and for its area is the most thickly settled of any of the United States except Rhode Island. pays a higher rate of wages than ever was paid before. in the face of the immigration of which the Senator complains. and the hours of labor are shorter than they ever were before in the history of that State. The best proof that unrestricted immigration does not tend to reduce wages is the fact that at the present day. after all these years of unrestricted immigration. the wages of the workingman in this country are higher and the hours of daily labor shorter than ever before. It needs only a superficial acquaintance with the nature of wages to show that they do not decrease as population increases. England has a greater number of inhabitants per square mile than Germany. and yet wages are higher in England than in Germany. and the same relation again exists between Germany and Russia.