Mr. President. this measure which I propose as an amendment is to some Senators. perhaps to most of them. a startling proposition. entirely foreign or contrary to all their inherited feelings. prejudices. and sentiments. We have a large. expansive country. many hundreds of thousands of square miles which are undeveloped. lands which would afford homes for millions. yea. hundreds of millions. because our territory will in time. when it is densely populated. come to hold as many people as Europe. and the idea of excluding immigrants from coming to our shores. or of limiting immigration. is one that has always been obnoxious to the American people. and in fact it has never been broached *ith any seriousness until within the recent past. The Senate last winter. and also the House of Representatives. passed a bill restricting inmigration along the lines of intelligence. that is. forbidding immigrants to come in who could not read or write their own language or the English language. showing that they had been educated to some extent. This amendment offered by me proposes to put a value upon American citizenship. to show how much it is worth to become an American freeman.
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immigrants immigration