He comes to make his country his own. to be of his household. to add to his store of "corn and wine and oil." to defend his flag in war and to obey it in peace. But. sir. we are told that illiterateimmigrants threaten to injure the standard of our citizenship. No danger to our institutions or our citizenship has ever arisen from admitting immigrants who cannot read and write. Out of a mixture of the Puritan and Cavalier. the Huguenot and the Papist. the AngloSaxon. the Teuton. the Gael. the Scandinavian. the Slav. the Semite. and the Latin. literate and illiterate. has sprung a people marked by the strongest national characteristics. The American is a type of man as well and clearly defined as the Englishman. the German. or the Frenchman. He stands forth as the representative and composite of the best of all the races from which he springs. God has placed him in this continent to build up and maintain a "government of the people. by the people. and for the people." This great Government is the outgrowth of the labor and the v alor of countless immigrants who would be disqualified by the pending bill Sir. it does not follow that a man is a good citizen because he can read and write or a bad one because he can not. Wrhoever is vigorous in body and sound in mind. honest and industrious. is a good citizen. It has been computed that every such man is worth $900 to the nation.
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immigrants