Speaker. I would like to call attention to the debt of gratitude which this nation owes. and which it seems to me at this time we might appropriately recognize. to our -foreignborn citizens. Although the statistics show that only 15 per cent of our population is foreign born. the Secretary of War reports that today over 25 per cent of our Army are of foreign birth. and the Secretary of the Navy reports that in our Navy of the petty officers over 52 per cent are of foreign birth. and of the enlisted seamen over 42 per cent are of foreign birth. Of those who were destroyed in the Maine258104 were of foreign birth. The statistics also show that among our citizens the smallest percentage of illiteracy is among the children of parents of foreign birth. and so at this time. when weare entering upon a foreign war. these facts are brought distinctly before us. that our foreignborn citizens avail themselves most largely of the privileges of our educational institutions and in the largest proportion enter the service of the Army and Navy in defense of our national honor.
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