Speech #570039624

In comparatively recent years Congress has deemed it a wise policy to discriminate and to exclude from all quarters those vicious. immoral. and undesirable elements which would not add to the wellbeing of our society. The restricted classes have been few. indeed. We have denied admission to idiots. insane persons. paupers. or persons liable to become a public charge. per sons with a loathsome or dangerous contagious disease. persons who have been convicted of a felony or other infamous crime or misdemeanor involving moral turpitude. polygamists. assisted immigrants. contract. and Chinese laborers. There were no restrictive laws prior to 1875. In that year Chinese Coolie trade was interdicted. No one who gives serious thought to the question will insist that our present immigration laws are unduly restrictive. The exclusion of the elements indicated would seem to be dictated only by a wholesome regard for our own welfare. During the last decade the total immigration to the United States was 3.615.163. During the year 1901. 487.918 were added to our population from abroad. or enough to found a city nearly two and a half times larger than the city of Indianapolis. Enough are annually coming to our shores to make a city larger than the city of Cincinnati. and nearly as large as the combined cities of San Francisco. Portland. and Seattle. At the rate of our immigration for last year there will be added to our population in six years enough to found a State as large and populous as the State of Indiana. This immigration does not include any appreciable number of Chinese. and the query naturally arises. What would be the total annual immigration with no restrictive laws safeguarding the Pacific coast against the admission of the Chinese? For the most part the immigrants who have come to us have been intelligent. welldisposed people. desirous of building homes among us. and of uniting their fortunes with ours in the fullest degree. They come mainly of their own volition. No others are desirable.