Speech #570042157

So I wish merely to state the general principle which will govern my vote. I I am not indifferent and never have been and never shall be indifferent to anything which threatens the lofty quality of American citizenship. and I regard this question. as do the Senator from Nevada and other Senators who have spoken. while other considerations affect it also. as mainly a question of the quality of American citizenship. That is what warrants all our immigration laws. whether directed to immigration from Europe or immigration from Asia. It was expected by our forefathers. who laid down and declared the great doctrines which they supposed would govern the life of this country. and especially the doctrine of the absolute equality of all human beings in political rights. that the process of becoming American citizens. and therefore exercising a share jointly with others in the regal functiona function loftier than that of any emperor or king. as they regarded itof governing this country. would be a very serious thing. In the time of Washington and his immediate successors naturalizations were very rare. and when they took place the judge of the court of the United States in my part of the country. and I suppose elsewhere. used to address the new citizen with a little speech. pointing out to him the great advantage and dignity to which he had acceded. and welcoming him into the lofty brotherhood of American citizenship. and that was preceded by an inquiry. which meant business. into the character and quality of the new citizen. There was no perfunctory admission. There was no taking a thousand oaths in a thousand seconds. There was no band of political agents hurrying into citizenship men for the purposes of any party. There was no such thing as the same two witnesses swearing to the same facts about a hundred men at once. and there was no such thing. as happened in New York not many years ago. of issuing naturalization papers in blank by the court. so that the inquiry showed that the judge who held that court must. if the papers had been genuine. have naturalized 60.000 persons in a single day. That is the kind of administration which the men who made and believed in the doctrines of the Declaration of Independence. and who passed our early naturalization laws meant to have practiced. in order to insure the dignity and purity of American citizenship. . Now. I was in the other House. and later in this Chamber. when this great change of public opinion took place.