Speech #570064638

Now. Mr. Chairman. as to which of these immigrants are best for our country is a question about which we can have no doubt here. We know that when the German. the Scotchman. the Irishman. the Englishman. or the Frenchman comes here he builds a home. he develops the country. he adds to our prosperity. but we know that when the Slovak or the Pole or the Italian from Southern Italy comes here he stays in the larger cities. He does not build a home and he does not develop our country. He is difficult of assimilation. I have some figures here showing the amounts of money that each of these classes of immigrants brought here in the year 1900. as showing the different kinds of immigrants coming to the country. I find that the average Scotchman immigrating to this country in that year had $41. the Englishman had $38. the Frenchman. $37. the German. $28. and so on. But the average Slovak who came into this country that year had $11. the Pole had $9. the Italian from southern Europe had $8. That shows the distinction in the classes coming in that year. But the question then is whether an educational test will in any way affect this question. You say. if this class of immigrants are undesirable. why should you apply the educational test to keep them out. You may say that education is no test of intelligence. I grant it.