Speech #570065299

Mr. Chairman. in addition to the reasons which I gave yesterday to show that this amendment should not be adoptedthat it would tend to exclude a desirable class of immigrants. men who would do the drudgery that this country requires and which possibly the American laborer refuses to performin addition to that reason as showing that it would be unwise and impolitic to adopt the amendment. I wish to state this additional reason: That it will not only exclude people who can not read or write. but will have the effect of frightening away from our shores the desirable class of immigration described by my friend from Alabama . He admits that under his amendment it will be necessary that the test be applied on the American shore. Now. if this threat be held out to the German immigrants (to whom it seems bouquets have been thrown by various speakers). I predict that very few Germans. unless they are professors or scientific men. will be willing to undergo an examination on this side of the Atlantic upon a technical document like the Constitution. whether it is to be read in one language or another. Such peoplepeople who come over here to earn an honest living and who are conceded to be a desirable addition to our citizenshipwill ponder a long time before they will make a Long journey across the ocean in order to submit themselves to an examination by some "smart Aleck" of an inspector who may refuse them admission because they have not read with the proper emphasis or with the proper observance of punctuation a technical document like the Constitution of the United States. I warn gentlemen on the other side of the House as well as on this that if they are going to insert any drastic restrictions like this in the present bill. they may just as well put in the bill the declaration "We do not want any immigration of any class." I agree perfectly with the ruling of the Chair. I have no complaint to make on that score. But I hope that unless this amendment be properly amendedand I do not see how it can be amended. because I believe the nature of the provision is such as to place it beyond the power of surgeryit may be voted down. because when you make that kind of a threat and say that people before they can emigrate to this country must submit to a kind of teachers examination upon the shores of the United States. you will have very few to emigrate to this country. and we shall see the stream of hardy immigrants who have been coming to our shores for all these years turned toward South America br some other country where they will not be pestered with such drastic restrictions as these.