Speech #570068641

I do not think the Canadian lines should be exempt from laws and rules which other lines in any other part of the United States are forced to obey. It is an insult to the intelligence of every member in this House to have any other rule obtain. I for one will not sanction putting into effect any immigration laws at all that do not apply with equal force to all parts of the United States and to every port in the United States. I can not understand how my friends the members from the New England States are so sensitive about this Canadian frontier business and the head tax. in view of the fact they voted unaldi mously for the educationaltest amendment. which. by the way. does not eve i except citizens of Canada. Every citizen of Canada who comes over here -will have to observe this law if it becomes a law. and it must become operative if it passes. and these citizens of Canada will have to go into the Government officials office and show their ability to read or go back home. I wish the gentlemen would explain their position in this matter. I should like to have them explain for the information of this House and the country at large how they voted for the educational test and. on the othe:r hand. are so anxious that the railroad companies of Canada shall not be responsible for the head tax and that there shall be no designated ports of entry on the frontier. The explanation would be undoubtedly entertaining if not instructive. One New England gentleman said on the floor during this debate. and it is a matter of record: I have been a collector of customs along the frontier for some years and had something to do with these matters. NobodySaid lie. referring to the head taxever thinks of collecting the dollar. Now. this gentleman was once. the record shows. governor of Maine. He is a gentleman of mature years. evidently an honest man. and certainly a man of intelligence. yet he did not know it was his duty. under the law. to attend to this business. and he says: Nobody ever thinks of collecting the dollar. Citizens living along the Canadian frontier never think of abiding by the contractlabor laws or the immigration laws. in fact these laws are a dead letter in that section. They have allowed each year over 70.000 aliens to come into the United States illegally for years past. and the only evidence we have. Mr. Chairman. that there has been any "thinking " going on about this immigration business is what has been manifested on the floor of this House since this bill has been under discussion. in the effort on the part of quite a number of these gentlemen to prevent the Committee on Immigration and Naturalization. with the sanction of the House. to place the Canadian frontier on an exact parity in the enforcement of the immigration laws with the rest of the United States. Obstacle after obstacle has been presented. suggestion after suggestion has been made. query after query has been propounded. and some of our members have been in a state of almost nervous collapse for fear there might be something in the bill that would. close the Canadian frontier against the entrance of objectionable and unobjectionable immigrants. and that laws would be enacted and enforced and applied the same exactly as to the Canadian frontier as obtain at all other points of the United States. Now. Mr. Chairman. let me say in conclusion that the Secretary of the Treasury has full authority by a proision of this billthe last part of section 1to arrange with the steamship and railway lines for a satisfactory method of payment of the head tax. He is also authorized in the last part of this bill to prescribe rules for the entry and inspection of aliens entering at our borders in such a way as not to delay. impede. or annoy passengers in ordinary travel between the United States and other countries. and it gives him power to enter into contracts with foreign transportation lines for the same purpose. So it will be seen that there need beno apprehension. that this act in anyway will prove a hardship to anyone in any direction.