Speech #570092825

Mr. President. in regard to the last point raised by the Senator from Ohio and the Senator from New Hampshire . I will say that this bill of course is intended to affect only immigrants. and it seems to me that in order to make it clear beyond a doubt it is better to use that word. The immigrant whom we desire to reach is the man who comes with the intention of remaining. We are not seeking to hamper tourists. but we seek to reach the immigrant class. and I think it would be just as well. in fact. I think it would be better. to use that word. Now. Mr. President. as to the head tax. The committee were satisfied last spring that the present head tax. although it has hitherto proved sufficient. would very soon prove insufficient. and that it was necessary to have an increase of that tax. and their opinion has been justified by the course of events. The State of New York has refused very recently to take any more diseased immigrants into its hospitals. So many have come that it has become an immediate necessity of the G overnment to have proper hospital accommodation at the port of New York. That alone adds heavily to the necessary expenditures of the immigration department. In the second place. it is absolutely necessary to increase the force along the border. That is in the interest of the transportation companies quite as much as it is in the interest of the immigrants and of the Government. At this moment and for months passed diseased immigrants. persons afflicted with loathsome and contagious diseases. insane persons. idiots. epileptics. who. under the laws. have been rejected at our ports on those grounds. have gone around through Canada and come into the United States in that way. owing to the absence of proper inspection at the border. I am quite as much interested in the welfare of the transportation companies of New England as is the Senator from New Hampshire. as he well knows. but I do not believe it is for the welfare of those companies or for the welfare of the people of New England or of the United States that immigrants afflicted with contagious and loathsome diseases. who have been rejected at the port of New York. should be brought around into this country over the Mexican or Canadian border. We were told this very morning by the Commissioner of Immigration that immigrants now come over the Mexican border because we have been absolutely unable to place inspectors there. and if we can hive a proper amount of money we can furnish a suitable inspection. which will be in the interest of all concerned. The CommissionerGeneral of Immigration. Mr. Sargent. and the inspector at the port of New York both testified before the committee this morning in the strongest terms that it was absolutely necessary that they should have more money from the head tax. that they had to supply not only the needs of the present. but had to have an eye to the future. that a very small decline in immigration at the present rate Would produce a deficit. Hitherto there has been a surplus. Mir. President. it has been the uniform policy of the United States to make the immigrants pay this small tax in order to meet the expenses which their own coming causes. The transportation companies and the steamship companies do not pay this out of their own pockets. They are admirable enterprises. but they are not philanthropic enterprises. They get back every cent of this tax out of their charge to the passenger. It all comes. ultimately. out of the immigrant. It is a very small tax. indeed. If we do not raise the money from the immigrants who come into the country. we shall have to tax the American people for it. It has been the policy of the Government to make the immigrants pay their own expenses. and I think it is a just policy. We have this very year to spend in the neighborhood of a million dollars to supply proper buildings for the immigrant service at the ports of New York and Boston alone. owing to the great increase in the coming of immigrants. We are giving to those people the greatest privileges in the world in admitting them to this country and to the opportunities of American citizenship. and it seems to me it is only just that they and not the people of the United States should be taxed to meet those expenses. But to enforce the existing law. whether or not we pass a line of additional legislation. you must increase your head tax or tax the people of the United States. It seems to me only proper in this matter to be guided by the distinct declaration of the CommissionerGeneral of Immigration and the commissioner at the port of New York that they must have more money if they are to meet these expenses properly. and that the increase of diseased immigrants requires absolutely large additional expenditures at the port of New York for hospital service alone. Mr. President. I can only rely on those gentlemen who are charged with this duty. I believe they are conscientious. careful men. and when they state to the committee that they regard it as of the utmost importance that there should be this slight increasethat is. not slight in increase. but the total amount is slightI think it will be completely justified by the facts. I think we ought to give to the immigration service this increased amount of money. We must raise it in one way or the other. and I think it is only justice to impose it upon the immigrants themselves. Now a word as to the transportation companies over the border. to which the Senator from New Hampshire has alluded.