Speech #570093192

Mr. President. I am not a member of the Committee on Immigration. I did not. therefore. have the benefit of the discussions that occurred in the committee room. I do not know. therefore. what may have been in the mind of the committee except only as members of the committee have spoken here in the Senate Chamber as to what they understood the provisions of the bill to mean. But. Mr. President. it is so clear that argument is unnecessary that the bill as brought into the Senate not only restricted the immigration into this country of aliens who were seeking to come as immigrants. but it also applied to all persons not citizens of the United States who might come from any country. no matter in what character they might come. The language of the bill was that this tax of $3 a head should be levied and collected on every passenger not a citizen of the United States coming into this country. Now. it did not seem to me that we ought to impose a tax upon people who are coming into this country simply as tourists or for temporary and proper purposes. but only on immigrants. When attention was called to that provision. the members of the committee agreed that a change should be made. and when that was corrected by the insertion of the words" alien immigrant" instead of "passenger" the further question arose as to why we should exempt from the operation of the bill alien immigrants from Mexico. Canada. and Cuba. and as soon as attention was called to that it was manifest that the one change made absolutely necessary the other change. Canada.