Speech #570133362

Mr. Speaker. last night. when the bill which has just been passed recodifying the immigration laws of this country was before the House for debate. it was impossible for me to secure time to state my objection to the passage of the bill. and I now desire to let the RECORD show why I believe the bill should not have been passed. We passed a bill in the House over a year ago changing the immigration laws of this country. In that bill were several paragraphs providing for an educational test for immigrants coming into the United States. There were other clauses in the bill designed to protect the American laborer against the pauper labor of Europe. That bill went to the Senate of the United States. and there. for the balance of the first session of Congress. slept in the pigeonholes of the Senate committee. Afterwards it was reported to the Senate. For weeks it was considered without the possibility of taking a vote upon it. and in the last hours of this Congress it is railroaded through the Senate and railroaded through this House without the possibility for an intelligent consideration by any member of either body of Congress. Now. I do not claim that the bill as it came to this House is a very obnoxious bill. but I do say that when we enacted this bill into law and left out all the provisions of the bill that protect the American laborer against the pauper labor of Europe we have lost our opportunity for a decade to come to do justice to the men who earn their bread by their daily toil. The House has absolutely surrendered the rights of these men. You say that you protect the American laborer by your tariff laws. You protect him against paupermade goods of Europe. and yet. by your action today you have surrendered the bill that you passed last year in his interest. and opened the sluice gates at every port in this country for the pauper labor of Europe to come in touch with him in his daily life on the American continent every day he lives. and have fixed it so that for Congresses yet to come fo relief can be granted to him. By what you have done you have pulled down the American standard of living. you have pulled down the American standard of wages. you have pulled down the home ot the American laborer. and I want my protest against such action to stand in the records of this House.