Speech #590063270

The gentleman from Kentucky undertook to print in his speechbut was careful not to deliver it on the floor of this House. but simply to print It In hls speecha remark which properly interpreted would mean that I was willing that all foreigners. whether idiotic or not. should be generally admitted. I want to say to the gentleman from Kentucky that In no remark uttered on this floor did I undertake to say that I was willing that any mentally unsound Immigrants should come here. Mr. Speaker. the gentleman from Kentucky Is to be pardoned for failing to properly understanding the immigration question. He represents a district containing. I believe. some seventeen counties. and which. according to the last census. has within it only 396 foreign born. Ilow. sir. can he properly comprehend the many questions involved in the immigration question or the conditions produced because of immigration in the localities in which the immigrants may settle? In the district represented by the gentleman from Kentucky there was. according to the last census. 17.5 per cent of illiteracy. although the gentleman from Kentucky was school commissioner and had the education of the youth in charge.