I would ask any gentleman here. What harm can come from the admission to citizenship of a man who has shown by five years residence in the country that he can support himself by his own labor? I am perfectly willing to withdraw opposition to this billI would be the first to encourage its passageif. instead of imposing a ridiculous linguistic qualification. it provided that no man could be naturalized who did not prove conclusively that for five years he had supported himself by honest productive industry. and that he was capable of continuing to earn his bread by his own toil. Propose an industrial qualification and no man on this floor will object to it. The country will then be entirely secure from undesirable additions to its citizenship. for it is hardly conceivable that a man who has actually lived by work for five years would be likely to seek a livelihood by less creditable means.
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naturalized