Speech #590120361

An alien who can not read has usually come from a long line of ancestry who have been in ignorance and oppression. He is not only often incapable of grasping these great problems. but he has frequently ingrained in his very bones hatred of the government which he regards as his oppressor. to be borne with because he can not help it. and he does not as a rule look upon the Government as his protector. his benefactor. and his helper. I repeat that the character of our immigration has been changed within the last twenty years. Prior to 1880 our immigrants were largely our own kinsmen across the water. those of the same blood. the Celtic and the Teutonic. who were accustomed to selfgovernment. accustomed to selfrestraint. who had not been so terribly oppressed as many of those who como here now. I insist that the proposition that this country Is an asylum to which all the oppressed from every land must have a right to come. irrespective of the effect of their coming upon us. has been largely overdone. The sole question which we ought to consider in this hour is.