Speech #590120394

Mr. Chairman. the opposition to the immigrant has its foundation in racial conceit and prejudice. the psychology of which is found in loyalty to racial tradition and in that peculiar instinctiveegotism that deludes the possessor with the obsession that he is better than his fellowman. It does not seek its justification in the demonstration of facts. but in the viciously silly attacks of mental dyspeptics who muck rake nations and races of whose past contributions to the sum of human knowledge and culture they know little. of their present less. and of the people themselves nothing. This unjust villification is the result of impressions created and conclusions arrived at by the study of the foreignborn from a mental view point akin to that of a curious visitor at a menagerie. And the worthy American citizen of foreign birth or parentage. whose renationalization is recent. suffers the humiliation of having the entire race of which he is an offspring judged by and slandered to the low level of certain of its typestypes inherent in all races of mankind. Thus a few are studied and a race condemned. In my opinion. the belief in and advocacy of the policy of further restricting immigration is based on the theory. or rather prophecy. of a resultant future evil conjured up by the magic of imagination. the overstudy of statistics. and their misleading application to a condition with the purpose of exaggerating it into a problem. Mr. Chairman. there never has been. nor is there now. any white immigration problem. and to assert the contrary is to prostitute the teachings of our past history and disregard the logic of the unexampled progress of these United States. Now. I do not deny the right nor do I question the policy. of our Government to keep out the unworthy and really objectionable immigrant. but. sir. that policy is already in force. and I contend that fnther restriction is unwarranted in the light of our past experience. unwise in view of our present freedom from any tangible immigration evil. and demoralizing in its future effects upon the proper development of this country. Briefly summed up. it is charged that immigration promotes pauperism. crime. anarchy. labor riots. competition of cheap labor. and the consequent lowering of our standard of living and wages. race pollution. and political degeneracy. And because an intelligent and unbiased study of the immigrants past and present abode in our midst and his effect on the racial. political. and industrial condition of this country is a complete and unanswerable refutation of these charges. it is asserted. and with a logic worthy a disciple of a certain mental healing sect. that the immigration of today and that of the past are *two entirely different problems. that certain civilized races of certain sections of Europe are ofa better grade thanthose of other parts. Oh. not because these selfappointed judges and critics of European nations have such a high regard for some of the peoples whose virtues they extol. but because it serves the purpose of specious argument. Mr. Chairman. the proposition that the immigrant is a contributing agent to the crime and poverty in our midst in an extraordinary degree is hardly borne out by the fact that poverty and crime are the result. broadly speaking. of a physical and mental condition of the individual. a condition that is not Influenced by racial heredity or decided by the place of birth. I believe that the danger to our institutions through certain immigrants alleged propagation of the doctrine of resistcnce to lawful authority is greatly exaggerated. if not altogether unfounded. That liberty is mistaken for license is true. but not so much on the part of those to whom the heritage of life brings toil instead of easethe poor immigrant. the toiler who is content with a modest and decent livingbut on the part of those whose inhuman greed is in stupendous contrast to human needs and sane desires. The high priests of Paganism. whose contempt for and evasion of the law of the land and absolute disregard of the moral code of enlightenedcivilization burlesques human rights. makes our laws a meaningless babble of words. casts a doubt upon the virtue of honesty itself. and resolves our cherished ideals into naught but a grotesque figment of a vanished national dream. And so long as the qualities of heart and mind shall be subordinated to the spirit of this degenerate commercialism. so long as the acme of our nations desire shall be the acquisition of wealth. so long as captains of industry. apostles of dishonesty. shall be held up as sinning examples for the youth of the land to emulate. so long will the destiny worthy of our institutions. of our possibilities. of our nation. be retarded. And when it is urged that immigration influences and the foreignborn citizen tend to lower the high character of our citizenship I can not but think that the inspiration so to do is not lacking. that it is found in the shameful story chronicled in the press. the verdict of the courts of yesterday. of today. of a high trust outraged. an exalted office debauched. And need I say that this condition is not the result of or due to any of the alleged evils of immigration? And. again. consider. sir. the spectacle of a certain class of our countrymen who denounce and despise the imlnigrant. boast of their ancestry as if it was in itself the crowning glory of. their Americanism. and yet who fawn like puppies at the feet of some titled and monocled ass. Oh. what a pitiful exhibitilon of retrogression to ideals from which humanity. since the awakening of mans desire -to be less and less the beast. since the dawn of civilization. made spasmodic and at times successful efforts to escapeideals that underlie the creation of the ridiculous human institution of classes in their various phases and stages of evolutionideals. sir. that are fundamentally opposed to the philosophy of our form of government. [Applause.1 Mr. Chairman. let us appreciate the fact that the Immigrant is human and entitled to our respect and considerationas su*ch. Let us realize the fact that the foreignborn citizen is not ignorant simply because he can not speak English. and that his conception of duty. life. and ideals may be as lofty as our own. and that his Americanism is none the less fervent or patriotic and selfsacrificing because of the accident of birth. for after all. Mr.