I feel that the range which this debate has taken gives me a special justification for intervening in it. I am one of those who have been deeply affected and blessed by the liberal laws governing the admission to this country of persons not so fortunate as to haie been bor upon its soil . and therefore I feel that I ought not to let pass what has been said by the gentleman from Alabama and by the gentleman from Iowa without explaining my attitude. not indeed upon this question actually before the -louse. but on the wider question which they have broached. If I agreed with the gentleman from Alabama or the gentlenan from Iowa that the admission of immigrants to this country lessened the *proslect of employment to one of our inhabitants. if I thought it could work otherwise than to increase the prospect of employment and of larger wages for every worker among our people. I should join most heartily in every proposal for the exclusion of aliens. But. Mr. Chairman. I believe that our whole experience shows conclusively the immigrant coming here does not restrict but extends the opportunities of the native toiler. The gentleman from Alabama said that the immigrant who returned to Italy with some money in his pockets had earned the wages of which this money was the fruit by displacing some American laborer. Mr. Chairman. to some extent that is true. The immigrant laborer does indeed displace the native laborer. but how? Not by driving him from the field of employment. but by raising him on his back to a higher plane of employment. where lie gains vastly larger wages and enjoys much better conditions. Let us examine this assertion by the test of practical experience.
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