Speech #600013638

Mr. President. I have not changed in views about innigration. because I wish the immigrants when they arriv6here to be properly treated. I do not suppose for one moment that we are going to add to the immigration because it is known that for the twentyfour or fortyeight hours that the mass of them are detained at the port of entry they are treated like human beings and not like cattle. I do not think that will have any effect one way or the other on the tide of immigration. which is moved by causes more potent than the condition of the station at which they are received. I have been in favor of putting a suitable station wherever there would arrive any considerable number of immigrants. I voted last year for stations at Charleston. Galveston. and New Orleans. Perhaps Senators are not aware how trifling the immigration is at most of those points. and that for a large part of the year the stations are but little used. I think the immigration at New Orleans was something like 4.000. and the iumigration at Galveston (I am speaking from memory of six months ago) was something like 6.000 for the previous year. The immigration at Philadelphia was 55.000. and immigrants are arriving there every week. The immigration at Boston reaches 70.000. Sometimes a couple thousand have arrived in a day. There are thousands of innnigrants a week who come in at that port. The immigration at New York is over 1.000.000. We have to proportion our stations to the needs of the ports.