Speech #600134597

C.. -oveniber. :008. From another source. but quite as significant. are the resolutions of the legislature of the State of Virginia passed last winter unanimously by both houses: Resolred by the senute of Virginia (the house of delegates concurring). That our Representatives in both Ilouses of Congress be. and they are hereby. requested to oppose in every possible manner the influx into Virginia of immigrants from southern Europe. with their Mafia and Black Hand murder societies. and with no characteristics to make them with us a homogeneous people. believing as we do that upon AngloSaxon supremacy depends the future welfare and prosperity of this Commonwealth. and we view with alarm any effort that may tend to corrupt its citizenship. I might also cite the message of President Roosevelt to Congress in December. 1905. a short time before this commission was created. in which he says: The question of immigration is of vital interest to this country. In the year ending lune 30. 1905. there came to the United States 1.026.000 alien immigrants. Moreover. a considerable proportion of it probably a very large prolortion. Including most of the undesirable class. does not come here of its own initiative. but because of the activities of agents of transportation companies. These agents are distributed throughout Europe. and by offer of all kinds of inducements they wheedle and cajole many immigrants. often against their own interests. to come here. The most serious obstacle we have to encounter in the effort to secure proper regulation of immigration to these shores. arises from the detrimental opposition of foreign steamship lines. who have no interest whatever in the matter. save to increase the returns on their capital by carrying masses of immigration hither in the steerage of their ships. As bearing out the statement of the President. as to the agencies responsible for the existing conditions. we might mention an extract from the report of the commissionergeneral for 1907. where he says: Another years experience but emphasizes and confirms the conviction that a considerable part of the large immigration of the past few years is forced er artificial. Two separate and distinct factors are from interested motives responsible for such of the immigration as is not natural : first. the violators and evaders of the contract labor feature of the law. and. second. the steamship runners and agencies. And speaking of the influence toward immigration of letters from previous immigrants in this country he says: The worst of it is that there are evidences that this endless chainletter scheme Is seized upon by the promoters and money lenders to further their interests. and no opportunity lost to encourage botl] the writing and extensive dissemination of such missives. When this is done the line is passed between natural and forced immigration. and the machinations of the promoter and usurer become a menace to the aliens directly. and to the welfare of this country incidentally. This steamship activity. of course. has been made possible by the changed character of steamship construction. the recent building of fleet steel ocean liners. and has brought about. owing to our feeble laws and their lax administration. a startling change in the character of our immigration. One of the most noticeable effects has been the shifting of its source from the kindred peoples of northwest Europe to the alien brownish races of southeast Europe. That the profitmakiug choice by these foreign steamship lines and the connivance of certain European governments are not giving us the best. even of these peoples. but much of their poorest. are matters of repeated official record.