Speech #610068255

I have wondered how long it requires a pauper from Armenia. from Syria. or from Hindustan to become an American laborer after landing upon our shores. I have also wondered. and I have hoped that some Senator on the other side would answer the question. Why it is that an Asiatic or a European pauper when he sets foot upon this land of the free requires protection against the pauper brother. the pauper father. and the pauper son that he left behind him across the sea? Why is it that we should tax the farmers of Kansas. Iowa. and Oklahoma to pension the paupers imported from the four quarters of the earth? Mr. President. in Massachusetts. one of the States most desirous of protection. 43 per cent of her population by the census of 1900 were foreign born. and in the State of Rhode Island. which has the honor to be represented by the chairman of the Finance Committee. I might say by the entire United States Senate 45 per cent of the population is foreign born. according to the census of 1900. The streets of their cities are vocal with all the tongues that babbled around the ruins of Babel. If that Senator desires to protect American labor against the pauper labor of other countries. I askhim to allow this amendment to be adopted and afford effectual protection to the laborers of the United States. The refusal or the failure to do so unmasks the hypocrisy of the whole scheme of tariff protection in the name of the American laborer.