Speech #610204009

I say that we should vote for this resolution to investigate those conditions. If onehalf be true. as I have stated. those conditions should be immediately investigatd. Whether the gentlemen who represent the great city of New York are capable of investigating the conditions or not I do not know. but I do know this. that for the last year and a half a great many complaints have come to our committee and to members of the committee individually that frauds are being perpetrated by the clerks and people that are attached to the courts of the city of New York. to the extent that people desirous and anxious to become citizens have been obliged to pay from $25 to $50 to be able to obtain naturalization papers. This is cheap and dirty graft. and we ought not permit the conditions which make this possible. and it is our duty to investigate those conditions to ascertain whether there is any truth in these reports or not. For that reason. Mr. Speaker. I am in favor of this resolution. and I believe that the conditions should be thoroughly investigated and the abuses of the naturalization laws be forever stopped. and everyone who has been guilty of any frauds In these cases should be prosecuted without delay to the full extent of the law. [Cries of "Vote!"]