Speech #620138198

I do not see any other way. I do not see any other practical test whereby to eliminate the comparatively unfit from the comparatively fit. I acknowledge that a literacy test does not mathematically and altogether demark the unfit from the fit. but I do say that it is the nearest approximation to an accu.rate line of demarcation that you can prescribe and write in words and letters into a statute that men may be comprehendingly guided by. If I had any way of determining how much better one man was than another. how much more nearly honest one man was than another. how much truer and more loyal to principle one maim was than another. how much more unselfish one man was than another. how much more courageous one man was than anotherif I had any way of ascertaining all that. I should gladly write it into a statute and let the literacy and all other tests go to the winds. 9 But what foolishness it is to talk to lawmakers about writing a character test in words and letters into a statute.