Brazil. and the Argentine Republic at the expense of the United States. You will find that you have killed the hen that lays the golden eggs. and that if our present prosperity is allowed to continue under Democratic rule. scarcity of labor will soon be the standing complaint of American industries. You will find that In enacting this bill you are listening to the voice of prejudice and ignorance rather than that of wisdom. to the braying of the jackass rather than to the voice of reason and intellect. and I can foresee the time when you will be willing not only to again open wide the doors of the Republic. but to offer premiuns to immigrants whose coming you now regard as a hostile invasion. but then I am afraid it will be too late.0 By our unfriendly attitude we have already scared off the bestthe Germans. the Irish. the Scandinaviansand with this new piece of legislation we will divert from us the balance of them. I realize that those of us who have more closely studied the problem of immigration. and therefore more fully appreciate the monumental folly of this Knownothing legislation. could preach until doomsday and yet could not make a dent on the prejudice which is responsible for it. It requires. like in the case of tariff legislation. the lessons of practical experience to change the peoples minds. Indeed. it seems to be a human trait to exhaust every folly to its utmost extremity before reason will be given its way. This is true with respect to the war preparations of the nations at the time when the great masses of all of them are entirely willing to dwell in peace and harmony and settle their differences peacefully. It is true in regard to the prohibition movement. which foolishly contemplates the changing of innocent individual habits by law rather than by moral suasion. and it seems to be true in the matter of regulating the immigration problem. which you now propose to solve by simply stopping the influx of foreigners. totally ignoring the fact that you will thereby create a new problem much more serious than the one you are trying to solve. We shall see who is right.
Identified stereotypes
Immigrants are described as a 'hostile invasion'.