We legislators are not merciless. we have the deepest sympathy for the alien who has never had the chance to learn to read. We wish him well. nevertheless. we are not sent here to legislate for him but for our own people. If an immigrant is atilicted with undeserved disease our pity goes out to him. but we think of our own people for whose health we are responsible and sadly we close the gates. Likewise if an immigrant is poor and ignorant and desires to better his condition our pity goes out to him as well and to the extreme limit of safety we welcome him. but when the poor and the ignorant come to us in such numbers that their poverty and their ignorance become a menace to the welfare of our own people. then we conceive it to be our duty to stem the tide. The hour has now arrived not to close the gates but to narrow the passage and control the flood.
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immigrant