Speech #630132244

And it is most significant that one Gardner was elected governor of Massachusetts on this issue in 1854. while the presentday GARDNER was defeated last fall on this issue. The gentleman from the sixth district of Massachusetts points to the fact that fourteen hundred thousand of somebodys cousins have come here in one year. Why. the extent and the kind of immigration in his day were the causes of complaint of Gov. Gardner in his inaugural address. because. on page 978 of the "Acts and Resolves" of 1855 the governor begins his discussion of the immigration problem by referring to the immigration to this country by 10year periods. He points out the fact that from 1790 to 1800 the immigration was small. that from 1800 to 1810 it was small. that from 1810 to 1820 it was small. but he points to the fact. appalling to him. that from 1840 to 1850 it was 1.542.850. The reason for that high tide of immigration is clear to anybody who will stop to reflect upon conditions. I do not know just how much of that immigration was from Ireland. but I know that the largest part of it was from the Emerald Isle. because of the conditions in that faminestricken country in that period from 1840 to 1847. when thousands of Irish mothers and Irish fathers fled to the Old Bay State. the refuge and the asylum that was held out to them from across the seas. The gentleman from Alabama . the chairman of the committee. and the gentleman from Massachusetts bewail the fact that today the Irish do not come. These gentlemen and others like them have a bitter complaint because the Germans are not crossing the seas. "If we could get the Irish." say they. "if we could get the Germans." say they. "there would be no desire to restrict. but the immigrants are coming from southern Europe. they are coming from darkest Russia. and this terrible horde must be kept out." I defy any of them. no matter if he may have the ingenious skill of my colleague . no matter if he may have the adaptability to turn a point his own way possessed by the gentleman from Alabama . to present any new argument. to present any new cure. that was not discussed. seriously agitated. and written into law in that period in Massachusetts from 1855 to 1856. Do you know what they recommended? Let me remind you of the recommendations that those men made: They recommended an amendment to our Constitution prohibiting the exercise of the elective franchise to all of alien birth. qualified by naturalization. till they had resided in the United States 21 years. They recommended that no person shoul4 be permitted to vote who could not read and write the English language. Do you know that they disbanded military companies which had enrolled among its members persons of foreign birth? Do you know that they officially declared it was not safe. it was not wise. it was not statesmanlike. to have any such men in these militia companies? Do you know that they made all sorts of attempts at restrictive legislation. and they made it an offense punishable by fine for any clerk of court in Massachusetts to issue naturalization papers to any man of this alien class? "You do not mean it." say you. "They did not go as far as that!" Yes. they did. and God only knows how far they would have gone if it had not been for a single thing. My colleague has referred to the terrible calamity of the Civil War. It was a terrP ble calamity. and we all know it. Soon after these days of 1855 and 1856 there came the call to arms. and it would be to you but the repetition of a familiar story to tell the history of the Irish and the Germans and other "despised aliens" in that warmen who were not wanted in times of peace. but who were most welcome recruits in time of war. Let me just give you some statistics on that line. A study carried on from official records of the nativity of 337.800 soldiers shows that 203.622 were born in the United States and 134.178 were foreign born. Of the 134.178 foreignborn soldiers. 19.085 were born in British America. 14.000 were of English birth. 12.000 were born in various countries other than those named. 30.000 were born in Germany. and 51.000 were born in Ireland. This makes it evident that 38 per cent. practically 2 out of every 5 soldiers of foreign birth. were Irishmen. and of the 2.800.000 enlistments in the United States service. 15.1 per cent. or 432.518. were natives of Ireland.