Speech #630132301

I aim familiar with the processes of assimilation to citizenship. Scores of evening schools are filled with thousands of men and woiten. 10 years of age and over. successfully securing an education. We need these ablebodied men. women. and children for the present. and therefore I am not willing to vote for the literacy test at this time. When the posts of the Grand Army of the Republic during the Spanish War opened volunteer recruiting places thousands of young men responded. fully onethird being of foreign birth. If the time has arrived to put tip the bars on immigration. tren do what the commission. composed of nine. including five Members of Congress. who traveled all over Europe. spending three years on the work. recommended. The commission. which was authorized by Congress in 1907. issued a report of 42 volumnes and suggested seven methods by nwhich restriction might be accomplished. namely: (a) The exclusion of those unable to read and write in some language. (b) The limitation of the number of each race arriving each year to a certain percentage of the average of that race arriving during a given period of years. lc) The exclusion of unskilled laborers unaccompanied by wives or families. (d) The limitation of the number of immigrants arriving annually at any port. (e) rhe material increase In the amount of money required to be in the possession of the immigrant at the port of arrival. The material increase of the head tax. g The levy of the head tax so as to make a marked discrimination In favor of men with families. The words "and write" having disappeared from the first recommendation of the Immigration Commission. that recommlendation has lost its force and should not be made the basis for the writing of a bill to revise the immigration laws. Therefore the second recommendation should be considered in. connectioll with the first. This 40word literacy test is not sufficient in itself. It will prove a failure. Many letters from individuals and organizations. both for and against this measure. have been received. the latter usually couched in strong and sometimes offensive language. Due consideration was given to both sides. and after listening to the able debate on this question I am constrained to vote against the bill in the interest of the country. President Cleveland in 1897 and President Taft in 1913 vetoed measures exactly similar to this bill for good and valid reasons. President Wilson. in a speech just before his election in 1.912. declared for a liberal Interpretation of laws on immigration. and. I feel confident. will hesitate before approving a restrictive measure of this character.