Speech #630132973

Europe more than 300. In view of these in disputable figures. how ridiculous the cold sweat of our fainthearted friends must appear to those who come after us and will live a hundred years from now. The advocates of the literacy test no longer pretend that this test is to be imposed in the interest of education. They admitted in the last Congress that their real purpose was restriction. They lack the courage to name the Italians. the Poles. the Russian and Galician Jews. and so forth. and so they proceed to exclude these classes by shrewdly imposing conditions which many of them can not fulfill. This may be very smart. and we may pat each other on the backs on account of our smartness. but I wonder what the civilized world will say when a Yankee trick. as they will call it. Is to be clothed with the dignity of American law? As much as I believe in immigration. as essential as I hold a continued healthy influx of new-. comers for the future development of our country. I would rather see the gates of the Republic closed altogether than have it said that in the enactment of any law this Nation was hypocritical and insincere. If you object to the immigrants of southern Europe because that part of Europe is mostly Catholic. say so like men. or if you want to deny the right of asylum to the Jews fleeing from Russian oppression. make a manly declaration to that effect in the bill. but pray do not creep behind a subterfuge and dignify AngloSaxon hypocrisy with the name of law. In the last Congress during the debate on this bill some of its advocates went so far as to even slander the immigrants by asserting that immigration was proving a menace to the country. This "scum of the earth." they said in so many words. "is lowering our standards. is tending to corrupt the American people physically as well as morally. and is causing trouble everywhere." It is the old charge. Mr. Chairman. of the wolf against the lamb muddying the water. though the little innocent lamb was standing below stream. The ratio of a years immigration to our total population is like 1 to 300. If every one of the poor fellows who come here merely to better their condition and to make an honest living can spoil. physically and mentally. 300 of our citizenship. then our morality and our physical health as a Nation must. Indeed. rest on a pitifully weak foundation. To assert It is really an insult. not to the immigrants. but to the American people. And I challenge the friends of this bill to cite one single case. one single event. in the history of our country In which the attitude of the immigrants and the adopted citizens was other than patriotic to a fault. They rallied around the flags of Washington to fight and die for American independence. They fought almost to a man under Abraham Lincoln for the preservation of the Union. Indeed. history credits them with having enlisted on the right side of every great question. and with having helped to uphold right and liberty either by their bullets or their ballots. To cite only one Instance of more recent history. it is an admitted fact that by their almost solid vote for sound money they saved the country from the calamity of a corrupted monetary system and national dishonor. Cause to find fault with our immigrant population. therefore. have only those who in the dark hours of the countrys crises were on the wrong side of those great questions. Query: Will the American people. with their proverbial sense of fairness. permit the proposed legislative revenge on the newcomers because the older immigration dared to do what was right for the country? In this connectioA we may again be told that the new immigration is not what the old was. but I deny it. A man is not inferior to me simply because he was born in a part of the world other than where my cradle stood. and even a lack of education does not make him morally inferior. for the simple reason that education and character are two entirely different things. And character alone should be the test of a mans worth. It is true. Mr. Chairman. that the immigrant has taken part In labor disturbances. for wherever. in field. factory. and forest. the hardest work is being performed there you find the immigrant. But these troubles are not racial. but economical. and where they occur native workmen are usually the leaders. If the immigrant joins hands with his native comrades in these emergencies. he simply proves what I have often asserted. namely. that when he finds he has to pay American prices for American goods he also demands American wages. a fact. by the way. which is a complete refutation of one of the stock arguments of our labor leaders. namely. that he. the immigrant. is an unfair competitor in the labor market. And this brings me to the only objection which I recognize as really sincere. the objection of labor to immigration as an economic problem. However. the protest of labor is being paraded on this floor. not out of friendship for labor. but because it suits the purposes of the restrictionists. The workingman looks upon each immigrant as an unwelcome rival. whose presence lessens his opportunity of employment. As will be remembered. he regarded every new invention and every machine in the same light. and yet he has learned that through the introduction of laborsaving machines the opportunities of labor were increased rather than diminished. 1914.. I The same is true. I claim. of the immigrant. for he is not only a producer but also a consumer. and his coming here and casting his lot with us and spending the earnings for his support in this country is a thousand times preferable. from an economic standpoint. to his remaining in Europe and merely sending the product of his labor to the United States. If immigration would really injure American labor. this bill would not be a proper remedy. for it excludes not only the lowest class of toilers. such as do not compete with our own workingmen. but also admits those who do compete with them. namely. skilled laborers. who as a rule are not illiterates. If the reasons which prompt the protest of organized labor against immigration were economically sound. then the advocates of this legislation were handing labor a gold brick. and. indeed. the western miners appear to have seen through the scheme when in their recent convention they resolved that the gates of the country should be completely shut as long as one American workman is out of employment. A beautiful idea. by the way. but as long as they sincerely believe in its feasibility you can not fool them with a bill like this. By such a demand on the part of labor I can not hell) being reminded of a simile. I see before me a vivid picture of that terrible disaster which befell the Titanic. when hundreds of the unfortunate shipwrecked were struggling with the waves. trying frantically to reach the lifeboats and rafts. Supposing those in the boats had prevented these unfortunates from getting a hold and had pushed them back into the roaring sea. though there had still been ample room in the lifeboats. what would you think of such an act? The immigrants who come to our shores are shipwrecked. too. Mr. Chairman. and I will never believe that. if this was made the issue. the arm of American labor would ever earnestly be raised to push the downtrodden of the world back into the sea while attempting to board our wellsupplied craft. So far I have endeavored to enumerate and answer only a few of the alleged grievances against the immigrant. There aire morein fact. there seems to be a universal outcry against hintand he is commonly regarded as a sort of general scapegoat. If all the several elements of our population could pass by him in rotation. each single one would probably give him a kick. and each one for a different reason.