Speech #630133057

If you want your railroads built. if you would till the soil. dig ditches for canals or irrigation. if you would dig the foundation for your public or private buildings. you must depend upon the foreigner to do the rough work. What are the facts? From 1850 to 1890 came that great tide of immigration from England. Ireland. and Germany. These immigrants worked at all kinds of manual labor. How about the children of these foreigners who were denied the privileges of education in their native country? They are found among the skilled workmen in your shops and factories. They are to be found in all the learned professions--doctors of law. medicine. and divinity. professors. and teachers in our schools and colleges. I might give you a concrete example by calling your attention to the fact that 25 per cent of the present membership of this House are the sons of immigrants. We are told that further immigration will tend to lower the standard of American wages. What are the facts? It is admitted that for several years 1.000.000 immigrants have come to this country every yearto be exact. during the fiscal year that closed June 30 last. 1.079.439 immigrants came to our shores and were admittedyet. it is a fact that wages for all kinds of manual labor have advanced from 25 to 50 per cent during the last 10 years. The United States Is today a great exporting Nation. the balance of trade in our favor for the last fiscal year being $653.000.000. If we would maintain our supremacy in competition with the countries of Europe. we must for the future. as in the past. have the benefit of the new and best blood from the countries of the Old World. Mr. Chairman. the attempt to prevent the foreigner coming Into our country is no new thing in legislation. From the very dawn of the Republic there has been hostility and opposition to the coming of immigrants to our shores. It has been said upon the floor of this House today that the illustrious Jefferson. Randolph of Virginia. and Henry Clay were opposed to the admission of immigrants into the country. It was the English. the German. and the Irish that they would have kept out. You who now favor the passage of this bill are good enough to admit that the prediction of ruin then made has not yet materialized.