Speech #630133069

Mr. Chairman. I am strongly opposed to that provision of the pending immigration bill which would subject every alien seeking admission to this country to an educational test. An immigrant should not be denied admission to our shoies if he is morally. physically. and mentally sound. The ability of a man to read is not a fair measure of his moral worth nor of his economic value nor of his mental capacity. in other words. it is not a fitting test of a mans honesty nor of his capacity to work with his hands nor of his ability to learn. Experience has proven that moral soundness--simple honestyis independent of intellectual culture. many men are morally sound notwithstanding their ignorance. and many others are morally unsound in spite of their education. Ability to read is not a fair measure of a mans economic value. because experience proves that a mans capacity to earn a living is not necessarily dependent on intellectual culture. Many immigrants coming to our shores come from countries where. owing to proscribed laws. the opportunity to acquire an education has been unjustly denied them. This is particularly true of Russia and Roumania. I believe it is more important that the applicant for admission to our shores should be made to show by the calloused palms of his hands that he is accustomed to work than to show by glibness of tongue in meeting a literacy test. In the actual development of our country it would have been impossible for us to have accomplished what we have in the construction of railroads. in the development of our farms. and in the establishment of our industries. had we not had the brawny. muscular. and healthy immigrants who have to come to us from different parts of the world. At the present time there is a scarcity of labor in this country to develop our natural resources. and the natives are unwilling to do the work which the alien comes over to do. Our country is in great part a Nation of immigrants. sons and grandsons of immigrants. It must be borne in mind that our only true native American is the Indian. The illiteracy test. had such a law been In existence a generation ago. would have robbed this country of some of its strongest and greatest men. Some of our ablest lawyers and the best and most progressive men of today are the progeny of parents who when they came to this country could neither read nor write. Are those who have not had the advantage of an education in the countries from whence they came to be denied the opportunities held out in this country? Many immigrants are unfortunately illiterate. without any fault of their own. and without lacking intelligence and character which will make them useful and peaceable citizens of this Republic. Most of these who come here are industrious and thrifty and a large proportion are desirous of learning and of having their children educated. When a man came to American shores in the steerage of a vessel 150 years ago he was "a settler" or "a colonist." but today he is called " an immigrant." No one ever proposed that "a settler" or "a colonist" wishing to land on American soil should be denied the right of admission to this country because he could not read or write. The healthy and brawny immigrant is Americas man of all work. and his destiny is working itself out with the destiny of the country. Eightyfive per cent of all labor in the slaughtering and packing industries is done by alien laborers. They mine seventenths of our bituminous coal. They do 78 per cent of the work in the woolen mills. ninetenths of all the labor in the cotton mills. and make nineteentwuentieths of all the clothing. Immigrants manufacture more than half the shoes in the country. They turn out fourfifths of our furniture. half the tobacco and cigars. and nearly all our sugar. In the iron and steel industries immigrants share the greatest risks. The proposition to exclude foreigners is not new. During the administration of John Adams. when this Republic of ours had but completed the first decade of its existence. the same sentiments as I have heard uttered on this floor today were uttered against the foreign born. The period of naturalization was extended from 5 to 14 years in the year 1798 in order to diecourage immigration. and during the same session of Congress the obnoxious alien and sedition laws were passed. which conferred upon the then President of the United States the power to ex. elude at his will any foreigner found upon American soil. It is to the honor of our institutions and to the glory of this Republic that the shame and infamy of that legislation was wiped out when the Democrats of this country elected Thomas Jefferson to the Presidency. In his proclamation concerning foreigners. relative to immigration Jefferson said: It has been the wise policy of these States to extend the protection of their laws to all those who should settle among them. of whatsoever nation or religion they might be. and to admit them to participation of the benefits of civil and religious freedom: and the benevolence of this practice. as well as its salutary effects. renders it worthy of being continued ir future times. In the Declaration of Independence. as drawn by Jefferson. conefrning immigration he said: fie has endeavored to prevent the population of these States. for that purpose obstructing the laws for naturaliz7ation of foreigners. refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither. and raising the conditions of new appropriations of lands. From time to time in every succeeding generation there have been those who were opposed to the admission of the foreign born to this country. The same arguments were used then as are used now. This continent is not crowded. and the admission of each healthy. ablebodied immigrant adds that much more enrichment to the country. We all agree that the criminal. the insane and mentally defective. the pauper. the morally unfit. and those who are incapable of earning a livelihood should be debarred. but homeseekers. otherwise admissible. should not be excluded. even though illiterate. for such are needed to develop the abandoned farms. to open our mines. and to build our roads. aqueducts. tunnels. and canals. A strong and rigid educational test. however. should be applied When application is made for citizenship.