Speech #630135864

The newspapers took it up. and a young lawyer by the name of Seth Richardson volunteered to defend them without compensation. and after a hearing in court the same Judge Amidon said they were not to be deported back to Austria as had been decreed by the immigration officers. but they might be taken back to Manitoba. Mr. Chairman. this proposal is fair from every standpoint. political or social. If the farmers are permitted to employ farm laborers from abroad they will be benefited and the farm laborers themselves will be benefited. They would have to work hard it is true. because farm work is hard. but they would not have to work harder than in the countries from which they come. Such alien labor would be a great blessing to our farmers. and it would bring no sting to the conscience. because such laborers would work under proper conditions and eventually become owners or operators of farms themselves. In contradistinction to this I want to give a picture drawn by Dr. Lewis Thurber Guild. for many years a brilliant preacher of the Methodist Church and now editor of the Fargo CourierNews. Re says: The case of the Austrian laborers before Judge Amidon. recently colnmcntd upon in these columns. has aroused much discussion throughout the State. If it should result in a demand for amendment of our laws on immigration it would be a good thing. The fact Is that our industrial institutions. the coal mines. and the steel mills do take fearful toll from the wellintentioned. hardworking men who are made almost beasts of burden. It is well to remember this When one hears the periodical agitation in Congress about restriction of immigration. The right kind of rastriction is one thing. but there is another kind which virtually says: "We are in. You are out. You stay out!" But there Is still another side to immigration. It is the bitter. cruel. industrial side which uses the blood and brawn. the bodies. and the lives of the children- of Immigrants to further our socalled progress. to build our great works. to carry on our great undertakings. Gordon Thayer thus expresses it In exceptionally strong verses: "Breed us more men. ye Daughters of Toil . Ye alien mothers in faroff lands.