Speech #630136240

Chairman. I move to strike out the last word. In view of the fact that amendments are being offered on the other side. the result. apparently. of suggestions that have come from the Secretary of Labor during the last 24 hours. which have not been submitted to the Committee on Immigration and Naturalization. and in view of the further fact that a confidential report of the Commissioner General of Immigration laid before the members of the committee. which they were supposed not to use. but which has been used by Members on the other side in the preparation of amendments which have been offered on this floor. I desire now to read a brief extract from a report of Mr. Caminetti. the Commissioner General of Immigration of the United States and the right hand of the Secretary of Labor. In his report. dated July 1. 1913. in discussing the advisability of curtailing the immigration to the United States and of further regulating it. Commissioner General Caminetti says with regard to the literacy test: We can not by law prevent our people from flocking to the cities. nor can we under the existing system. in order to overcome the same tendency in a large majority of immigrants. direct them after landing to certain localities where they may remain. We can. however. regulate their coming. But how and in what way? Some advocate the " illiteracy test." which. notwithstanding all that can be offered in its favor. has also. It must be conceded. its drawbacks. So the Commissioner General of Immigration apparently is not in favor of the literacy test that we have voted into this bill. A little further on the Commissioner General amplifies this statement in this reference: After all. manhood should be the test of admission and would constitute the Ideal way of sifting immigration so as to admit none except altogether desirable aliens with the requisite physical. mental. and moral qualifications. As a rule the admitted aliens must. because of lack of knowledge of the English language and of existing conditions. earn their livelihood by manual labor. It is important. therefore. that they should be paysically sound.