Speech #630162860

And it is a matter. Mr. Chairman. that I regard as so correlated to and to a large extent so dependent upon our immigration policy that I desire to discuss briefly that question with a view to showing the effect upon our food supply that will inevitably result from forbidding those aliens willing to work to land on our shores. There is a quite general acquiescence in our now settled policy to refuse admission to undesirables. but there exists a great difference of opinion as to what class of immigrants come under that category. Our present laws exclude all idiots. imbeciles. feebleminded persons. epileptics. insane persons. and persons who have been insane within five years previous. persons who have had two or more attacks of insanity at any time previously. paupers. persons likely to becoine"a public charge. professional beggars. persons afflicted with tuberculosis or with a loathsome or dangerous contagious disease. persons mentally or physically defective. such mental or physical defect being of a nature which may affect the ability of such alien to earn a living. persons who have been convicted of or admit having committed a felony or other crime or mnisdemeanor involving moral turpitude. polyganiists. or persons who admit their belief in the practice of polygamy. anarchists. or persons who believe in or advocate the overthrow by force or violence of the Government of the United States. or of all government. or of all forms of law. or the assassination of public officials. prostitutes. or women or girls comnig into the United States for the purpose of prostitution or for any other immoral purpose. persons called contract laborers. who have been induced or solicited to migrate to this country by offers or promises of employment or in consequence of agreements. oral. written. or printed. expressed or implied. to perform labor in this country of any kind. skilled or unskilled. those who have been within one year from the date of application for admission to the United States deported as having been induced or solicited to migrate as above described. any person whose ticket or passage is paid for with money of another. or who is assisted by others to come. unless it is affirmatively and satisfactorily shown that such person does not belong to one of the foregoing excluded classes. and that said ticket or passage was not paid for by auy corporation. association. municipality. or foreign government. either directly or indirectly. all children under 16 years of age unaccompanied by one or both of their parents. at the discretion of the Secretary of Labor. or under such regulations as he may from time to tine prescribe. It is now proposed to enlarge the list of mental. moral. and physical defects on account of which aliens are to be excluded. to provide for a more rigid enforcement of the exclusion features of the law. and in addition to deny admission to those unable to read. and thus to erect a new barrier to immigration. wholly indefensible as a test of fitness. but potent to further restrict the number of those vho would otherwise come to usthe admitted purpose of the adoption of this arbitrary standard. There is undoubtedly a very strong sentiment iin many parts !of the country in favor of greatly restricting immigration. Some of our best and most intelligent citizens believe we are rapidly approaching the time when our population will be as great as LI--276 our resources will support. and that many of the immigrants now coming to our shores are nonlassimilable. remain segregated in congested quarters. and injuriously affect our own people by the example of a low standard of living. It is also true that the ranks of unskilled labor are largely recruited from immigrants. and the fear is expressed by some that this class of labor is being so rapidly augmented that the demand will not keep pace with the supply. I received several requests to support the Burnett bill when it was up for consideration. but upon giving it careful study found myself unable to do so. so long as it contained the literacy requirement. Literacy is not a test of character. of honesty. of industry. of integrity. of a mans desire to improve his condition. of his purpose to make a home for himself and his family. or of his intention to become a useful and lawabiding citizen. If he possesses these qualities. he is a producer of wealth and is by no means a menace to our institutions. In those States which have the largest immigrant population you will find the greatest commercial enterprise. the largest maufacturing establishments. the most prosperous agricultural sections. the bestpaid labor. and the most wealth. The State of New York has by far the largest immigrant population of any State in the Union. and exceeds all others in the magnitude of its business activities and in wealth. Pennsylvania. Illinois. and Ohio follow in the order given in immigrant population. in industries. and in wealth. What a man knows is of less importance than is his desire for knowledge. Inability to read is usually because of lack of opportunity. and at most is only a temporary disability that opportunity will ordinarily cure. Experience has shown that the children of illiterate immigrants are most eager to learn and enthusiastically take advantage of our free educational institutions. Statistics show that in those States where so many socalled illiterate foreigners have settled the percentage of illiteracy is very low as compared with the States which have the silallest immigrant population. Also that the percentage of illiteracy in the different sections is due not so much to the number of illiterates coming into a State as to the efforts put forth to decrease illiteracy. In New York. where 30.2 per cent of the population is foreign born. the illiteracy is 5.5 per cent. in Pennsylvania. where 18.8 per cent of the population is foreign born. the illiteracy is 5.9 per cent. in Massachusetts. where 31.5 per cent of the population is foreign born. the illiteracy is 5.2 per cent. in Illinois. where 21.4 per cent of the population is foreign born. the illiteracy is 3.7 per cent. in Wisconsin. where 22 per cent of the population is foreigi. born. the illiteracy is 3.2 per cent. In the State of Alabama. in Which only ninetenths of 1. per cent of the population is foreign born. the illiteracy is 22.9 per cent. in Georgia. where sixtenths of 1 per cent of the population is foreign born. the illiteracy is 20.7 per cent. in Kentucky. where 1.8 per cent of the population is foreign born. the illiteracy is 1.2.1 per cent. In justice to the Southern States it must be said that the very considerable colored population materially increases their illiteracy percentage. and that there has been a most gratifying decrease in the percentage of illiteracy in the South during the last decade. But excluding this colored population from the calculation. and taking into consideration the great handicap of the ravages of the Civil War. the percentage of illiteracy is extremely high when compared with those States which have absorbed and are still absorbing a large immigrant population. In fact. the greatest percentage of illiteracy is in the mountain sections. where schools are not convenient of access and where enterprise is stagnant for lack of new blood. The proof is far from satisfactory that the literate immigrant is a more desirable acquisition than the one unable to read. Illiteracy does not necessarily mean ignorance. Many men of at least average intelligence and good business ability can not read. In some of the foreign countries from which we draw the most of our immigrant population. if a mans condition is such that he has the opportunity for acquiring an education he is usually well enough circumstanced so that he will not emigrate toa foreign land unless there is some very good reason why lie should leave his native country. The immigrant is usually a sturdy son of toil from the rural districts. and to whom no schools are available. Grover Cleveland. than whom no clearerheaded or more correct thinker ever occupied the White House. vetoed amn immigration bill on account of a literacytest provision. and in his message used this language: The ability to read and write. as required In this bill in and of itself affords. in my opinion. a misleading test of contented industry and supplies unsatisfactory evidence of desirable citizenship or of a proper They are industrious. frugal. and anxious to get ahead. There apprehension of the benefits of our institutions. If any particular is that in the free air of America that inspires all who breathe element of our illiterate immigration is to be feared for other causes than illiteracy. these causes should be dealt with directly instead of it to higher ideals and a desire for a higher standard of living. making illiteracy the pretext for exclusion to the detriment of other It is a curious fact. abundantly shown by noting the supportilliterate immigrants against whom the real cause of- complaint can not ers of measures that seek to restrict immigration. that the opbe alleged. President Emeritus Eliot. of Harvard. said on the stmne ponents of immigration are from those sectionz which most rarely come in contact with the immigrant. And. further. that subject: of all immigrants they regard the most highly those of that The only questions which are appropriate are: Is he healthy. strong. niationality of whom they have seen the most. So here again the and desirous of earning a good livingi Many Illiterates have common sense. sound bodies. and good characters. Indeed. it is not clear that rule is established that prejudice and suspicion vanish when education increases much the amount of common sense which nature knowledge and information arrive. gave th individual. An educational test is appropriate at the tinle What any nation is and what she becomes depends upon those iihi foreignei propose i to become a voting citizen. He ought then to who do the real work of extracting from mother earth the know how to read. wherewithal by which we are nourished. Crdinal Gibbols is on recod as follows: The present high cost of foodstuffs is due in a large measure I am not in favor of any educational test as applied to immigrants to the scarcity of farm laborers. The sons of our farmers are diring to enler the United States. Such a law If passed would. in my judgment. work great harm. for illittracy is by no means always igno- entering other vocations. and t is to the immigrants who seek rance. If the inunigrant is indastrious and thrifty. he will make a an opportunity to earn their bread by the sweat of their brows useful citizen. whether he be literate or illiterate. The educated that we must look to take the places thus left valcant by our simer is in more wai thn one more dangerous than the honest farmer boys and do the hard. rough work of tilling the soil. worlkman. een though he be illiterate.