Speech #630378456

I think that the observations of the Senator from Utah must receive the concurrence of all who listened to them. The only clause which could by any possibility have any retroactive effect is the con.eluding clause of the amendment. " who at the time of entry was a member of one or more of the classes excluded by law. and it is to that class that I understand the observations of the Senator.from Missouri are directed. But I am very sure that the Senator from Missouri on reflection will not deem the imatter of sufficient importance to ask that the amendment be passed over. because it is conceivable. of course. that a man might have been admitted in conformity with law some three years ago but .that he will now fall within one of the classes whose entry is prohibited by this law. and upon a strained construction it might be held that he was liable to be deported. But such a construction could hardly be given to it. because of the concluding language. "who at the time of entry was a member of one or more of the classes excluded by law." which undoubtedly refers to the classes excluded by the law as it existed at the time of his entry.