Speech #630379352

I would make no limitation upon their right collectively any more than I would upon their right Individually to seek the shores of America to the end that they might escape the further endurance of such intolerable conditions. and what I say of the Jew I would say equally as to any other form of religious belief or as to any other form of religious persecution or political persecution. always provided that the persecution exists in fact and not merely in imagination. The word "solely" which appeared in the draft of this bill as it came from the House has unquestionably received the most serious and ample consideration. indeed. I presume that the socalled literacy test provided by that measure and the exceptions to it have been the subject of more consideration and more discussion than all the rest of the bill besides. Hence I am not prepared to say that there are not excellent reasons why it should be continued in the bill. Nevertheless. it is my conviction that it imposes a limitation which in effect will exclude or have a tendency to exclude many people from our shores who are the victims of an intolerable persecution carried on. perhaps. not with directness. but nevertheless so effectively as to be quite as intolerable as though it were direct.