Speech #630380547

It has been. in all of its respects and all of its features. one of the most unhappy and unfortunate episodes of our Industrial development. I am not at this time going to pronounce my own judgment either upon its causes or consequences or upon any of its other pressing problems. I shall not do so until the present investigations shall have ended and the public is made acquainted with the results. but I want to say. as I have said heretofore. that one of the root causes of that infortunate trouble Is found in the class and character of modern immigrationa cause which extends back for a number of years. certainly more than a decade. and which. In my judgment. made that strife sure to come. either now or hereafter. We had a similar troublenot so extensive and bloody a one. not one which attracted such -universal attentionaway back in 19034. at which time the principal coal operators in the southern part of the State using the military power and arm of the Commonwealth forcibly ejected and deported from their midst all turbulent. disorderly. undesired. or suspected characters. took them beyond the limits of the State. and Imported in their places fresh from southeastern Europe as many men as were necessary to carry on their operations. These imen thus introduced into our political community were during the short summer which followed for the most part naturalized by the companies through theagency of the courts and used to control the elections of that year. These. for the most part. are the men thus imported into ourmidst and given places rightfally belonging to our own American labor who recently determined their own condition to be so intolerable as to Justify the insurroction of 191314. and the echoes of which are still observable in. the press comments all over the country. Care was then taken to see that this immigration was distributed over a large number of counties. so that the employees. speaking diverse languages and inspired with race prejudices. would not combine or confederate. but. each flocking to itself. make industrial combinations and further difficulties improbable. if not impossible. Last May the President of the United States. responding to the call of the governor of Colorado. took charge of the coal counties. and with the military power of the Nation proclaimed and kept the peace and has preserved it since that time. When he did so he issued a proclamation commanding all persons to disperse. cease breaking the law. and return to their homes. and in order to make that proclamation effective it had to be translated into 22 different languages. and. as translated. distributed among as many nationalities. I think. therefore. I ala fully justified in saying that one of the root causes of this trouble was the immigration made possible under existing law by means of which home labor is first supplanted and then controlled. afterwards to find vent in those volcanic outbursts that disturb the peace and threaten the very structure of the social organism. For this reason 1 am in favor of a restricted immigration. for this reason I believe in a literacy test and think the problem is one of such a grave nature. But. impressed as I am with the virtues of this bill. and intending to vote for it in such shape as the Senate shall ultimately determine. I can not lose sight of a distinguishing feature of American institutions always proclaimed. and thus far with perfect truth. that he who seeks asylum from political persecution can find it under the Stars and Stripes. Unless it becomes necessary in order to secure the passage of this bill. I do not care to have my vote recorded for a section or a provision that draws the line at religious persecution and denies asylum in America to the man who suffers politically.