Speech #630384871

It seems to me the subject ought to be approached from that standpoint and not from the standpoint of sentimentality. of some hardship that might be -worked in an individual case or in a few individual cases or even in many individual cases. The general good of our own people ought to be the primary consideration that controls each vote on this floor when this great question shall come to the test of a vote. There are certain propositions connected with this matter which. from that standpoint. even the most eloquent Senators who have opposed this literacy test and who have favored the amendment proposed by the Senator from Colorado can hardly deny. First and foremost of all. I contend that the immigrant who does not come to this country with the desire and intention of remaining here and becoming a part and parcel of this. country is not a desirable immigrant. I do not believe that the Senator who last addressed the Senate. my friend the Senator from Missouri . or the Senator from New York . who spoke here so eloquently yesterday on this question. would controvert that proposition. no matter how liberal their views are on the subject of admitting immigrants at our ports. The men who come here with no desire of becoming American citizens. with no intention to do so. but simply with the desire and purpose of reaping whatever industrial reward they can from more favorable industrial conditions in this country and from better wages in this country over and above what they could get in their own countries. simply come and strip our country bare. as far as they can do it. and to carry back in triumph to some foreign shore the spoils of their temporary sojourn here. They do not raise the standards of American life or the standards of American politics. the standards of American living or the standards of American wages. they do not even maintain those standards in every case. The general rule is that they lower every one of those standards. For one I am utterly opposed to any system of laws which will permit any general immigration into this country of men who do not come here with a desire and purpose of becoming a part of this country. of becoming American citizens. and of staying with us permanently. and there are none of the arguments which have been presented by the Senator from New York or by the Senator from Missouri which could be or would be employed by either one of those distinguished gentlemen in behalf of such immigrantg. None of the eloquent illustrations of these Senators. none of the splendid individual cases to which they referred. were of men who came to this country but to exploit and then return to their own countries-