Speech #630384958

Mr. President. reverting to the argument from the standpoint of the public interest. from the standpoint of the general good of this Republic. I do not wish to admit to our shores immigrants who do not make good citizens and who will not eventually make good voters. In this age of intelligence. of free schools everywhere. of compulsory education in many of the Commonwealths. as pointed out by Senators on this floor. at this period when we are spending In this Republic $700.000.000a year on the common schools alone. to say nothing of the other institutions of learning. it seems to me that it is not an unreasonable requirement. in the interest of the public good. to say to the immigrant who seeks admission to our country and who comes to our shores. " If you want to become an American citizenand we do not want you unless you do wish iteventually you should become an American voter. we do not wish to add to whatever ignorance we may deplorably have in this country already by admitting you if you do not come up to a reasonable standard of intelligened. It is necessary that you should have a reasonable amount of intelligence if you are to make an acceptable and desirable citizen of this great Republic." From the standpoint of the public interest. Mr. President and Senators. it seems to me that the argument is unanswerable. I am too anxious to see this bill pass. too anxious to see it come to a speedy vote. to delay the Senate very long by an extended .and elaborate argument on this branch of the question. and I have some other ground I desire to cover. so I will pass on from this point. Now. the literacy test provided in this bill is very reasonable. It provides for bare ability to read. after the age of 16. not English. not the language they must speak here if they are really to become a part and parcel of this country. but their own language. any language. including Hebrew or Yiddish. This test not only provides a reasonable general standard. but. as pointed out by the Senator from Vermont . this test. as shown by the report of the able commission of Congress that thoroughly Investigated this question through long months and years. will at once greatly check the most undesirable streams of Immigration that are now pouring into this country. The Senator from Missouri wanted to know what those undesirable streams of immigrants were. The Senator from Vermont. I think. hesitated to specify. No such considerations shall move me. I do not hesitate to specify them. In my judgment it Is the people from the southern parts of Europe. the most illiterate. who come here with the intention. in many cases. of remaining with us for a brief sojourn and of then returning to their own countries. that we must stop. and according to the report of this commission. which I have studied. those are the streams of immigration that will be most certainly and most effectually checked by this test. if It should be applied. Mr. President and Senators. one of the distinguished Senators who spoke against the literacy test and in favor of the amendment to it proposed by the Senator from Colorado appealed to the South particularly on this question. The distinguished Senator from New York said that as long as the South had a very small percentage of these people of foreign birth she was not. therefore. intimately and directly concerned with the solution of this great question. and ought to hearken to the political necessities of her northern brethren. In all kindliness to the Senator from New York and to all others who entertain that view..I wish to enter my emphatic protest. my utter dissent from it.