Speech #630384958

There is no one question that has been so thoroughly thrashed out. thht has been so closely studied by able and competent commissions. and on which we have such a great volume of accurate and reliable testimony as this one. in my judgment. I want to call the attention of the Senate briefly to a short abstract I prepared some years ago on the progress of legislation on this subject. Outside of the Chineseexclusion act of 1888 and the various acts amendatory thereof and providing means for its enforcement the following is a brief summary of our progress in restrictive legislation on the subject of immigration: The first restrictive law was that of March 5. 1875. It provided that persons convicted of felony. other than strictly political offenses. should not be allowed to immigrate to this country. and by the act of August 3. 1882. provision was made for the deportation of such convicts. . By the act of February 26. 1885. It was made unlawful for any person. firm. or corporation to prepay the fare to this country of any laborer who was under contract to work out such passage money. This was the first of our laws against the importation of contract labor. The methods and means of enforcing this law were the subject matter of the acts of February 23. 1887. and October 19. 1888. On March 3. 1881. was approved the first attempt to enact a general and comprehensive restrictive immigration law. For that reason it is both interesting and important to observe its provisions. In that law the following seven classes of immigrants were excluded from our shores: (1) Idiots and insane persons. (2) Paupers and persons liable to become public charges. (3) Persons affected with loathsome or dangerous or con.tagious diseases. (4) Women imported for immoral purposes. (5) Persons convicted of a felony other than political felonies. (6) Polygamists. (7) Contract laborers. It will be observed that only five of these classes were new. felons having been excluded by the act of 1875 and contract laborers by the act of 1885. On March 3. 1893. Congress passed another act to provide for the further and more complete enforcement of the act of 1891. but the continual increase of immigration. from about 560.000 in 1891 to 857.000 in 1903. led to the first of our really great and comprehensive immigration lawsthe act of March 3. 1903. In that act the seven classes already excluded by the act of 1891 were again excluded. the definitions of each class being more clearly stated and strengthened. and new and important classes were added. such as anarchists. the opponents of all organized government. and those who advocated the assassination of public officers. Transportation companies were forbidden to solicit emigration. and a head tax of $2 for each immigrant was enacted. It is also provided in this act that persons who had immigrated into this *country in violation of any of the provisions of law could be deported at any time within two years thereafter. Ample machinery was provided for its enforcement. and the act was passed with the belief that it would cut down immigration and would certainly improve its character. It did not come up to the expectations of its friends. however. because in 1907. 1.285.000 immigrants were pouring into this country and came in that year. On the subject of our immigrants and their illiteracy there are certain figures here that I should like to call to the attention of the Senate. In 1903 we had 857.000 immigrants into this country. 21 per cent of whom were illiterate. IIn 1904 we had 812.000 immigrants into this country. 21 per cent of whomn. in round numbers. were illiterate. In 3905 we had 1.026.000 immigrants into this country. 22 per cent of whom were illiterate. In 1906 we had 1.100.000 immigrants* Into this country. 24 per cent of whom were. illiterate. In 1907 we had 1.285.000 immtgran s into this country. 26 per cent of whom were illiterate. � Early in 1906 the Senate Committee on Immigration and Naturalization reported. through Senatoi DILLIINGHXM. a bill providing more drastic and comprehensive restrictions on immigration. When that bill finally passed the Senate on May. 23. 1906. an amendment. first proposed by Senator SIMmoNs. of North Carolina. and afterwards modified and improved by Senator LODE. of Massachusetts. was adopted providing a simple literacy test for immigrants. the requirement being that all immigrants into this country above 16 years old. and not physically. incapacitated. must be able to read the English language or some other language. When the House committee reported the bill it still retained the literacy test. but on June 25. 1907. when the House voted on the bill. the literacy test was stricken from it by a very close vote (128 to 116) upon motion of Mr. Grosvenor (Republican). of Ohio. The literacy test being stricken out by the House and the Senate firmly standing by it. it seemed that the conferees would never be able to agree and consequently that the bill would never pass. It probably would nevdr have done so but for the trouble with Japan. growing out of labor conditions and school troubles in California and all along the Pacific slope. When those troubles cam& on in the latter part of 1906 and early in 1907 this bill was revitalized and under party whip and spur passed. by cbmpromise. the literacy test being left out of the bill. and provision being made that the President of the United States should be given the discretion not to permit Japanese (or other foreign) immigration under passports issued by any foreign Government to other countries or to any insular. possession of the United States or to the Canal Zone. "whenever he was of the opinion " that to admit the holders of such passports to continental United States was to the "detriment of. labor conditions here." In the last session of the Sixtysecond Congress. in the closIng days of the Taft administration. a bill that was in substance the same as the pending bill and had the same literacy. test. passed both Houses of Congress. but was vetoed by President Taft. It was then passed by this body by a twothirds vote over the veto. and failed by a few votes to get the necessary twothirds in thie House of Representatives. During all these years illiteracy among the immigrants that come to us is constantly increasing. Furthermore. explaining to the Senator from Missouri and to other Senators who may be interested Why I did not hesitate to specify the peoples from the south of Europe as undesirable sources of immigration. I wish to say the reports of the Commissioner General of Immigration show that in the years 1905. 1906. and 1907 of the immigrants that came to us from northern and western Europe but 3.7 per cent are illiterate. while of the immigrants who came from southern Europe nearly 50 per cent. or 42.2 per cent. are illiterate. Therefore I say those are the streams that we ought to check. and I think the other. reason that I gave is also applicable. because those are the people who come here for temporary sojourn more than all others. Mr. President. I want. to state to the Senate in just a few. words a summary of the reasons why I favorthis bill. which not only increases the restrictive provisions generally against this immigration. but also carries in its provisions the literacy. test. First. I favor it to protect American labor from unfair competitioncompetition that strips the country bare to enrich other lands. as well as capitalists in our own. and that tends to lower every American standard. Second. to aid in securingthat is. the literacy test. particularlya reasonably intelligent electorate for this Republic. Third. to preserve the American system of government. with all of its standards and ideals. handed down to us by our fathers. Some particular comment has been made throughout this debate on the little interest that the South ought to have in this question. because she has such a small percentage of foreignborn population within her borders. Let us look at the figures for a minute and see if we can not get something.from them. If we start on the banks of the Potomac and go straight through the very heart of the South to the Rio Grande. we find that in Virginia only ninetenths of 1 per- cent of the entire population Is foreign born. in North Carolina only threetenths of 1 per cent. In South Carolina. fourtenths of 1 per cent. in Georgia. sixtenths of 1 per cent. in Alabama. ninetenths of 1 per cent. in Mississippi. fivetenths of I per cent. in Louisiana. 8.2- per cent. In Texas. 6.2 per cent. an average of 1.6 per cent for the Southern States that I havenamed.