Speech #630385918

As I have said. I am not going to argue the details of the provision at all. but simply state what tie purpose of it is. Hitherto our immigration legislation has been altogether selective. We have had no restrictive legislation at all. The restriction caused by our selective legislation has been merely incidental. There has been a very widespread desire in this country. evidenced by the action of the. great labor organizatidns. farmiers organizations. and many leagues formed for tile promotion of the restriction of immigration. in favor of restricting immigration. Those who are opposed to all restriction of immigration ought to vote against the illiteracy test. for it is a restrictive measure. It is not put in on the theory of keeping out a criminal or an anarchist. That has nothing to do with it. The law provides against the admission of those persons in other clauses specifically. The object of the literacy test is to restrict the amount of immigration coming to this country. I shall not rehearse the argument so ably and completely made by the Senator from Vermont and others on the 2ieed of restriction. It was shown by the protracted investigation of the Immigration Commission generally to be wise on economic grounds. to speak of no other. But assuming for the moment that restriction is desirable. the next thing is to adopt a method of restriction which shall exclude as many undesirable persons as possible and as few desirable. and no form of restriction can be devised which will exclude only undesirable and admit only desirable. That is out of the question. The purpose to be attained. as I have said. is the one that will exclude as nearly as possible the undesirable and as few as possible who are desirable. After years of investigation by committees of Congress and by commissions. one after another. after many investigations and after considering every form of restriction suggested. the conclusion has been reached by nearly all competent investigators that the illiteracy test restricts immigration with as small a loss of desirable immigrants as possible and with as large an exclusion of undesirable immigrants as can be practically attained. The investigations show very clearly that the tendency of the illiterates over the literates to congest in thelarge cities of the eastern coast is very marked. That is but one of the many reasons which have led to the adoption of this test. The proof of the lowering of the American standards of life and wages is furnishd by the report of the Immigration Comnmission. That is another great economic argument for restriction. I think in voting on the test it should be kept in mind that its intention is restrictive. that it is not aimed to keep immigrants out because they are ignorant and illiterate simply. but because ignorance and illiteracy -give. on the whole. the best test for the restriction of the most undesirable Immigrants. It is proposed to amend the bill in the clause which carries the test. This amendinent.