Speech #630386037

Then. again. what is meant by "persecution "? The framers of the bill have been asked to define that term. To the ordinary mind. which may include that of en immigration officer. persecution implies the exercis3 of force and violence. the application of the thumbscrew. or of some other form of torture. It bears the connotation of a St. Bartholomews night. of the Spanish inquisition. or of a Russian pogrom. But there are foms of persecution which are infinitely worse than these. more subtle and more effectivethe slow but continuous operation of repressive. oppressive. and discriminatory laws and regulations is infinitely worse and more destructive in its consequences than sudien and momentary physical violence. It is insidious and lasting in its injuries. it works day and night. year in and year out. it is a constant horror sleeping and waking. it Is a vexation of mind and spirit. it undermines the owers of resistance. destroys hope. and brings despair to the soul. .et when the projectors of this legislation are asked to define this word as including persecution. whether accomplished through overt acts or by discriminatory laws or regulations. they balk at the phrase and obstinately decline to add one word. one syllable. or one letter tothe talismanic phraseology which they have adopted. Is not. then. the inference irresistible. that in spite of their fine words they have no other purpose than to keep out of this country all immigrants who happen to be illiterate. irrespective of the reasons which have induced them to come hither? These immigrants certainly have no intention to return to their native land. These victims of oppression. whether it be political or religious. or both. who come from Russia or Roumania have no desire to resume a residence in those stepmotherly lands from which they have fled. as from a pestilence. They. at least. have come here to stay. to abide here with their children. to take advantage of the opportunities which have been arbitrarily denied to them. without any fault of theirs. by their oppressors In the lands of their nativity. ind they can not possibly return whence they have come. This Is a most objectionable feature of the proposed legislation. because it is cruel. harsh. and unjust. and contrary to one of the fundamentals of our national spirit. The restrictionists further contend that immigration must be diminished because of economic considerations. that however beneficial it may have been 20. 30. 40. or 50 years ago. it no longer is of advantage. It is claimed to be necessary to curtail immigration because of the high cost of living. and because of the desirability of maintaining a high standard of living. Now. in the first place. the argument Is fallacious from an economic standpoint. I care not how voluminous are the statistics that may be gathered. the fact remains that the immigrant is almost without exception usefully employed. he works. he Is industrious. He Is obliged to work if he wishes to remain here. Under the existing law. If he becomes a charge upon the public. lie Is almost automatically deported. Consequently. if he falls to work he can not remain. and If he works it is evident that he is needed. "Ah." comes the triumphant reply. "then he takes the bread out of the mouths of our own people. of those who have been here before him. His employment leads to the unemployment of his predecessors." That is also a fallacious statement. The immigrant who comes to this country generally does work that nobody else does or would think of doing. Take the native Americans. take the elder immigrants. and ask them to do the work which the later immigrants are now doing in the blast furnaces of Pennsylvania on the railroads. on all public works. they certainly would. as a rule. refuse to do it. They have risen in the social scale. they are engaged in doing other work. that of a mechanic. such as calls for special skill or training. -work of a different character from that of the common laborer. they are engaged in other employments. Some go into commerce. some into manufactures. some in the skilled trades. and most of them occupy other and different relations to the community than that which they. filled when they first came to this country. I had occasion to investigate this proposition in 1909 as chairman of the State commission on immigration. The fact was demonstrated that there was little that the recent immigrant did that interfered with the occupations or activities of the elder immigrant or the native American. The latter did work to which they were adapted. while the immigrant did such as the nativeborn American or the earlier immigrants would not do. Their tendency is to seek work which Is light and easy. which does not require much physical exertion. which calls more for mental adaptability than for muscular effort. That is the reason why our farms are today deserted by the sons of the native farmers. They throng to the cities and become bookkeepers. clerks. stenographers. salesmen. or perform other functions which do not involve severe manual labor. It Is the immigrant who has to take the place of the man who goes what is sometimes termed higher up. but which. unfortunately. frequently means going lower down. At all events. it is the actual fact. as to which a careful observer can easily convince himself. that the immigrant does that kind of work which has been abandoned. neglected. or given up by others. and which has been treated as beneath them by the native born and by those who constitute the earlier strain of Immigration. Again. our opponents say the immigrant lowers the rate of wages. he does not join the labor unions. he does not unite with other laborers or other workmen in his trade . he is a strike breaker. Now. is that the fact? Those who study the subject will find that it is not. but. on the contrary. that the recent Immigrant joins organized labor as quickly as he is admitted into its ranks. In the city of New York you will find that in almost every industry the recent immigrants have formed themselves into tradeunions. There are Hebrew tradeunions. Italian tradeunions. and those of other nationalities.