Speech #630386037

Much commendation has recently been accorded to the socalled protocol by which the notable strike of the cloak makers was settled In 1910. and by .means of which that industry has been practically standardized. Having been the mediator who brought about the settlement of that strike. and having had much to do .with the framing of that protocol. modesty forbids me to enlarge upon this subject. I merely wish to show that here was an industry in which 70.000 tailors were engaged. who almost to a man and to a woman were recent immigrants. None of them had been in this country as many as 20 years. most of them had been here for less than 10 years. and yet they all united for the purpose of creating a new method for the determlnation of industrial disputes with their employers. and succeeded in evolving a plan for dealing with labor problems which was up to that time unique and which has since been adopted In many other Industries. thus marking the advent of a new era in the relations of em ployer and employed. I would stop here but for the fact that I wish to say- a few words with regard to the novel idea which Senator DILLINGIHAi has recently evolved with respect to the restriction of immigration. He has confessed In his argument here that he does not consider the illiteracy test an ideal. one. he does not even argue that it is a proper one or one based upon reason. He seems to say with entire frankness: "We arc admitting too many immigrants. There should be some way of cutting down the number. Therefore we propose to adopt this for want of a better test. that will at least reduce the number of Immigrants of certain nationalities probably to twothirds of what it is today." But he adds. "I have invented another test which. perhaps. is better than the Illiteracy testthe pecentage test. Let us provide that there shall not be admitted in any year more than what shall be equal to 10 per cent of the number of each of the several nationalities now constituting a part of our population. In other words. if there are 1.000.000 Irishmen in this country we will not hereafter admit more than 100.000 Irishmen in any year. if there are 2.000.000 Germans. we will annually admit 200.000 Germans. if there are 100.000 Russians. we will admit 10.000. and so on." Nothing could be more arbitrary than such a regulation. Our immigration laws would be based on a mere accident. not on the physicl moral. or intellectual qulties of him or her who now seeks admassion. but on the circumstance that others of the same nationality have in the past come in large or email numbers. The rule is not based npon the numbers who may have come from those countries in the precedlag yea st. but upon the numbers that have come in years gone by. whether such immigrants were individually good. bad. or indifferent. Hence 1914.. those coming from the lands of tie. cider immigration would unqf&e6tionably be admitted. because their precursors have been numerous. and Immigration from those sources has in recent years grown smaller. while the immigration from lands whence the largest numbers now come would be greatly decreased. The effect would be that not so many Englishmen or Irishmen or Germans would be coming to this country as would equal the 10 per cent allotment to which they would be entitled. Today fewer Irishmen come than formerly. because the days of home rule are near.