Speech #630424065

Thousands of them have braved the most terrifying dangers of sea and land seeking a home and a better life on this new continent. The Government which you men on that side and we oL this side today enjoy was conceived in liberty and dedicated to the cardinal principles of equality and unrestricted opportunity to all men. For more than a century our Cohstitution. our lawa. and our people have invited and welcomed immigrants to our shores. The unceasing tide of immigration that has flowed from Europe into this Nation for a hundred years has never endangered or menaced its stability. On the contrary. it has enabled us to bring forth to the world out of a wilderness of forests. prairies. and mountains and Irmly establish on this continent a Nation incomparably richer in material wealth and richer in the happiness. the contentment. and the political and religious freedom of its people than any nation the hand of God has ever blessed. * With this record of national development and achievement before us under a distinctly American immigration policy. a policy older. on this continent than the Nation itself. the proponents of this bill aim to overturn this policy and adopt instead a y policy of rigid restriction and exclusion which. in its operation. will debar from admission to this country a large number of poor and unfortunate. honest. healthy European immigrants and will not at all tend to keep out the educated gambler. society crook. or common rascal who. as an Immigrant. comes to us to live by his wiles and his wits and to become an addition to the already large number of parasites feeding off the toil and labor of our honest working class. The thought impresses me that it would be a very great mistake to now place an embargo on willing hands and brawny muscles. Would It not be much better to increase the efficiency of our existing methods and machinery for distributing arriving aliens so that they might readily reach our vast and scattered demands? Some of the gentlemen from the South. representing States where the good red blood of honest. healthy European immigration Is strikingly conspicuous by its absence and where the greatest illiteracy among native white citizens in this country is to be found. who are most eager for and insistent upon the enactment of this legislation. recall to my mind two pictures I have seen. The first Is that of a large lifeboat containing a .few apparently wellcaredfor and wellgroomed professional men. business men. and officers struggling in the billowy waters of the sea. Surrounding the lifeboat are a few poor sailors. with tearful eyes -uplifted. beseeching safety in the lifeboat.