Speech #640042971

Illiteracy is not a badge of bad character. nor is illiteracy ignorance. Illiteracy is a misfortune and any law that places a penalty on a person who has been so unfortunate as to be in such surroundings where he could not obtain an education is wrong and unjustly discriminatory. Let me quote to you what Judge Goodwin. of Chicago. who has heard some 10.000 naturalization cases. says of the literacy test. This statement was made before the Committee on Immigration last month: The supporters of the literacy test laid great emphasis on the desirability of excluding people from lcily and other southern countries. Let me say that in my belief those people. and particularly the more undesirable elements among them. will have no difficulty in getting over such a literacy hurdle as you propose. while people from countries which admittedly now furnish our most desirable immigrants would find it a matter of great difficulty. Furthermore literacy does not depend on character or worth. but on opportunity. As a test of desirability it is ridiculous. It can only be supported logically by those who wish to exclude as many is possible. and who do not care much whether they exclude the fit or the unfit. it does not seem to me that the mans literary accomplishment has anything more to do with his qualification to make a good citizen than the color of his hairfar less. because it is very hard to disguise the natural color of your hair.. but you can. in :r very short time. pass such a literacy test its Is suggested here. Mr. Chairman. for over a century our country has been heraided as the asylum for the oppressed of every land. For over a century we have naintained an opendoor policy. Immigrants have been coming to our shores singing the hymns of their native lands. and today they or their posterity are singing " My Country Tis of Thee." These men who came have builded homes. they have cleared the forests. they have plowed up our prairies. they have made our cities vast hives of industry. and when the very existence of our country was at stake our foreignborn population loyally r.esponded to the call to save the Union. Thousands of them gave up their lives that this Nation might live. No literacy test was applied to them. When they responded to the call of duty no one tested thiem as to whether or not they could read. Mr. Chairman. it is the claim of the. proponents of this bill that it will keep out tile undersirable immigrant. I do not know what is ineant by the term " undesirable immigrant." Is it contended for one moment that an undesirable imlnigrant is the one who can not read a few lines of some foreign language? Will the fact that an immigrant can reada few lines of a language foreign to our own make him desirable? I can not believe it. The more you analyze this literacy test the more ridiculous it appears. On the contrary. Mr. Chairman. I contend that a man who can pass your literacy test and can use his ability to read and write for bad and dangerous purposes. is a much more undesirable immigrant than a man who can not read and comes here willing to work to better his condition. The dangerous man is the one who can write a blackhand letter. plan a crime. aid such a man can pass your literacy test at any time. Let me quote to you what the Hon. Bourke Cockran. once a Member of this House. said before the Committee on Iumigration on January 21. 1916. on the phase of the question: Mr. Chairman. again the question occurs: What is it that constitutes a desirable Immigrant? Is it the capacity to read or the capacity to work? Is the evidence of desirability a calloused hand which shows familiarity with labor or a fluent tongue. even if It shows some familiarity with letters?