Speech #640066335

Daniel Webster. and Simon Bolivqr as he passes along the great thoroughfare and through Central Park. le crosses New Jersey and in every direction he sees points closely associated with the conflicts of the Revolution. Then. upon arriving in Philadelphia. he walks in the shadow of Indepenidence Hall and is within 20 miles of Valley Forge where the snows were reddened with the blood of Continental patriots. But this picture is all moonshine so .far as the immigrant of today is concerned. The men who come here today. or most of them. have no comprehension of what all this meansthese glorious heritages. these memories of a divine struggle. this test. and successful test. of mans ability to operate a representative government. And it seems that many. at least. do not wish to know. for- the commissioners report shows that more than 40 per cent of those who do come go back and annually take with them $350.000.000 of our good gold. which is gone forever. The kind of immigrants we want now are the sort who will .become producers. those who will produce the things which sustain human life. While they consume little. yet what they do consume helps raise the price of what you and I must have to maintain an existence and suppoirt our Government. The colonization of many of these immigrants in our great cities is the bane of our land. Assimilation is our only hope. but too many come for that. and there must be restriction. .Certainly. if a foreigner is not sufficiently anxious to come to be stimulated to the trouble of learning to write.is own name. then lie should not be allowed to enter. and if he is mentally incapable of learning. then he is an undesirable and unfit to enjoy the protection of a government even as paternal as this one In some of the Southern States before a colored man is allowed to vote he must not only be able to read the Constitution but to explain it. In addition to this. in some cases he must pay from $1.75 to. $2.50 poll tax to enable him to be registered.