Mr. Chairman. during the decade inmnediately preceding the outbreak of the European war there came to our shores. with the momentum of an irresistible army. an average of more than ten hundred thousand immigrants every year. Of this mighty influx of humanity more than 25 per cent could neither read nor write. In order to prevent the future coming of untold millions of unlettered foreigners to this country. and to avert the long train of evils that would inevitably follow in their wake. it is proposed to enact the literacy test of the pending measure into law. That test is the storn center of the bill. It simply provides that as a condition precedent to admission the immigrant shall be able to read not less than 30 words in ordinary use. printed in plainly legible type. and in a language designated by the immigrant himself. It appears from evidence of record. and with which all the Members of this body are familiar. that the opposition to the passage of a bill containing the literacy test has been fathered and financed by the Shipping Trust that fattens on the fares paid by the immigrants for transportation. and by various other trusts that employ these helpless and unhappy people for wages at which the American standard of living can not possibly be maintained. There are many sufficient reasons for passing this bill. but brevity of time permits me to specify but a few. The competition of immigrant labor with our own has become so pernicious and notorious that employment brokers brazenly offer to furnish foreign laborers of any nationality. in any number and in any State. for wages lower than those paid to workmen who are native born. The effect of such a competitive system as this is to swell the army of the unemployed with those of our own flesh and blood. We spend $500.000.000 annually for education.
Identified stereotypes
Generalization about unlettered foreigners and the evils they bring.