If we are .charged with being selfish in passing this !bill. we shall remind those who make the charge that while our action may prove an immediate hardship to the illiterate foreigner. it will ultimately reveal itself. -even to him. as a blessing in zdisguise. For when the peasants of Europe know that they can -not come into the United States until they have learned to read some language. then schoolhouses will be built as if by magic in every community from the sterile steppes of Russia to the fertile valleys of the Tiber -and the Po. Teachers will be multiplied and elementary education will become the birthright of every child. and ignorance. even in the most -benighted province .of Europe. will be no more. -B By passing this bill we shall place a new value on American citizenship. we shall protect the American laborer. secure the American standard of wages. and preserve the American ideal -of civilization. we shall make it impossible for any immigrant to -enter here in the future until he is .able to read at least 30 words in the Holy Bible and understand the lines: My country. tis of thee. Sweet land of liberty. -Of thee I sing.
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immigrant