Speech #640067343

M.. and Ph. D.. all fairly earned and bestowed. yes. sir. this Irish father saw his four daughters complete with honor the educational course prdvided in one of the leading Roman Catholic academies in his adopted State. the Academy of Notre Dame. And yet. if this unjust literacy test had been the law of the land in his day and generation. America would have deprived that splendid man of the opportunity of making the contribution. which he at least tried to make. to the progress of this Republic. [Great applause.] Mr. Chairman. I have yet to hear from the advocates of this test a single word as to the reason why the illiterate immigrant has been deprived of an opportunity to get an education in the land of his birth. Oh. I recall the story of the Irish peasant in the old days of cruel British. oppression. His only schoolmaster was the priest of his church. who brought to the heartbroken sheep of his flock not only the consolation of religion but a smattering of letters that they might acquire at least a little knowledge of books and of men. A cruel oppressor forbade the giving of this instruction to the Irish peasant. And I recall reading the story of those sainted priests. hunted from mountain to valley. from valley to lake and river. yet still true to their duty and their God. giving up all for conscience sake. a price upon their heads. and. oh. very often gaining the martyrs crown. because. in the language of Newman. at the grave of his friend Wilberforce. "They had made fools of themselves for Christs sake." That is the story of the Irish immigrant of the last generation. Mr. Chairman. But how glad I am to say to you here in this Congress of the Un ited States that you can not reach the Irish immigrant of today with this bill. and it is not in his behalf I raise my voice in protest against its passage. I think of the unhappy and illiterate immigrant from the Russasthe son of Israel and the son of Polandoppressed. scourged. almost destroyed in spirit and in life. with no opportunity in his native land for either letters or religion. I think of the boy and the girl from the Province of Lithuania who begs admission to this free country. and I think of the sons and daughters of sunny Italythese are the children of the desert that your unfair. unreasonable. unAmerican. unChristian. inhuman test seeks to stop from entering within our gates. If any man within the sound of my voice ere dreamed the Irish immigrant. in this year of our Lord. is not the peer In learning of your average native son let him awake to realize that when the Irish youth knocks at the door of Ellis Island or enters the port of Boston he comes. sir. almost ready and more than willing to try your examination for a bachelor of arts. [Longcontinued applause.] Mr. Chairman. I have made no reference during this discussion to that phase of the controversy just touched on by my good friend from New Jersey .