Speech #640069656

I move to strike out the last two words. The fact is that the inspection at Ellis Island is superficial.in appearance only. It is true that a tremendously long line of immigrants go through the lines with the greatest rapidity. the physicians standing on each side. These doctors are wonderfully expert. because they have been at this work for years. Whenever they see a man comingalong about whom there is the least doubt they chalk him as he goes by. and that means that the man must be subjected to a special examination. One of the physicians makes a specialty of examining for favus and the other for trachoma. Those immigrants who are chalked have a thorough examination. and the others have only a casual examination. as has been said. The gentleman from New York has told what .happened when the authorities tried an experiment to find out whether in reality the casual examination was too superficial. The doctors took 10.000 men. stripped them. and found that the results of the examination of these 10.000 men were practically the same as the results obtained from subjecting 10.000 men to the usual examination which I have described. . As to the question Of examining into a mans character in deference to the agitation over that matter. we inserted in the immigration bill a few years ago a provision that when a man came out to this country from any nation which issues what are known as " penal sheets." lie must produce his penal sheet. In other words. if an immigrant came from Italy. for instance. where every man has a record given him showing whether lie has committed any crimes or not. we provided that when lie got here that man must present his penal sheet for examination. What happened? That provision was fought tooth and nail in this House and was almost beaten. It actually was beaten in the Senate. and it nearly wrecked the whole bill. Why? Because gemtlemen got up in this House and in the Senate and told how Russia and some other countries. which are supposed to entertain a hatred for certain classes of their own people. would refuse to give immigrants these penal sheets or would give them false penal sheets for the express purpose of tyrannizing over them or preventing their emigration. The result of our attempt to. satisfy the demands of those gentlemen who insist on our scrutinizing the moral characters of immigrants was that we almost wrecked our bill.