Speech #640069813

I withdraw the point of no quorum. I was about to say that I object to being placed in the picture painted by the gentleman from Ohio to be looked upon by this House as a Member who would oppose a policy that is essentially educational. I do not think that this literacy test is educational. although the last sentence indulged in by my friend from Ohio on Saturday is that this is an educational test. The literacy test is not an educational test. The term "education" covers a much broader -field than does the term " literacy." In looking up hurriedly the question as to whether these distinguished and scholarly sons of Brown. whom he named. ever favored a literacy test. I found certain information which I desire at this time to lay before the House. and incidentally disabuse the gentlemans mind of what he thinks might be the opinion of these gentlemen on the matter. Of course. Horace Mann lived a number of years ago. He was very distinguished. both in educational and philanthropic lines. An educational test of any nature. or a literacy test. would be a thing unthinkable in those days. as it ought to be at the present time. and one would not expect. therefore. that Horace Mann would have uttered any views on the subject. But in a lecture which he delivered in Portland on August 30 and 31. 1844. he gave the following definition of education. and it has an important bearing on this matter under discussion: I hardly need to say. that by the word " education." I mean much more than an ability to read. write. and keep common accounts. I comprehend under this noble word such a training of the body as shall build It up with robustness and vigor. enabling it to act. formatively upon the crude substances of nature--to turn a wilderness into cultivated fields. forests into ships. or quarries or clay pits into villages and cities. That definition comports exactly with the position taken by those who oppose the literacy test on this floor. Mr. Chairman. I also discovered that Dr. E. Benjamin Andrews. as late as 1913. said some very emphatic things concerning immigration on the phase of amalgamating our foreign born: The slow amalgamation of outlanders is not a national peril. Our citizenship from abroad is. in the main. good and the least likely part of it will become valuable with time. The Nations experience with Immigration hitherto is ground for hope. Speaking about the tendency of foreigners to flock together. President Andrews says: The superciliousness of Americans tends to make foreigners herd. Men whose fathers. grandfathers. or greatgrandfathers were themselves immigrants put on an air of superiority toward people landing yesterday. In many cases this nucleization among Americans of foreign origin Is harmless. Elsewhere. though showing a bad side. it Is so evanescent that no patriot need lose sleep over it. Immigrants. however ignorant. should be shown a sympathetic spirit. not avoided. scolded. or dealt with in a patronizing way. Present statutes excluding undesirable foreigners should be carried out with discrimination and in.good taith. Not a solitary word in favor of the literacy test.