Speech #640196220

Mr. President. in attempting to serve humanity we have pursued an ignis fatuus. we have harmed the child Instead of helped It. I gave notice at one time that I should offer the immigration bill as an amendment to the childlabor bill. and a distinguished Senator upon the floor. who Is absent now. and the newspapers of the country. to a considerable extent. and especially those who were greatly engrossed in the childlabor legislation. said that there was no kith or kin between these two measures and they should not be In any way embarrassed one by the other. Is there no relationship between the child in the factory under adverse circumstances and the child who returns home and Is turned upon the streets to vagrancy and incipient crime by reason of the fact that Its father or its mother may have been reduced in wage by the severer competition which is sure to follow. or even displaced entirely? While I have the utmost sympathy and consideration for the child working In the factory under conditions which may arrest its development and unfit it for citizenship. as between the child in those conditions and the child living upon the streets to the point of vagrancy I have more profound sympathy for the latter. But. Mr. President. there are some influences which are being exerted against the Immigration bill which were not exerted against the childlabor bill. The evils of child labor were said to be confined to five or six States. It is easy. Mr. President. to make an ostentatious display of your humanitarianism when It Is at the expense of somebody across the line. But this immigration bill. sir. has Its opposition more disseminated throughout the entire country. It affects powerful interests.. it affects those who make large contributions to campaign funds. it affects powerful interests in every part of the country. and. therefore. we hesitate and halt in the protection of the mother and the father while we parade our humanitarianism by taking care of the child. I say. sir. we shall have acted the part of hypocrites If we take that child from the factory. unwholesome and dangerous as Its surroundings may be. and turn it upon the �treet to beg or steal because we have failed to protect the workmans home.