Oh. the man that comes to plunder and the blackhander are refined gentlemen. They can speak. as a rule. several languages. There are several of us in the House who. if the literacy test had been applied when our forebears came here. would not be here in this country today. Why should we grow proud? Go down here to Lafayette Square and look at the monuments erected there. to Lafayette. to Rochambeau. to Kosciusko. to Steuben. and then one in front of tle National Theater to Pulaski. who helped us gain our independence. Mr. Speaker. I do not desire to abuse any portion of our citizens. but I can not understand why it is that that portion of our citizenship which comes from the South. with a large. coldred population. desire to exclude this immigration. The farmers boys. the tradesmens boys. the business mens boys in the country are not doing common labor. Nay. nay. They do not go into the mines. they do not go upon the public works. they do not tamp the ties. Much of that. work. and the raising of cotton and the work upon the railways down South is done by the African. but let me tell you that with the cessation of immigration during the present war from the other side of the ocean. we are feeling very sadly the loss of people for common labor. There was much talk--and it was pure campaign talkabout the negroes coming north to vote the Republican ticket. and all that kind of stuff. Those negroes were coining north to labor. because they got a better wage than they got down South.
Keywords matched
literacy test immigration