Mr. Speaker. where stands the President of the United States tonight? The literacy test is not a test of character. of quality. or personal fitnesS. but would operate in most cases merely as a penalty for lack of opportunity in the country from which the alien seeking admission came. Our experience in the past has not been that the illiterate is. as such. an undesirable immigrant. That is where the great President of the United States stands. and I would like to see the gentleman from Alabama stand -with him. He seemls to forget that only the other day his ancestors and those of his colleagues were aliens. They came from England and France. from Ireland and Scotland. from Germany and Russia. from Italy and Poland. and though that great stream of fresh and revivifying blood has ceased to flow into the South. it still comes to us in the North and helps to renew the energies and the courage of our people. Yes. the immigrant has come by the millions into the North. Wherever he has gone schools have sprung up. industries have flourished. trade has increased. prosperity has bloomed. and patriotism. peace. law. order. intelligence. and happiness follow in his footsteps. This constant addition of new men and new blood to the Republic is as necessary for the health and refreshment. the expansion and continuance of civilization and all it means today as always. Immigration. the advent of new men. new blood. new brains and brawn in our land. is not a question of philanthropy for America. it is a. matterof life or death. for the nation that seeks to arrest or stifle the natural laws of life and movement must eventually pay the penalty of lawlessness in stagnation and arrested growth. In my judgment immigration is power and wealth for the land which draws it. and only national perversity and. legislative stupidity will deprive us of its blessings. May I at this time call the attention of the House to a very few of the many messages that have come to me on this question? I have had hundreds of similar letters and telegrams: Nzw YoaK.
Keywords matched
immigrant Immigration immigration undesirable immigrant literacy test