Speech #660160630

Sup.) California. Louisiana. and several other States enacted similar laws. but European shipping interests disregarded them and fought them ili the courts until tile United States Supreme Court. ill Ninetysecond United States. page 259. held theiln unconstitutional and left Congress as tle only Power to deal with this allimportant sul)ject. The history of the dealings of Congress with immigration is the record of difliculties causeti by slhipoNAXners. contractlabor importers. and other obstructions enbalrassing all efforts to protect tile country against iiicoiling climinals. prostitutes. paupers. and anarchists. Before 1820 no record was kept of immigration and no regulation of any kind was attempted. During the first 50 years after 1819 the Nation did nothing toward restriction. but did attempt to prohibit shipowners from crowding poor wretches together like hogs or cattle in the insanitary. inhuman manner practiced by them. which caused degradation. disease. and thousands of deaths among them. I read from volume 2 of the report of the United States Immigration Commission. page 589. which I cite as "I. C. R.": Prior to the year 1819 there were no United States laws governing or regulating ocean passenger traffic. * * * As a result abuses were permitted and practiced on transporting vessels that caused distress.. disease. and death. especially among immigrants bound for America. (2 I. C. 1.. 589.) Further. the fact that the protection given by the law* � * was inadequate. is shown by the gruesome records of the steerage experiences in those days. (2 I. C. R.. 591.) From the beginning of the movement of population from Europe to the New World suffering and death were common on immigrant ships. Among the earlier instances recorded was that of 3.000 Palatines forwarded * * $1 by England to New York. 470 of whom died on the voyage and 250 soon after their arrival of ship fever. There is also a gruesome account * * * of experiences on a ship which sailed in 1731 for America from Rotterdam with 156 immigrants. She was bound for Philadelphia via Falmouth. When she had been at sea eight weeks the passengers were put on short allowance. and during the last five weeks of their journey were unable to obtain bread. Finally they were paying 18 pence for a rat and 0 pence for a mouse. (2 I. C. 1.. 589.) Upon the increased demand for transportation to the United States following the close of the second war with England. many vessels which had originally been constructed solely for the purpose of transporting freight were hurriedly transposed Into emigrant ships. that they might enjoy some of the profits of a business that had become lucrative. This. with the fact that excessive overcrowding had been practiced on all vessels. rendered the condition of emIgraits at sea almost unbearable. (2 I. C. R.. 590.) The potato famine In Ireland occurred in 1847. and in consequence there was a great increase in emigration from that country. (2 1. C. R.. 591.) Faminestricken Ireland was false feverridden. * * * the disease was carried aboard ship. where in the overcrowded and poorly ventilated steerage quarters thousands died of ship fever and thousands more survived the voyage. only to die after landing. Thousands of Irish and other British emigrants died during the voyage to Canada. and at Grasse Island. near Quebec. where the Canadian quarantine station was located. as many as 7.000 emigrants perished from ship fever and cholera in 1847 alone. (2 I. C. R.. 592.) . In 1819 1847. and 1855 laws were passed by Congress to limit crowding and prevent the starving of immigrants. but these were opposed. avoided. and disregarded by the shipping concerns. The Immigration Commission says: It may well be questioned whether the condition surrounding the transportation of emigrant passengers had been improved by any of these laws. (2 1. C. R.. 593.) Slave ships. moved by human greed. brought wretched humans from Africa to sell into slavery in America. where they embroiled the country in years of strife. caused an awful war. and yet present a dangerous race problem. Immigrant ships. for gain. have all along been the chief offenders against America and against humanity. Many of them have been German. many have been British. and some have been American. Their desire for profits is now an embarrassment to the enactment of proper legislation and the enforcement of such as we have. The greed of steamship companies. the greed of cities. the greed of men in America who want to make money off of Immigrants. and the greed of those who want cheap labor is at the root of most of the difficulty in enacting and properly enforcing immigration laws. Each class of employers wants cheap labor. Some want tailors. others want railroad hands. many want factory hands. others. though comparatively few. want them for farm help. Some want Italians. some want Russians for mine work. some want Mexicans. mainly for railroad work. All these say. "Keep out undesirables." by which most of them mean the kind the other people want to worknot the kind they want to work. The acts of 1882 and 1885 excluded criminals. idiots. lunatics. persons liable to become a public charge. and contract laborers. In 1888 this House passed a resolution reciting that the law prohibiting the admission of contract laborers. paupers. and convicts was being etensively evaded. and authorized the ap-. pointment of a committee to investigate the subject. (2 I. C. R.. 569.) The committee found that thousands were unlawfully admitted every year. and that serious danger resulted. (2 I.