We are concerned in this country about our standards of citizenship. about our standards of living. about our standards of wages. about the general welfare of our people. We are undertaking this extraordinary legislation in the interest of the people of the United States. We must limit the flood of immigration that may come to this country. because it is the best place to live at this time. or .any other. because of its better conditions of employment and wages. because of its better opportunities for acquiring homes. because of its better opportunities for children to grow up under conditions that hold out hopeful futures. We must reserve what is here for the people of the United States who are here now. A period of two years limitation on immigration during the reconstruction of the world it seems to me is most timely. There are today. it is stated. in the neighborhood of 2.000.000 men without employment in the United States. Shall we add to these millions that are unemployed the thousands of immigrants that are on the way. the hundreds of thousands making preparations to come and the millions who are anxious to escape conditions in the Old World? It is said that there are today preparations being made in the Old World for from fifteen to eighteen million immigrants into the United States who would come within the next two years if they could. We can not assimilate large numbers of immigrants during this reconstruction period. We can not give them employment. we can not therefore permit them to enter without injuring the welfare of our country. without injuring the standards of our living. without injuring the employment of those who are here. without lowering our scale of wages. This we can not afford to do. In this period of reconstruction we shall not only have to limit immigration. but we shall have to limit by proper taxation the importation of a flood of the products of labor employed elsewhere in the world. in order to maintain our standards of living and our scale of wages in the United States. This will come at a later date. but it must come. So surely as we open our gates or keep them open to the flood of immigration that is anxious to come to the United States. just so surely will our standards of living. our scale of wages be reduced. And just so surely as a flood of immigration will bring down the scale of wages at this time. so will a flood of product importations now ready to be dumped into the United States. if not properly taxed for the privilege of coming into our market. reduce our standard of living and our scale of wages. We have today in this country the highest standard of living in the world and the highest scale of wages in the world. We have the best opportunities in the world. and for these reasons there are those from all countries who are anxious to come here to participate in the benefits to be found here. We must immediately take the steps that are necessary to maintain our standards of living and wages for the American people. and to maintain the opportunities that are here for the ambitious youth of our country. The only way that it can be done is by proper legislation excluding for a period the immigration that is ready to come in and by properly taxing the importations of such goods as may come into the country in competition with those produced here by the laborers of America. We have been able to serve the world and mankind because of the exceptional standards that we have established here. We have been able to do much for humanity that no other people could do.
Keywords matched
immigration immigrants