Does this generation of Americans hold in trust -the natural resources of our common country for the benefit of their own children or chiefly in behalf of the descendants of aliens? Such questions may suggest racial and notional selfishness. but it is only by giving thought to the future that we can assure a fair field of endeavor and an unspoiled country to the Americans who will follow after us. The fact that this measure merely proposes to dam the flood of immigration for two years shows that further legislation must be enacted. Let us hope that this breathing spell will be ample in which to devise a plan which will not only rigidly limit the volume of immigration but also enable us to select the kind of immigrants who can be most readily assimilated. The disloyalty of many aliens during the war and the startling disclosure of ignorance of both our language and our institutions among the foreign born called in the selective draft have aroused the American people to the necessity for a closer scrutiny of those who would come from abroad to live permanently among us. The pending bill meets an insistent and wellfounded demand for immediate action. and its prompt passage is therefore fully justified. In only one particular do I disagree with the conclusions reached by the Committee on Immigration. In my opinion they have not clearly drawn the distinction between the temporary admission of seasonal agricultural laborers and those who desire to permanently remain in the United States and engage in every kind and character of occupation. Certainly it ought not to be difficult to see that one who remains in this country for a few months each year to assist in harvesting the crops should be given a different status than another who wants to stay here indefinitely and enjoy all the rights and privileges of an American citizen.
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Many aliens showed disloyalty during the war and ignorance of our language and institutions.