Many men base their conclusions upon what they believe to be substantial grounds. I have no fault to find with that. This idea was embodied in a bill that was suggested by the Senator from Vermont . upon the theory that by fixing upon this basis of 3 per cent. according to the number of aliens of any nationality who may be admitted under the immigration laws into the United States in any fiscal year. we would in that instance. because the census would reveal it. obtain that class of immigrants that would come from western and northern European countries. in other words. that perhaps more would come of the desirable class under this proposition than if no linitation on a percentage basis was fixed. like this. The Senator is well aware that in the last few years most of the immigrants have come from eastern Europe and southern Europe. In those countries over there the greatest desire upon the part of those people is to come here. They have not come in such numbers from the Scandinavian countries. from the Netherlands. and from western European countries. but under the basis of 3 per cent. as estimated. there can come annually from Belgium. for instance. 1.482. from the United Kingdom. 77.206-. from Sweden. 1.9.956. from Germany. 75.040. from Denmark. 5.449. and so on. I will not read the whole list. Under the same plan there may come from Italy 40.294 and from Turkey in Asia 1.792. Under the old plan the facts reveal that far more than half of all the immigrants that came into this country came from those countries where we believed the most undesirable immigraits came from. The figures as to the number who have come to the United States from 1908 to 1914 are as follows: 1908 ---------------------------------------1.782.870 1909- ----------------------------------------- 751.786 1910 ---------------------------- 7 ------------------ 1. 041. 570 1911 ---------------------------------------- 78. 587 1912 ------------------------------------------------ 88. 172 1913 ------------------------------------------------- 1. 197. 892 Nineteen hundred and fourteen. the normal year before the war. 1.218.000 came over. But under the 3 per cent basis in this bill only 352.000 can conie in.
Identified stereotypes
The speaker implies that immigrants from Western and Northern Europe are more desirable than those from Eastern and Southern Europe.