Speech #670341267

I believe the gentleman from Ohio- gave some very interesting figures of the total expense of taking care of undesirables in penal. charitable. and reformatory institutions. an expense which for aliens alone is roughly reckoned at some $25.000.000 annually. Let me call your attention to this point. which distinguishes th6 situation t the present moment. A year ago we had a law. the then 3 per cent quota law. which provided that aliens residing in adjacent islands must reside there a year before being admitted to the Uniled States. Under that provision ninny aliens came to Cuba and the West India Islands from all parts of the world expecting. no doubt. many of them. to live there for 6 year before trying to get into the United States. although most of them were looking for a chance to get in before the year expired. Immediately after that we extended that provision. naking it live years. so that those people who had banked up there. many. nany thousands of them. saw that they would have to remain there for five years before they could get into the United States legally. and the result is that there has been a regular bootleg trade in aliens from the West Indies to Florida and other parts of our coast.