Speech #680076256

Tenn.. possessing the lowest foreign population of any city in this country. had the highest murder record for years. Memphis has a population of 175.000 souls and in the last year there were 113 murders. Put Doctor Hoffman continnes. and he is not discussing Immigration inl the speech to which I refer. by the way. and says that in Boston. New York. and Philadelphia. where the Immigration population is abundant and cosmopolitan. the murder rates are relatively low when local conditions are borne in mind. Is there a man in this House who ever dreamed that stch a murder rate as existed in Memphis las.t year could possibly exist in a city which boasts It has few. if any. immigrants among fts people? I do not speak offensively. but simply to give the House information which has just come under my observation. Of course. It is true that many immigrants do not absorb the spirit of American democracy as we understand it. yet their children and grandchildren become oftentimes better and more loyal Americans than those whose ancestors came over on the Mayflower. or soon thereafter. Let us not forget that history writes in large letters that the beginning of the decline and decadence of a nation starts when the bars are set against alien blood. and a doctrine of " selfcentered complacency" is established. I can not too strongly emphasize that I most heartily agree with all of those who say that the physically unfit. the mental Incompetents. and those of extremely radical minds must be kept out of this Republic. Yet I believe that this country is so large that there is still plenty of room for all kinds of good people. Whatever policy is to be pursued with reference to immigration. be it 3 per cent. 2 per cent. or even less. it should be one that would fairly and equitably affect the American people as they are today. Our civilization here is a civilization of fusion to which every nation from every corner of the earth has given Its share. The Immigrants of yesterday helped to make the America of today. and the foreign tongue and the strange garb of the newcomer is only the outward shell of a spirit that loves liberty. that loves America. law. and order. and work. The attitude toward immigration on the part of many seems to be predicated on religious and racial antipathiesagain a terrible legacy of the Great War. I am advised that the political machine which controls legislation in this body has decided that this bill shall pass. Therefore I make an appeal to some of my good friends on the Democratic side of the House who hitherto have stood shoulder to shoulder with the Republican restrictionists. and what I say to my colleagues over here I say in all kindliness.