Speech #680076565

Discrimination against those already here does much more to "breed racial hatreds" than anything else. If we desire assimilation. we must treat all alike. There is another reason advanced for limiting Immigration numerically. and that is to protect our own workingmen from abnormal competition from foreign countries. for example. when there is a general industrialdepression in foreign countries. such as exists in some European countries today. there are likely to come into our country unusually large numbers of foreign laborers. a great many of them coming for a short time only. who come here for the purpose of making a living In competition with our own people. with the result that the standard of living of our own workers. who have built up this country. is temporarily. if not permanently. impaired by this abnormal competition. The committee has not discussed this phase of the question. and I simply call attention to it. as I believe it is the reason why a large number of national organizations have filed petitions with the committee registering their approval of this bill. I believe their reasoning is sound. but they are not interested in the question whether we adopt the census of 1890 or the census of 1910 as the basis of figuring the quotas. but favor some limitation on immigration and indorse the Johnson bill. as it is the only immigration bill before the House. Now. let us see who the people are that are discriminated against by this bill. I happen to come from a State which has next to the largest foreignborn population of any State in the Union. Twentyeight and seventenths per cent of our total population is foreign born and probably about onehalf of thJ population is foreign born or born of foreign parents. As a result I have had an opportunity to observe intimately the Americanization of our foreignborn population and what they have done in the way of becoming assimilated and how they have adapted themselves to our industrial. social. and political life. One of the countries which would be most severely discriminated against by going back to the census of 1890 for our quota basis is Italy.