Speech #680076581

Latvia. and so forth. Instead of taking the census of 1920 now available. or even the census of 1910. the basis of the present law. There is no provision in our Constitution as to seniority by birth or naturalization . once you become a citizen your rights are equal. Then why should we give preference to those of the 1890 census as against those who are here and have the same rights and privileges legislating this present date. This basis was deliberately selected to favor the socalled Nordic races and to discriminate against the races of southeln and eastern Europe. which discrimination is a )erilous doctrine for democratic America. founded upon the Declaration of Independence that all men are created equal. I believe that there have come from the Nordic race. noble as it is. those whom they would not recognize as their children. and so with other countries celebrated for the noble characteristics of their race as a whole. Our country is still large enough geographically. politically. and socially to receive those immigrants knocking at our doors. whether of brain or brawn. who answer our moral. mental. and physical requirements. and who can contribute to our art. our science. our literature. our commerce. and our industry. We have acres enough. industries enough. mechanical and natural resources enough. and sources of credit enough to make out of this Nation the greatest nation on earth under our Constitution which gives us freedom and under our selfgovernment. under which it has its rise and growth. I realize the force of what has been said here by several gentlemen wilo are supporting the bill. that the first and the main obligation of an American. especially a Member of Congress. is to look out for the welfare of the American people. If the admission of Immigrants to this country. however it might ease conditions in Europe. would in the slightest degree imperil not merely the safety of our institutions but the prospects of employment for our own laborers. or of the prosperity of the American people as a whole. I would advocate not only lessening immigration but prohibiting it. But because I believe the immigrant wio cultivates our soil contributes to the welfare of the country as much. if not more. than he derives from it. I am opposed to discriminately restricting a force of benefit so important to our country. Our most developed industrial States are those which have had the largest immigration. Our most backward States. Industrially. are those which have had no Immigration to speak of. The extraordinary and unprecedented growth of the United States is undoubtedly due to the effect of Immigration. The States of the South pride themselves on keeping the foreigner from their territory. and yet it is a fact that their industrial progress has been slow. A new feature now confronts those States. The negro. to the number of 500.000. has migrated to the North to fill the places in factories. street jobs. and domestic places that have formerly been filled by the Immigrant. This migration of the negro can only mean a decrease in the population of the South. which will have the effect of reducing the representation of the South in Congress. The proponents of this bill repeat the exploded theory that there have been two periods of immigrationthe good period before 1890 and the bad period since that time. The strange feature in our history is that the greatest. progress we have made in industry. in science. and even in the last war. where no question was raised as to nationality. and everyone fought. wlether he happened to be a foreigner or an American. for the preservation of our institutions and the freedom of the entire world. has occurred since 1890. Immigration yields the incalculable advantage of affording means by which the skilled labor of the country can be employed. It Is true in some respects that the foreign laborer does displace the American laborer. but he displaces him by lifting him on his shoulders up to a higher plane of employment. where his wages are higher. his hours of labor shorter. and his conditions immeasurably improved. The claim that there has been a great influx of foreigners to come into this country since the war by the proponents of this bill is somewhat in error. For instance. take the year 1923. The total immigration for that year was 522.919215.397 female immigrants and 302.522 male immigrants. of which 46.241 were under 16 years of age. During the year of 1923 statistics show that 81.450 aliens left the United States and returned to their native countries. During that year 117.011 Canadians and 63.768 Mexicans crossed our borders and were classed as nonquota immigrants. I for one. Mr.