Speech #680076976

Mr. President. I find it necessary to be away from Washington the next two days. and I assume that a final vote on the pending bill. the immigration bill. will be reached before the expiration of that period. I wnt to speak very briefly on the bill. and present my personal views and convictions as to the duty of the country as I see it. I was very much impressed with the statement of the Senator fron Rhode Island . the chairman of the Senate Committee on Immigration. in pening the debate on the bill a few days ago. wheni. as I. recall tie figures of population he prosented. at the present time there were approximately 12.000.000 foreign born in this country. and again. that they were approximately about evenly divided--6.000.000 representing in their ancestry the southern part of Europe and 6.000.000 the northern or northwestern section of Europe. It appeals to me very strongly. il view of that fact. that It is our first duty to encourage in every possible way all the 12.000.000. without distinction or discrimination. to become American citizens. to recognize our institutions. our ambitions. our policies. aiid to become a part of them. It appeals to me that in going hack to 1890. as proposed in one of the bills. we are not reducing immigration. but we are deliberately demonstrating to a large proportion of that foreignborn population. to at least 6.000.000 of them. or 50 per cent. that they are undesirable citizens. that we do not want any more from their section of Europe. or. at least. that we want to cut down to a minimum the numbers of those wio are to be accepted in tie future. We go back 30 years in order to make that deliberate discrimination. If I recall correctly. the argument used by the Senator from Rhode Island . a very small proportion of that 6.000.000 have as yet become citizens of the United States. or. in other words. have been naturalized. It certainly is not encouraging those who have not become naturalized to make any effort to prepare themselves for citizenship. to accept our viewpointand when I use the word "viewpoint" I mean to broaden it from every direction representing American principleswhen we tell them that hereafter their relatives or the nationals of their particular countries are not acceptable even as immigrants. much less as naturalized citizens. The main question. as I view it. Is the absolute necessity of limiting immigration. With that I am in hearty agreement. I think the situation as presented at. the present moment demands that we reduce and limit immigration within very narrow margins. but in limiting immigraton I can not subscribe to what seems to le a deliberate effort to unfairly discriminate. After all is said and done. there is just one solution of the Immigration prablem after we have agreed upon a proper reduction and limitation. Of course. I realize that phase of the problem has been discussed many times. but we must continue discussing it until we solve it. and that is a proper selective system at the source.