Speech #680080987

Howcould it operate with any degree of efficiency when Europe has made this country the dumping ground for its criminals. paupers. and other undesirable residents? How could a "melting pot" fuse all the various nationals when aliens were entering this country at the rate of 100.000 a month? I am not unmindful of the part the immigrant has played in the history of our country. All halil to the 400.000 aliens who served shouldbr to shoulder with Americas native sons in the recent World War. fighting valiantly and well under the Stars and Stripes. This country tbday has many examples of great success acquired by her naturalized sons and daughers whose lives exemplify patriotism and whose achievements are the result of their own hard work and studious effortS. Many have reached a place of leadership and importance in their communities. in their States. and in the Nation. With these foreign born the process of assimilation and Americanization was simple. as there was but one ideal and goal. the establishment and maintenance of our great Republic. Conditions in the United States- have always demanded not only restriction but selection abroad of our future residents. The need today is just as great as it was 80 years ago when the records of that time tell us "the paupers. the cripples. the lame. the blind. the diseased. and the idiots are being dumped on our shores." We must remember that America has prospered. not because of this class of immigrant but in spite of it. Too long has this Nation been an asylum for the undesirables of the Old World. For 100 years following the signing of the Declaration of Inde. pendence there were no restrictive immigration laws on our statute books. Then Congress awoke. It was discovered that criminals convicted in Europe were given the option of serving sentence or coming to the United States. and nine times out of ten they choose the latter. In 1882 the first restrictive immigration law was passed. which providedthat convicts. ltnatics. and idiots. and persons likely to become public charges could not be admitted. But the. tide of Immigration increased. flooding our country with unassimilated aliens. Our basic law of 1917 prohibiting the admission of the physical. the mental. and the moral unfit had little or no effect upon the numbers and the kind of immlgrants who came. A million and morea year was the average for the 10 years prior to the World War..