Speech #680081371

Out of the 48 States in the Union only 2. Connecticut and IRhode Island. have failed to approve of that amendment. and the State of New York after having ratified it passed an act refusing as a State to enforce it. and in these 3 States it will be seen there is the greatest number of foreignborn population inl the Union. In New York the percentage of foreign born is 53.4. Most of the arguments against this bill have been made by gentlemen from the State of New York. They seem to intimate that crime and illiteracy in proportion is as great in the State of Kentucky. with a negligible per cent of foreign born. as in New York. with its more than 50 per cent foreign born. While educ.ttion Is the greatest of mans advantages. to be acquired if necessary by great sacrifice. to be treisured as a priceless gift: in preference to riches or power. yet by no means Is it the only test of worth. It is second to duty and Inferior to honor. The Ignorant. hardworking. honest immigrant is to be preferred to the educated. scheming. conspiring Bolshevist. spreading propaganda of discord and anarchy. One. though illiterate. is preferable to one who enters to destroy the Constitution. and. when discovered and arraigned. is the first to claim its protection. Likewise. the remote. uneducated tiller of the soil in my native State has a sense of duty and of honor and of patriotism more valuable to both his God and his country than he who uses his education simply for detriment to the peace and wellbeing of his fellow man.