Speech #680083483

The important point. however. Mr. President. is that. whether the fault be upon our side or upon the side of the immigrant. the factand tile fact only that I desire to emphasizeis that precisely the condition I was attempting to describe exists. Mr. President. neither in my discussion nor in my thought of the question do I compare one race with another. much less one nation with another. I know that America always should strive as far as possible. consistently with its own best interest. first. to give no offense to any other nation. I know that it has been our policy from the first to have a decent regard for the opinions of mankind. and I am not considering. and in my thought of the immigration question I never have considered the question of the inferiority or the superiority of my own race or of any race. We can not shut our eyes to one fact. ]lowever. and that is that after 1890 the immigrants coming into the United States did establish their quarters. did live in their own districts. did establish their own institutions. did establish their newspaper presses. and in large measure set up conditions that tended to preserve the alienage which they brought into the country. It may be that we were very largely responsible for that. It may be that we are in very great measure responsible for that condition. but we can not remedy the character of our own people wholly. any more than we can control and remedy and reform the character of those people who come to us from other countries. So. Mr. President. just as this Nation 40 years ago declared exclusion against Chinese immigration and Mongolian immigration. and just as. today we have placed total exclusion against Japanese immigration. and upon the final ground that those races are nonassimilable. it seems to me that we must take into consideration the character of other peoples who come to us with reference to the very question of the ease or the difficulty with which we can assimilate them. That. Mr. President. is the basis upon which I shall vote on this question of immigration. That is the basic reason upon which I shall act. as nearly as I can make my vote represent my convictions. my vote on this question. Mr.