Speech #680084583

They do say that the Secretary of Agriculture has greater facility in that direction than the Senator from Minnesota. but perhaps in that I am not properly advised. The farmer must be a mechanic. he must be a carpenter. he must be a blacksmith. he must be an electrician. he must be a horticulturist. he must be a veterinarian. he must be a bacteriologist. he must be a chemist. with a knowledge of soils and of the air. If there is any man in the world who is skilled. it is the farmer. and so it seemed to me that the present administration was very shortsighted in failing to recognize the superior qualities of the farmer. and permit under the skilledlabor clause of the present immigration law the admission of farmers. It has refused to do that very thing. If the Senator from North Carolina were here. I should point out to him further how it would be possible. under a proper allocation of those who come to this country. to have in the South all the labor necessary to take care of the cotton fields. Mr. President. why should 87 per cent of all the immigration of the United States come through the port of New York? It is absurd to have it so. We should have an allocation of the persons coming to America with reference to their industrial preparedness. If they have had training in agriculture. let them be sent to Savannah or Galveston. or some other point contiguous to the.soil. Then the problkm of the South would be solved. As the Senator from North Carolina pointed out. it is possible to have all the labor necessary for the cotton fields without any change in the quota law. That can bie done either by the adoption of his amendment or by proper allocation of those who come to the United States. I am myself fixed in the belief that no person. under any law. should be permitted to leave Europe for a permanent residence in the United Statts unless he is in possession of all the qualifications. mental. moral. and physical. which we should demand in raising a proper standard of citizenship in this country. I believe that under the operation of this bill. if it is enacted into law. with the percentage based on the census of 1910. and with the other wise provisions of the bill. there will be proper guarding of the country. Who are these persons who are coming. this very restricted number. under the provisions of any or all of the proposed Immigration laws? Who are they? They are largely the fireside friends and relatives of persons now here.