Speech #680201650

The -bill then went to the Senate. and Senator Lodge. chairman of the Committee on Foreign fRelations of the Senate. secured the adoption of an amendment raising the fee to $10. or $1 for the application and i.9 for the vis6. and the House concurred in that amendni! i t. Now what was tlme effect of that amendment? At that time large1 -umbers of immigrants were coming to the United States. and for the first year of that laws operation It brought into the Treasury of the United States. as I now recall it. more than $5.000.000 that had never before been received from that source. At the present time. with the decreased volume of immigration. the vis6 law today brings in $3.700.000 annually. My duty will be discharged when I tell you the facts. and then it will be your duty to say whether or not you want to cut off some of that revenue and give it to those who are traveling in Europe either for their pleasure or their profit. I repeat. at the present time this bill is bringing in $3.700.000 annually. Why? Because it applies not only to aliens. but to.all travelers coming to the United States. The framers of this bill said to themselves: "This House will never stand for removing the fee In the case of immigrants. This House would not stand for the loss of that money to the Treasury." What do they propose to do? The commercial Interests. represented by the United States Chamber of Commerce. and other organizations want their representatives in Europe to be saved the payment of visC fees. So what do they propose to do? They propose to authorize the President to negotiate with foreign governments and say" to foreign governments: "If you will reduce the vis6 fees of our travelers abroad. we in turn. shall reduce our fees." not on immigrants but on travelers for profit or pleasure to the United States. This bills effect is confined to the reduction of the revenue now derived from the visdlng of passports of travelers for pleasure and profit. and that revenue is now putting into the Treasury of the United States the sum of $687.000 annually. There are 100.000.000 and more people residing in the United States who never go to Europe. and there are 121.000 people in the United States who do go to Europe each year. or did last year.