Speech #690145691

Mr. Speaker. the words "immigration" and "naturalization " are closely related. The relationship is so close that any extensive consideration of one will inevitably involve the other. Section 8 of Article I of the Constitution of the United States provides that Congress shall have power "to establish a uniform rule of naturalization." There is no mention of immigration in the Constitution. When the Constitution was adopted. immigration was encouraged. At that time the United States of America was to the whole world a land of freedom. From its very beginning our country held out the welcoming hand to all persons who sought refuge from oppression and who loved liberty. From the beginning our country was "bright with freedoms holy light." From the beginning ours it was to "proclaim liberty throughout the land and to all the inhabitants thereof." Under this policy and influence our Nation grew as the constant streams of immigrants poured into our ports. Under the provisions of the Constitution. Congress. early in the history of the country. provided a plan for the naturalization of aliens. The chance to become a citizen of this great free Republic was gladly accepted hy the best immigrants. Many. however. failed to take advantage of the laws providing for naturalization. Of those who failed a goodly proportion were of the undesirable class. In spite of this. and because our population was scarce and our domain was wide. it still remained our national policy for many years to welcome all classes of immigrants and to offer them a partnership in the great Republic builded upon the pirincile that " all men are created free and equal" and guaranteeing to all men the enjoyment and security of their inalienable rights as human beings. In the beginning the immigrants who came were largely of the same class that had wrung freedom for the colonies from the oppression of the mother country. These immigrants were thoroughly in sympathy with the ideals of the new Republic. As time went oil the class and chaacter of immigrants changed so that immigration from northern Europe was supplanted largely by immigration from southern Europe and from countries whose form of government was not in accord with our form of government and whose people were not in sympathy with our ideals. For many years the hot fires of patriotism and Americanism melted the dross from the gold in the lives of immigrants and turned many into good citizens. Liberty was a priceless jewel to these immigrants for many years. and the fear of the loss of it caused them to hold on to it with great tenacity. But as time went on a great change was wrought. People in northern Europe began to demand a fuller measure of freedon and liberty for themselves in their own countries and they secured the same. Living conditions therefore became more tolerable in those countries and fewer people emigrated to America. The conditions in southern Europe. however. were more backward. and the ruling powers of the governments were more despotic and did not respond as readily to the ideals of liberty ainl justice as did the people of northern Europe. and the immigration from southern Europe continued in constant and ever increasing streams. This great inundating wave of immigration reached its crest in 1907 when the number from all countries arriving at our ports was 1.285.349. This peak was reached by a steady climb from 1820. which is the date of the first authentic statistics on immigration. The growth in immigration is shown Iby the following table of figures taken at random from the statistics put out by the Immigration Bureau of our Government. showing the number of hrrivals in each of the following years: 1820 ----------------- 8.385 1914 ---------- 1. 218. 480 1840 ----------------- 84. 06 192. ---------- 805. 228 1854 -----------------427. 833 1923------------- 522. 919 1873 --------------- 459. 803 1 924-- ------------ 0. 8096 1881 -----------------669.431 1925 -----------------294. 314 1907 ---------------- 1. 285. 349 Our country is a recognized leader of all the countries of the world in many respects. and while its products of various kinds excel and exceed those of any other country ill the world. still there is no question but that the greatest product of this ].0870