Speech #700067039

Mr. Speaker. on the subject of immigration quotas on the basis of the national origins law that has been enacted by the Congress there are many serious objections that I wish to set out. At the time the law was passed no one knew ]how it would work nor how it would affect the stream of immigration to this country. Certain undesirables were coming to the United States. It was thought that this law would stop them. It was adopted hastily as a compromise in a difficult legislative situation. The policy of restricted immigration which we established in the act of 1920 was a new one for the Nation. It met with nuch opposition because of the many nationalities represented in our citizenship. It was based on the 1920 census. and permitted each nation to send to this country annually 3 per cent as many immigrants as there were people of that nationality living here as disclosed by that census. Before the passage of the 1920 act the United States was the haven for the oppressed of all nations of the world. This was the first quota law ever passed by Congress. but the countries of the Western Hemisphere were exempted from its provisions. The law did not work out when applied as its proponents hoped that it would. It admitted too few people from northern and western Europe and more from southern and eastern Europe than seemed desirable. As a result there have been strong protests against it from our great Northwest. The upper Mississippi Valley States were settled. for the most part. during the two decades following the War between the States. Immigration from northern Europe was heavy during that period. The rich agricultural lands offered by the Government as free homesteads appealed especially to the Scandinavian and German peoples. In some States over half the pioneer population was made up of these very desirable farmers. The need for this class of settler is just as keenly felt in some farming sections today. Not only would more liberal immigration quotas from the northern countries of Europe make farm help more plentiful and reduce the cost of production. but they would go a long way in solving the trend toward increased farm tenancy. Because of the unsatisfactory operation of the first quota law. both the friends and opponents of restricted immigration were anxious for some change. In 1924 a new quota bill was passed in the House. It cut the percentage to 2 per cent and was based on the 1890 census. This would have given the Nation the same strainofblood immigrants that it received during the period of our greatest growth and expansion. Under its provisions northern Europe would have been more favored. However. while the bill was under consideration in the other body of the Congress the "national origins" provision was proposed.