But in that day. g if one of these constitutional lawyers had stood before them t and said. "Now. here. does this mean that In 1929. when wve v are going to reapportion the United States. we shall take away v from the rural communities representation. in order that alien t population in the urban communities may have representa- q tion?" If anybody had presented that particular issue. what do a you think the sainted fathers would have said? b You know. I think. their reply would have been reminiscent of that which Secretary Manning is said tohave given during the days of Grover Cleveland. An Asiatic woman had given 1 birth to a little American citizen. and. coincident with the occur- I rence. she had been ordered deported from the country. and the t question arose as to whether they were going to send this I Asiatic woman away. tearing her babe from her breast. or whether they would let hei keep her babe. There was a very poignant discussion. and finally they said. "We will ask Manning." and Manning sent to this strict conformist in the immigration office in California five words. one of which I apologize in advance for using. He said to the strict conformist: " Dont be a damned fool." I have no doubt that while the fathers of the Constitution would not have been guilty of answering with such emphasis as that. their answer would have been somewhat reminiscent of that mood. which was the impatient mood of an Anierican citizen asked to solve in common sense a question which had been involved by legal technicalities. and John Marshallwho. as I say. knew these men. knew their qualifications. knew their meaning. knew what was fundamental in the Constitution. and why it bad been writtenrendered a decision not long afterwards in which the meaning of a controverted word was involved. and in that decision he said: It has also been said that the same words have not necessarily the same meaning attached to them when found In different parts of the sante instruneat. their meaning is controlled by the context. This Is undoubtedly true.
Keywords matched
deported Asiatic immigration