Speech #710181483

When we were discussing the question of eliminating aliens from the total count for the purpose of representationand I believe many Senators on this side of the aisle favored that position-:-the facts were brought out here as to the number of aliens residing in this country and who had been residing in this country who are counted not only for the purposes of the census but for the purposes of representation. In the 1920 census thousands upon thousands of foreigners were counted. and their nationality was noted for the purpose of arriving at what we call the nationalorigins basis. when prior to 1890 we had a comparative few of them. It is a wellknown fact that the people from southern and eastern Europe are not. as anxious to obtain and are not as prompt in obtaining citizen-. ship in the United States as are immigrants from northern and western Europe. who come here primarily for the purpose of becoming American citizens. and not primarily for the purpose of earning money in order that they may go back to their homes or bring their people here. or for the purpose of escaping persecution and one thing and another. That is the fact. and that is the reason the 1920 census was insisted upon and finally adopted instead of the census of 1890.