Mr. President. when we were a debtor nation. which I will be able to disclose in the paragraphs which are to follow. If we are going to pursue any such policy. it would be better to abandon our immigration restrictions and let these foreign people in here. and raise them from their low standard of living to our higher standards. than to lower our own by letting in a flood of goods. it would be better to abandon our merchant marine. which would be equal to the service charges on a large share of these foreign debts. and return to the policy of paying freight and insurance to foreign nationals. thus furnishing them the money with which to pay their service charges on their debts. I favor neither of these methods. however. There are other methods of taking care of the service charges on our foreign investments than the one proposed of stimulating imports. which is synonymous with lowering our prices. thus ruining our farmers. lowering wages. and leading to vast unemployment. But I do not favor any of the methods suggestedlowered tariffs. trading off our markets. letting down our immigration restrictions. or abandoning our merchant marine. I propose to analyze this problem briefly to show that no such radical program of socalled "reform" is necessary and that each such proposal would only delay recovery. and that none of them are appropriate reform measures to consider at this time. I am glad to observe that the administration. under fire from the Republican Members in the House of Representatives. has openly at least abandoned the idea of cancelation or compromising foreign government debts as a part of this trading program.
Keywords matched
immigration