Speech #740085559

Mr. Garis has the following to say: According to their last census. only 3.000.000 persons in a population of 15.000.000 could both read and write. while over 7.000.000 Mexicans. 12 years of age or over. could neither read nor write. Since only onefifth of their population could read and write. it is reasonable to assume that not more than onefifth of the Mexicans who entered the United States could pass the literacy test and enter the country legally. Former Attorney General U. S. Webb. of California. addressed a communication to Secretary of Labor Davis some time ago In which he cited many cases to prove that the average Mexican immigrant is ineligible to citizenship in the United States and hence should be excluded from admission into this country under the ineligibility provision in the Immigration Act of 1924. On December 28. 1928. Secretary of Labor Davis stated: In connection with the marked increase during the years 1923 and 1924 it may be noted that numbers of Mexicans multiplied in spite of the fact that every feasible attempt was being made to bring about a more strict enforcement of the law on the border. and the increased immigration in those years is simply another Indication of the fact that the provisions of the law relative to illiteracy. physical condition. etc.. afford no adequate barriers so far as numbers are concerned. In the case In re Camille the court held that a person of half white and half Indian blood is not a white person within the meaning of the phrases as used in the naturalization laws. The father of this person was a white Canadian and his mother an Indian woman of British Columbia. and he was. therefore. of half Indian blood. In the case of In re Burton the court held that an Indian born in British Columbia cannot be admitted to citizenship by naturalization of the United States. Mr. Garis says: Today. therefore. the population of pure Indian blood or of mixed Indian blood outnumbers very greatly the pure European stock. * * * It is evident. however. from what has been written. that the stock of the Mexican population Is principally of mixed Indian blood.