Speech #740162615

I include the following address by Hon. JOE STARNES. Member of Congress. to the Eleventh Womens Patriotic Conference on National Defense at the Mayflower Hotel on January 28. 1936: For more than a century this country had no definite immigration policy nor effective immigration laws. After the War between the States the tide of immigration to our shores became so great that it soon created a serious national problem. Indeed. in that period of time embraced in the decade 190110. the tide was so strong we had approximately a million foreignborn immigrants entering our country each year. This large influx of foreign born had the effect of lowering wages. lengthening the hours of labor. and definitely reducing the American standard of living In every respect. More serious than the effect on our economic life was the effect upon our American institutions and our form of government. The people became aroused and Congress ordered an investigation. A congressional committee studied this problem for several years. Members of the committee visited practically every country in Europe studying at first hand the social. economic. and political conditions under which these immigrants lived. This committee made a very exhaustive and informative report of its activities. As a result of the studies and of the recommendations of this committee. the Immigration Act of 1917 was placed upon our statutes. This was the first definite and effective immigration program and policy in the history of our country. The author of this act was a splendid American and a distinguished Alabaman. Hon. John L. Burnett. who for more than 20 years represented the district which I now have the honor to serve. This Immigration Act of 1917 became our first basic immigration act and policy. The broad outlines of this policy were: (1) The exclusion or limitation of certain classes or types of immigrants. (2) deportation of aliens found guilty of certain offenses involving moral turpitude and of subversive activities and doctrines which seek to overthrow our Government by force and violence. (3) absolute debarment from certain geographic areas in Asiatic countries. The 1917 act was amended in 1924 and the amendatory act provided for the present policy of restricting immigration by establishing numerical quotas for each country except in the Western Hemisphere. and for an absolute bar to all aliens who are ineligible for citizenship. Even with these two excellent acts establishing for the first time a definite American immigration policy we find that during the past 10 years 3.687.547 aliens have entered the United States. of whom 2.010.896 were now immigrants. The 1930 census disclosed that we had 14.204.149 foreign born in the United States. of whom 6.284.613 were aliens. In other words. more than six and a quarter millions of these foreignborn had never taken any steps toward becoming citizens of the United States. The foreignstock population of this country in 1930 was 40.286.278. more than onethird of our total population. This was the largest number in the history of the Nation. It is estimated that our country has been supporting at least 3.000.000 foreign nationals on relief at a cost of approximately $400.000.000. and this at a time when millions of our nativeborn and naturalized American are dependent upon relief. At least one out of every eight on relief is an alien. It is further estimated that we have had some 2.000.000 aliens gainfully employed earning approximately $2.000.000.000 annually and sending millions of dollars to other countries to support families and unemployed when we have more than 10.000.000 American citizens unemployed.