Speech #750009252

Surely. with Congress appropriating a billion dollars this year for the relief of those unable to get a job. we should not authorize the State Department. behind closed doors. and without the slightest knowledge on the part of the Congress or the American people to reduce even the present inadequate tariff rates and thus force additional thousands of American workers to be dependent on our Government for relief. Many Members of the House would strenuously oppose our delegating to the State Department. or the Department of Labor. the authority to enlarge the quotas for admission of aliens. Yet I note among those who cry the loudest for the strictest enforcement of our immigration laws. yes. who would close our doors entirely to the entry into the United States of aliens. those who advocating this extension of the authorization for the Department of State to enter into reciprocaltrade treaties with foreign nations. treaties which make it easier for the cartels and trusts of these foreign countries to dump into the American market the products of the very peoples whom we debar from entry into our country. What is the difference. may I inquire. between our permitting the entry of these aliens. the people of foreign countries. and our admitting to our country the products of these same people? Surely we would be acting more in keeping with our history. more in harmony with our cry "The land of the free". if we opened our doors and permitted these oppressed. yes. one might well say. enslaved people the freedom and the liberty which all persons prize most highly. We have an Asiatic exclusion law. What value is that law in protecting the job opportunities of American workers when the products of the labor of these debarred workers are permitted entry into our country to the known and admitted knowledge of our Tariff Commission at total landed costs which are less than the American costs of production of similar or competitive goods? If we permitted the entry of these Japanese workersand I am not advocating any such policythe employers of such workers would be compelled to pay for their labor at least 500 percent more than is now paid to these workers.