Speech #750060784

Speaker and Members of the House. I shall not attempt to discuss analytically the provisions of the pending measure. because the distinguished author of the bill. who has just preceded me. with his usual and customary vigor and perspicacity has done so. The proposal under consideration today is essentially and fundamentally a deportation measure. However. it does possess a slight immigration feature. in that such of the socalled hardship cases in which an order of deportation Is definitely stayed shall be charged against the quotas of the countries from which the immigrant in question came. During the past decade. happy to relate. we have practically solved our immigration problem. and. interesting to note. credit for this achievement belongs to a man who has been. perhaps. the most misunderstood and most ruthlessly misrepresentedyes. the most unjustly maligned individual in Americaformer President Herbert Hoover. In the early days of the depression. with statesmanlike vision. President Hoover saw the imperative importance of materially curtailing our foreign immigration. He summoned to the White House the then Secretary of State. Hon. Henry L. Stimson. and after a conference on the subject the Secretary of State promulgated an order to our consular representatives abroad to reduce by 90 percent their existing quota visas to the United States. This was done. and the result has been that aliens have left the United States every year since. either by deportation or by voluntary departure. in larger numbers than those coming in. This Executive order. however. should be written into permanent law. In the meantime. however. very little. if any. progress has been made in the solution of our deportation problem. and it was with the hope of meeting this situation. at least partially. that this measure was introduced. While the bill before us does not meet the demands and aspirations of all of us who are interested in this difficult problem. in my opinion. it is an important step in the right direction. I want to congratulate the author of the bill. the distinguished gentleman from Texas . for the splendid work he has done on this measure. and the energy. ingenuity. and resourcefulness which he has displayed in bringing the bill to the floor today.