Speech #750229494

They did not want to be absorbed. and that is one of our problems today. They have never become citizens. and hundreds of thousands of them are a burden to our societyinmates of jails. asylums. and other public institutions. They have jammed our relief rolls at the expense. and to the exclusion of worthy nativeborn and naturalized citizens. Shortly after I came to Washington. Mr. Speaker.. the Immigration Committee reported out a bill to drastically restrict immigration. and it passed the Congress and became the law. I helped write the first restrictive immigration law ever placed on the statute books. and since then I have helped write many amendments. with the result that if the law were only enforced our immigration problem could be reduced to a minimum. Pursuant to law. and under an Executive order issued by the President. during the last years of the Hoover admihistration more aliens were deported when added to the number who voluntarily departed than the total number admitted for the same period. For instance. in 1932 there were 19.426 deportations of aliens. whereas in 1934. under Mine. Perkins. Secretary of Labor. the number had dwindled to 8.879. and yet there are nearly a millionsome estimates say more than 3.000.000aliens in this country illegally. from whose ranks the Communist Party draws a considerable part of its following. There is in this country a large alienminded element which wants to break down the quota barriers against restricted immigration and open the gates wide to the riffraff of Europet and I blush to say that the policies of Miss Frances Perkins have been far more friendly toward this alien L7573 element than towardAmerican citizenship. and particularly American labor. The case of the notorious Harry Bridges of the west coast is important because it is symptomatic. While we Members of Congress who have been contending all the while for a greater rigidity in our restriction of immigration. we have been fortunate in having the support of all of the patriotic organizations of the Nation. Mr. Speaker. I desire to pay especial tribute to two of these organizations which have rendered conspicuous service in this respect. I refer to the American Legion and the Junior Order United American Mechanics. For the vigorous fight these two organizations have persistently waged against the admission of undesirable aliens. they have earned and certainly deserve the gratitude of the American people. Mr. Speaker. I am not a Legionnaire. but I am member of the Junior Order. and have been for almost a quarter of a century. and I prize my membership in this redblooded organization very highly. In paying tribute to the splendid work performed by this organization. during my first term in Congress. on December 11. 1920. in a speech on the subject of immigration. I made the following statement: There is an organization in the United States that has done more to arouse the Nation and quicken the public conscience to the dangers which lurk in unrestricted indiscriminate immigration than any other influence or agency in the whole country. The organization to which I refer is the Junior Order United American Mechanics. This splendid society is essentially an American institution. While it is comparatively in its infancy. having been organized in 1853. it has already almost achieved one of the chief objects for which it was organizedthe restriction of immigration. The members of this patriotic order have assiduously gone about over the country industriously spreading the gospel of "America for Americans." and warning the people of the perils of unrestricted immigration. and have thereby created a sentiment of which the measure under consideration is a glorious culmination and crystalization. And for this patriotic. philanthropic service this great order and its membership are entitled to the gratitude of the Republic. Mr.