Speech #760277214

I may say to our colleagues on this side of the aisle that in my humble judgment the Congress owes the gentleman from Kansas. En REES. a great debt of gratitude for the labor which he has earnestly and diligently given a job that is long overdue. One of my first assignments in 1933 was to the Committee on Immigration and Naturalization. where I served in entire felicitous harmony with the chairman. the gentleman from New York . That is a very absorbing committee. You deal with hardship. you deal with human nature. you deal with people from all corners of the earth. people who have a full appreciation that this is one spot on the face of the earth where you have certain guaranties of liberty. It is not strange at all that on the frozen steppes of Russia or in the shadows of Buckingham Palace or along the highway going by Potsdam Palace in Berlin or in all the other corners of the earth there appears a great desire to come to this country. So. manifestly. that puts some execution on the naturalization as well as immigration laws of the country. and in proportion as you try to reconcile those laws to individual cases so they furnish a lot of human drama. I want to say again to our good friend the gentleman from Kansas . who has labored on this thing from January to May 1940. and about whom some of the most refreshing and engaging things were said by people like the American Bar Association for the patience. devotion. and tolerance he put in the task. that the Congress does owe him a debt of gratitude. I remember when I was a member of this committeeand the gentleman from New York will bear me outwe undertook to discuss this matter and to urge a codification. compilation. and clarificafion of these divergent laws. reconciling or ironing out some of the conflicts. and to me it is one of the most amazing things in the jurisprudence of this country.