Speech #800016160

But there came a time when we were required to protect ourselves against undesirables. It was then that the United States Government laid down the principleprobably for the first time In the history of the worldthat it was an inherent right of every country to protect itself against the influx of other peoples. From this beginning we established the policy known as restrictive immigration. When this policy was first invoked we laid down literacy tests and health tests. and so forth. It soon developed that these tests did not provide sufficient restrictions. In spite of these tests over a million two hundred thousand immigrants came to the United States in 1907. Probably an equal number at least came to the country illegally. for in the early days the illegal entrants about equaled the legal entrants. When the country really appreciated the impact of this great influx we began to make preparation for additional restrictions. I shall not engage your attention or enter into any detailed discussion of these preparations. From 1921 to 1924 great strides were made from the legislative standpoint in this effort to restrict immigration. It was then that the policy of national origins was adopted. By national origins is meant that the population of the country in 1790 was surveyed to ascertain what percentage owed its origin to Great Britain and what percentage to Germany and France. and so forth. Quotas were fixed in accordance with this policy. An overall figure of 153.000 was set as the number of immigrants to be admitted lawfully into the country. For instance. Great Britain and all of her provinces was given a quota of about 65.000. This was by far the largest quota given to any group. Since the establishment of this policy immigrants have been admitted in accordance with these quotas. The immigration laws. however. have also admitted for temporary purposes unlimited numbers beyond the quota. This group. such as students. teachers. and visitors. is the group that has given our country much trouble because many of them have deliberately lost themselves in the population. and they and their offspring have populated the country. In the early days of immigration enforcement we had here in the Government strong departments on immigration and naturalization. These departments functioned very efficiently. They were handling a completely new business. and it is only natural that by the trial and error process they developed some loopholes. but at the same time they improved the service greatly. Those were the days when those in authority were open and above board with their work and when It was possible for any Congressman to find out what was going on. With the development of the country the work of these departments grew in importance and the personnel grew in number and in quality. Today we have an immigration force in the field of which we have a right to be proud. I wish the higherups were as dependable. We have a border patrol which has made a name for itself. I should like to tell you a little story to show you how popular these organizations were when they were open and aboveboard. In our country President Coolidge is a synonym for economy.