Speech #800108186

I am not referring to the bills for special relief. These general bills represent very sharp and divergent views. I doubt if there is any question publicly thought of today upon which there is more division of opinion than upon the question of immigration. That is very well disclosed by the contents of the bills which have been introduced by the Members of the Senate and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. I cannot subscribe to a procedure which would result in piecemeal. patchwork legislation with reference to so vital a subject as our immigration laws. Therefore. I have taken the position that these laws should. during the adjourned period of Congress. be considered in a broad perspective. but only after a careful study of the overall immigration problem. because only with the facts before us. regardless of our feelings. regardless of our views. that may be taken only with the facts before us. Mr. President. can we proceed to intelligent and lasting legislation. Unless we have sound legislation upon the subject. particularly in the face of the great feeling and drive that exists upon it today. we are going to regret very much in days to come. perhaps. any step haphazardly taken. With reference to the overall problem of our immigration policy. I want to speak a few words. I believe we may start with the proposition that immigration has played an integral part in the economic growth of our country. as well as in its history. We did not have immigiation laws for nearly a hundred years after the founding of America. The first immigration law came in 1868. but it was a law inviting immigration. It was a law to protect the immigrant from the American citizen. It set up a commissioner that invited immigration. The people who have come here from generation to generation have doubtless played a very important part in the development and in the progress of the country. but the situation must be faced in the light of facts today. not as they were 25 years ago or even 50 years ago. certainly not the time of our first immigration laws. That the United States has greatly benefited through the years. spiritually. economically. and socially. by the addition to our ranks of immigrants from other shores is not open to argument. From time to time. however. it has been necessary for us to reexamine our policy as to who in equity and good conscience should be admitted into the United States. keeping in mind the best interests of this country. These questions may well be posed today: Are our present quotas proper? What is the present capacity of this country to absorb immigrants in view of the present economic and social conditions? Is our method of determining eligibility to admittance sound? What are the results of experiments in Canada of a selective immigration system? Upon that point. let me say that Canada began in 1945 to give a very definite study to this question. Those who advocated the opening of the doors to all people said that Canada had vast resources of undeveloped land. that It would be a great boon to Canada to admit the people from the world. particularly those who had been so harassed. so hurt in the great war that had closed.