Speech #840233346

Chairman. before going into further detail about my bill or S. 2113. I would like to refer to my personal interest in this general subject. I have been concerned with the problem of American policy toward immigrationtoward displaced persons and refugees--for many yearsindeed. since World War I. Even before I became a Government official. I took a very active part in the work of the Joint Distribution Committee. which. as most of you know. has played an important role as a voluntary agency in arranging for -the immigration and resettlement of persons of the Jewish faith who have been subjected to persecution. or who have been uprooted and displaced by war and political unheaval. When I became a public official of New York State. I took. of course. a special interest in what the Government was doing and should be doing about the problem. New York City is the place where most aliens and immigrants arrive. We have a higher percentage of naturalized citizens and of firstgeneration citizens in New York than in any other State in the Union. In my judgment. this has been a major factor. perhaps the most important single factor. in the tremendous growth and development of New York State. not only in population. but in industry. commerce and individual enterprise. I would like to say at this point that I consider New York State to be in a way the most typical State in the Union in the sense that it represents in essence one of the basic ideas which have made America greatthe idea of the melting pot.