Speech #890133077

But. even more important. I am concerned with the fact that these nations are now at a point where we in the United States are headingand one only has to pick up our census reports and prognostications to learn this. There are. of course. persons who sincerely believe that. because there has been some stabilization of applications for admissions to the United States. over the past several years. under our national origins quotas. there will be but a minute increase in applications for immigration into the United States. as a result of these proposed amendments. However. the facts of our present immigration laws. and the policies under which they operate. are well known throughout the world and have for decades served as deterrents to many potential immigrants in their efforts to enter the United States. The passage of the proposed legislation will remove these deterrents. and. in view of the fact that many northern European nations. under the present system. have unused quotas. I fear that the practical results of the new legislation will be a considerably increased immigration. in addition to the many serious concomitant problems. some of which I have discussed. We take justifiable pride in the heritage of the American melting pot. but. unless the national origins quota system Is maintained and unless limitations are placed on immigration from Western Hemispheric countries. the melting pot will no longer melt. and eventually ours will become a conglomerate. characterless society. I believe deeply that we owe fu*ture generations the simple service of preserving the American heritage with its traditional social and political customs. its culture. and its national characteristics. Our national immigration policy must be an immigration policy that is in the national interest. and it must aim to establish the proper relationships between immigration and employment as well as between immigration and stable government. Every 71/2 seconds the clock in the U.S. Department of Commerce building in Washington records a new birth. Every 17 seconds one person dies in the United States. A foreign national enters the country every 90 seconds. and an immigrant leaves every 23 minutes. This all adds up to a net gain. I am told. of one every 12 seconds. which means a net annual increase of about 2.6 million. It is time that we awaken ourselves to the fact that future generations have no one to look to but ourselves for the preservation of the Nation. of liberty. freedom. and opportunity. and a republican form of government. Therefore. I intend to cast my vote. when the moment comes. against the proposal to scrap the national origins quota system because the proposed legislation will permit a greater inflow of immigrants from Asian and African countries and because our own problems of chronic and persistent unemployment and underemployment. housing. job retraining needs. growing welfare caseloads. crime. and juvenile delinquency are so great that we should not be considering any liberalization of th6 immigration laws. I recognize that this is a very delicate issue and that the position I have taken will not be popular with some people. particularly those who misunderstand my reasons therefor. Nonetheless.