Speech #890139685

The matter to which the Senator from Michigan has alluded illustrates. about as well as anything that has occurred. how this bill was fashioned. Personally. I am a great believer in the wisdom of the national origins quota system of the McCarranWalter Act. and was opposed to its abolition. Frankly. I would still oppose its abolition if I had any hope of success. At the same time. I felt that there was a defect in the McCarranWalter Act in that it provided no limitation on immigration from the Western Hemisphere. Therefore. I proposed a limitation upon immigrants from the Western Hemisphere. which. as the Senator from Michigan has so well stated. contemplated that countries of the Western Hemisphere Would be placed under the same national limitation. in each case of 20.000. that the bill places upon the nations of the Eastern Hemisphere. The Senator from Michigan called my attention very eloquently to the fact that Canada. our nearest neighbor to the north. was sending into this country in the neighborhood of 40.000 immigrants a year. As a result of that fact. and his eloquent presentation of that fact. I did not press my proposal that. in addition to placing an overall limitation on all the nations of the Western Hemisphere. there should be a specific one of 20.000 for the people of each nation in the Western Hemisphere.