Mr. President. the torch of freedom must eternally be rekindled with acts of justice. The recent signing of the immigration bill was such an act. and it was fitting that this should be done by the colossal statue. designed by Bartholdi. and presented by the people of France on the 100th anniversary of American independence. Emma Lazarus inscription on the Statue of Liberty is well known: Give me your tired. your poor. Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these. the homeless. tempesttossed. to me: I lift my lamp beside the golden door. In the beginning. of course. there was unlimited immigration to this country. Then. shortly after World War I. immigration was definitely restricted. Immigrants numbered over 1 million in 1910. Very few came during the war. By 1920. over 400.000 were admitted. Then a national policy of strict limitation was adopted. Immigrants. except those from the Western Hemisphere. were admitted only in definite quotas from each country. When signing the new bill. President Johnson said the old system represented a "harsh injustice." that the system violated the basic principle of our democracy. the principle that values and rewards each man on the basis of his merit as a man.
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immigration Immigrants