The native American., 1838-08-11
FOREIGN PAUPERS AND NATURAL
ZATION LAWS.
ITO accompany bills H. R. Nos. s73 and s74.l
July Q, 1898.
Mr. RUSSELL, from the Select Committee ap.
pointed OH the subject, made the following
REPORT:

of The Mayor, Aldermen, and Com.monalty Of the city of
New York, The memorials Of The inhabitants Of the counties
of WASHINGTON Kings, and seUer Others Tn The State Of
Neu York that Of The municipal government in the city
of Boston, that citizens Of Sutton that Of the citizens Of
Ml6uy in the Sute of Massachusetts,, md that Of the
Native american Asociation, IN the city Of Washing
ton in The District of Columbia and seueral Others from
different States PRAYING Repeal Of The Naturalization
La,cs ofthe United States such alteration thereof
shuH erend the time of residence IN the United States
of|oregners, previous to their being admitted to The erer
else of political rights beyond the period hich required
By the eristing uUs and also prayiag the passage ofa
laD ch ,OilI etectuay preuent The introduction Of pau
pers and conuics from foreign countries INTO The United
Stutes: also the remonstrance Of number Of German
citizens Hpng IN the southern part the State Of Missouri
against granting the prayer Of the memorias respect
fully REPORT:
The memoralists allege that the number of
emigrants from foreign countries into the United
States is increasing with such rapidity as to
jeopardise the peace and tranquility of our cit-
zens if not the permanency of the civil, religious,
and political institutions of the United States.
That many of them are the outcasts of foreign
countries; paupers, vagrants, and malefactors,
from the poor-houses and penientiaries of Europe,
sent hither at the expense of foreign Governments
to relieve them from the burden of their mainte-
nance. That from the destitute condition of this
class when they arrive in this country, they i'm
mediately become burdensome to our citizens,
exhausting the accumulated funds which had been
raised, and were being disbursed, by the various
charitable institutions in our country, for the use
of our own unfortunate and destitute citizens.
Among those who have been sent hither, are
many laboring under the infirmities of old age,
whose days Of usefulness and vigor have been
spent in England, or upon the continent of Eu-
rope; and when they can be no longer useful in
their native country, are sent among US, entirely
destitute, to linger out frendless and burden
some existence in strange land. Others, equally
HELPLESS and burdensome from natural n6rmities,
bearing unquestionable indications of their hav-
ing been paupers in their native land. Others,
and not few, laboring under mental alteration,
evidently of long standing, and incurable. Others
idiots; and there is hardly any degree of mental
in6rmity which affects mankind, and which is
as various as the shades of human character, in
termediate, mere eccentricity and absolute ptren-
su, which may not be found among these, thus
cast upon our country. Others, whose residence
among US is still more Objectionable, are convcts
from the European states, condemned to impris-
onment in their native country for aggravated
offences against their laws, and released from
Imprisonment only on condition of taking up their
residence in this western hemisphere. 1t is the
concentration of these classes of foreigners in the
United States, from various foreign countries,
which has drawn forth these simultaneous appeals
to Congress, from the different sections of the
Union, to save our country and our citizens from
the blighting influence of such a population, and
more specially the laboring class. An American
laborer is among the most useful of our citizens;
and the primeval, principle which was proclaimed
to man, that he should g 'earn his bread by the
sweat of his brow," he acknowledges as rule
of duty, prescribing reasonable service, from
which neither habit nor inclination prompts him
to depart his pride and ambition are stimulated
by desire TO attain independence, and to main
tain his family with the fruits of his own labor,
and, in the vgor of manhood, to accumulate a
treasure which will smooth the pathway of his
declining years, and alleviate the sorrows incident
to old age. Whatever causes may conspire in
LLe LuioPCdh StatSS w Pioauoo Pdupoilsius lew
exist here; and it is believed to be not only un-
reasonable, but unjust, to permit foreign Govern
ments to relieve themselves from the maintenance
of their own poor, which is caused principally by
their forms of government, their policy, and
their laws, at the expense Of the citizens of the
United States. Their collision with our citizens
in the various pursuits of private life, their dis
regard of those social moral, and political obliga-
tions which control the action of the American
people, and attach them to the homes OF their
fathers, render them obnoxious to suspicion and
distrust, and unwelcome associates in their daily
toll. 1t is estimated that there are about 100000
foreigners who annually arrive in the United
States; many of them entirely destitute Of the
necessaries Of life, and depending for daily sub
sistence upon public or private charity.