Evening star., 1896-03-16

bill, comes first The existing laws of the
United States now exclude, as l have said
certain classes of immigrants who, 1t is
universally agreed, would be most unde-
sirable additions to our population. These
exclusions have been enforced and the re-
suits have been beneficial, but the exclud-
ed classes are extremely limited and do
not by any means cover all or even any
considerable part of the immigrants whose
presence here is undesirable or injurious,
nor do they have any adequate effect in
properly reducing the great body of lmm.-
grafton to this country. There can be no
doubt that there is a very earnest desire
on the part of the American people to re-
strict further, and much more extensively
than has yet been done. foreign imm;sra-
ton to the United States. The question be-
fore the committee was how this could best
be done; that is, by what method the larg
est number of undesirable immigrants ard
the smallest possible number of desira be
immigrants could be shut out.
Three Methods of Restriction.
Three methods of obtaining this further
restriction have been widely discussed of
late years. and in various forms have been
brought to the attention Of Congress. The
first was the imposition of a capitation tax
on all immigrants. There can be no doubt
as to the effect of this method If the tax
is made sufficiently heavy. But, although
exclusion by tax would be thorough, it
would be undiscriminating, and your COM
mittee did not feel that the time had yet
come for it's application. The second
scheme was to restrict immigration by re-
QurinS consular certifcation of immi-
grants. Til plan has been much advn-
Gated. and If it were possible to carry it
out thoroughly, and to add very largely to
the number of our ConsLlS in order to do
so, it would no doubt be effective and ben
eficial But the committee was satisfied
that the consular certification was imprac-
ticable; that the necessary machinery could
not be provided: that it would lead to many
serious questions with foreign govern
ments, and that it could not be properly
and justly enforced. 1t is not necessary
to go further into the details which
brought the committee to this conclusion.
1t is ST fficient to say here that the opin-
ion of the committee Is shared, they he
lieve, by all experts, judges who have
given the most careful attention to the
question.
The Test of Illiteracy.
"The third method was tc exclude all i'm
migrants who could neither read nor write,
and this was the plan which was adopted
by :he committee and which is embodied
in this bill In their report the committee
has shown by statistics, which have been
collected and tabulated with great care,
the emigrants who would be effected by
this illfteracy test. 1t is not necessary for
me here to do more than summarize the
results CT the committees investigations
which have been set forth fully in their
report. 1t is found, in the first place, that
the illiteracy test will bear most heavily
upon the Italians. Russians, Poles, Hun
gariars, Greeks and Asiatics, and very
speaking emfgrants, or Germans, Scandi-
navians and French. In other words the
races most affected by the illiteracy test
are those whose emigration to this coun-
try have begun within the last twenty
years. and swelled rapidly to enormous
proportions, races with which English
speaking people have never hitherto as
simulated, and who are most alien to the
great body of the people of the United
States. On the other hand, immigrants
from the united kingdom, and Of those
races which arc most closely related to the
English-speaking people, and who, with
founded the American colonies and built
up the United States. are affected. but lit
tie by the proposed test.
'These races would not be prevented by
this law from coming to this country in
practically undiminished numbers These
kindred races also are those who alone go
to the western and southern states where
immigrants are desired, and take up our
unoccupied lands. The races which would
suffer most seriously by exclusion under
the proposed bill furnish the Immigrants
who do not go to the west or south, where
immigration is needed, but who remain on
the Atlantic seaboard, where Immigration
is not needed, and where their presence Is
most Injurious and undesirable"
Mr Lcdge then gave some Interesting
statistics which had been gathered by the
committee, proving that the classes now
excluded by law, the criminals, the dis
eased, the paupers and the contract laborers
are furnished chiefly by the same races as
those most affected by the test of illiteracy.
He next presented an elaborate and
scholarly review of the formation and de-
velopment of the races that were the pio-
reer settlers in this country, and of the
class of immigrants which had helped to
build 1t up.
Result Of the Last Twenty Years.
He showed that since 1876 Russians.
Hungarians. Poles. Bohemians, Italians,
Greeks, and even Asiatics, whose immi-
grafton to America was almost unknown
twenty years ago. have during the last
twenty years poured in in steadily increas-
ing numbers. until now they nearly equal
the immigration Of those races kindred in
blood or speech, or both, by whom the
United States has hitherto been built up
and the American people formed.
This momentous fact" he said. ais the
one which confronts us today. and, If con-
tinued, 1t carries with 1t future conse-
ouences far deeper than any other event CT