Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1905-12-06

the determined opposition of the for.
'eign steamship lines who have no inter.
est whatever in the matter save ia in.
CT ease the returns on their caDitaI h,
carrying masses of Immigrants hithe,
in the Steerage quarters of their shins
AS said in my last Message to the
Congress, we cannot have too ,nuct
immigration of the right sort. and we
should have none whatever of III.
wrong sort. OF course it is desirabI.
that even the right kind of immier,tior
should be properly distributed in this
country. We need more of such i'm
migration for the South; and snecia'
effort should be made to secure il Per-
haps it would be possible to limit the
number of immigrants allowed 10 come
in any one year to New York and other
northern cities while leaving unlimited
the number allowed to come 10 the
South; always provided, however. that
q Stricter effort is made to see that
only Immigrants Of the right kind come
to our country anywhere. In actual
practice it has proved so difficuIt ia
enforce the immigration laws where
long stretches of frontier marked bv
an immag inary line alone intervene be
tween US and our neighbors that rec
ommend that no immigrants be allow
ed to come in from Canada and Mex
leo, save natives of the two countries
themselves. AS much as possible
should be done 10 distribute the immi
grants upon the land ana keep them
away from the cOnSeSted tenement
house districts of the great cities. But
distribution is a palliative, not a cure.
The prime need is to keep out all i'm
migrants who will not make good
American citizens. The laws now ex-
listing for the exclusion of undesirable
equate means should be adopted. en-
forced by sufficient penalties, TO compel
steamship companies engaged in the
passenger business to observe in good
faith the law which forbids them TO
encourage or solicit immigration to the
United States. Moreover, there should
be Il sharp limitation imposed upon all
vessels coming 10 our ports as to the
number of immigrants i'll ratio to the
tonnage which each vessel can carry
This ratio should be high enough to
insure the coming hither of as good IL
class Of aliens as possible. Provision
should be made for the Surcr punish
ment of thoS. who induce aliens to
come to this country under promise
or assurance of employment. 1t should
be made possible to iniiict a sufficiently
heavy penalty on amy employer vio-
lating this law To deter him from taxi
ing the risk. 1t seems to me wise that
there should be an International confer
cnce held to deal with this question of
which has more than a
merely national signilicance; such a
could among other things
enter at length into the methods for
securing Il thorough inspection of
Would-be immigrants at the ports from
which they desire to embark before
permitting them to embark.
In dealing With this question it is I'M
wise to depart from the old American
tradition and TO discriminate for or
against any man Who desires to come
here and become IL citizen, save on the
ground of that mans fitness for citi-
zenShip. II is our right and duty to
His standard of living should be such
til'lL 1lC VIII tiot, ny pressure VI GULL
petition, lower the standard Of living of
our own wage-woaI<ers; for it must
ever be a prime object OF our legislation
to keep high their standard of living.
Ii the man who seeks to come here is
from the moral and social standpoint
of such Il character as to bid fair to add
value to the community he should be
heartily welcomed. We cannot afford
to pay heed to whether he is of one
creed or another. of one nation or an
other. We cannot afford to consider
whether he is Catholic or Protestant,
jew or Gentle, whether he is
Englishman or Irishman, Frenchman
or German. Jananese, Italian. Scand-
We should desire to find out is
the individual quality of the individual
man. In my judgment, with this end i'll
view, we shall have to prepare through
our OWE agents q far more rigid inspec-
ton in the countries from which the
immigrants come. 1t will be a great
deal better to have fewer immigrants,
but all of the right kind. than a great
number of immigrants, many of whom
are necessarily of the wrong kind AS
far as possible we wish to limit the
immigration to this country to persons
who propose to become citizens of this
country, and we can we'll afford to in
siSt upon adequate scrutiny Of the
character of those who are thus pro-
posed for future citizenship. There
should be an increase in the stringency
Of the laws to keep ont insane, idiOtic,
eriiCptic, and paupcr immigrants. But
this is by 10 means enough. Not
merely the anarchist, but every man of
anarchstic tendencies. all violent and
disordorly people, all people of bad
character the incompetent. the lazy.
the vicious. the physically unfit, defec-
tive. or degenerate should be kept out
The stocks ont of which American citi-
ZenShip is to be built should be strong
and healthy. sound in body, mind. and
character. If it be objected that the
Government agents would not always
select wen. the answer is that they
would Certainly select better than do
the agents and brokers of foreign
steamship companies the people who
now do whatever selection is DONE
The questions arising I'm connection
with Chinese immigration stand by
themSC Ives The coulitiouc in china