The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1911-02-04
RESTRICTION OF IMMIGRA-
TION.

Bills have been introduced in
Congress for the purpose of bring
ing about further restriction Of
immigration by imposing what is
called an educational test on all
applicants for admission into the
United States. If this becomes
law, none but those who can read
and write will be permitted to
enter the country The National
Liberal immigration League" Of
New York, is doing all that lies in
it's power to oppose the new re-
strictions and it has issued call
to it's friends throughout the coun-
try not to cease their agitation on
behalf of liberal immigration.
The spirit that underlies this
movement for the restriction of
immigration is anti-Catholic- al
most avowedly so. The higher
standards which would be set
up by the adoption Of an edu-
cational test would fall heaviest
ON the children Of the Catholic
Church, the inhabitants Of Italy
and Of the Slavonic nations who
are now focking in such numbers
to our shores. Professor Eliot, ex-
president Of Harvard University,
states the case very plainly when
he says: "Some religious people
fear that the Catholic Church will
become unduly powerful in the
United States, if races which have
long been Catholic continue to
pour into the country immigrants
by the hundred thousand who are
vigorous, industrious, frugal and
prolific. Whatever gains the
Catholic Church may make in this
way under a regime Of religious
liberation, that Church is fairly
entitled to. Even the extreme
Protestants who feel this appre-
hension shrink from declaring
that their motive in advocating
restriction Of immigration is fear
of the Roman Church. To
restrict immigration because for
the time being, immigration is
more Catholic than Protestant
would be the public confession Of
lack Of faith in the efficacy Of re-
lgious liberation and indepen-
dence of church and state as bull
warks Of political freedom.
No one denies that certain re-
strictions on immigration are
necessary in order to safeguard
the well-being Of America. Those
who suffer from incurable diseases,
the insane, the dependent who are
likely to become public charges,
and those, who, by reason of their
unsound social and political no.
tons, would be a menace to the
nation should be excluded.
But to apply an educational
test which, moreover, would be
largely religious one, is entirely
out of harmony with the spirit
of the American Republic. Amer
lea filings wide open the portals
of it's boundless possibilities to all
who feel that within it's borders
they can find the means to an
honest and honorable livelihood.
An educational test such as the
one proposed, would furnish no
guarantee Of peculiar fitness for
the discharge Of the duties Of
citizenship. Ability to read and
write is no proof of health or
character. The illiterate class
furnishes it's share of the raw ma
terial that makes vigorous, honest
citizens Of sound Judgment
in practical affairs and Of ire
proachable character when meas
ured by the ordinary standards
Of conduct. These are the men
whom America needs most for the
development Of her resources.
They constitute the laboring
classes the men who till the soil,
who work the mine, who operate
the machine, who help to grid the
continent with it's bands Of steel
and who seek no privileges save
those which the law guarantees
to every upright citizen.
To this class belong, for the
most part, the immigrants Ameri-
ca gets from southern Europe.
They are honest, industrious and
thrifty. All they ask for is a square
deal. They are willing to work
at whatever their hand finds to do.
They make law-abiding citizens,
whose loyalty to the land Of their
adoption is unquestioned. As a
general rule, they reflect credit
on themselves and on the Church