Yazoo City herald. [volume] (Yazoo City, Miss.) 1878-1976, 1914-12-25
SENATOR WILLIAMS SPEECH
IIliterate and Ignorant Immigration
Simply Displaces Intelligent
American workingmen.

A Washington special says that
Senator John Sharp Williams thinks
there is enough ignorance in the Unit
ed States without importing more as
would result from the repeal Of the
literacy test provided for in the Burn
EFT immigration bin now before the
Senate.
Those who heard him are agreed
that Senator Williams defense of the
literacy test in the immigration bill
was the ablest utterance yet delivered
in the Senate since discussion of that
important measure began. The senior
senator from Mississippi is standing
Loyalty by the House bill against which
a terrific assault is being made in the
Senate to make gap in its most
vital part by removing the literacy
test which he regards as very prop
er, wise and statesmanlike precaution.
Drawn into the debate by attacks
made on the literacy test provision by
Senator Stone of Missouri and Sena-
tor MARITIME of New Jersey, Senator
Williams said in part:
or spite Of the sentimentality of
the senator from New Jersey and in
spite of the plausibility of the senator
from Missouri, ignorance is neither a
great, nor grand, nor glorious, nor
q lovable nor an advantageous thing.
In a self-governing country where all
the people have hand in ruling tits
the chief danger and chief menace
to free institutions.
1.-THE long speech of the senator
from Missouri might be answered in
one sentence, if it were though ad-
visable to answer it in one sentence,
and that would be this: The American
people are now expanding something
like a billion dollars year to eradicate
ignorance; and yet men, so-called
statesmen, come here misled by pre-
JUDGE in favor Of some race or misled
by political interest appealing and
pleading to the House of Represents
tives and the Senate Of the United
States to import more ignorance?
"What use have you for it after il
gets here? You say it goes into the
mines and goes upon the farms, and
goes somewhere else. Maybe so, what
does it do when it goes there-if il
does-and it generally does not? The
illiterate and ignorant immigrants
generally hangs around Chicago, New
York and Boston; but If it gees to
these other places, what does it do
It simply displaces intelligent Ameyi'
can working men. American working
men are hot out IF work because they
are 50 highly educated as to be above
work. It is because men with lowel
STANDARDS crowd them out. The mel
who are chiefly interested in importing
ignorance into this county are tn,
great tariff barons of this countr!
and great mine barons of this countr!
who want cheap labor, and know tina
they cannot get cheap labor unless
they get ignorant labor, because ig
norant labor is the only sort Of labo
that cannot take care of itself, tina
cannot organize, cannot combine, ant
cannot defend itself.
No Excuse for Ignorance.
81 am tired of hearing tributes t
ignorance and demagogic appeal
against intelligence. There is no rea
sonable excuse in the world today TO
any Norwegian or Swede or Dane o
German or Hollander or North Italian
any Scotchman or Irishman or Eng
lishman, or any Swiss, or any Belgia
reaching the age of maturity withou
being able to read and write.
when you bar men because of ill
teracy you do not bar them becaus
they are themselves, you bar ignol
ance; and you bar ignorance becaus
ignorance is dangerous to free inst
buttons in self governing countr!
Ignorance is not dangerous in a d.
potism. Ignorance is not dangerous
Russia. On the contrary, it may be
the interest of Russia or Turkey
keep people in ignorance; but ignol
ance is dangerous in country whei
five years residence makes citize
of man. If every state in the unio
did as Mississippi and Massachuset
have done, and debarred from the fral
chise their Ignorant, it might be di
ferent, but they do not do it.
at might be safe enough to ha'
them if they had nothing to say abol
the government, but when you go in
II will not particularize, either, b
cause that would be, l think, in b;
taste. I started TO mention speci
part of the country-but when you
into a great important settlement