The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-10-15


BY ALEXANDER TRACHTEN5ERG.
Workers Party candidate for Congress
10th New York District.
THE socialists and liberals who pub
I licly proclaimed their opposition
to restricted immigration are giving
the LaFollette stand on immigration
the silent treatment. Hoping for
votes for their progressive" presi-
Dental candidate from the foreign
born elements. the supposed advo-
Gates of free immigration have kept
from the public the record of senator
LaFollette on immigration legislation.
When senator LaFollette was re-
Gently referred to by well-known
Jewish leader as an opponent of free
immigration, the socialist foreign
language press proved" that their
newly-acquired leader could not be
classed as an enemy of immigration,
since on account Of illness, he wasn't
even present at the senate session
when the last immigration bill was
voted upon.
1t is true that LaFollette was alb
sent during the voting on the last i'm
migration measure last April. But
LaFollette has been a senator for
about twenty years, and restrictive
immigration legislation was a great
public issue since 1897, when presi-
dent Cleveland vetoed an immigration
bill containing a literacy test provi-
sion.
What are the facts about LaFol-
lette's stand on immigration legisla-
ton during his career in the U. S.
senate? What was the official record
of the radical senator from Wiscon-
sin whenever this important issue
came before the senate? Not only the
foreign-born, but progressive workers
in general, want to know how senator
LaFollette voted every time the re-
dictionary immigration laws came up
for action in the senate.
The following is a review of sena-
tor LaFollette's official part in the
vicious and oppressive immigration
legislation during the past ten years.
1s13-LaFollette Votes For the Lit
eracy Test.
On Feb. /, 1918, the Burnett-Dilling-
ham immigration Bill, providing for a
literacy test for all incoming immi-
grants passed the senate, and was
sent to president Taft for approval
on the eve of his retirement from
office. On account of public agita-
ton which the measure had awaken
ed, president Taft was forced to grant
a public hearing in the White House.
Representatives of Jewish, Italian,
Irish, German, Polish, Hungarian, and
other organizations, as we'll as dele
gates from progressive labor unions.
attended the hearing, attacked the
proposed immigration law, and impor-
tuned the president to veto the in
iquitous measure. Impressed by the
opposition to the proposed law, and
upon advice Of the secretary of com
merce and labor Nagel, president
Taft vetoed the bill on Feb. IA. On
Feb. 10, the senate passed the bill
over the veto Of the president, by 70
to 10 votes, and senator LaFollette
voted to override the veto of the
president, so that the Burnett Dilling-
ham bill providing for the Iteracy
test could become law.
While the senate. with the aid of
LaFollette voted 10 l for the mea-
sure, the bill failed to become a law
because the foes of immigration could
not muster the necessary two-thirds
majority in the house of representa-
tives, to override the veto of the presi-
dent. In voting for restricted immi-
grafton in 1913, senator LaFollette
Joined such reactionaries as senator
Lodge, who declared in the senate