The Connecticut labor news., 1924-03-29
LEGION AND A. F. L. JOIN INAPPEAL FOR BAN ON
 CHEAP FOREIGN LABOR

left open for an influx of their country legislation because they want the doors men, regardless of the menace to the people of their adopted country.
 It is no more possible to get alien groups to regard immigration as an American issue than it is to get cer- tain type of American employer so to regard it. Employers regard 1t as an employment issue, and they have no more regard for American standards, American institutions or American prin- cip1es i'll connection with the employment of alien wage earners than they have in connection with the purchase of raw materials.
 "It must be said ill fairness to en- p1oyers, however, that there. Is less hos ti1ity to enactment of proper immigra- tion legislation in this session of Con- gress than ever before. Agreat many employers, ,formerly hostile to restrictive | legislation, see the error of their way l and have changed their position entirely as result of the war.
 Not so with the racial groups. They constitute the most important factor in l opposition to restrictive legislation in the present session of Congress. Resolu- tions, memorials and protests by the score have come to members of Con gress and committees of Congress from racial groups, clamoring against pro- tective restrictive legislation.
 Clearly, these groups are acting not as Americans, but as aliens, loyal only to the country of their birth They have l found the goose that lays the golden 1 egg, and they ardently hope the goose will live up to its reputation for fool ishness-at least until all of their rela- ! tives, friends and neighbors can get 1 here to share i'll their good luck. "The plain truth is that the attitude of large number of racial groups in the United States toward restrictive leg islation furnishes the best and most cum plet reason for the absolute necessity for restrictive legislation.
 s'It appears to be the assumption of foreign-born groups in the United States l that the peoples of the world have a | right to come to the United States at i, will and that the people cf the United 1 States are imposing unfairly upon other
 peoples i'll placing any restriction upon
 those migratory tenic7c.es. They seem
 unable to comprehend the fact that the immigrant ,1 into the United States is
 a privilege which the United States has
 not only the power but the absolute right
 to confer or withhold as will best serve izens of the United States.
 l There IS certain measure of pre-
 sumption in the campaign being con- ducted by non citizen alien groups in opposition to the enactment of restrictive 1 legislation by Congress. Of course, the
 aliens so engaged do not regard it in that light, but 1t IS nothing less, no matter
 what may be their opinion.
 Tremendous efforts have been devoted
 the task of building up standards of 1iv- l 1 the United States. and 1t has now be
 come the generally accepted fact that
 these conditions are not only better irl
 the United States than elsewhere, but
 that they remain so. Of course coun-
 try where such conditions obtain Is cer-
 tain to arouse in the peoples of other lands the desire to migrate.
 But, if barriers were not placed i'll
 the way of migration, the conditions
 which create the desire to migrate would
 soon be destroyed entirely, so that there swould be not only no benefit to anybody,
 but general loss to the whole world
 Americans not only desire to main 1 tain the standards which they have
 achieved, but they are determined to i'm
 prove them. In addition to this Ameri-
 cans generally are determined to main
 tain the general character which has
 been given to our institutions through
 the racial characteristics of those who
 have been the dominant force and the
 largest contributing factor from the
 very beginning.