Those who come seeking
opportunity are not to be admitted unless they have already had one of
the chief of the opportunities they seek, the opportunity of education.
The object of such provisions is restriction, not selection.
If the people of this country have made up their minds to limit the
number of immigrants by arbitrary tests and so reverse the policy of all
the generations of Americans that have gone before them, it is their
right to do so. I am their servant and have no license to stand in their
way. But I do not believe that they have. I respectfully submit that no
one can quote their mandate to that effect. Has any political party ever
avowed a policy of restriction in this fundamental matter, gone to the
country on it, and been commissioned to control its legislation? Does
this bill rest upon the conscious and universal assent and desire of the
American people? I doubt it. It is because I doubt it that I make bold
to dissent from it. I am willing to abide by the verdict, but not until
it has been rendered. Let the platforms of parties speak out upon this
policy and the people pronounce their wish. The matter is too
fundamental to be settled otherwise.
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