Word: tests
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There is no harm in mere numbers, for the number of immigrants in the United States is not excessive, nor is the volume of our immigration directly responsible for any evils of our social and industrial conditions; and consequently the limitation of numbers by the literacy test would not solve our social, economic and industrial problems. Our re- sources and industries, moreover, need more labor to develop them. Any decided restriction of immigration would greatly increase our cost of living and raise both federal and local taxes...
...cities. Out of this congestion there has arisen a disproportionate amount of crime, vice and insanity among the foreign born. In the economic field the immigrant has lowered the standard of living, retarded the rise in vages, and added to the problem of the unemployed. The illiteracy test will materially better these conditions by excluding a large proportion of the unskilled laborers from Southern and Eastern--Europe...
...advocate the literacy test because it will not only cut down numbers of an undesirable immigration, but will also bar out the undesirable immigrants. Facts and statistics show that the illiterate foreigner, regardless of nationality or origin, contributes more to crime, insanity, pauperism, and slums than his due proportion. The illiterate immigrant also shows a tendency to remain illiterate and hence cannot be easily assimilated. It is because he is a menace and drag to the country that advocates a test against him, which is merely a protection for the American citizen and the immigrant who is here already...
...affirmative declared that the large number of unemployed in this country proves that there is no need for immigrants. The literacy test would not only keep out a large number, but also a class of undesirables, thus benefiting the country as a whole. Finally, the immigrant does not go where he is most needed and therefore concentrates our national problems...
...rebutting, the negative pointed out that there was a demand for labor and that illiteracy was not a test of working ability. Illiteracy does not necessarily mean undesirable, and there is absolutely no ground for the test as a means to employment. R. W. Stoelzing, of Princeton, was taken ill and was unable to deliver his rebuttal