For Immigration Restrictions

In his speech about a bill he introduced to restrict immigration, Republican Senator Henry Cabot Lodge further explained why immigration should be restricted and how. Lodge wanted all immigrants to be required to pass a literacy test in order to enter America. When i first read this, I was not really surprised. I knew before that eventually literacy tests were given to immigrants, but I never really heard an explanation before. Later on in his speech, Lodge explains how illiterate and unskilled immigrants are a threat to workers in America. I never really thought immigration in this way, and before only really looked at how bad their conditions were and how low of wages they worked. But, because they weren't able to get the same education and training as they could have received in America, they put themselves in the situation they found themselves in. It's not really their fault, but it's still not difficult to see the negative impact this could have on the economy and workforce already established in America. Because they lack skills and training, these immigrants are willing to work in bad conditions, for more hours, and for less money. Because of this, those Americans who worked hard and are qualified for a similar job may not get hired because they would be asking for more money and less hours because those are the working conditions they are used to here. "But there is an appalling danger to the American wage earner from the flood of low, unskilled, ignorant, foreign labor which has poured into the country for some years past, and which not only takes lower wages but accepts a standard of life and living so low that the American workingman can not compete with it." What Lodge said here validates the fears Americans have because of immigration. If Americans start needing to start working more and for less money in order to get a job, the standard of living in America would shoot down. Before reading this article, I had questioned what was meant by the American race, and how these foreigners could tarnish it. Lodge explained this and gave a definition for what amkes a race. "What makes a race are their mental and, aboce all, their moral characteristcs, the slow growth and accumulation of centuries of toil and conflict." This definition of a race shows a snowball affect. A race starts off with a little snowball and grows with similar people who share similar morals and values and keeps growing with hard work and overcoming conflicts and difficulties. According to Lodge, the qualities and characteristics of a race, no matter how high they get, can be weakened if a lower race mixes with a higher one. He says that the lower race will absorb the higher one if they are both about the same size. "In other words, there is a limit to the capacity of any race for assimilating and elevating an inferior race, and when you begin to pour in unlimited numbers people of alien or lower races of less social efficiency and less moral force, you are running the most frightful risk that any people can run. The lowering of a great race means not only its own decline but that of human civilization...." He warns here that all the years that were put into the growth and creation of a great race or culture could be wiped away with the negative influence and exposure to those of lesser races. Although some of these ideas make sense to me, it is still hard for me to believe that the complete separation of cultures and races is a good idea. If the only people who lived in this country were Americans, not only would our population drop, but we would also lose the influence of other cultures that teach us new and different things and expose us to more than ourselves. Learning and interacting with people from other places helps our country to grow and learn from others' mistakes and be sure that we don't make them ourselves. But, in the end I think Lodge understands this as well. "In careless strength, with generous hand, we have kept our gates wide open to all the world. If we do not close them, we should at least place sentinels beside them to challenge those who would pass through. The gates which admit men to the United States and to citizenship in the great republic should no longer be left unguarded."

Henry Cabot Lodge " For Immigration Restrictions," Annals of American History.

[Accessed February 1, 2010].