We should meet this situation by on the one hand seeing that these
immigrants get all their rights as American citizens, and on the other
hand insisting that they live up to their duties as American citizens.
Any discrimination against aliens is a wrong, for it tends to put the
immigrant at a disadvantage and to cause him to feel bitterness and
resentment during the very years when he should be preparing himself
for American citizenship. If an immigrant is not fit to become a
citizen, he should not be allowed to come here. If he is fit, he should
be given all the rights to earn his own livelihood, and to better
himself, that any man can have. Take such a matter as the illiteracy
test; I entirely agree with those who feel that many very excellent
possible citizens would be barred improperly by an illiteracy test. But
why do you not admit aliens under a bond to learn to read and write
within a certain time? It would then be a duty to see that they were
given ample opportunity to learn to read and write and that they were
deported if they failed to take advantage of the opportunity. No man
can be a good citizen if he is not at least in process of learning to
speak the language of his fellow-citizens. And an alien who remains
here without learning to speak English for more than a certain number
of years should at the end of that time be treated as having refused to
take the preliminary steps necessary to complete Americanization and
should be deported. But there should be no denial or limitation of the
alien’s opportunity to work, to own property and to take advantage of
civic opportunities. Special legislation should deal with the aliens
who do not come here to be made citizens. But the alien who comes
here intending to become a citizen should be helped in every way to
advance himself, should be removed from every possible disadvantage and
in return should be required under penalty of being sent back to the
country from which he came, to prove that he is in good faith fitting
himself to be an American citizen.