Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 143, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 June 1912 — A Reform Worthy the Attention of All Progressives. [ARTICLE]

A Reform Worthy the Attention of All Progressives.

On the recommendation of the immigration commission a bill has passed the U. S. senate establishing a literacy test in the hope of checking the tide of illiteracy swarming to this country ftfom southern Europe. A'SimHar biHf hasbeen favorably reported to the house by the committee on Immigration, and naturalization, but it has struck the snag of politics and seems tobedoomedtodeathr~Hon.,Martin Dies, a Texas democrat, spoke some plain words to his party and all other 1 trimmers on this subject in a speech in the house a few days ago He said: “The power of self-government is the power of intelligence, and yet we almit into this republic every twelve months almost a million ignorant foreigners. They are being clothed with the 'ballot in largely increasing numbenT7Z“__' -“They are congesting in the slums of the cities. —p “They are vexing and perplexing every Social, economic and political question “They are incapable of self-govern-ment. Why do we not restrict this undesirable immigration? “Because we are a lot of vote-catch-ing trimmers, and We are just now engaged in juggling the cards for an advantage in the November election. “This congress—this progressive congress—weeping and idolizing at the feet of Roosevelt, Clark, or Wilson, is crying to smother legislation to keep out of the United States illiterate foreigners who can neither read nor write in any language.” Mr. Dies is on the right track. We run down a truant American child and punish its parents for not sending it to school, while we admit grown up illiterates by the million, who have not even the American spirit within them and are beyond the age of eduA catiom or assimilation, and give them a voice in the control of the government.