Practical Argumentation, George K. Pattee [reading the story of the txt] 📗

infamous crime, although in many States a pardon, or the serving of a sentence, will restore a felon to his civil rights. In a few of the States paupers are also excluded from voting. With the question of woman suffrage we have nothing to do, as its settlement, one way or the other, does not affect the subject we are discussing.

The important qualification, however, in relation to the subjects which we are discussing, is that which requires residence in the State previous to the exercise of the franchise. And on this point the States may be divided into two great classes. One class allows no one to vote who is not, under the laws of Congress, a citizen of the United States, either native or naturalized. As we have seen that five years’ residence is a requisite to United States citizenship, these States, therefore, require five years’ residence as a prerequisite to acquiring the right to vote. These States are California, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington. This requirement is admirably calculated to secure that preliminary training in the practical working of our institutions which must be necessary to most of the immigrants before they can intelligently exercise the rights which are conferred upon them by American citizenship and we cannot but admire the sagacity and judiciousness of those who framed our naturalization laws in selecting this period of time for the pupilage of the intending citizen. The period is long enough even for one who is engrossed in the cares of earning a support for himself and his family, amid all the excitement and novelty of a changed residence, to acquire in the five succeeding annual elections a sufficient knowledge of republican government for all practical purpose. To delay him longer in the exercise of his political rights would be an injustice; to admit him to them sooner would be an imprudence.

There are in a few States other qualifications required of a voter. The most important of these is the educational qualification, which exists only in Connecticut and Massachusetts. In neither of these is it very severe. In Connecticut the voter must be able to read any article in the State Constitution, and any section of the statutes. In Massachusetts he must be able to read the Constitution and to write his name. Too much praise can hardly be given to these requirements. The whole edifice of our national life is founded upon education, and to this potent factor must we look for many of the improvements necessary to the proper development of our national life.

In quite a number of States a pecuniary qualification exists in the shape of the payment of some tax, generally a poll tax, within two years previous to the date of the election. This requirement does not seem to be so germane to the spirit of our institutions as the other. The great present danger of our country is the danger of becoming a plutocracy, and while there is no doubt that a widespread interest in property develops stability of institutions, yet there is also great danger of capital obtaining so firm and strong a hold upon political institutions as to crush out the life of free government and to convert the national government into a species of close corporation, in which the relative wealth of the parties alone controls. This qualification is found in Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Texas.

We have now examined with some thoroughness the component parts of the tide of immigration as it arrives at our shores; we have seen what nationalities go to make up the grand total and what previous training they have had in the political institutions of their native countries to fit them for American citizenship, and what additional requirements are imposed upon them by our statutes before they can participate in voting and government in this country. What are the conclusions to which the view of these facts brings us? They seem to me to be these: first, that the growth of immigration is a desirable thing for this country from an industrial point of view; second, that the immigrants who arrive at our shores are for the most part good material out of which to make American citizens. Applying these conclusions to the questions which were stated at the outset of this article; first, is it for the advantage of the United States that immigration should be checked or limited? second, if so, in what way should the check or limit be applied? the answer would be that no further check or limit should be applied, but that a check should be placed upon the exercise of the franchise by immigrants in all States by requiring a residence of five years in this country before they can vote, and by also requiring some moderate educational test.

With these safeguards established we might look without any serious apprehension upon the increase of our population. The founders of our state moulded the outlines of its form in large and noble lines. The skeleton has grown and clothed itself with flesh with almost incredible rapidity in the hundred years of its existence. But it is still young. We should avoid any measures which would stunt or deform its growth and should allow it to develop freely and generously till the full-grown American nation stands forth pre-eminent among the nations of the earth, in size, as well as in character and organization, and man’s last experiment in government is clearly seen to be an unequivocal success.

ARGUMENT AND BRIEF

SHOULD IMMIGRATION BE RESTRICTED?

 

NEGATIVE BRIEF.

INTRODUCTION.

I. The enormous increase in immigration gives rise to a growing interest in some plan for further limiting the number of immigrants coming to the United States.

A. Paupers, idiots, contract laborers, the Chinese, and several other classes of people are already excluded.

B. The subject has been discussed in legislatures, in political meetings, from pulpits, in reform clubs, and among individuals.

II. The problem divides itself into two distinct questions:—

A. Is it for the advantage of the United States that immigration be further checked or limited?

B. If so, in what way should the check or limit be applied?

III. These questions must be considered, first, from the industrial point of view; and, secondly, from the political point of view.

 

DISCUSSION.

Immigration should not be further restricted, for

I. From an industrial point of view, the United States needs immigrants, for

A. Without question, immigrants represent laboring power.

B. The United States needs more laboring power, for

1. Admittedly, the introduction of laboring power into an undeveloped or partially developed country is advantageous up to the saturation point.

a. Adam Smith says that labor is the wealth of nations.

b. The history of America has borne out this statement, for

1’. The laborer has turned the forests, fields, and mines into wealth.

2. The United States is still under-populated, for

a. There is a smaller population to the square mile than in many European countries, for

1’. In 1890 the Netherlands had the average of three hundred and fifty-nine inhabitants to the square mile

2’. Great Britain had the average of three hundred and eleven.

3’. Germany had two hundred and thirty-four.

4’. France had one hundred and eighty-seven.

5’. In about one-third of the whole area of the United States, the average is less than six.

6’. In certain more thickly settled portions the average is from seven to forty-five.

7’. In New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana, the average is from forty-five to ninety.

8’. In a small territory made up of parts of Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, the average is over ninety.

9’. In the United States as a whole, the average is twenty.

II. From a political point of view, the immigrants who are arriving at our shores make good citizens, for

A. Their previous political training has been such as to render them capable of learning how to perform the duties of American citizenship, for

1. Of the 500,000 immigrants that arrived in 1891, Germany sent approximately 100,000.

2. Italy sent 76,000.

3. Austria sent 78,000.

4. England and Ireland sent 50,000 each.

5. Russia, exclusive of Poland, sent 47,000.

6. Sweden sent 36,000.

7. Poland sent 27,000.

8. Scotland, Norway, and Denmark sent 12,000 each.

9. Switzerland sent 6,000.

10. The Netherlands sent 5,000.

11. France sent 6,000.

12. Belgium sent 3,000.

13. Except in Russia and Poland, the elements of representative government are not wholly unknown to these people, for

a. In most of these countries some form of popular government has either wholly or partially gained a footing.

B. The duties of the American citizen are not hard to learn, for

1. Republican institutions are not very complicated.

C. The political ignorance of the immigrant can be remedied, for

1. Before extending immigrants the franchise, States can insist on requirements that will secure some preliminary training in free political institutions, since

a. The right to vote is entirely a matter of State regulation, for

1’. Citizenship, which is regulated by Congress, does not carry with it the franchise.

b. Already twenty-two States allow no one to vote who has not been in the United States at least five years.

c. Massachusetts and Connecticut have an educational test.

d. Eight States insist on a pecuniary qualification.

 

CONCLUSION.

The following points have been proved:—

I. The growth of immigration is a desirable thing for this country from an industrial point of view.

II. The immigrants who arrive at our shores are for the most part good material out of which to make American citizens.

Therefore, no further check or limit should be applied to immigration.

APPENDIX B

A LIST OF PROPOSITIONS.

 

1. The United States army should be greatly enlarged.

2. Japan was justified in waging war against Russia.

3. A formal alliance between the United States and Great Britain for the protection and advancement of their common interests would be expedient.

4. Military tactics should be taught in the public schools.

5. The United States navy should be greatly enlarged.

6. The aggressions of England in South Africa are justifiable.

7. The nations of Europe should combine to bring about drastic reforms in the Congo Free State.

8. Ireland should be granted home rule.

9. Japanese control will promote the political and economic interests of Corea more than would Russian control.

10. Armed intervention on the part of any nation to collect private claims against any other nation is not justifiable.

11. The annexation of Canada by treaty with Great Britain would be economically advantageous to the United States.

12. The United States should establish commercial reciprocity with Canada.

13. The United States should maintain a system of subsidies for the protection of American merchant marine.

14. Congress should have decided in favor of a sea-level canal at Panama.

15. Woman suffrage should be adopted by an amendment to the Constitution.

16. The practice of relieving financial stringency by temporary deposits of United States Treasury funds in selected banks should be discontinued.

17. Labor unions are detrimental to the best interests of the workingman.

18. Free trade should be established between the United States and the Philippine Islands.

19. State boards of arbitration, with compulsory powers, should be appointed to settle disputes between employers and employees.

20. The United States should discontinue the protective tariff policy.

21. The Federal government should own and operate the interstate railroads within its borders.

22. Railroad pooling should be legalized.

23. The tax on the issues of state banks should be repealed.

24. The United States should adopt one-cent postage.

25. American municipalities should own and operate their street-car systems.

26. The President of the United States should be elected for a term of six years and be ineligible for re-election.

27.