Cabot's speech depicts the reasons why America required to restrict the movement of immigrants within America. American had introduced a law that dictated that if immigrants arrived at the American ports and were found to be convicts, lunatics, or disabled, they should not be permitted to get into the United States. The American government believed that these unwanted people would bring losses to the country, for some of them could not take care of themselves. The American government wanted people who had no criminal records and were physically fit. Also, America wanted immigrants who could read since these qualities were vital to the economic growth of America. In 1896, Henry Cabot delivered a speech depicting matters concerning immigration. In Cabot speech, he described three significant arguments which pertain to desirable immigrants, undesirable immigrants, and protection of American citizens' wage.
Henry Cabot described the people who were to be restricted from coming to America and the policies that will make the restriction effective. He stated that beggars, contract laborers, convicts, and disabled people were to be restricted from coming to the United States (Nationalists.org, 2020). Cabot purported that adding the mentioned group of people to the population of America would not be desirable. Cabot states three methods would be essential to keep immigrants away. Firstly, Cabot purported that capitation taxes should be imposed on all immigrants. However, the committee felt like the time for taxation had not come. Cabot claimed that the taxation method would be useful if the taxes were made heavy. Secondly, he claimed that it would be beneficial to include consular certification of all foreigners. However, this policy was said to be impractical since the necessary machines required for the process were not available. His third policy included excluding immigrants who could not read and write; this plan was embodied in the bill.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Cabot also describes the category of immigrants who are permitted to get into the United States of America. The group of immigrants who were allowed to go to the U.S included people from the United Kingdom and people from the races which are related to English Speaking people (Nationalists.org, 2020). He also added that people who participated in the building of colonies of America would not be restricted but will be affected by the literacy tests. The English people and their close affiliates were given permission to get into the United States large numbers. This group of foreigners was seen as beneficial to American society. Cabot purported that the kindred race were the only individuals who moved to the Western and Southern States (these are the places where immigrants were desired) and took unoccupied lands. Cabot saw that this class of immigrants would be affected if they are excluded.
Cabot also urged that restricting unskilled immigrants would protect the wages of Americans. He recommended that some immigrants that were coming to American had no proper skills for work (Nationalists.org, 2020). He was saddened by the fact that the unskilled immigrants wanted the same wages and treatment as skilled Americans. He claimed that treating Americans and immigrants equally will affect their economy of America.
Cabot's arguments depict that he wanted the restriction of movement of certain immigrants. He purported that immigrants who could not read or write should not be allowed to get in America. Also, contract workers and beggars were restricted from coming to American. The Citizens from the United Kingdom were permitted to come to America for Cabot thought they contributed to the building of America. Cabot wanted unskilled immigrants to be prevented from getting to America to allow the American government to improve the wages of the American people.
References
Nationalists.org. (2020). The Restriction Of Immigration - Speech by Henry Cabot Lodge in 1896 . Nationalists.org. Retrieved 24 May 2020, from https://www.nationalists.org/library/america/henry-lodge-speech-1896.html.
