And State Papers 549 



to walk can be carried with advantage to himself 

 or any one else, yet that each at times stumbles or 

 halts, that each at times needs to have the helping 

 hand outstretched to him. To be permanently ef- 

 fective, aid must always take the form of helping 

 a man to help himself ; and we can all best help our- 

 selves by joining together in the work that is of 

 common interest to all. 



Our present immigration laws are unsatisfactory. 

 We need every honest and efficient immigrant fitted 

 to become an American citizen, every immigrant 

 who comes here to stay, who brings here a strong 

 body, a stout heart, a good head, and a resolute 

 purpose to do his duty well in every way and to 

 bring up his children as law-abiding and God-fear- 

 ing members of the community. But there should 

 be a comprehensive law enacted with the object of 

 working a threefold improvement over our present 

 system. First, we should aim to exclude absolutely 

 not only all persons who are known to be believers 

 in anarchistic principles or members of anarchistic 

 societies, but also all persons who are of a low 

 moral tendency or of unsavory reputation. This 

 means that we should require a more thorough sys- 

 tem of inspection abroad and a more rigid system 

 of examination at our immigration ports, the former 

 being especially necessary. 



The second object of a proper immigration law 

 ought to be to secure by a careful and not merely 

 perfunctory educational test some intelligent ca- 

 pacity to appreciate American institutions and act 



