Francis Amasa Walker Quotes
The first thing to be said respecting any serious proposition importantly to restrict immigration into the United States is, that such a proposition necessarily and properly encounters a high degree of incredulity, arising from the traditions of our country. From the beginning, it has been the policy of the United States, both officially and according to the prevailing sentiment of our people, to tolerate, to welcome, and to encourage immigration, without qualification and without discrimination. For generations, it was the settled opinion of our people, which found no challenge anywhere, that immigration was a source of both strength and wealth.
The huge waves of Eastern European immigrants, and the severe recession of the nation began to change public attitudes on immigration. Wage rates were going down as a result of the depression and the terribly poor immigrants would work for any low pay and inadvertently, the immigrants help suppress wages. Ironocally, those same immigrants who would work for any pay and conditions were among the leaders of the labor movement and the strikes for better wages and working conditions. See {625086}
Francis Amasa Walker, 1840–1897, Economist & Statistician, President of the American Statistical Association, President of the National Academy of Sciences, President of the American Economic Association, President, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Army General, Summary of the American History of Immigration up to that time, “Restriction of Immigration”, The Atlantic Monthly; June, 1896
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
The “strike” was that of the Cloak Workers in New York. The workers were generally Russian Jewish Immigrants who were paid the lowest wages then of any ethnic group. See {625087}
Ironically, where national quotas have been used in American immigration policy, it has rarely been used to keep nationals of countries with which we were having difficulty, out. In almost all cases, the national quotas have been used to discriminate against racial and religious minorities in America. Asians, Blacks, Hispanics, Catholics, Mormons and Jews have been the most frequent groups targeted. Even when we were in the midst of the Cold War, American policy was to accept immigrants from the Soviet Union and Cuba enthusiastically.
- Born: July 2, 1840
- Died: January 5, 1897
- Nationality:
- Profession: Economist, Statistician, Civil Servant, Military Officer, University President
Francis Amasa Walker was an American economist, statistician, journalist, educator, academic administrator, and military officer in the Union Army.
