Very.
Thanks.
Posted on 04/04/2006 5:37:57 AM PDT by tutstar
This thread is complements of T.L.Sink who posted this first quote the other day. As I searched the web to locate a url or article to use as the reference I found more quotes on immigration by Teddy Roosevelt. I'll post their links under the quote.
"In the first place we should insist that the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equity with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace or origin. But this is predicated upon the man's becoming an American and nothing but an American. There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag, and this excludes the red flag which symbolizes all wars against liberty and civilization, just as much as it excludes any flag of a nation to which we are hostile. We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language...and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people." Theodore Roosevelt in a letter to the American Defense Society in 1919.
"Every immigrant who comes here should be required within five years to learn English or to leave the country," he said in a statement to the Kansas City Star in 1918. "English should be the only language taught or used in the public schools." http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/bl_roosevelt_on_immigrants.htm
“We can have no "50-50" allegiance in this country. Either a man is an American and nothing else, or he is not an American at all.” http://en.thinkexist.com/quotes/like/every_immigrant_who_comes_here_should_be_required/325314/
One more great quote from Teddy... A thorough knowledge of the Bible is worth more than a college education.
Some patriotic quotes by Teddy Roosevelt to start your day! Maybe some of our young 'uns need to learn these and have a lesson from Mom or Dad what a real Patriot stands for!
Ping!
That's my guy. One of the greatest Presidents to see the future of this nation. He is my favorite of all the Presidents for his candor and his vision, Next on that list is Ronald Wilson Reagan.
We cannot afford to continue to use hundreds of thousands of immigrants merely as industrial assets while they remain social outcasts and menaces any more than fifty years ago we could afford to keep the black man merely as an industrial asset and not as a human being. We cannot afford to build a big industrial plant and herd men and women about it without care for their welfare. We cannot afford to permit squalid overcrowding or the kind of living system which makes impossible the decencies and necessities of life. We cannot afford the low wage rates and the merely seasonal industries which mean the sacrifice of both individual and family life and morals to the industrial machinery. We cannot afford to leave American mines, munitions plants, and general resources in the hands of alien workmen, alien to America and even likely to be made hostile to America by machinations such as have recently been provided in the case of the two foreign embassies in Washington. We cannot afford to run the risk of having in time of war men working on our railways or working in our munition plants who would in the name of duty to their own foreign countries bring destruction to us. Recent events have shown us that incitements to sabotage and strikes are in the view of at least two of the great foreign powers of Europe within their definition of neutral practices. What would be done to us in the name of war if these things are done to us in the name of neutrality?
Bump that!
Wow!
That quote is from TR?
Very.
Thanks.
Yes!TY
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that a person would have strong loyalties to their home country!
I remember my grandpa saying that if Russia was going to defeat us it would be from inside our borders not outside.
Lord only knows how many suicide bomber wanna-bes are in the US right now. It's not just the Mexican illegals that worry me.
The foreign-born population of this country must be an Americanized population - no other kind can fight the battles of America either in war or peace. It must talk the language of its native-born fellow-citizens, it must possess American citizenship and American ideals. It must stand firm by its oath of allegiance in word and deed and must show that in very fact it has renounced allegiance to every prince, potentate, or foreign government. It must be maintained on an American standard of living so as to prevent labor disturbances in important plants and at critical times. None of these objects can be secured as long as we have immigrant colonies, ghettos, and immigrant sections, and above all they cannot be assured so long as we consider the immigrant only as an industrial asset. The immigrant must not be allowed to drift or to be put at the mercy of the exploiter. Our object is to not to imitate one of the older racial types, but to maintain a new American type and then to secure loyalty to this type. We cannot secure such loyalty unless we make this a country where men shall feel that they have justice and also where they shall feel that they are required to perform the duties imposed upon them. The policy of "Let alone" which we have hitherto pursued is thoroughly vicious from two stand-points. By this policy we have permitted the immigrants, and too often the native-born laborers as well, to suffer injustice. Moreover, by this policy we have failed to impress upon the immigrant and upon the native-born as well that they are expected to do justice as well as to receive justice, that they are expected to be heartily and actively and single-mindedly loyal to the flag no less than to benefit by living under it.
It seems like the Pubs are just as bad as the Dems on the border issues.
I'd love to chisel that "huddled masses" crap off the Statue of Liberty and have this replace it. It *is* much more the American credo.
You can see from reading the whole of that speech why he deserves to be on Mt. Rushmore.
Absolutely! The more I learn about Teddy, the more I like him. About all I learned about him in school was the Teddy Bear and "Walk softly but carry a big stick." Sad that these great words aren't taught in our schools.
Not to nit pik, especially since I catch myself saying it sometimes, but he hated to be called Teddy, preferred "TR".
TR -- doesn't have quite the ring, does it? Ah, well... to honor his wishes, I suppose!
AMEN, Brother Teddy! AMEN! BTTT.
He can preach it!
Actually, "TR" has a strength about it, which "Teddy", now ruined by another Teddy doesn't.
Somehow, I had put the thought of him out of my mind. Sigh. That clinches it.
There! Home Page edited!
TR's hammer on nail. Thanks for post #7 link. I had never read it before. - OB1
A picture of Teddy in his Rough Rider uniform hangs in my office.
I'm tellin' ya, pretty soon the onus will be on Americans to learn Spanish.
Thanks for pinging me over. Ol' TR hit the nail on the head. Bottom line--we can't afford the long-term consequences for short-term economic gain. Not then, and certainly not now.
What an excellent idea!!! I like it!!!
I like TR~
bump that
and another AMEN and BTTT
Surely we have one man in our land with as much wisdom. FWIW Smarts does not equal wisdom.
How grand! He was certainly an outstanding figure in our nation and all history!
Those quotes say nothing about "illegal" immigrants. It is not even clear that there was such a concept in Teddy's day.
TR wrote dozens of books with a wide range of subjects. And none were the usual concoction of crap and lies with passes as a politician's book today.
Over three thousand Illegals PER DAY are arrested and returned to Mexico. The numbers involved are staggering.
..I put him in my top 4 Presidents...
..his presence on Mt. Rushmore is no accident...
Try this site:
This is appropriate for this post, I Hope.
The Oath of Citizenship
I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God. In acknowledgement whereof I have hereunto affixed my signature.
“We can have no "50-50" allegiance in this country. Either a man is an American and nothing else, or he is not an American at all.”
The amusing thing is that Teddy was the "accidental" president...coming on only after the president was shot. He would not have been considered presidential material prior to that point and simply was the New York vote getter in the election. If you looked at his entire life...he was a combination of Cheney, Reagan, and Steve Irwin. This guy lived the life that most of us would have dreamed about. His entire vision of America was more than just talk...he actually traveled the entire globe and knew exactly what America offered to its citizens. His place in American history ought to be alot higher, and its hard rate him less than the 3rd or 4th best president that ever lived.
If we really wanted to send these Illegal Foreigners back where they belong we must get a large ship that can unload on the shore.
Then put in 37,876 Illegals each day and deliver them to mexico on the beach and in 365 days we will have delivered 12,000,000 illegals where they seem to want to be.
Where every one is Hispanic and no one speaks english.
Vincente Fox would be thrilled to get them back.
Gee, imagine having a President with real STONES as opposed to the current "neutered" one we have (and his predecessor).
In LA, where I live, that is already the case. It is "insensitive" to ask an immigrant why they can't speak English, even if they've lived in the U.S. for 20 years or more. But I wish I had a dime for every time someone's said to me, "You've lived in LA HOW long, and you still don't speak Spanish?!"
Works for me!!
The problem is out of control, maybe that's why Pres Bush is trying to make deals with Fox and the Canadian PM.
“We can have no "50-50" allegiance in this country. Either a man is an American and nothing else, or he is not an American at all.”
It's too bad this is not short enough to fit on the tag line.
I'm against illegal immigration. But that concept really didn't exist in Roosevelt's time - he was instead commenting on the need for assimilation - which is a vital but separate argument from illegal immigration - plenty of legal immigrants aren't properly assimilating now, either.
No that says nothing about illegals merely any immigrant who does not place America first in his affections.
And he was the youngest president the U.S. has ever had. (JFK was the youngest elected president)
Teddy Roosevelt actually wanted "UNLIMITED" immigration of the "right kind" - do either of you agree with?
Roosevelt was speaking during a time in which the USA was not nearly as populous as today. I would restrict immigration to the types of people who would help this nation (as well as all beautiful babes): educated, Liberty loving, non-AIDS ridden, non-Socialist.
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