"[37]
[Sidenote: In Favor of Illiterates]
That is not by any means an unusual testimony. Another fact worthy of
note is that many of those who have worked most closely among the
immigrants do not favor the reading test. Mr. Brandenburg, for example,
suggests that the illiterates often prove less opinionated and more
easily assimilable than others of the same race who can read and write,
and says that so far as his experience goes the great proportion of the
rascals and undesirables can read and write; that if he had his choice
between admitting to this country a wealthy educated Roman nobleman or
an illiterate Neapolitan or Sicilian laborer, he would take the laborer
every time, for his brain and brawn and heart make the better foundation
on which to build the institutions of our Republic. Miss Kate Claghorn
and other experienced workers agree in this view, and think it would be
a positive misfortune to make ability to read the deciding test. Nor
would these experts favor the money test. They believe the inspectors
should have more leeway, as judges of human nature, and would rather
rely on their judgment as to the character of the applicant than upon
any arbitrary tests.
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