Grover Cleveland: “It does not seem to me that the facts in this case, so far as they have been developed, justify the passage of this act.”

It is not claimed, I believe, that the time has come for the further restriction of immigration on the ground that an excess of population overcrowds our land.

A radical departure from our national policy relating to immigration is here presented.

The time is quite within recent memory when the same thing was said of immigrants who, with their descendants, are now numbered among our best citizens.

I transmit herewith, in reply to the resolution of the Senate of January 23, 1897, a report from the Secretary of State, accompanied by copies of the correspondence therein requested, relating to the Nicaraguan Canal or the Maritime Canal…