The Shasta courier., 1871-09-02
JUDGED THEIR ACIs."

Mr.. Laspeyre, in his speech at this
place, said that parties should be judged,
not BY their platform. :, but by their acts" "
Mr. Laspeyre is ri sht. To use Califor-
nian expression " his head is level" We
are glad to occasionally fn1 Democrat
advance an idea with which We can cor
daily agree. We propose to judge the
relative positions of the two parties upon
the question of Chinese immigration by
Mr.. Laspeyre's standard.
The first leg slative action which we find
referring solely to the Chinese, will be
found upon pages SO aud 80 of the Se,-
ate Journal for 1858. The Democratic
majo ity Of that body passed the following
resolution by "a vote of IL to 3:
WHEREAS. California is nearer to the
Empire of China than any other Stare Of
the Union, aud many thousands Of Chinese
are now residing in Cal f,rnia. and INTERN
/; ited rit,. r people in all their emf 10y,
,ne,,s; aud whereas, valuable and III
creasluy commerce ALREADY exists betwe. n
California ana China. which may hereafter
bring great access gu to the wealth OF the
whole American Union, through the ports
nt California and open the way to free
/ itttrcourse with the secluded natlons VI
Asia; therefore,
,3esoiued. That in our opinion the pub.
lie interest would be promoted by the ap-
point,nent OF = citizen Of Ualiiornia to the
Office OF Commis .iianer to China
Amnng those voting "aye, were D.
W. Cuffroth, Paul K. ilubbs. Phliip a.
Roach, j. S. Hayer, Pabi, De La Guerra
and j. Baird hese are al. leading
Democrats to day, aud howliug against the
Republ can par. as favoring Chinese i'm
migration Cofroth being now their can
didate for Congress from the Secund Dis
trct In 1862 Governor Stanford in his
message to the legislature thus referred
to this vexed question
To my mind it is clear that the settle
ment amongst Us of an inferior race is to
be discouraged by every legitimate means.
Asia, with her numberless millions sends
to our shor,s the Cregs of fer population !;
there can be no doubt but that the pres
ence of numbers am bag Us Of degraded
and distinct people must exercise deleter-
ous influence upon the superior race, and
to certain extent repel desirable immi-
grafton. 1t will afford me great pleasure
to concur with the Legislature in any con-
stituticnal action having for its object the
repression OF immigration of the Asiatc
race.
The Legislature Of 1862 to which Gov
er or Stanford made this recommendation,
was Union Republican, and for the first
time in the history Of :he State. the oppo-
nents Of Democracy had possession of the
xecutivs and Legislative branches OF the
t.te Government. On the 26th Of April
Of that year, an act to protect Free White
Labor against Chinese Coolie Labor. and
to discourage the immigration Of Chinese
into the State Of California" was approx
ed, and can he found on page 49, Of the
statutes of that year. The FIRST section is
as follows:
SECTION l. There is hereby levied on
each person. male aud female. Of the Mon
g"lian race. Of the age Of eighteen years
and upwards residing in this State. except
such Us shall. under laws now existing, or
which may herssftar be enacted, take ont
licenses T. work 10 the mines, or D prose-
cute SINE kind of business. monthly
cs pitation tax Of two dollars and City cents.
which tax stall be known az the Chinese
Police Tax provided. that all Mongolians
exclusively engaged in the production and
manufacture Of the ,fCl wing ar iclas. shall
be exempt ffom rhe provisions ct this ACT,
VIZ: Sugar, Yioe, oodse, tea: