Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1880-01-14
ANrl-cH1sEsE LEGISLATION.

enough this disposition is manifested most
strongly by members of the San Francisco
delegation in the Assembly. The charac-
ter and scope of many of the bills which
have been brought forward in this coRnec-
ton are not such as to justify the expecta-
ton that any practical results will flow
from the energy of their trainers. In a
majority of Instances these latter do not
appear to have realized the existence OF
any constitutional barriers to the most
sweeping measures of prescription. They
have in fact proceeded as though the cues
ton of the expulsion of the Chinese from
the State was enc altogether within the
jurisdiction of the Legislature of Callfor-
MIA, and as though the Federal Government
had nothing to say in the premises. When
we examine these bills, and see the
amazing propositions they embody, we
arc not surprised that the supporters OF
them should wish TO keep them out
of the hands of the Judiciary Committee,
for it is clear that if that committee once
gets possession of them it will be COM
PEELED to report emphatically against their
adoption A great deal of time is being
wasted in the preparation and advocacy OF
measures which are utterly impracticable,
and it is therefore proper to warn anti
Chinese enthusiasts that they are beating
the air If any of these members are act
ing simply to tickle the more ignorant
among their constituents, it is also in order
to inform the latter that no State legisla-
ton against the Chinese which con-
flicts with the provisions of the Bur-
lingame Treaty can be worth the paper
it is printed on. That treaty accords to
the Chinese in the United States all
the rights and privileges which the
American Government comedies to the most
favored nation. All attempts, therefore,
to discriminate against the Chinese, to put
them at special disadvantage in any way,
to treat them less literally than any other
foreigners, must be invalid and of no effect
All the attempts to prevent them from
doing business, to impose discriminating
license taxes upon them, to single them
out for hostile legislation, are futile. The
Legislature does not possess the power to
override one hairs breadth United States
treaty, and the sooner this is clearly and
fully understood, the sooner will members
abandon impracticable ideas, and turn their
attention to matters within their iurisdic-
ton.
There is another point of view from
which this subject may be regarded. At
this moment our Senators and Representa-
tives in Congress are making strenuous
efforts to procure the enactment of law
which will meet the requirements of the
case. Congress alone has the power to
deal with the Chinese question, but Con-
gress has not hitherto been willing to do
anything about it, because the belief has
until recently prevailed at the East that
the cutlery against the Chinese was merely
the expression of demagogues, and did not
represent public opinion on the Pacific
Coast. The only considerations which
have been at all forcibly presented at
Washington, moreover, have been COM
mercial ones and they are calculated to
hinder any restrictive legislation. How
ever unjust and irrational Californians
may consider the attitude of the rest of
the country on this question, it is neces-
sary to realize that we are powerless to
help ourselves, and that we must convert
at all. For these reasons it is particularly
desirable that there should be at the pres
emit time as little manifestation of intern
perate and proscriptive tendencies as posi-.
BILE in this State. The only effect of fruit
less attempts to legislate against the Chi
nese as though they were wild beasts, will
be to prejudice Congress against the meas
ures which our delegation are now urging,
and for the first time with some prospect of
SuSSSSS' Inv hASPi"J u ooHi l-oI odCtlCS
was never more inopportune than now, in
short, and we put it to the authors of
rabid anti-Chinese bills whether it is more
desirable to tickle the Sand Lots, or to
secure practical legislation against the
Chinese The first named object can
doubtless be obtained by urging worth
less measures. The second can only be
gained by eschewing demagogism, and
justifying Congress in the belief that the
people of California are intelligent and
law abiding. Those who really wish for
the departure of the Chinese can have no
sympathy with the wild and extravagant
propositions which have been cropping up
so thickly of late, and sensible people gen.
orally must be moved to apprehend I'M
promising legislation in regard to other and
more important subjects, if they see that
the opening of the session is characterized
| by measures for which there is 40 possible
excuse save that of such an ignorance OF
the relations between the State and the
Union as must disqualify the victims fol-
intelligent judgment upon any matters OF
consequence.