Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1882-03-02
CHINAPHOBIA.
Senator Hoar in Opposition to the
immigration Bill.

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| lsPHcIAL TELEGRAPH 10 rHx RkooRp-uNros.l
WASHINGTON, March 1st.-The Senate at
2:45 to-day resumed consideration of the
Chinese bill. and Hoar of Massachusetts
took the floor with set speech in opposition
to its passage.
HIS FIRST PROPOSITION
Was that our people one hundred years ago
founded this nation upon the moral law
affirming that all men equally derived from
their Creator the right to the pursuit of hap.
piness, and that equality in that light is the
fundamental rule of Divine justice in It's sp-
plication to mankind. He set forth how tie
nation had grown, and said the existence
of the principles just stated had attracted i'm.
mi grafton from all countries to cur own
shores rather than to South America or Mex.
leo that every new State affirmed it in it
Constitution, and that California herself, in
her original Constitution, declared that it Wa
meant to include the right of expatriation.
This was declared in 1868 by Act of Congress,
and through the persistent efforts of Cali.
upon the country that
THE RIGHT OF EXPATRIATIoN
Is indispensable to the ep joyment of life and
the pursuit of happiness. The doctrine wss
solemnly reiterated in the Burlingame treaty.
Mr.. Webster declared that equality of rights,
especially these of lsborers, is the prircipal
benefit which America had conferred on man
kind, We have made a treaty, and now we
propose this legislation, which undsrtak kes to
deny and overthrow that declaration, and to
strike blow at men by reason of their race
and occupation. China offers to modify the
Buriingame treaty so as to permit the exclu-
sion of prostitution, criminals, diseased per-
sons and imported coolie laborers. This offer
was rejected by our Government, and treaty
substituted which does not permit the excu-
sion of the sthree frst-named classes, but
only permits
THE EXCLUSION OF LABoRERs.
The purpose of the trainers Of the treaty
and of the bill is to strike their blow at labor
without regard to it's character. 1t was i'm
possible to overstate the consequences to
mankind from inserting such doctrine, at
demand of the United States, in the worlds
public law. For myself, and for Massachu-
setts Hoar continued, l refused to consent
to a denial by the United States of the right
of every man desiring to improve his condi-
ton by honest labor-his labor being no
mans property but his own-to go anywhere
on the face of the earth that he pleases. But
the bill violates the provisions OF the treaty
which it processes to execute. The treaty
permits only
a REASONABLE SUSPENSION OF IMMIGRATION.
The bill totally prohibits it for twent
years, and confers on every petty tfficer of
the customs power to seize and fercibly re.
move from the country persons without trial.
What has happened within thirteen years
Only A., ,0G0 Chinese have been added to our
population in that time. There are but
los, ,0G0 of them here. all told-the FIVE
hundredth part of the whole population
They are the most easily governed race in the
world.
Citing statistics to show a rapid decrease Of
the immigration for the last hall of the decade,
and that this 6imiuution became greater
when compared with tbs rapidly-iucreasing
numbers from other countries, Mr.. Hoar said
that in 1880, in total immigration Of 553, 000
there were but $50 Chinese, and in 1881 there
were 10000 in total of 10000 immigrants
While in the same year 10, coo Chinese went
back. The pure-hlooded gypsies roaming
through this country are as numerous as the
Chinese, ell of whom, il gathered in one
place, would not exceed the population of
the sixteenth city of the country. What an
Insult to American intelligence, he exclaimed,
to ask leave Of China TO keep out her people
because this handful of aim ond-eyed Asiatics
threaten to destroy our boasted civilization.
Advoca.es of this legislation, said, invoked
THE OLD RACE PREJUDICE,
Which had 30 often played its hateful and
The Chinaman worked and lived cheap, be
injured the American lsborer with whom be
competed. He answered this by an argument
TO show tha. the outcry against the Chinese
was the same which had been made in the past
against the Irishman, the negro, the Indian
and the Jew bat that each of these races in
turn had indicated its capacity for free
dom, and subdued, over large part
of the world, the prejudices which it
had founded. He admitted that there were
great abuses and dangers growing out of the
coming of these people, but much of this, he
thought, might be remedied by State or
municipal legislation. Consular officers in
Asiatic ports could prevent the coming of any
man whose labor was not his own. Filthy
habits of living may be controlled by munich
pal ordinances, prescribing the dimensions of
a dwelling and limiting the number of occu-
pants of the same tenement. Taking every
race in determining its fitness for freedom at
its best, and not its worst, we find the Chi
nese, in many particulars,
SUPERIOR TO OUR OWN ANCESTORS,
As they first appear in the light of history as
described by Macaulay. They furnished able
merchants, skiilful diplomats, profound phi
losophers, faithful servants and docile labor
eIs Among the authorities cited on this
point were many Csiifornians, who had per-
sonal contact with the Chinaman. The real
motive Of the attack upon the Chinese was a
fear, not OF the inferiority, but of the superb
ority of the Chinese in most OF the occupa.
tions of life. 1t is said that they will not
assinilate with us, but our treatment of them
has made this impossible. They have learned
our industries rapidly a;d intelligently,
but they are excluded by stat.
ute from the public schools, although
taxed to support them. The California
Judges certify that the Chinese can have 10
honest trial by jury. Dennis Kesrney's Con-
stitution, and the "cue" ordinance are held
invalid by Judge Field. The laws against the
crimes and extortions committed upon the
Chinese are imperative, and they may well
proclaim their unwiliingness to acquire a
Christianity represented to them ty such ex-
amples. San frar cisco taxes the Chinese
who carries his washing home in basket SIS,
where she taxes the person who sends it home
with horse and cart, 80.
THE QUESTION OF WAGES.
The most serious argument Hoar made was
the claim that the introduction of Chinese
labor reduces the wages of American labor,
and upon this he said: l am not in favor of
lowering anywhere the wages of the Ameri.
can laborer. On the contrary, | believe the
maintenance and increase of the purchasing
power of wages of the American workingman
should be the one principal object Of our
legislation. The share in agricultural
and manufacturing products which
goes to labor ought to, and I
believe will, steadily increase. For