Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1882-04-20

4 Il
If THE CooLIE Is FIT TO BE AN AMERICAN |
CITIZEN THIS BILL Is WRONG.
If believed for one moment. as the |
gentleman from Iowa Mr.. Kasson1 pro- |
/ fesses to believe, and as he has declared |
his political belief on this question to be, |
so help me God, standing in this Capt. |
tol of the free, under my oath as men,
Der of this Congress under the constitu-
ton, my right arm should wither before |
| would vote for anything else than n
law that should enfranchise race to
which | paid the tribute that he paid on
this floor. There is no consistency in
the position taken by any man that this
race is. fit for enfranchisement in this
nation, and yet to vote for one moments
suspension of their coming to this coun-
try.
The magnitude of the 81 inject will adj
init of no uncertain policy. Let us deal
with the great question plainly and
directly.
No man can defend the proposition
for moment that it is for our interest,
or theirs, to retain within the body of
our people a hundred and fifty thousand
serfs, to be increased constantly and in
definitely from the overcrowded millions
of the Chinese Empire.
NO ROOM FOR sERvILE LABOR.
There is no room under our flag or
within the proud ranks of American
labor for the vassals of a foreign gov
eminent. And | do not believe, sir,
that we can continue this ever-enlaroing
system of serf labor for any great length
| of time, bearing none of the burdens of
1 4 e.. a.,
4Egis as to rob American labor of its
just rewards, without awakening a con-
flict between the two forces as they APP
proach each other nearer and nearer,
in which one or the other must give
way and perish. There must always be
from the very nature of things an eter-
nal conflict between two such internal
forces, the one the foundation and pillar
of our strength, the other repugnant to
all our history, traditions, and the letter
of our Constitution. We lifted. q race
from the broken manacle to the highest
sovereignty on earth when we gave il
| the ballot, and we did it under an ext
gency forced upon us by war, and we
did it because we knew that race that
had been born and continued on our
soil for hundred years must remain,
and to be free must be enfranchised.
IMMIGRANTS MUST Eg CITIZENS.
And we have at length fixed it as one
of the fundamental rights of our Gov
eminent that he who is worthy of being
ranked with American labor Shall be
citizen of the Republic.
why, in the elder day to be Roman
was greater than aking'' so here in our
| HaV tn hn &c oraatnT. no
a king, and it is because we have no
civic wreath richer than that which we
place upon the brow of American labor.
| cody IMMIGRATION MUST CEASE.
| Now, sir, the friends of this measure
/ have no disposition to disguise its pur-
poses. 1t means to suspend and prac-
ticalty eXtinguish the future coming of
Chinese coolies to the United States. 1t
means that coolie traffic upon the high
seas between the ports Of China and the
| Facific cost shall cease. 1t means that
/ the United States is not yet ready to
confer citizenship upon Chinese coolies
THE AMERICAN HOME MUST NOT BE M
PERILLED.
1t means that our system of free Ia
Dor, dignifed and honorable, which
maintains the sacred family relation,
the hearthstone, and the home, the
school-house and the church; which
answers cheerfully every demand that
society and government makes upon it
in peace and war shall not be struck
down or impaired by competition that
pays no tribute toward the support of
any one of these great elements of
strength and virtue; th~i it must be
worthy of and conform to the require
mentS of American labor before it can
be admitted to its fellowship. 1t means
all this, but 1t means no invasions upon
the provisions of the new treaty; all its
reservations are carefully recognized,
preserved, and respected.
THIS BILL NOT IN CONFLICT WITH OUR
| TREATY.
| defy any man on this floor to take
this treaty, whicl consists practically of
| three articles, couched in plain and
simple language as it is, and show us
| that this bill is in conflict with it.
| The first article of the treaty gives us
| the power to suspend this immigration.
The second article protects the laborers
| that are now here, giving them the rights
to 90 and come at will. The third arti-
Gle reserves all the rights there were I'M
der the old treaty, which is still in exis-
| tence, leaving this only as a moditica-
\ ton of it.
| Some gentleman says th.Cthe sixteenth
section of this bill is Objectionable be-
cause it strikes down enfranchisement.
Sir, the treaty provides that these peo-
pie are to have the rights, privileges,
and immunitaes of the most favored ma
ton. Put THAI declaration is to be con-
sidered in the light of that provi- |
sion of the Burlingame treaty
which says that wirjle they are to have |
these privileges the United States is es-
pecially enioined not to conclude from
anything therein said that she can en-
franchise the subjects osChina.
NO MIDDLE GROUND.
| 1t is argued against this measure that
| it is not in accord with the interest of
Christianity, that il is not in accord |
with our traditions and policy in confer
| ring citizenship upon the subjects of
( foreign powers, that twenty years sus-
! pension of the coming of Chinese labor |
ers IS an unreasona bic length of time
and WIN work hardships not contempla- |
ted by the treaty.
would not willingly disregard the !
will of the American people upon any
one of these points. | would not stand |
in the way of She onward march of |
Christianity anwbere, but if we are sat |
isfed that they, the American people,
have determined that this foreign ele- |
ment is incapable of becoming safe !
and consistent part Of our civilization
as citizens, then we should fix such a |
term of suspension as shall clearly indi- |
cate that determination. That is fair to |
China, to ourselves, and to the world.
Then why talk of a suspension of two |
or three or ten or twenty years? You |
gentlemen who would write ten years in |
the bill can make no reservations before
the American people on this question.
If had not made up my mind in favor
of this policy / would not vote for an |
hour suspension. But having so made |
up my mind | will vote for ten, fifteen,
or twenty years, if necessary, in order !
to enforce it; and it is, in my opinion,
the only consistent position which any |
man can occupy on this question. | |
see no middle ground here upon which
to stand.
CHINA UNDERSTOOD THE TREATY.
Do you believe, sir. that China did /
not understand the full import and |