The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1882-03-17


Bill
WASHINGTON, d. c., March 19, 1882
Up to the close Of last week there had
been introduced in both Houses OF
Congress 7,139 bills and joint resolu-
lions. Of this number over 5000 come
under the classification of private bills.
If Congress should give due considera.
ton to each bill and resolution now
awaiting action, it would require not
less than six years continuous sessions,
Of the usual number of hours per day,
to intelligently dispose of the mass of
business now on hand. Lord Mansfield
once declared in the House of Peers
that the delays of the law were a Just
cause for complaint by the people of
England. The failure of Congressional
action is only another form of the laws
delay of which the people have the
right to complain. While there are
doubtless claims before Congress
which are worthless, there are prob
ably some thousands which are meri-
torious. Not few of them have been
pending for years, and the claimants
are in need of what is justly due them.
From four to five thousand bills will
be shelved, without having been con-
sidered, when Congress adiourns.
Remedies for this overflow Of business
in Congress have been informally dis
cussed, but no definite plan has taken
form. Congress should provide for a
tribunal invested with power to de-
termine private claims and matters
where the amount involved does not
exceed given sum. By such a tribu-
nal of adjudication, Congress would be
relieved of the bills now crowded in
for action, and more speedy justice
would be rendered to interested parties.
Look on the picture: Two hundred
and ninety-two members of the House
of Representatives and seventy-six u.
s. Senators, whose duties are to decide
on each claim. Hundreds Of these
claims do not exceed in amount the
jurisdiction of a country Justice of the
Peace but, being claims on the United
States, cannot be settled in inferior
courts.
There was an earnest and protracted
debate in the Senate for several DAYS
on the bill restricting Chinese immigra-
ton to this country. The bill finally
passed the Senate, several members of
that body protesting against it as one
of the most Ubiquitous bills ever enter
tanned in Congress. Some of the pro-
visions are almost equal in severity to
the enactments of Congress a half
century ago for the punishment of
persons engaged in piracy on the high
seas. Among other provisions equally
severe is one imposing fine of five
hundred dollars and Imprisonment for
one year of the master of any vessel
who shall bring a Chinese laborer to
the United States. With the excep-
ton OF the Chinese, the United States
opens the door to all other nations and
tribes of people. Why this discrim-
ination? A variety of reasons are
given. Chief and foremost of them all
is, that Chinese labor, brought into
competition with our home laborers,
degrades the latter. So it stands con-
fessed that this great country, with
all its professions of liberty, its mil
lions of unoccupied acres, and undevel-
oped mineral resources, cannot endure
the presence of industrious laborers,
provided they are Chinese.
1t is alleged the Chinese are vicious,
dishonest and turbulent. To this it
is sufficient to say the statistics of |
crime in the Middle and New England
states, where they have been employed, |
tisproves the charge. The statement
that they are illiterate and unacquaint-
ed with the useful sciences, is too alb |
'urd for any but ignorant people to |
believe. That their habits, manner of |
living and religious notions are not in |
accordance with those generally pre- |
valling in this country is true. But if |
these matters were made test for the |
of foreigners, the Chinese |
would not be alone excluded. The
head and front of their offending is. |
they are hard workers, and scrupulous-
y saving of their earnings. Should a |
'hipload of Chinese fiddlers. iugglers.
'howmen, or other non-producers,
and on our shores, no clamor for
heir expulsion would be raised. But
c is laborers, not the idlers, against
whom the artillery Of narrow-minded
statesmen is leveled. That the
class should come here. to
handle the pick and the shovel, or fol-
ow legitimate trades, creates a storm
# indignation. The dignity of labor
las been the theme of writers and /
'rators in all civilized countries, but
low comes the discovery that a China
nan, doing the same work as a Euro
beam or American, and equally well, |
iegrades labor, works mischief, and
he demand comes for his speedy ex-
'atriation from this boosted land of
reedom.
The bill which had been pending in
congress for the appointment of a com
nittee of members to visit New
orleans on the ninth of April, to attend
he proposed celebration Of the booth
anniversary of the discovery OF the
Mouth of the Mississippi by La Sale,
as been defeated. Mr.. Humphrey, of
put a final quietus on the
ill. In brief and pointed speech,
Ir. Humphrey, among other things,
aid that in view of the sufferings of
ne inhabitants in the valley of the
Mississippi, by reason of the late dis
strous floods, it was the first duty of