Daily Republican., 1884-04-30
Cong ress aud Contract Laborer.

There Is no good reason why the Dill
reported by Senator George of Mlssis-
sippi, regulating the present system oi
contract labor, should not be eenacted int
a law, and we sincerely hope it will bt
before the present Congress adjourns.
The bill as reported prohibits the i'm
pOrtation or migration into this country
of any alien, under any agreement what
ever, to work for any person or corpora
tion within the jurisdiction of the
United States. The advance of the
cost of transporting any such alien by
any individual or carrying company is
also prohibited. The penalty for each
and every violation Of the law is fixed
at five hundred dollars as to private and
corporate parties and fine OF one thou
sand dollars and disqualification from
holding any Federal otficea as TO persons
who are in the employ Of the govern
ment who may aid or encourage any
violation of the law.
There is no mistaking the purposes OF
this bill. 1t is plainly evident that IT
is framed to prohibit the practice of
sending abroad for cheap labor to con-
struct railroads, work mnes, or i'll fact
to do anything whatever to the exclu-
sion Of persons already in the country
from such employment. With wise
foresight, however, it provides that any
person or corporation, engaged i'll busi-
ness, requiring skilled labor of a par
ticuar kind and who may not be able
to secure such labor in sufficient guam
tity in the United States, may, upon
representing these facts to the President
receive IA license TO bring in such skill
ed labor, the number and kind of arti-
sans to be specified in the license.
1t does not detract from the merits of
this bill that it has been instigated and
recommended by the labor 0rganiza-
tions Of the country. 1t will be noticed
that the provisions of the bill are not
hostile to the spirit of our free institu-
tionS, nor does it in any degree deny
hospitality TO real bona tide immigrants.
The voluntary immigrant who comes
here upon his own means, for the pur-
pose of lettering his condition, is not
Will bti' van 'cih' t'' NV '''''
always been coming, and will always
find a hearty welcome to our shores.
The whole purpose is to prohibit aliens,
who are bought up by large corpora
tions, from coming here to undermine
the labor and degrade the workmen OF
our country.
1t is not crelitablc t1 the large bnsi-
ness corporations of this country that
employ thou sands Of laborers, such cor
poration> being specially protected by a
protective tariff, that they should send
abroad for the pauper labor oi Other ma
tions, and thereby exclude our LONE la
Dor. If this is allowed then protection
becomes only protection 20 large cor
poratiOns and m"nopoli',. 1t has been
the boast Of this country that labor haa
been protected, but hat protection is
there for labor if II nopOlies and large
industrial cor 'orationS are per
mitted to ,cour over Europe after the
cheap paupf. labor of that country and
bringing - here, place it in opposition
to our hpme labor? We are not at all
- rnr .e,l at the uprising in the coal re-
piots against the introduction Of cheap
Hungarian labor
# would be anti-American for Amer
ican labUrers not to resist the degrade
ton of labor. We are in favor Of pro-
lection for the sake Of protection, but
when that protection does not protect
our home labor from the competition OF
foreign pauper labor, then our argu-
ments for protection are Weakened As
manufacturers must be protected from
the competition of foreign manutactU'r-
ers, competitors only on account "l
cheap labor, so must our artisans ana
laborers he protected from the importa
ton of cheap labor It's apoor r'l"
that will not work both ways" is a
trite but not always true saying, hUt
in this particular instance it is both
trite and true that whatever protects
our American industries must protect
the labor by which those industries are
carried on,