Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-05-04
INFLUX OF THE PIG TAILS.
THE HOUSE ADOPTS THE BILL
AFTER DEBATE.

I " '@1oAAA~NbAO-Ns MAY Oh llG hOuSe
/ to-day, on motion of Mr.. Morrison, the
order for an evening session tonight was
/ vacated. The House then on motion of
/ Mr.. Lamb, Of Indiana, at HIS O'Clock
went into committee Of the whole with
Mr.. Cox, of New York, in the chair on
/ the bill amending the Chinese immigra-
/ tion act.
| Mr.. Henley, of California, spoke in support
/ of the bill, which he said was the joint pro-
/ duct of the delegations from California, Ore
/ gOn, Nevada. Arizona and Washington Terri
l tory. Never had measure received an in
I dOrsement more nearly unanimous or more
profound in its carnestness than had this bill
received from the people of the Pacific coast.
/ While IT might be assailed on the ground that
/ IN some way II was hostile to the doctrine of
/ the universal fatherhoOd of God and the broth
! erhOOd of man-while it might be criticized
/ by those who had not studied its subject mat
I ter-there was this fact connected with it,
that the people 1nhabiting a tract of country
/ sufficient for an empire came with practical
unanimity and demanded the enactment Of
/ this measure.
! Mr.. George, of Oregon. supported Mr.. Hen
| ley in advocacy of the bill.
Mr.. Rice, of Massachusetts, opposed the
I BILL 1t was asserted that the measure was in
! the interest of labor; that it was demanded
/ by 100000 suffering citizens of the Pacific
/ coast, and that unless it were passed the
/ Chinese invasion would be complete He
maintained that it was not demanded by the
/ inhabitants Of the Pacific coast He under
/ took to say that it addod no single barrier
whatsoever to the incoming of Chinese. 1t
was only clap-trap and surplusage from be-
! ginning to end. The original act had done its
work, and anything further was unnecessary.
Since its passage up to January Is last 1900
Chinese had departed from our shores for
their homes, and only 3,4l5 had returned.
Mr.. Rice said that the original act provided
that those Chinese who had settled in this
country before the passage of the law had ac-
z home
and Of3,4l5 not more than 500 or 600 had come
back to this country de moro. Was not that a
pretty thorough working of the treaty? He
suggested, and strengthened his suggestion by
quotations from the ArgOnaut, that this agi-
tatlOn was started because white labor voted
and yellow labor did not He ridiculed
the bill as beng twelve PAGES of
wasted ink and paper, and, as an example OF
the puerlle provisions of the measure he
quoted the first amendment suggested to the
law. torblddIng Chinese labor to enter into
the United States. The amendment proposed
to add the words "frOm any foreign port or
place." truly an important amendment Pro-
ceedlng in the same manner to criticise the
various changes proposed by the combined
genius of the Pacific coast delegations" he
asserted that they were absolutely unneces-
sary. Referring to some remark of Mr.. Hen
ley's relative to the religion of the Chinese,
he quoted from letter writ
ten to HIM by a Chinese merchant
/ inclOsing subscription Of $500 for the Gar
field Memorial Hospital fund. He prayed his
/ California friends to amend the act by pro-
Yiding that instead of passports men who had
subscribed to the Garfield Memorial fund
should present their receipts for not less than
$500 before they were permitted to come to
this country to view the hospital they had
/ helped to build. VINO showed the best, the
Disciples of COnfucius who. 450 years before
the Christian era, had declared "DO not do
to others that which you would not wish them
to do to you;" or those who wear the sign of
Jesus of Nazareth though he feared that they
did not always exhibit the spirit of their Mas
ter in their actse
Mr.. Budd, of Colorado inquired whether
the gentleman did not know that the Chinese
had no regard for their daughters that they
did not even give them names. that they sold
them into prostitution, that they sold their
wives and killed their children.
Mr.. Rice replied that he did not know more
than half of that before. He did know that
there were many bad places in the world,
some in China, some in san Francisco, some
in New York, some in very slight
degree in Washington. Returning
to the consideration of the bill, he
said that its heart and kernel was contained
in the fifteenth amendment, which applied
the provisions Of the law to the Chinese who
are subjects of China, or of any other foreign
power. That was all there was in the bill
that was not puerile and frivolous. 1t was
the beginning of all and the end of all of the
bill. 1t was intended to exclude English
! Chinese from the United States. Where
was the treaty right to do that?
How long would England keep her irOnclads
from bOmbarding our cities if the United
States should refuse to admit her subjects?
I
to set foot on our shores. Did the gem
tlemen think that the English Governor Of
Hong Kong would 81 down and grant to a
Chinese sailor on an English vessel the ridic-
ulOus certificate which this bill requires?
Were the gentlemen ready, here and now to
enact law when its only provision would
either be ignored as foolish bOmbast by Eng
land, or would lead to war with that coun-
try The bill was petty in its Details
presumptuOuS in its attempts and impossible
as to execution. This country ought to Guilt
friendly in nr 10
cultivate advantages of trade and commerce.
He adjured the House not to do that which
would cover the broad Pacific with the red
HagS OF war and of conquest, but rather that
which would cover it with the white sails and
iron -keeled ships of commerce and weave
indissoluble bonds of friendship and amity
across the ocean. Let not Congress build
upon the Pacific coast a Chinese wall with
gates opening only within and cannon frown-
ing without, but rather let from the high tur-
rets of Christian civilization the electric light
of science and of philanthropy shine across
the Pacific to illumine the dark places of the
old lands where the race was born.
Mr.. GlasscOck, of California, in a brief
speech, defended the bill from Mr.. Rice's
criticisms. and expressed his amazement at
the misapprehensIOn which existed in the
Eastern states as to Chinese character. Not
withstandng the assertions of the gentleman
from Massachusetts, there was not an amend
ment proposed to the law that was not based
on some sound substantial reason.
Mr.. Sumner, of California, SAID that the
purpose of the bill was to perfect the law en-
acted two years ago and remedy the defects
which were found to exist in 1t, and defended
the prOpriety of that legislation moral and
religious grounds He denied that this meas
ure would not be presented il the Cinnamon
had votes, and, referring to Mr.. Rice's quota
tion from the Ar0OnaGt, said that '.Frank
PiXley, the editor, was hireling of the Cen
tral Pacific Railroad, and a hunkey to any
other corporation which would employ him,
and that his paper was disgrace to civiliza-
ton"
Mr. Poland, of Vermont, opposed the bin in
q two minutes speech.
MIR. Brown, of Indiana, was opposed to the
bill because it followed the Same line of legis-
I latiOn as the original act, and violated every
/ idea he had of human rights. The key y-note
/ to this internal legislation was that the men
/ were not white. He recalled speech made
/ by a distinguished member referring to Mr..
/ Cox, of New York;, in which he had referred
/ to the negro being low, ignorant, debased
/ and degraded. Since the negroes had been
made voters their character had undergone a
/ change in the opinion of that gentleman, and
I now, in church and hall and lecture rooms.
that gentleman sought to establish the fact
/ that the negro was the wittIest, most social,
! and cleyerest person IN the world. Laugh
\ teri.
MIR. Cox. of New York, having left the chair.
replied to this last remark. He admitted that
| he had had some prejudices against the nogro.
/ The great Senator Morton had had them. In
/ diana had had them. The ablest of all the
| representatives which Indiana had ever sent,
/ Jeremiah Wilson, in the Forty third Con-
/ grcss, had brought in a bill and passed it to
/ break up the negro government of the Dis
! trict of Columbia. They had got to stealing.
1 They stole even spittoOns from the Legislative
! Assembly. The Republican majority had
! taken away from them the right of voting.
/ The negro was better than he used to think
/ him. He was kind, affectionate, gentle,
/ and he liked the Democratic party
| better than he used TO. Laughter.
/ He knew who stood by him when the Howard
/ rascalites were developed, when the schemes
| connected with the Freedmen's Bank were
| discovered, when Republican rogues were
| after his money, therefore he (Mr. Cox
| said: "All hail. Ethiopia is stretching out her
| hands to Democracy and Democracy was say
/ ing, come on, come on, poor children of Ham,
! come at last to your refuge" Laughter.
| Mr.. Cox having resumed the chair Mr..
/ Browne asked leave to extend his remarks in
/ the Record. He wanted to supplement them
! by a speech made by the gentleman Mr. Cox
/ in 1864 on the negro question. Laughter
The Chairman-The chair would be in
/ clined to object unless he had a chance TO eX-
/ plain that speech. However, he hears no OBJ
/ lection.
Messrs. Cassidy, Tully, Brents, Eaton and
/ King spoke in favor of the bill, and Messrs.
/ HIT, Lyman, Poland, Brown Qnd.) and
/ Skinner against it. Mr.. Guenther expressed
/ his willingness to welcome to these shores
/ eYerybody who came to escape from Oppres-
sion, but not those whose presence tended to
degrade American labor. The bill was then
read by sections for amendments.
/ Mr.. Rice, of Massachusetts, offered several
/ amendments. which were voted down. Mr..
Brumm, of Pennsylvania, offered an amend