The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1885-02-20

Pendleton, Mcdonald. Villas, Wallace,
Manning, Whitney, Adams, Garland
and Bayard.
Restricting immigration,
A bill entitled "An act to prohibit
the immigration of foreigners and aliens
under contract or agreement to perform
labor in the United States, its Territor-
les and the District of Columbia" was
discussed in the Seuate few days ago
The bill originated in the House, and
prohibits any person or company from
preparing the transportation or encour-
aging the importation of foreigners uu-
der agreement to perform labor in the
United States, and makes void all con.
tracts of that character, whether ex-
press or implied, parole or special. A
| penalty of $1,000 is fixed for infrac-
ton of that provision. Shipmasters
are forbidden under penalty of $500 to
bring emigrants who have made such
agreements. Citizens of foreign coun-
tries temporarily sojourning in the
| United States are not amenable to the
provisions of the bill so far as relates
to their private secretaries or domestic
servants The bill does not apply to
the cases OF actors, professional sing
ers, DC, nor is it so to apply as to pre-
vent persons or corporations from en-.
gaging in foreign countries workmen
skilled in any industry not at present
established in the United States, pro-
vided skilled labor for that purpose
cannot be otherwise obtained The
bill further provides that it shall not be
construed as to prohibit any individual
from assisting any member of his fam
lily or relative to immigrate to the Uni
ted States.
Considerable debate arose on the
bill. Mr.. Hawley thought parts of the
bill in contravention of natural right.
Among the millions of people that
came here only very small proportion
were not ready at once to demand sub.
stantially the same wages as were paid
to American workmen. All came here
to better their condition and very soon
learned what wages they would be en-
titled to under the conditions of bust
ness
Mr.. Blair had supposed the bill in
accord with the principles of the Dec
laration of Independence and the
rights of mankind. 1t was aimed be |
said, not at immigration, but at slavery,
at the introduction of servile labor. !
The wages of the working classes, Mr.. |
Blair said, should be protected from
the effects of imported gangs of labor
ers. In the course of his remarks Mr.. |
Blair alluded to the recent disturban.
ces in the Hooking Valley which were
attributed to class of people that this /,
bill would exclude. These disturban-
ces had resulted in loss of $4,000
OO0 .s
MIR. ingalls, said he sympathized with
Mr.. Hawley in his regard for natural
rights, but we were confronted with a
portentous exigency. We should soon J
be called on to decide whether every J
man, woman and child on the face of |
the earth, no matter in what condition |!
of physical or intellectual development
or moral standing, has natural right |
to come to the United States and do |
and act as he pleased to the detriment |
of those already here. There were at |
this present moment, Mr. Ingalls, said,
10000 wage-workers in this country |
who were idle, but were willing to la
Dor. With their dependent women
and children that would make 3,OOO,-
900 of people, who amid the extraordi-
nary rigors of an unusually inclement
winter, were suffering for the necessa-
ries of life They needed shelter. They
needed the clothing that might be
manufactured from the surplus produc-
tions of our manufactures now stored
in warehouses and waiting for pur-
chaser. They were in need of the
corn that was to-day being used for
fuel on the plains OF Nebraska and the
wheat that was being fed to hogs in
the valleys of Kansas. The question
was, had we a right to protect our
own citizens against a dangerous and
detrimental competition, whether fore
ed on us by the ambition of those de-
string to improve their condition or by
the cupidity of those great employers
who were Indifferent as to the means
they employed to swell their already
egregious gains. The nations of this
earth, under this doctrine of natural
"rights," had been dumping their pau
pers and criminals and dangerous and
uneasy classes until, in Mr.. Ingalls,
opinion, in view of recent events 10
New York, Cincinnati and Chicago
the time had come to consider whether
we might not be called upon to mod
ify, in some degree, our views as to the
significance of the declaration Of Amer
lean independence and the universal
rights of man. 1t was becoming a
very serious question, Mr. Ingalls, add
ed, how we should secure what we had
by exertion, religion and the observ-
ance of the ''rights of man built up.
If we did not take care the dangers
that had threatened despotism would |
with ruthless rage assail the institu-
tions of republican freedom. Another
financial crash might witness danger
GUS assaults upon our institutions. AS
to the bill under discussion, while Mr..
Ingalls, thought some of its provisions
not altogether unexceptionable, it was
a measure in the right direction. 1t
would protect our labGrers from an in
famous free trade in labor that wa'
worse than African slavery, because it
involved an ignoble and degrading
competiuon-ignoble and degrading
alike to those who make the contracts
and to those who accept them.
Mr.. Bayard did not see the present
direct application of Mr. Ingalls's re-
marks. Those remarks were directed
against communistic forces which pro-
posed to array numbers against prop
erty. 1t was not, however, by bills of
this character that such forces were to
be met by measures amending our cr-
minal law, so as to punish unrelenting