Butte semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1886-1890, 1886-10-27
THE RECORD,

and proper and if it should not have com
manded the hearty support of every mem
Der in that Legislative Assembly? We an
ticipate their answer It is YES" q thon
sand times ''yes." And yet Wilbur F
Sanders, then a representative of Levi
and Clarke County stood on the floor o
the Assembly hall, and in a most bitteI
speech against the memorial, characterized
it as "barbarous. ~undemocratic, ~unrepubli
can, uncivilized and against the progressive
idea OF the age"
And now that man who opposed tn,
erection Of any barrier against the incom
ing OF the pauper hordes OF Asia; who would
bid the heathens come and welcome then
in our midst with open arms; that mar
who would make room for the degraded
serfs of the Chineee Empire, to snatch thu
bread from the mouths of the women and
childre OF this free land; that champion
of Chinese cheap labor who can see no dit
ference between the dirty, opium-smoking
diseased lazzaroni of Asia and a respect.
ably born, well-behaved foreigner, now
comes before the w%orkingmen Of Montana
and asks them for their votes: We venture
the assertion that no self-respecting work
ing man; no man who gains his living
by the sweat Of his brow; nc
man who has a wife and children
depending upon his daily toll for support
no man who recognizes dignity in labor
no man who is sincere in his hostility to
Chinese cheap labor; no man who is not a
slave in spirit himself, will, after reading
this memorial and noting the vote of Will.
bur F. Sanders against it, cast his ballot
for him for Delegate in Congress: Here are.
THE A~NrI.CHINEsE MEMORIAL.
HOUSE JOINT MEMORIAL IN REGARD TO
CHINESE IMMIGRATION.
To His Excellency, the President of the United
States:
Your memorialists, the Council and
House of Representatives, composing
the legislative assembly of the Territory OF
Montana, would respectfully represent that
the Chinese among US is IN evil of great
magnitude. They are incapable of assim-
ilation in sentiment or habits of life, ex.
cept in rare instances that they are gov
erned by a system of laws peculiar to
themselves, and have their own secret tri-
bunal for the administration of justice,
and wherever they are found in consider
able numbers they are absorbing all
branches of manual and mechanical labor,
and thus driving from most ordinary pur-
suits the middle and poor classes of out
people.
We believe the inevitable result of Chi
nese immigration will be to create an arts
tocratic and a servile class, which would be
contrary to the genius of our form of gov
eminent. That the habits and mode of
life of these people, such as the general alb
sence OF family ties, or fixed homes, and OF
social life among them, enable them
to live and accumulate money upon wages
which would starve any other class of la
borers, and their savings are very rarely
invested in the communities where they
live, but are sent to their own country, and
by this means they escape taxation and
any considerable share of the burdens Of
government. And by there means they
drain into their own country the cap
ital of those localities in which they live.
It is a matter Of common report well
known to all, that with few exceptions the
Chinese women who come or are rather
brought to the Pacific Coast, and they are
many, belong to the lowest and cheapest
class OF prostitutes, and that many OF
them are a prey to the most loathsome
diseases, and it can readily be imagined
that a frightful train of evils must follow
the introduction of these women into anv
In addition to this, slavery in it's worst
form e-ists and is a recognized institution
among the Chinese in u midst, for these
degraded women are bought and sold like
s 0 many dumb brutes and have no rights
h q fnvnR fh0 fhnS~H hs,, 1--l- - -
teIs are bound to respect.
In view of the above facts, your memoir.
ialists would respectfully urge and request
that steps may at once be taken to the end
that the treaty now existing between the
United States and the Empire of China may
be modif- d SO as topermit the prevention OF
immigration OF an undesirable and
non-assimilating population. And your
in duty bound will ever pray.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA J.,
TERRITORY OF MONTANA. 49,
l, VIM. B. Webb, Secretary of the Terri.
have compared the annexed and foregoing
copy Of House J oint Memorial No. 5, in re-
gard to Chinese immigration, al it appears
rom the original copy on file in my Office,
Ind that the same is a correct transcript
5herefrom, and OF the whole of said orig
nal.
Witness my hand and the seal
OF the Territory of Montana,
[sr.1.1 this ed day of October, A. D.,
~ One Thousand Eight Hundred
and Eighty-Six.
(Signed.) WM. B. WEBB,
Secretary of the Territory of Montana.
HOUSE, February z, 1879.
House Joint Memorial No. S, in regard
o Chinese immigration, was read a third |
ime and passed as follows:
Those voting aye were: Barbour, Brooke, |
'ombs, Cornlck, Edwards, Forbis, Hamil- |
Harrington, Marion, McElroy, Mood, |
Perkins, Robinson. Stuart. Swee.
ey, Wilson. Mr.. Speaker-1S.
Those voting no were: Beach, Bower. |
Sanders, Steel and Thorpe-6.
Absent-Mr. Mccormick.
|NITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Territory of Montana./
VIM. b. Webb, Secretary of the Territory |
1 Montana, do hereby certify that l have |
ompared the annexed and foregoing pro-
ceilings OF the House of Representatives of
Territory of Montana, at it's regular
sss'on in 1879, the same being a part OF
he proceedings of February 5, 1879, as
ppears on page 153 of the original house
'urnal and that the same is a correct
transcript therefrom.
Witness my hand and the seal of the |
e%rritory OF Montana, this 22d day of
ctober, A. d. one thousand eight hun
red and eighty-six.
[sEAL] WIN. B, WEIR.
Secretary Of the Territory OF Montana.
.TnuN DD.vV