The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1888-08-18

will have to go. We shall never consent
that if law will protect US, the laws shall
not be passed and made as strong as pos
sible, but this proposed law Will not do it.
1t is also exceedingly indefinite in its terms
and may become very oppressive. Where
are the lines of distinction between a COM
mon iabOrer and any other? Is car
penter, a mason, a blacksmith, common
labOrer2 The bill applies to them all and we
cannot avoid that issue. 1t is to be re-
GREETED that the matter can not be dis
posed of now by the adoption OF this bill
or something similar, but it is not prac-
teal legislation.
Rep. Kinney said Noble Castle had been
ingeniously combining two objects that are
widely different. If the wording OF this
section does not clearly express what we
want, there are surely words in the English
language by which we can do so. If the
hon. Noble is afraid that skilled labor will
be included in the terms of the bill, 1t will
be very easy to put in exceptions. The
objections so far presented can be all met
bv amendments. The House should utilize
What is good in the bill. To throw it under
the table is a confession OF mental lncapac-
ity to amend 1T: The hon. Noble talks OF
revolution. There are, without doubt,
dangers ahead. The country has driIted
on until there are in it 10000 aliens who
are Chinese to day, will be Chinese to-
morrow and Chinese forever. If on taking
up a map and One-third of 1t were found
a fair picture of the country as 1t IS and AS
the hon. Noble tells us it is to remain with
out change. These aliens are mostly an
able set of men, and they have bound
themselves to every branch of industry.
Are we then to do nothing. The hon.
Noble saws natives will not go TO the
trouble of paying 25 cents for licenses.
Have the Chinese got such hold on the
people and on the country that they Will
not pay % cents in two years IN order that
we may know how far we have drlfted on
the breakers, and so that the Government
NAV know what is to be done with the
Chinese. Members may be willing to do
something two years hence. When the
account books bill passed the House, it
looked as if the hon. Noble, with other
members as well as Honolulu merchants,
were going to run over to the king Oh,
give us back that bill" If something had
not happened to nerve up this House, that
Act would have gone by the board. We
want to individualiZe and identity the
Chinese now in the country. We have
heavy work long work and hard work
ahead. We stand in jeopardy. One-third
of our population is Chinese. No other
country has so large a proportion of that
nationality among its people. In the face
OF these facts, the most that some members
can suggest is to pray, "fOr heaven s sake,
do nothing" The hon. Noble speaks of
revolution. Well, if so, let us have a revO-
luton before we belong to China. Or per
hapS we had better go on as we are, eat,
drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die.
Minister Green said it seemed to him that
the pith of this bill is in section 5, 1t is a
powerful bill to force labor and make every
body work AS a plantation owner he
would like to see il very much, but he did
not think it just.
Noble Smith said: We are not here to do
any injustice to Chinese. The Hawaiian
population is decreasing but the Chinese
population is increasing. 1t would take
5000 kingdoms the size of this one to be
equal in population to China. The HaWa-
ian population could all be counted in
twenty-five hours, at the rate of one a sec
ond, while at the same rate it would take
you thirty years to count the population of
China counting ten hours each day.
Minister Green-HOw does the honorable
Noble connect all these interesting state
ments with the question before us?
Noble Smith-III connect them very
shortly.
The remedy may be to stop immigration,
as Noble Castle says. We have certain
serious questions to consider in that con-
ncCtiOn. While our industries depend on
labor, it is necessary to have them come,
but we need to have that labor under
proper conditions. While our industries
must be protected, we have other inter
ests to protect as well. 1t would be rem
edy if every Chinaman brought here under
contract were obliged to return at the eX-
plraClOn OF the D6TlOU IOT WHICH he ell
gagged. The facts and books show that in
Honolulu 2 1000 Cinnamon evaded taxation
in 1887, and thus $40 900 taxes were lost,
and it is safe to say that about 5000 Chi
neSe eVaded taxes in the Kingdom last year,
amounting to $25, 900 taxes. And there is
evidence that nearly every man OF these
were Chinese. They were booked, the
collector went for the money, but the
men could not be found. 1t is rank in
justice for me or anyone else to be taxed
while others go untaxed. 1t is wrong. But
this is only by way of illustration. For
there are so many reasons, we'll known to
all acquainted with the facts, which de-
mand that the Chinese element in these
Islands be regulated-and first of all there
must be Identification. 1t is a most diff
cult thing to identify Cinnamon. l tried
once to draft a registration act, and if any
one thinks it an easy task, let him try it
and see where he will end. This bill pro-
vides that labOrers shall be registered. 1t
is very small matter and no reasonable
person will object to it. Prominent Chi
nese merchants have said that they would
be glad if some system of registration
could be had that would bring the vagrant
class of Chinese under control who are a
burden to their cOuntrymen. We do not
want to do any injustice to the mercantile,
mechanical or labOring Chinese. In page
5 of the Judges opinion, it is held that the
may make the granting of
licenses discretionary when the police
power of the state demands it. When the
legislature says every working man shall
be licensed, it secures complete registration
and Identification. The committee have
looked in every direction to find some way
to meet a great danger menaCing this
country and that without doing injustice
to anyone. The method proposed is very
simple and it will be thoroughly effective.
Mr.. Armstrong said, eight years ago, that
if the young men do not look out, the
will soon not be fit for YOU to live
in. There will be a few rich plantations,
a few foreign merchants, few Hawaiians,
the farming in the hands of the Portu-
guese and all the mixed industries of the
country will be absolutely in the hands of
the Chinese.
We must do something; the simplest |
first instincts of self-preservation demand |
it. We have turned this way and that |
seeking some remedy. The difficulty is to |
frame any provisions which will not con-