The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1888-08-27

and unreasonable discrimination against
common labOrers." To discriminate
against honest labor, and put it under the
ban of the law, does not appear to your
committee to be wise or StateSmanlke.
1t has not been shown to, or discovered
by your committee, that any similar dis
elimination against, or attempted regula-
ton of common labor has found a place
upon the statute book of any foreign state
or country. While taxes, regulations and
licenses in various forms have been i'm
posed upon occupations as various in this
and other countries, they are usually SuS-
tanned upon one of the following grounds,
viz, as revenue measures, for the purpose
of prohibiting such occupation, or to regu-
late such occupations as are, in their ma
ture, or may be dangerous or mischievOus
to society or to the state.
In no other place, we believe, has it been
seriously asserted that the occupation Of
common labor" is one of such mischie-
vOus tendencies as to require restrictive
legislation. There is lack of consistency
in policy that would forbid a man the
right to exercise the GOd-given privilege to
pursue d" common labor" without a license,
while it processes to deplore the prevalence
of idleness and vagrancy among those who
depend upon common labor" as means
of subsistence.
This bill is undeniably. an anti-Chinese
measure, designed to secure a more effec-
tive police control of that race within our
y
that no restrictions of this nature can be
effective (eVen if cOnStitutiOnally and other
wise unObjectionable) as against Chinese,
without being made so severe as to serious
ly curtail, embarrass and Obstruct the or
binary liberties of the citizen, as known
and enjoyed by the Anglo-SaxOn and tt e
Hawaiian.
Your committee have diligently sought
a practicable substitute for this bill, in the
form of an act to provide such a scheme of
SfT fr(T0
But no such system, we conceive, could be
of utility as a mode of better controlling
the Chinese in the Kingdom, except it
should embrace features of such severity,
including the necessity OF phOtOgraphing
as means of Identification as would rem
der it intOlerable to the Hawaiian, Ameri-
can and European resident.
The conclusions reached by your COM
mttee are that 1T was lmpracticable to pass
useful legislation upon this subject, owing
to the existence of constitutional inhibi-
tiOns upon legislation which shall apply to
the Chinese alone. We therefore recon-
mend that the efforts of the Legislature be
now directed to the securing of such an
amendment to the Constitution as will per-
mt restrictive legislation, within safe
limits, against the Chinese, apart from the
rest of the community.
In addition to thus amending the Con-
StitutlOn, we recommend that the Chinese
Restrictive Act of 1887 be amended in some
ings, and prevent, as far as practicable, the
influx of strange or unauthorized Chinese
upon our shores, pending the adoption of
such amendment. Your committee are
informed, that, in addition to the return
Chinese permits regularly issued from the
Foreign Office prior to the taking effect of
the Chinese Restriction, March LIST, 1888 |
there have been issued and sent abroad, by
a dishonest official of that office, a large |
but unknown number of such permits, and
that about 900 of such permits, stolen from
the Custom House in Honolulu during the |
past year, after being once used, but left |
uncanCelled are still abroad and YOUR
committee think it desirable to further |
legislate to prevent the use of these per-
mits by holders to whom or for whom per
sOnally they were not issued. If the |
Chinese are already too numerous in the |
Kingdom, is it not the part of wisdom to |
exclude from our shores all who are not, in |
the striCtest sense, entitled to land thereon? |
AS the Restriction Act now stands there |
is no absolute prohibition, in terms, upon |
the landing of Chinese unprOvided with !
permits, no vessel is made responsible for
the penalty for the illegal introduction of |
Chinese upon such vessel, and the penalty |
for illegally attempting to land is now so
low (being only $500 as to operate as a
premium upon violations of this law
Many Chinese are not only willing but |
anxious to secure entrance into the King
dom by paying fine of fifty dollars.
We submit herewith bill to amend the
Restriction Act upon the lines above sug-
gested
We further recommend that bill No 12O
De laid upon the table.
Respectfully submitted