The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1888-09-04
INTERVIEWS.
S. f. BISHOP,

Conversation with number of citizens
upon the Chinese amendment elected
the following views:
DIR. - think something ought to
be done. The proposition before the
House is burdened with so many pro-
visos and exceptions that it is as if one
said: 1 am going to cut off your head,
but will except portion of the left
whisker, piece of the ear, the end of
the nose, both eyebrows, the back of the
neck, and the scalp.
A prominent tailor says: If some
thing is not done, we shall have to leave
the country. Workmen are doing it
now, and nobody is spending any money.
The merchants down town are partly to
blame. They trust any Chinese who
come along and he sells goods for any
price and never expects to pay, and then
he gets bankrupt. | don't know much
about the question before the Legisla-
ture. [ had Chinese in my shop and
they learned the trade, because | could
not get white men, and natives would
not work.
A welI-known druggist says: [ have
not thought much about the question.
1t is important, but too deep for me-
Mr.. A. S. Hartwell says: l think no
amendment can be made which will not
be regarded by the Chinese as hostile to
them. The consequences of such an
amendment will be extremely injurious
to this Kingdom. The mechanics will
be first to suffer, for capitalists can al
ways take care of themselves. 1t will be
a declaration on the part of the white
residents that the Chinese are not to be
treated with equality before the law. 1t
is very different here from California
There it relates only to a small proper
ton of the population. Here, as long as
our staples continue what they are, the
main labor will be performed by Chinese
and Japanese. In California it is mostly
by whites. Statistics show that the
Chinese here are steadily decreasing,
moreover the same demand for class
legislation against Chinese will next be
made against Japanese and Portuguese,
who can work and live as cheaply as the
Chinese. The safety and welfare of the
Kingdom require absolute equality be-
fore the law. This view will eventually
commend itself to the sober common
sense and right feeling of all. To vote
down promptly all attempts at class
legislation is the best way to secure
peace and prosperity to the group. It
has already been decided that statutes
restricting or preventing the landing of
Chinese at these Islands, are constitu-
tiOnal. Such statutes might also require
the registration of all such immigrants
while in this country.
Mr.. B. Ordenstein had not read the
amended amendment reported by the
committee, but considered that the
measure as it stood was a farce. The
boast Of the Chinese that they are twenty
thousand strong was only bluff; they
did not come here to make a disturb
ance. What is required is the regulation
OF Chinese immigration SO that it should
be for plantation la Dor alone, also means
for compelling the idle Chinese now in
the country to go on the plantations.
The Chinese now here are almost mas
ters OF the situation from a scarcity of
labor, and would be wholly so if immi-
grafton of others was absolutely stopped.
Admit Chinese only as coolies to be de-
ported at the end of their contracts if
they do not renew their bound service.
A mechanic believed the legislators
could do something practical in the mat
ter II they wanted to, but, as they didn't
want to, they were wrangling about a
roundabout course of doing nothing. He
had not read the latest version of the
amendment and could not say if it was
an improvement upon the original
A leading merchant, who hadn't read
the amendment, considered that the
Chinese had the upper hand now. 1t
only remained to regulate those in the
country in the best manner possible for
the national welfare, admitting more
only upon strict conditions against their
entering into competition, that must al
ways be unequal, with the races that
sustain our civilized institutions.