Los Angeles daily herald., 1888-09-12
That Chinese question.

II Republicans were sincere in their
opposition to Chinese immigration as
they are trying to make out they are the
defeat of Harrison in every Pacific Coast
State would be foregone conclusion.
He would be defeated now. The HERALD
last Saturday morning gave the full re-
cord of legislation in the United States
Senate on the exclusion of the Chinese.
That record showed beyond possibility
OF dispute these facts: At the inception
of the agitation the East was apathetic,
but nearly all the Democrats in the SEN
ate at once went into an investigation of
the question. and with the instincts of
the party strong in mind, soon developed
a positive anti-C Chinese sentiment. In all
votes taken on the bills introduced the
Democratic Senators almost unani-
mously voted to exclude cheap
Mongol labor, and the Republican
Senators, excepting those from this
Coast, were nearly as unanimous in
their opposition to any measure tend
ing to restrict such immigration. The
record is most conclusive on this point
As to General Harrison, the Republican
candidate for the Presidency at this time,
sitting in the Senate many years after
this agitation had eliminated and down to
four years ago, he always voted with the
majority of his party against all bills
whose purpose was to exclude or even
restrict Chinese immigration. In letter
which General Harrison wrote to his
friend, Rev. ]. B. Brandt, of st. Louis, he
acknowledges all this. He could not
deny it, for the records show that
General Harrison in each and every vote
acted with his party and in favor OF the
Chinese being let alone. Before the
nomination was made at Chicago, Sena-
tor Ingalls, wrote to delegates at Chicago
deprecating the nomination of Harrison
because of his awkward record on the
Chinese question:" During the sitting
of that Convention M. H. De Young, OF
the San Francisco Chronicle, virulently
attacked Harrison on his bad record on
this matter, and declared that his NOM
ination would lose this Coast to the party
on this very issue. These are all facts
as indisputable as is the rising of the sun.
There is no escape for these truths.
The Chinese are here. The Re-
publican judges who preside over
the Federal courts in San Fran
cisco are rushing them in as fast as
the legal mill can be turned. The Re-
publican Senate, the other day, refused
to ratify treaty by whose provisions the
Chinese could have been excluded.
Their tinkering with it has left our ports
open for months, during which time the
Mongols have focked in by the thous.
and. 1t may be that this tinkering will
defeat the treaty entirely. Only yester
day, in the Senate, Senator Sherman
late most prominent candidate of the
Republican party for the Presidential
nomination, was found on the foo
of the Senate pleading against tn
. restriction of the Chinese. As soon a
. the Democratic members of the Lowe
House learned that the treaty was il
:. jeopardy they hastened to pass an act G
absolute exclusion. 1t hangs fire in tn
. Republican Senate, and if passed ther
at all, it will be under pressure of tn
pending campaign, and its provision
will be made void by Republican chi
cane somewhere.
There is the record of the parties OF
this vital issue. Under Republican rul
the Chinese will still come here in un
restricted numbers. Under any Demo
cratic policy they will be excluded. Thei
coming means lover and lower wages TO
labor year by year. That is why the Re
: publican party favors their admission
( Their exclusion means an immediate en-
hancement of wages. That is why th
Democratic party favors the restriction
OF Chinese immigration. That is the is
sue squarely stated. The Republican
b party is not sincere on this point, an,
Q because they are not sincere the grea
mass of the voters of that party will vot
for General Harrison in spite of his pro
: Chinese record, and if they elect hin
Chinese immigration will not be re
t stricted.
i T H.