, 1891-10-22

Chinese laborers: All Idiots. insane persons.
paupers or persons likely to become a public
charge, persons suffering from a loathsome or
dangerous contagious disease, persons who
have been convicted of a felony or other in
famous crime or m-isdemeanor Involving moral
turpitude, polygamists, and also any person
whose ticket or passage Is paid for with th'
money OF another or who is assisted by Others
to come, unless 1t is affirmatively and ~satisfac-
torily shown on special inquiry that such per.
son does not belong 10 one OF the foregoing eE.
cluded classes or to the class OF contract labor
ers excluded by the act OF Feb. %, 1885.
The Russian exiles cannot be excluded
under that act because, while their 'tick.
cts are paid for with the money of an.
other" it can of course be shown that
they do not belong to either of the classes
excluded specifically by the act.
| AVE heard it claimed, though, that
these people could be excluded under
the act Of 1885, relating to contract
laborers- 1t is said that under a proper
construction Of the law and the evidence
the Baron Hirsch beneficiaries must be
excluded. because a contract is implied
when the people are brought here, their
passage paid out of the fund, and an I'M
Outstanding had between them and the
trustees that they shall be provided with
opportunities for learning trades and
afterward assisted in procuring employ
men Associations have been formed
abroad for the purpose of cooperating
with the Jewish Colonization association
in this country, and the shipping and
placing Of the immigrants will be mat
tiers of specific arrangement between
these associations. Just what the proper
authorities would say If appealed to l do
not know, and whether or not such an
appeal will be made is also out of my ken.
We have had some very peculiar rul.
ings on our immigration laws recently.
Take the Chinese exclusion act for ex-
ample. Judge Swan, of the United
States district court, sitting at Detroit.
has decided that Cinnamon who come
to this country by the way Of Canada,
when apprehended, can only be returned
to Canada, and cannot be sent back to
China. The exclusion act says they
shall be returned to the country from
which they came" Attorney General
Miller gave an opinion recently to the
effect that when a Chinaman came to
this country by the way Of Canada he
could not claim that Canada was the
country from which he came. Judge
Swans ruling upsets Mr.. Miller's opin-
ion, as the latter is not binding, while a
decision OF the Federal court is the law,
until set aside by a higher authority. 1t
has never done any good to return the
Cinnamon to Canada, as they slip across
the border again
A recent ruling under the immigration
laws in Massachusetts, furnishes nm ex-
ample of the other extreme. Frank
Mills, twenty years of age, a workman in
the mills at Lawrence, had saved up 5000
and furnished n little house out of his
wages. he sent a sum to his mother in
England sufficient to pay the passage Of
herself and five children to Boston. Two
of the children. boys, were sixteen and
fourteen years of age. One was a prac-
teal weaver and the other had worked
two years at the printing trade. The
three sons were easily able to provide for
their mother and the three younger chill
dren. But the officials of this great and
wise government decided hat Mrs. Mills
and her children were ''likely TO become
public charges" and after keeping them
for n time in the Tewksbury w~orkhouse,
shipped them back to England in the
steerage. Two of the children have since
died. 1t is claimed by the mother that
their deaths were due to the h~ardships
which were put upon them.
So much for the policy of a govern
ment built upon a system in which
selfishness is the open sesame, and ad-
ministered by men who are made
cruel by their environment and neces-
stiles. We ought to shoot the eagle
and put the vulture on the perch. What
q lesson there is in the conflicting posi-
tions we are compelled to take relative
to our brothers born in other lands.
Here we have a country as rich in natur-
al opportunities as imagination can paint,
OF vast extent, room enough and oppor-
tunities to supply ~sustenance to twenty
times our present population, and yet
we must put a high wall around our sea
board, with portals here and there to ad-
init only those whom we (no. our rulers)
decide are acceptable. We say in our
best Fourth Of July style; Come to us
all ye oppressed of every nation and we
will give you a chancei And when the in
vitation Is accepted we find that because
the glorious opportunities for man to
work n enjoy which we had have been
cornered by a plutocracy as cruel and
ayaricious as any in the world, and to
protect ''our w work people," we have
to tell the poor devils who have heard
our ringing invitation and started with
hearts full of hope to accept It; it doesn't
go; we are sentimental on platform and
paper, but business is business.
Again | van to forestall a wrong
opinion. | do not quarrel with the i'm.
migration laws; | recognize them as nee.
essary. But every sane man must be
ashamed of and hold an intense hatred
for the thing that creates the necessity.
Notwithstanding the tales of prosperity
great problems confront us, and we must
solve them. Important among them i:
this question of the poor of foreign lands
who knock at our doors for admission.
With everybody that comes into tn,
world to be fed comes a pair Of hands
III we are wise we will put the food with
t n reach by placing tools in the hand,
ere they grasp the torch and sword.
Jos. K. BUCHANAN