The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1893-10-13
THEY ARGUE AGAINST
THE GBARY LAW.
HIT, of Illinois, Roundly De-
nounces the Measure.
THE RIGHT OF PETITION.
The Society of Friends Ask That the
Law Be Repealed.
Land, of California, Offers Amendments,
Which Would Make the Law Even
More Strict Than it
Now Is.
The RIGHT OF PETITION.

Washington, Oct. 12-Meiklejohn, of
Nebraska, called up and had passed
bill applying the land laws of March
3, 1891. to that portion of the Sioux
reservation extending into Nebraska.
The House passed the concurrent
resolution authorizing 1000 copies of
the hearings before. the Ways and
Means Committee for the use of the
House, after a vigorous fight by the
Republicans for more.
The Joint resolution for elections in
the Cherokee strip passed, when the
House went into committee Of the
whole on the bill to protect forest res
ervations. The bill was rat r vic
iously attacked.
Picker, of South Dakota, said he
favored protecting timber, but this bill
meant the stripping of timber off the
reservations. He objected to the sec
ton providing for the sale Of timber
on the public lands.
Herman, of Oregon, Simpson, OF
Hartman, of Montana, Rawlins, of
Utah, and others, spoke against the
bill, and Chairman McRae, OF the
Public Lands Committee, replied to
the criticisms Coffeen wanted to
amend so as to declare all reserva-
lions heretofore made should be re-
stored to the public domain, except IN
California, Oregon and Washington.
Before a vote was reached, the morn
ing hour expired, and the bill went
over. .,--.-,t.s
The McCreary bill was then
taken up at the close of the
morning session, and an attempt was
made to reach an agreement when
vote should be taken, which failing Nc
Creary said he had an understanding
with Coke, of Tennessee, that the bank
bill set for consideration tomorrow
should be postponed and that tomorrow
at 4 o'clock he would call the previous
question.
Hit, of Illinois, spoke in favor of
the bill. denouncing the Geary law. 1t
was a violation of public faith, but 1t
was law, and it was the duty of Con-
gress now to make.it as light upon the
victims as possible. If carried out, it
would be strange if it did not cause
rupture with China. Hit admitted tnat
Chinese coolie labor was a great evil,
but the way to stop 1t was by lnterna-
tional agreement
Johnson, of Indiana, read a petition,
which he tried to have printed, from
the Society of Friends, asking for the
repeal of the Geary law. He criticised
Richardson, of Tennessee, and Outh-
waite, of Ohio, for Directing to his Pc
tition, and defended the right of petit
ton. and Grosvenor, of Ohio, followed
in the same direction. He claimed the
churches had the same right to petit
ton as persons.
Land, of California, took the floor,
but before he began, Geary offered his
amendments, which are that certifi-
Gates must be accompanied with pho
tographs and q duplicate filed in the
Office of the collector of internal rev.
enue; that the order of deportation
must be enforced by the United States
marshal, and the Chinese must remain
in custody until deportation without
bail; also defining the term merchant
to mean any person engaged in buying
and selling at a fixed place of business
in his name. A Chinese merchant seek
ing entrance into this country on the
ground that he was a former merchant
must prove by two witnesses, other
than Chinese, that he was such.
Land then continued. He criticised
the argument made by McCreary in
support of the bill; described the evils
of the Chinese invasion of the Pacific
coast; criticised the administration for
not enforcing the law and claimed the
executive power was trying to over
awe the legislative power.
Hooker, of Mississippi, spoke in favor
of the bill.
Bartlett, of New York, opposed the
bill. The underlying object, he said,
was to allow the Six Companies a
chance to try the case again and have
majority of the Supreme Court
turn into a minority. He closed with
a criticism of the Six Companies for
preventing the Chinese from register
| ing. Adjourned.