The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1893-05-19
THE CHINESE EXCLUSION ACT MUST

| opposite views Of St. The Dispatch THINKS
the law providing for deporting the Chi
nese from this country just and eN-
celcnt one; The Times concurs with
justice Field. IN thinking it a brutal and
inhuman' one
The Dispatch says yesterday:
Wherein consist the hardships imposed
upon Chinese citizens by the law under
coreidoration2 The law. we repeat, Is
! moro than q year old. The Chinese are
/ aliens who never expect 10 be anything
! more In this country than aliens. Ihey
all. or almost all. come hither expecting
and desiring 10 return 10 China at some
/ future time. They never identify them
/ selves with the people amongst whom
Z they take up their abode. They are I'm
desirable denizens. and should be- made 10
know that they belong in emma.
Let this fact be kept steadily in mind.
The Times makes no denial Of the right
Of Congress 10 forbid any more Chinese
10 come here The Times point is that
those who are here. amounting TO but
little more than 10000. came here under
the permission and invitation Of our laws
and. that. having acquired homes here
by the sanction OF those laws, 1t is In
human 10 forcibly eject them from their
homes and force them out upon the world
at large 1t is robbery also.
The Dispatch asks: Wherein consists
the hardships imposed upon Chinese den
liens by the law under consideration
There IS no civilized country in the world
that does not throw it's doors open 10
strangers. permitting them TO acquire
homes there. form domestic and business
associations and still 10 retain their ma
tionality, and an intention 10 return at
some time 10 their native land Every
European country has thousands Of
just this state. America has thou
sands Of natives Of all coun-
tries now residing here in the same con-
dition. Shall it be said there is no hard
ship imposed upon our citizens residing
abroad. If they are ordered 10 abandon
their homes and associations Of business,
and domestic life in twelve months, and
take themselves out Of the country? Shall
it be said we would impose no hardships
upon the Europeans residing here if we
forcibly compelled them to submit to the
same fate?
And, if we may pursue this course to-
wards the Chinese who are here, why
may we not pursue the same course to-
wards the Irish, the Germans, the Bo-
hemians and the Hungarians, who have
come here? The doctrine is not TO be
tolerated 1t is ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
pant, grated upon the most odious ideas
of our Federalism.
The true theory of this matter is this.
We started our Government one hundred
years ago, with the new ideas of human
liberty that the decay and death of the
ieudal system sent out into the world.
Here was an immense territory 10 be
built up and inhabited by men who stood
upon the cardinal doctrine that there
were 10 be no classes with special priyi-
leges secured to them by the law,
but all men were TO stand upon an equal
footing before the law We wanted peo-
pie TO inhabit cur waste places. and we
held out TO the world the assurance that
all men whom we once admitted here 10
association with us should forever there
after. they and their descendants, be Of
us. and part Of the people Of the land.
The two ideas that an men should stand
here equally before the law. anu that Pll
men who are once admitted should be
freemen along with the rest, sec Irad rs
the immense immigration from other
lands that converted our wildernesses /
into waving grain fields, and our harbors
into cities that are the wonders Of the |
earth. IT is upon this generous and just
doctrine that we have built up and be-
come the great power Of the earth. Under (
it millions of men have come here and /
have secured absolute right of asylum /
ana home. We reserve 10 ourselves the !
right to say who shall come here in the |
future, but we cannot in justice or right.
question the title of any who have come, |
to remain.
The Chinese who are here came here .
under the sanction of those laws that .
brought the Irishmen and the Germans /
here. We cannot assert right 10 re-
move the Chinese, without at the same
time asserting right TO remove the
irish and the Germans, and We cannot
assert either in harmony with those fun
damental propositions upon which we
have founded and built up our Govern
ment The exclusion act is un-American,
and unjust, and it ought to be repealed.