The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-07-05
Mr.. MlGUIRE ON LABOR,
It's Attitude on the Fourth of
July Celebration Very
*.. Ominous. :.
THE. IMMIGRATION QUESTION.
He viii Try to Have a Federal
Bureau Established at This
.>,...5.:=< Port. 5...-..

The investigation by State Labor Com
missioner Fitzgerald and United States
Commissioner of Inlni gration Stradley
into the importation OF. japanese Iaborerss
under contracts violating tile Federal laws.
has set CONGRESSMAN James q: Mcguire to
thinking very seriously of an effort to Sc
cure the establishment of Federal imrni-
grafton bureau in this City similar to that
at New York.
Involving as it does one of the most
loudly voiced grievances. of white labor,
Mr.. Mcguire naturally feels inclined to
discuss the whole labor problem in this
country, particularly in view of the atti-
tude the labor. organizations assumed
toward the Fourth of July celebration. He
gave his views yesterday in the following,
and did not omit a reference to socialism.
He rather apprehends that the silver Ques-
ton may not be settled by the next Con
gress, and predicts, if it is not, the FIFTY
third Congress will be Enthusiastically IN
structed by the people TO restore silver TO
the position it occupied previous to the de-
monetlzation act. Said he:
The surprising discoveries made by the
State Labor Bureau regarding the lmporta-
ton of contract laborers from Japan do
not show that the laws against such inn
portation are insufficient, but that there IS
no adequate provision for their enforce
ment on the Pacific Coast. The Federal
laws themselvesare now very strict against
=: the importation of contract laborers from
any. country, andin the Eastern, States they
are being mgidly. enforced, through. an
elaborate system Of supervision andInYes-:
tigatiOn. 100. =. ~.
1.-The Commissioner of Immigration at
this port is not to. blame i d the natter,*for
it IS physicallvim possible for him. to guard
against the violation Of the Immigration.
laws with tine means at his. command. Nor
has: it been. possible heretofore. to secure
sufficient appropriations to provide for the.
proper enforcement of those laws on this.
coast The Investigations made by Com.
missionerss Fits gerald and Stradl ey will be
OF great assistance i'm the next G}ongress=ln
securing. the necessary appropriations. for
this purpose. -.
Il d.Senator Perkins statement.eon-
cerningtllis matter, ksiatic Immigration,
in 1HE@GA IIlof Monday last, and while /
agree.With @fijnl: that the sentiment east of;
the Rocky; Mountains IS Overwhelmingly
againSt@any Legislation for the restriction
OF Japanese INNING grafton Yet | am: sure
that much can be done TO- put a stop to.the
greatest eyil.of tina timmi migration, namely,
the Importation OF Japanese. laborers I'M
der contracts for service: In this. country,
-: Indeed; the importation of Iaborers
under such.ContractS is not immigration
at all, but a sort of modified slave trade,
;which=bringS to his.c country, merely for the
profit Of the importers, hordes of non
assirIilating laborers Who have neither
knowledge of the institutions of this
country Toresympathy= with them.
:....!The@people THE East do not favor
such. importation Of contract aborers from
any. country, and will, i am sure, be ready
10. aid us In putting a" stop to 1t ON this
coast when tile facts are clearly shown. to
them as the result of the official .iTlyestiga-
ton conducted by Messrs. Fitzgerald and
Stradley:e=s.3 + ..~: -. :>-.-....
"Dur;ng.the coming session we will en-
deaVoT to have an Immigration bureau
establiShed=at the port of San Francisco
such as is. now effectively enforcing the
contract1labor and other Immigration laws
in New York. The. Committee on Im1ni-
grafton and Naturalization, of which Twas
a member in the last Congress, made an
Investigation, by personal inspection and
obserNa tfon, last. July of the working of
4 the New" York bureau, and found it
thoroughly efficient and apparently COM
plete. The pressing need of such q
bureau.o on this coast is madefully apparent
by recent disclosures.
q" As labor is at present restricted by
monopoly the stringent enforcement of
these contract labor laws is important to
: it. but the real remedy for the wrongs and
privations of labor must be found in re-
storing its natural opportunities. If this
were done immigration would cease to be
a labor question, and would be considered
soIelv from the standpoint of its effects
upon the character and institutions OF our
common country.
~Labor has much greater grievances
than the failure TO enforce the immlgra-
ton laws and it is time that those greater
grievances were given more serious and
thoughtful consideration. The deliberate
refusal of organized labor in the United
States to participate in a Fourth of July
celebration and the ability of organized
labor so completely to enforce its decree in
that behalf is an oninous circumstance,
deserving of more than passing notice. 1t
is a protest of deep significance, and indi-
Gates that the laborers of this country feel
that their relations to her industries and
institutions have become lntolerably op-
pressive to them.
isThev realize that the glorious achieve
ment of political equality for the celebra-
ton and eommemoration of which the
Fourth of July Is set apart has not brought
to them the substantial amelioration of
social conditions which should have re-
suited from it. They forget that political
equality is but a means by which they
may accomplish the more substantial end
OF. securing universal equality of oppor-
tunity'in the struggle of life. The accom-
p1ishment Of this end will be the next great
step in the order Of social evolution.
'@This change must come speedily, for
the existing friction between classes can
not long endure. 1t is really more i'm
portant to the educated and well-to-do
classes than to the suffering masses that a
rational basis of adjustment be speedily
reached and adopted. 1t is folly on the
part of the former to put weights upon the
safety-valve when the alternative may be
an explosion.
"The apparent trend of thought among
laborers is towards state socialism, which
involves a complete overthrow of the indi-
vidualism that has characterized our civil
ization. But as Mr.. Kid in his mastery
work on Social Evolution clearly shows
this is but a passing phase of the social
movement 1t is natural that the first
protests against the evil in system
should contemplate the destruction of the
whole system, but the ultimate result
must be the elimination of the evil from
and the preservation of the general system
with which all of the institutions, indus
trial and political, of the civilized world
are in harmony.
"The distractions to progress and happi-
j.. ness which now bar the way of our civil
cation can and will be removed without de-
stroying either individual freedom or in