The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-05-20

WASHINGTON, May 19.-The house
! today entered upon a two days de-
/ bate of the immigration bills reported
from the immigration committee.
Mr.. William Stone, of Pennsylvania
and Mr.. Tracewell, of Indiana, argued
for restrictive measure; Mr.. Corliss
of Michigan for his bill, designed to
put an end to Canadian competition
with American labor; Mr.. Morse OF
Massachusetts and Mr.. Bartholdt OF
Missouri, for the educational test bill
The feature of the debate today was
the plea of Mr. Buck, of Louisiana,
against any sort of restrictive legisla-
ton beyond that now in statute books,
which excluded
PAUPERS AND CRIMINALS.
Before the debate began resolu-
ton was adopted instructing the SER
geant at arms to summon the clerks
of the counties in the Sixteenth dis
trict of Illinois, for the purpose OF
recounting the ballots in the Reinaker-
Downing contest.
The title of Mr.. Owens of Ken
lucky to his SCAT was confirmed, and
Messrs Steele, Qnd) Cousins Qowa),
and McClelland On. " were appointed
on the board of visitors to West Point.
AT 1890 p. m. the debate on the i'm
migra ton bills was opened by Mr..
Bartholdt, Rep., MOI chairman of the
immigration committee.
The bills were four in number. One
known variously as the Bartholdt, Nc
Call or Lodge bill, provided
AN, EDUCATIONAL TEST.
1t excluded all male persons between
sixteen and sixty years of age who
could not read and write English or
some other language. Another, the
Stone bill, provided for the inspection
of immigrants by our consular Of
ficers and their certification when i'm
migrants do not belong to any class of
immigrants excluded by existing con-
tract labor or other immigration laws.
This bill was offered as an amend
ment to the Bartholdt-McCall bill.
The Corliss bill, offered as a substi-
tute, applied wholly to the Canadian
border and made it unlawful for any
alien to enter the United States lex
cept to teach new arts or industries)
and engage III any mechanical trade
or manual labor. The provisions of
the bill do not apply to sailors on the
great lakes.
The Mahaney bill, also offered as a
substitute, makes all contracts by
aliens to perform labor in the United
States illegal. 1t also makes it a mis-
demeanor for any person to perform
labor in the United States who has be-
come citizen of the United States and
returned to foreign country to make
that his home Mr.. Mahaneys substi-
tute was ruled out on a point of order.
Mr. Johnson (Rep., CALI then offered
A SWEEPING MOTION
to absolutely exclude all foreign
born" laborers, skilled or unskilled,
and to make captains and masters of
vessels responsible for the character
of their passengers. This was also
ruled out.
Mr.. Bartholdt said that there was
no question so much talked about and
so little understood as the problem of
immigration. There was, he thought
too much passion and prejudice in the
demand from certain quarters in favor
of the exclusion of foreigners. Good
immigration, he urged, was desirable.
His bill was a moderate measure for
the exclusion of the illiterate. An
educational test, he pointed out, would
not materially affect immigration from
Germany and other countries of north
ern Europe. He warned his Republic
can associates that as advocates of the
educational test for immigration they
could go to the country, but consular
inspection that would cut off all I'M
migration save of the most undesirable
sort from Germany and Scandinavia
could never be successfully defended.
Mr.. Tracewell (Rep., Ind) who fol-
lowed Bartholdt, prefaced his remarks
by stating that he was
NOT AN A. P A.
and declared himself in favor of all
the bills reported by the immigration
committee. They were not inconsist-
e-t he argued, and could all be passed
with benefit to the country.
Mr. w A. Stone Rep., Pa) the
author of the Stone bill, explained its
provisions and advocated it's passage
The country, he argued, had long suf-
fered from unreasonable immigration.
The immigration for the last ten years
had exceeded the natural increase
Mr. Bartholdt challenged this state
ment, contending that the natural in
crease was one million a year while the
had averaged only
quarter of million a year. Mr.. Stone
said that during the hard times of the
past three years immigration had fall
len off, but with the prospect of re-
turning prosperity and high wages it
would increase to
STARTLING PROPORTIONS.
Mr.. Corliss Rep., Mich.) submitted an
argument in favor of his bill for the
exclusion of foreigners who crossed our
frontiers each year TO compete with
labor. He read the testi-
mony of inspection agents and others
along the Canadian border as to the
evil effects of the annual influx of the
Canadian birds of passage"
Mr.. Morse (Rep., Mass.) favored the
Mccall bill. He said that there was a
strong demand in the country for radi-
cal legislation to restrict immigration
and that congress could not afford to
disregard it.
Mr.. Buck Dem, La) a naturalized
German, opposed restriction of i'm
migration in eloquent language. An