The San Francisco call., 1897-06-12
LETTING DOWN THE BARS.

The Trans Mississippi Exposition to be
held during the coming year at Omaha
promises TO exceed in its scope and i'm
poYtance the hopes of the most sanguine
OF its projectors. We favor the exposi-
ton; We desire to see California's re-
| sources and products properly and even
abundantiy represented among the ex-
hibits AMI we are glad for Omaha's sake
that the affair has been nationalized; but
| in this latter regard we want TO enter an
| emphatic protest against the too frequent
action of Congress "suspending the i'm
migration and Chinese exclusion acts so
as TO permit foreign labor to take charge
of foreign exhibits"
Last year we had the exposition at At
lanta; that was nationalized and the ex-
clusion laws were suspended. A thousand
or more of the sons of Asia landed in this
country on the strength of the privilege
thus conferred. When they once got into
this country they stayed. This year the
exposition at Nashville, Tenn, obtained q
similar suspension of the exclusion laws
and another host of Mongolians swept in.
Next year comes the Omaha Exposition
and with it another small army of coolies
will come. VIII they go back whence
my NoiAS DSl TIC K lalT ClOS6Ss L 10eY
will plant them selves in this country lust
as their predecessors did and will enter
business here and run out more white
abor by more Chinese cheap labor.
Suspending the exclusion act every
time an exposition is held anywhere in
this country may not seem TO be very
threatening proposition to our Eastern
brethren. The majority perhaps are not
sufficiently we'll acquainted with Chinese
ways to enable them to form a iudgme Mt
| in the premises. There are any mum Der
of reliable sources of information, how
ever, from which they might learn that
American men and women, boys and
| girls who ale forced to toll for their daily
| bread cannot compete in the field of
labor with coolies who subsist on rice and
rats and who flourish on a nickel day.
We have had only about one exposition
a year so far. Before long we may have
| two or three in year, and, as this country
! Is very broad one it is possible we may
see two or three at time, or one a month.
! Foreign i'm migration, the Asiatic in par
ticular, would thereby experience con-
! tinuous boom. The exclusion law becomes
a farce under the circumstances, and we
could hardly invite evil on larger scale
if the bars were thrown down altogether.
Chinese cheap labor has wrought evil
enough IN the West. The coolies who
come here by the thousand, under sus-
| pension of the exclusion act," are slave
laborers of the Orient. Tae supply OF
American white labor still very largely
exceeds the demand. We want to make
times better for American labor. We are
eager for the time when supply and de-
mand of white labor shall be equal. We
expsct our industries soon TO assume
greater life than ever before in our Ma
tioaal history. But with the return OF
busy times our Congress can i'll afford to
curtail white mems chances by suspen-
sions of the exclusion act, which means
more Chinese slave-labor 10 bid down tn G
| American wage-market. If we cannot
| nave exhibits from Western Asia wit hou
paying the dear price of letting into this
country a couple of shiploads of those
| yellow-skinned serfs for every exhibit, then
| the O:iental exh Bit feature ought to be
! dropped. II behooves our representatives
! in Congress TO try and DO something to
/ the end that the necessity for suspending
the exclusion act for the objects of any
exposition may cease 20 exist.