Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1900-11-20
AN ASSAULT ON FREE SPEECH.

AN ASSAULT ON fhEG De EGSI1'
The remova of DR.. Edward A. Ross
from the faculty of Stanford university
will stir up a tremendous row. unless
all signs fail. This is not so much due
to Professor Ross popularity throughout
California. great as it is, nor his high
standing among the s~ociologists OF
America as because his removal Is
looked upon as an assault upon Tree
speech. The press reports-and they
must be accurate. inasmuch as Presi-
dent David Starr Jordan's own state
ment as to the cause for the action taken
is given-do not show that in his lee
lures DR. Ross has presented anything
OF a revolutionary nature. In the ad-
dress particularly objected to, he gave
a scientific discussion of the control OF
public utilities, presenting the conclusion
that an era of municipal ownership is
likely to soon ensue, unless there are
iiIci g XII ~ Ia 90 Va q
aging these utilities in the large cities.
The other subject, and the one that
! gave offense to Mrs. Stanford. was a
discussion of the coolie labor problem,
in which DR.. Ross strongly favored a
continuance of the policy of restricted
immigration from the Orient, such as
the republican party is pledged to. He
said:
But what American labor objects to is
exposure to competition with a cheaper
man. The coolie cannot Guido HIM. but
he can underlive him. He cannot pro-
duce more, but he can onsum less.
Tlle Oriental can elbow the American to
one side in the common occupations be-
cause he has fewer wants. To let this
go on, to let the American be driven by
coolie competition, to check the Amerl-
can birth-rate in order that the Jap
anese b.rth-rate shall not be checked. to
let an opportunity for one American boy
be occupied by three Orientals SO that
the American Will not add that boy to
his family, is to reverse the current of
progress, to commit race suicide. Every
thing We can rogress has helped to de-
velop man, who can produce much and
can onsume much; it has abhorred the
cheap man. 1t has favored and fostered
not the man of crude palate, of tough
stomach. of low organization, of few
wants and of little intelligence and en-
ergy, but the superior man. Starting
with the Oriental peoples of Egypt and
Babylonia. civilization has in 5000 years
swept around the globe, insisting on bet
Tow fon,, 4, ND brSini., war, DC IL IXa
and new by the waters of the Pacific it is
face to face with peoples like the Chi
nese and Hindoos and the Japanese, who
are nearest to reproducing the economic
conditions of those ancient peoples
which rocked the cradle of civilization.
There is no suggestion Of the agitator
in that, nor in this brief conclusion to
the lecture:
A policy of restriction is not, under
such circumstances, unfair or predatory
or blameworthy. Remember, we do not
assail the Oriental peoples. We do no,
propose to treat the Orient as the powers
are treating China. We are not grab
bling ands or seizing ports, or extending
:, railway contracts, or forcing trade a
the %cannon's mouth. We entertain nc
enmity and cherish no designs agains
the trans-Pacific peoples. We hope they
will prosper and elevate their working
people by the means we have used. Blu
we are resolutely determined that Cab
e fornia, the latest and loveliest seat o
the Aryan race, shall not become, if w,
can help it, the theater of such a stern
v wolfish struggle for existence as pre-
n walls throughout the Orient.
e The conclusions presented by DR.. RIOS
e are the result of years of study upo
It this subject, and his view is endorsed b
re Others who nave faced the yellow ma
II in his home. But recently the hard
J. headed Sir Robert Hart, who has bee
e in China in a high official capacity sine
j. 1859, stated that the western world we
l. in great danger of being overrun by tn
Ill Chinese. On top Of that, Sir Robel
It Giffen comes out with a statement b,
is fore the Manchester Statistical societ
Id in which he says that during the la
Sc century the Caucasian race has 1,
creased from no. 900. 900 to 500. ooo, %
c. while the other races have RENAME
practically stationary.