The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-06-27
THE YELLOW PERIL.

a1
4. -, THE YELLOW PERIL.
Already the lines are being drawn for
the contest which is to mark the next
session of Congress, the fight for the re-
enactment of the Chinese exclusion law.
The Geary exclusion law was passed
nineteen years ago. and will expire in
May, 1902 It.swas in December, 1884,
that the Gresham treaty with China,
I. which embodies the consent of the lat
ter nation to the terms of. the act was
signed and promulgated.
During the last term of Congress
there was Continual agitation of the
matter especially by Congressman
Kahn OF San Francisco, who had ready
for introduction bill which would
continue the exclusion acts force for
another twenty years. That he did not
introduce 1t, according to the reports in
the papers of his home city, was due
to the fact that it was deemed wisest
to allow the matter to rest until the
long term of Congress, when there
would be final action on the matter.
BY this plan there would be no double
working up of sentiment necessary.
From the two extremes of the CONT
nent come tales of the activity of those
Interested in the exclusion law. In
New York an organization has been
effected on the part of the Chinese,
which has for it's object the prepara-
ton Of a memorial to the Government
protesting against a re-enactment of
the law. 1t is set forth that each one
of the thousands of Chinese in the
United States will be asked to sign
this memorial, and it Is conceivable
that there will be collected a fund for
the proper presentation of the claims
of the protestants. which will attract
the attention of one of the largest lob
bies which has been seen at the. ma
tional capital for many years. The
New: York; Chinese, too; viii ASK fall
those ofsthe Americansaw who have not
been opposed to the opening Of the
doors, to the Orientals, to sign a mem
orial which will be made feature of
the fight. s't''5 - &.'+s' si-'
Meanwhile, on. the Western coast.
where the agitation against the flood of
cheap labor had its beginning, the
fight Is already being put up labor
orga nizations- and newspapers have be-
gun to agitate for the pledging of mem
bers of Congress to a new law which
will stem the yellow seourge. The
friends of white labor, the unions of
artisans In all lines of human endeavor.
the men who think upon the, subject
broadly, all are IN unison on this mat
ter. There Is nothing to be done but to
secure longer period of relief from
the danger of the extinction Of the
American workman. as he now exists,
the best paid, the highest living, work
man In the world. and this can be done
only by the absolute prohibition of the
entrance of Chinese labor into the
United States. The same feeling, which,
when fully aroused brought the people
of the United States to see the threat
ening danger of the yellow cloud. has
been displayed in some extent In the
West In regard to the little brown men.
the so-called Yankee of the Pacific, the
Japanese. 1t Is fact that within the
past five years there has been develop
ed in many Western States as strong
an antipathy to the Jap as is felt to-
ward the coolie.
The danger which lies in the way Of
the re-enactment of exclusion legisla-
ton is that there shall be among leg
islators from the East an absolute lack
of knowledge bearing upon the condi-
lions which will obtain when the Or
iental is given a free field to compete
with the free white man. In various
Eastern newspapers there have ap-
peared in recent years a criticism of the
course OF the West in demanding
more stringent restriction laws At
one time the New York Sun
served notice upon the West
that there was absolutely no hope of Sc
curing any restriction of Japanese i'm
migration, yet we have seen that flood
stayed by the Emperor himself. It is
in the spreading Of information as to
the scourge which the yellow man
proves, that the widest field for the
proponents of the exclusion laws now
lies. The fact that every national labor
union has taken up this branch Of the
service gives hope that there will be no
member of either House of the national
Legislature who will have the question
brought to his notice and yet be unpre-
pared to vote upon 1t for the best inter-
ests of the entire people of the country.
The greatest hope of those who be-
friend the yellow man Is that the pop
ularity of the present Minister from
China to Washington will enable him
to so divide the forces as to make 1t
impossible for a bill to be put into
shape for passage. Minister WI Ting
Fang has made great stride into the
good graces OF Americans. For the
first time since the establishment of
diplomatic relations between the two
countries is the feeble empire of Asia
represented at the capital of this ma
ton by a man who has conception Of