The Washington times., 1902-04-06
JUSTICE TO CHINESE.
Native of Flowery Kingdom Discusses
the Mitchell Exclusion Bill.
TO the EDITOR Of The Times:

To the Editor OF The Times:
The Times in its issue of Friday morn
ing has a signed article by the Hon. John
IL. Mitchell, United States Senator from
Oregon, entitled Chinese Laborer Should
Be Excluded From America" Senator
.Iitchell advocates the passage OF the Dill
| introduced by him in the Senate and by
Representative Kahn in the House of Rep
resentatives, which has already been re-
Senate Committee on immigration and the
| House COMMITTEE on Foreign Affairs.
l have carefully examined the Mitchell
| Kahn bill. If its purpose were merely to
exclude Chinese laborers from the United
States | should not take the trouble to
write this letter. But it goes much fur
! ther. 1t not only aims to shut out la
| borers, but also puts so many unreason-
| able restrictions upon the coming to this
| country OF desirable classes of Chinese,
| such as merchants and students. as to
make it impossible for them to gain ad-
mission.
Let ME give 4 few illustrations: The
definition of teacher" given in the bill
makes it impossible for any Chinese to
come to this country as a teacher unless
he has been appointed a professor in one
| of the American colleges. The definition
| of student" effectively shuts out all Chi
nese except those who come TO take up
| graduate studies. The definition of
| merchant prevents the entrance of
| those who come to buy American goods.
Should this bill become a law, no Chi
| nese would find il an easy matter 20 land
| in this country. This is not all. There
are provisions in the bill directed against
the Chinese in the United States. In ac-
| cordance with these provisions any Chi
| nese is liable to be arrested at any time
without a moments warning and put in
jail. In case of wrongful arrest the vic
tim has no redress whatever. Is this
American justice?
Senator Mitchell says: 1T is confident
ly believed that this bill in no respect
violates any existing treaty obligations
with China. An examination of the
treaties between China and the United
States, together with the provisions of the
bill, will convince any reasonable man
that the honorable Senator is wrong.
l need only mention the fact that the
United States has no treaty right to re-
strict the coming TO the United States of
q
The extension of the exclusion laws to
Hawaii, the Philippines, and other insu-
lar possessions of the United States is an
other feature Of the bill that has no war
rant in treaty stipulations. The last
treaty between China and the United
States was concluded in 1894, rome years
before the United States acquired Hawaii,
the Philippines, and other iDsular pos
sessions.
Z n rntr Lot,
Chinese from those islands II the Chinese
Government had had any idea that those
Islands would soon pass into the posses
sion of the United States II would surely
have excepted them from the provisions
of the treaty.
Senator Mitchell again says: The
existing Chinese exclusion laws expire on
May l. Unless Congress enacts legisla ton
before that date the doors will be thrown
wide open and millions of Chinese labor
ers will flock into this country should
they so desire"
This. of course, is the standing bug
bear which exclusionists delight in keep
ing before the eye of the people. The
danger of this country being overwhelmed
with Chinese laborers is too remote to be
considered even as possibility.
Senator Mitchell asserts that the whole
Pacific Coast demands the passage of his
bill. I suppose that he has forgotten
that the Merchants Exchange of San
Francisco presented a memorial to Con-
gress demonstrating against the re-enact-
ment of the exclusion laws. Two news
papers published on the Pacific Coast
have shown conclusively that the senti-
ment on the Pacific Coast is by no means
in favor of such drastic legislation di-
rected against the Chinese as is contem-
plated by the pending bill. If the bill
should become law / have no doubt that
the intercourse between the two countries
would be greatly impeded and commerce
would greatly suffer in consequence.
AS you have published Senator Mitch
ellis letter | request that. in justice TO
my countrymen, you will kindly publish
this letter also. T. Q. SUN