The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1902-12-22
BURTON is INSISTENT.
Will Make Another Effort to
Admit Chinese to Hawaii.

A Washington dispatch says that Sen
ator Burton will introduce a revised
amendment to the immigration bill inn
mediately after the holiday recess en-
/ bodying the provisions of his original
amendment permitting restricted Chi
nese immigration to Hawaii. In an in
terview given out by Senator Burton he
declares that a majority of the people
on the island favor Chinese immigration
and makes the statement that Chinese
! laborers are less Objectionable than the
/ japanese. For a comparison much less
Objectionable to the Japanese than the
one instituted by Senator Burton, John
Barrett lost his appointment as minister
1 to Japan. When his attention was call
ed to this fact Senator Burton laugh
ingly replied: We'll, 1 suppose if
should ever be suggested as minister to
Japan that comment would defeat me.
! but it's the truth nevertheless. 1t is my
/ intention to present an amendment to
/ the immigration bill as soon as the COM
mittee which visited Hawaii this sum-
mer makes its report" said Senator
Burton, I believe that a majority of
both the subcommittee and the full
committee will favor restricted Chinese
immigration for Hawaii. In the debate
the other day on my proposed amend
ment, it was admitted by Senator
Mitchell that great industrial and finan-
Sandwich islands. In that debate no
senator suggested any other remedy
| than the one 1 proposed. The remedy
embodied in my amendment is the one
that everybody in the islands favors. A
large majority of all classes, including
native Hawaiians, skilled laborers. mer-
chants, planters, manufacturers, trades
people, lawyers, doctors, in fact, wen
nigh everyone seems to think that the
only remedy that will afford relief is
Chinese immigration.
1T must be borne in mind, first. that
Hawaii is a tropical country; and next.
that a white man will not work in the
sun in a tropical country. The native
Hawaiian will not work in the cane
fields any more than will the white
man. Before annexation, the kingdom
of Hawaii spent a great deal of money
for the purpose of importing laborers
from a great many different countries.
Laborers have been brought there from
Strait settlements. New Zealand. Camoa.
Porto Rico, America. Portugal and 9TH
er places, and yet the only kind of la
bOrers that will go into the fields are
Chinese and Japanese. These expert
ments have covered a great many years
Now we are up against the PROPOSE
ton whether we will permit the Japa-
nese to dominate the labor in the is
lands, and eventually overrun and con-
troll the country. or permit their great
competitors the Chinese, to perform ag-
ricultural labor. To admit them under
such restrictions in no way Injuries skill
ed labor On the contrary, skilled work.
men in Hawaii tell me it would be to
their great advantage
Under our treaty the japanese are
coming in by shiploads, and they can
enter all classes of service and perform
all kinds of labor. They are not only
| debating the price of labor to be paid
upon the farms and by the planters but
they are also invading the fields OF
skilled labor. They are driving the Ha-
waiian from the sea and controlling the
4 fisheries. They are not as BILE as
a class as are the Chinese.
"Of course the amendment contem-
plates that the admission of the Chinese
should be carefully guarded and rigidiy
/ restricted to agricultural labor only
know there is a prejudice against a
/ measure of this kind, based upon the
idea that it is a species of bondage, and
that it is degrading to labor because Il
1 is cheap labor. True, it is cheap, but 1t
is the very best and the employers
knowing it to be the best, treat the Chi
nese we'll. They are far better off in
every way because of their coming.
They do not come to stay, but after
4 acquiring a competency return to their
homes: but they have benefited them
selves, they have benefited their employ
erS, they have benefited skilled labor,
they have benefited every one, and they
return with more or less knowledge of
our laws and civilization and with
higher ideals of life than when they
| came.
7 know it is said that this is letting
down the bars and establishing a prece-
dent, and next there will be movement
/ for restricted Chinese immigration for
the mainland. 1t will be a precedent
only for our tropical possessions. 1t will
not be a precedent for admitting Chinese
to this country. There is no part of this
continent where the white man cannot
! perform labor in the sun. even in the
i Tar south We must comprehend the
| difference between the temperate zones
and the tropics. we must legislate for the
tropics, and when we do so. such 1egisla-
/ ton viii not in any sense be regarded
as a precedent for conditions on the
mainland
I'VE are responsible for the conditions
I in which the people of Hawaii find them
+ selves They were prosperous as a king
dom and as a republic, but when our
labor laws were enforced in that terri /
tory it impoverished the people Ha-
waii is the paradise of the Pacific; it is
the crossroads for trade in that mighty
ocean The growth of that trade will
he greater, in my opinion. than any i'm
gination can now portray Hawaii is
the strategic point that commands this
trade. The people there are Americans
now; they are under our flag. We should
10 everything we can for them, and
with one voice they are saving. Give us
Chinese immigration restricted to agri-
cultural purposes only, and our material
well being will return -
Fine line OF carving sets at Cough1in
Hardware Co.'S. 706 Kansas avenue.