The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1902-04-11
Washington
Day by Day

1ation running riot so reckleSsly mas per-
haps never before In this country been
so stritcingly exhibited as in the passage
by the House of the new Chinese exclu-
sion bill and we have never been more
| forcefully reminded that the House has
ceased to deliberate.
Labor throughout the country demand
ed the re-enactment of the Geary law
and Americans, without regard to occu-
ration, have earnestly supported the de-
mard.
In respect to the entii ely legitimate.
just and wholesome contention of organ
| ICED labor there has been no difference
of opinion amongst intelligent and
rthouehtful men. 1t Is held supremely es-
sential to the general welfare that Chr
nese laborers shall not be suffer ed TO
freely and of their own impulse enter this
! country and take The bread out of the
mouths of our own people. Not only Is
This forbidden by tho laws of political
| and social economy, but common public
morality demands the exclusion of these
| Chinese.
/ This much ind no more constitutes the
pleading of 11tr organized labor. To this
effect practically every local union in
America petiticned Congress; and 1t Is
of interest to you to know that the nu-
merous locals in the Birmingham dis
trict were amongst the first to send their
| petitions to congressman from that state.
| So far as can be ascertained favorable
responses were made to all these Ala
bama petitions; and the unanimous vote
| of the House shows that all men in Con-
ereas shared the views of labor through
| uut
F,nt the House lost its head and ran
AWAY bevond what organized labor and
ali the people asked for, namely. the re-
! enactment of the Geary law. Inns Ia"
was in some essentials ignored ana there
was passed a measure so drastic thal the
country must needs again appeal 10 the
| Senate for rescue from the recklessnesS
| of the so-called popular branch Oh coii-
| gress.
| For a few minutes of the reign OF un-
| reason In the House we had the hoNei
and alarming spectacle of that ohe-'i,,ie
| deliberative body being led in WIN
stamnede by such an irresponsible anu
dangerous radical in politics as MI
|
among transformers as ohalip'
The simple statement that MI oiai
was in the saddle needs no iui inc
| e,ucidatIon. It carries It's own IN
ob1e strov. It was all politics OF the most
rook,ess character, but there was no par
tisanism in It, The bowling D1nsieyl'e
Kahn of California jumped the nuroie
after the bowling Bryan Democrat Clark
and Clark Jumped after Kahn There
+hsv numbered and blundered, Demo-
! GRATIS grabbing on to the coattails Oh He-
nublicans, and Republicans swinging u
| the "pants' of Champ clark ana o'h-
| ers Clearly the issue of the stampeue
was the devil take the hindmost. Two
or three spoke in the voice OF reason
Mr.. Hit, Mr.. Cannonn Mr. Adams Oh
Pennsylvania-but they might as wen
| have tried to firt from the top Oh the
| Monument with a girl in the Treasury.
| In vain 1T was pointed out that various
provisions of the bill would be extremely
hurtful to trade and that II 1t became
| law it would cause great loss 10 AM err
| can citizens. 1t was shown that the pro-
vision prohibiting the employment Oh any
| Cbinaman on a ship of American regis
| ter would drive all our ships tradlng on
| the Pacific to seek the protection OF the
| British flag At present there are ABOUT
| fifty steamships plying between the Paci-
| 6c coast of the United States and the
Far East, that is, the Philippines China
| Japan and incidentally Australasia. only
three of the fifty fly the American nag
| and on none of the fifty will American
seamen work except in stress of circum-
| Eastern trade" Those ships are chieny
| Eastern trede." Those ships are emery
| manned by Chinese, who are glad to ac-
| cept six dollars and fifty cents month
| wages. American seamen command twen-
| ty-six to twenty-eight dollars month,
and they won't accept employm ent at
| that price ships trading with the
East. Therefore the provision in the pro-
| posed law, which is the bill that was
passed by the House in it's wild stampede.
would drive the few American ships in
the Eastern trade to the generous cover
of the British flag. and this without one
dollars benefit to American labor. And
| this at a moment when the wild cutlery
In certain quarters against the pending
| ship-subsidy bi1l-a bill which means
| more for American toilers than any other
| measure of our time-fails utterly to de-
| ceive intelligent men in any walk of life
against the absolute necessity of an Am
erican merchant marine!
| The House of Representatives can no
| more deceive the people than can the
| men in private life who do not know the
| difference between an ocean-lner and
| a. canal-boat or the distinction between
| a tariff ad valorem and a tariff specific.
| But the country and the source of all
the country's prosperity, labor, will have
| what is demanded-thanks to the Senate
| of the United States, which stands as 1t
| always has stood for the real and abid-
| ing welfare of the people against all
clamor of the House. The crazy-quilt
| Chinese exclusion bill, wrought in the
| chatter of the House of Representatives
! quilting party-"a quilting" as we call
| 1t down South. "a bee" as they call 1t
| North-will not be suffered to become law.
| 1t isn't worth an ounce of the two hun
| dred pounds of white paper used in its
printing this morning.
| The Geary law, which expires next
month, will be re-enated and extended.
|