Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-04-09
UNDERWRITERS.
OPPOSING THE CHINESE.
Speeches of Messrs. Patterson and Per
kins in the Senate.

Mr.. Patterson of Colorado continued his
speech on the Chinese exclusion bill in the
Senate yesterday afternoon after The Stars
report was closed. He was followed by Mr.
Perkins of California. The Chinese exclu-
sion bill as passed by the House was laid
before the Senate and was referred to the
committee on immigration.
Continuing his argument began earlier in
the day, Mr.. Patterson said that with any
thing like peace in the Philippines there
would be tremendous trend of Chinese to-
ward the islands. Filipino labor. he
said, was neither desirable nor to be de-
pended upon. There was concurrence of
opinion, therefore, that the Philippine arch
nese labor There could not be, then, any
effective barring out of Chinese from the
islands. Unless. then. the admission of
Chinese to the Philippines was prohibited
absolutely the islands simply would be a
stepping stone of Chinese to the United
States.
In a speech in support of the bill Mr. Per-
kins said that I-5 per cent of the Chinese in
this country had come through the port of
San Francisco. Not only in California, but
throughout the country, the sentiment, he
declared. was practically unanimous in ia
vor of the exclusion of the Chinese. He
said the reasons for exclusion were funda-
mental and racial. In the nature of things
the Chinese coming to the country either
must suppress those with whom they came
into competition or be suppressed them
Chinese were enabled to live in conditions
where the American iaborer would starve.
and therefore they were able to underbid
the American workman in the labor mar
ket. AS a result Chinese coolie labor al
ready had displaced American workingmen
in factories on the Pacific coast. This con-
dition affected not only the Pacific states,
but the labor market throughout the United
States.
Mr.. Perkins said the attack of the Chi
nese coolie was not alone upon wages, but
upon the best aspirations OF the American
workingman. No legislation could be too
drastic to prevent such a consummation
belief that existing Legislation was suffi-
GENTLY drastic, as statistics showed that In
the past ten years the number of Chinese in
this country had decreased from . to 80
per cent. This indicated that the existing
law was effective
In conclusion Mfr. Perkins made a strong
appeal for the passage of the pending bill
to legisiate that the institutions of the
country should be maintained.
The Chinese exclusion bill, as passed by
the House. then was laid before the Sem
ate, and the chair fMr. Frye directed that
1t be referred to the committee on foreign
relations.
Mr. Penrose, chairman of the fmmtera-
tion committee, which has had the Chinese
measure under consideration, protested
against such reference, saying IT was "a
most extraordinary proceeding In view Of
the fact that the immigration committee
had had the subject under consideration
for many weeks.
By vote OF the Senate, after short dis
cussion, the measure was referred to the
immigration committee.
The Senate then passed thirty-nine private
pension bills, and at $50 pm. adjourned.