The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-07-13
LABOR MAKES PROTEST
LEADERS TALK WITH ROOSEVELT
 ON IMMIGRATION.
Gompers and Duncan are Assured by President That He, Too, Is Op-
 posed to Admission of the Chinese.

oyster Bay, L. L. July 12.-Immi- grafton to the United States and its relations to the labor problem formed the subjects of a conference this after noon between the President and two of the important leaders of organized labor. Samuel Gompers of Washington and James Duncan of Quincy. Mass. respectively the President and one of the vice presidents of the American Federation of Labor.
 The conference was devoted partic- ularly to the consideration of an or- der recently Issued by the President re- garding the enforcement of the Chi
 nese exclusion law. An impression had been gained by many members of labor organizations that the order to an extent at least let down the immi- grafton bars so far as Chinese are con- cerned. The President assured his callers, however, that such construc- ton properly could not be placed on the order and that he was just as vig- orously opposed to the admission to this country of Chinese coolies as they could be.
 Mir. Gompers urged upon the Presi- dent the desirability of an intelligent, practical and humane consideration of the general question of immigration by the people and by congress. The peo- pie of this country and of the whole civilized world are entitled. he main tained, to such & consideration of the problem.
 We directed the Presidents atten- tion," said MT. Gompers after the con- ference. ito the interpretation placed by some persons on his recent order. issued at the instance of the Ameri- an-Asiatic Association. concerning the admission to the United States of Chi- nese. By many of our own people and by many Chinese that order was looked upon as a letting down of the immigration bars so far as the Chinese are concerned. The President assured us that no proper reading of the order would warrant such an Interpretation and that nothing was further from his intention than that such an impression sholud be gotten from the order. His determination Is that both skilled and unskilled Chinese laborerers shall be excluded from the United States and he says the law would be rigidly en- forced. His order related only to the so-called exempt classes. merchants. students. travellers and the like. who heretofore have had difficulty in gaining admission to this country be- cause of many fraudulent certificates issued to them, and to coolies, who are not entitled to certificates. We went over the entire matter thorough ly. the conference being perfectly sat- isfactory to us. The President sug- gested that in the course of five or six months we again bring the mat ter to his attention n the light of the experience of that length of time in working under the order.
 "The President says he is determined that the diplomatic and consular repre- sentatives of the United States in China should perform their duties thoroughly and impartially, and that the law as to the issuance of certificates to members of the exempt Chinese classes should be compiled with absolutely. He ad- ded that any officer of the United States who issued a false certificate would lose his official office the instant his misconduct was found out.
 We also considered with the Presi- dent the eight-hour law and the diffi- culties which we had encountered in securing its enforcement on Govern