Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-12-05

Turns On kn&lr Cep1t0 ~ earring names
IL I said ia ny last message to the Con-
gress. We cannot have too much immigra~
ton Of the right sort. and Ne should have
It II desirable that even the right kind Of
immigration should Be properly distributed
In this country, We need more OF such linz
migration for the south; and special snort
would be possible to limit the number OF
immigrants allowed to come In any one
year to New York and other northern CIT
les while leaving unlimited the number al
lowed to come to the south; always pro-
vided, however, that q stricter effort is
made to SEQ that only immigrants OF the
right kind come to our country anywhere.
In actual practice 1t has proved SO difncult
to enforce the immigration laws where long
stretches OF frontier marked by an mag
mary line alone intervene between US ana
our neighbors that recommend that no Inn
migrants be allowed to come In from Canada
and Mexico. save natives Of the two coun-
tries themselves. AS much as possible
should be done to distribute the immigrants
upon the land and keep them away from
the congested tenement-house districts OF
the great cities But distribution is pal
liative. not a cure. The prime need Is to
keep out all immigrants who will not make
good American citizens. The laws now ex-
listing for the exclusion of undesirable Inn
migrants should be strengthened. Adequate
means should be adopted. enforced by suffi-
cient penalties. to compel steamship COM
panies engaged In the passenger business to
observe In good faith the law which f0rbtds
them to encourage or solicit immigration to
the United States. Moreover, there Should
be sharp limitation imposed upon all ves-
sels coming to our ports as to the number
OF immigrants in ratio to the tonnage which
each vessel can carry. This ratio should
be high enough to insure the coming hither
or as good a class of aliens as possible. Pro-
VISION should be made for the surer pun
lshment of those who induce aliens to come
to this country under promise or assurance
OF employment. 1t should be made possible
to infiiet sufficiently heavy penalty on any
employer violating this law to deter him
from taking the risk. 1t seems to me wise
that there should be an international con-
ference held to deal with this question OF
immigration. which has more than a merely
national Significance; such conference
could among other things enter at length
into the methods for securing a thorough
inspection OF would-be immigrants at the
ports from which they desire to embark
BEFORE permitting them to embark
IN oealihg with this question it is unwise
TO depart from the old American tradition
ana TO discriminate for or against any man
VINO desires to come here and become a
el1lzen. save on the ground Of that mans
ntness for citizenship. 1t is our right and
duty to consider his moral and social ouaI-'
ity. His standard Of living should be such
that ne Will not. by pressure of competition
lower the standard of living of our own
wase-Workers: for 1t must ever be prime
OBJECT OF our legfslat ton to keen high THAR
standard of living. If the man who seeks
70 come mere Is from the moral and social
STANDPOINT of such a character as TO bid
lar 10 ada value to the community he
should be heartily welcomed. We cannot
afford to pay heed to whether he fs of one
creed or another, of one nation or another.
we cannot afford TO consider whether he is
watnonc or Protestant, Jew or Gentle:
whether he is Englshman or Irishman
Ia
SCANDINAVIAN. Slav or Magyar What ne
should desire to find out is the tndividnal
quanty or the individual man. In nv iude-
ment. with this end In view. we shai, he
to prepare through our own agents 90
more rigid inspection in the countries fron,
which the immigrants come It will he a
slea. ueai peter to have fewer immigrants
put all OF the right kind, than a great nn,,
Der of immigrants, MANY of whom q Va ~
essarlly OF the wrong kind AS far az nos
sipie we wish to limit the immigra flor n
o Inns country to persons who propose to be-
come citizens of this country. and wa ~,
well afford to insist upon ademats s"r,,t tan
OF tne character Of those who are thus nro.
posed ior future citizenship There sbonId
t pe an I increase in the strigency of the laws
TO Keep out insane idiotic enlIentIo go
pauper immigrants. But this ia hv M n,aana
enoush. NOT merely the anarchist h,,t
every man of anarchistic tendencies Ill
hsd and dIsorderly people, ali people Of
t uau Gharacter. the Incompetent. the law
the vicious, the physically unit 6aSant, 49,
OF degenerate should be kent ont I,hs
STOCKS out of which American cJtfzensb,r, ne q,
~ ps punt should be strong and healthy
SOUND In body, mind and charactar 70
be objected that the govarnn,e.t ~ II
~ouio not always select well. TIE ansnsa, 70
5nal they would certainly select better ~.
shin rHe asen,s ana brokers of foreign steam
Whatever selection is done nv" w
Inc questions arising I'm cop,oo.,
1nlhese immigration stand bv tharnsaI'-o Ia
me conditions in China are such that thn
er rs, Snilese coolie class, that is, the class
" Nillhese Iaborers, skilled and unskf,IaS
legitfmately come under the 80 aiiieo'
desirable immigrants to this conn+ro III
cause OF their numbers, the low WAGES e.
' miiicn they work, and their low standard of
- 4tot oiily IS 1t to the interest of this
country TO keep them out, but the Chinass
authorities DO not desire that they cbo,IS
pe auniit.ed' AT present their entrance is
prohlnlted by laws amply ADEQUATE to az
IN piish ms purpose. These laws have
been, are being and will be lhorou.bI, as,
iofced. The violations of them are 90 sn
IN number as to be infinitesimaI and oom
De entirely disregarded. There is no cerio',a
proposal to alter the immigration laws as
regards the Chinese laborer. skilled or M
skilled, and there Is no excuse for a,o LII, ai.
Ieeilng or affecting to feel the sligbt.St
alarm on the subject. 'iee@'
But In the effort to carry out the noIicv
or excluding Chinese laborers Cbineea cnoi
les, grave injustice and wrong hav. 49,,
zone by TINS nation to the people of China
ana therefore ultimately to this nation
l'selr. chinese students, business and pro-
fesslonal men of all kinds-not only NOR
cnahts' out bankers. doctors, manufa ctur-
ers' professors, travellers and the like
should De encouraged to come here and
treated on precisely the same footing that
we treat students business men trayaIars
and the like of other nations, Orr laws
and treaties should be framed. not 81 "a
to put these people in the excepted class
but to state that we will admit all Chinese
except Chinese of the coolie class Chinese
skilled or unsklled laborers There would
not be the least danger that any such pro-
vision would result in any relaxation of the
law about laborers. These will under all
conditions, be kept out absolutely. But II
will be more easy to see that both Justice
and courtesy are shown. as they ought To
be shown, to other Chinese IL the law ar
treaty Is framed as above suggested. Ex-
aminations should be completed at the mort
of departure from China For this pur-
pose there should be provided more aSe-
quare consular service in China than we
now have. The appropriations, both for the
Offices Of the consuls and for the office
forces in the consulates, should be in
creased.
AS a people we have talked much of the
open door in China, and we expect, and
quite rightly intend to insist upon Justice
being shown us by the Chinese But we
cannot expect to receive equity unless we do