Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1905-12-11

for one reason or another, moreover, a
considerable proportion of it, probably
a very large proportion, including
most of the undesirable class, does
not come here of it's own initiative,
but because of the activity of the
agents of the great transportation
companies These agents are dis
tributed throughout Europe, and by
the offer of all kinds CT inducements
they wheedle and cajole many immi-
grants, often against their best in
terest, to come here. Perhaps 1t would
be possible to limit the number Of i'm
migrants allowed to come in any one
year to New York and other northern
cities, while leaving unlimited the
number allowed to come to the
south; always provided, however, that
stricter effort is made to see unat
only immigrants Of the right kind
come to our country anywhere.
AS much as possible should
be done to distribute the immigrants
upon the land and keep them away
from the great cities. The prime
need is to keep out all immigrants
who will not make good American citi-
zens Adequate means should be
adopted, enforced by sufficient penal
ties, to compel steamship companies
engaged in the passenger business
to observe in good faith the law
which forbids them to encourage or
solicit immigration to the United
States. 1t is unwise to depart from
the old American tradition and to dis
criminate for or against any man who
desires to come here and become
citizen, save on the ground of that
mans fitness for citizenship. 1t is
our right and duty to consider his
moral and social quality. His
standard of living should be such that
he will not, by pressure or COM
petition, lower the standard of liv-
| ing of our own wage workers; for it
must ever be prime object of our
legislation to keep high their stand
ard of living. IF the man who seeks
to come here is from the moral and
social standpoint Of such a cnarac-
ter as to bid fair to add value to tie
community he should be heartily well
coined. We can not afford to pay
heed to whether he is Of one creed or
another, of one nation or another. We
can not afford to consider whether he
is Catholic or Protestant, Jew or Gen
tile; whether he is Englishman or
Irishman, Frenchman or German,
Japanese, Italian, Scandinavian, Slav,
or Magyar What we should desire
to find out is the individual quality of
the individual man. In the presi-
dents Judgment with this end in
view, we shall have to prepare through
our own agents far more rigid in
spection in the countries from which
the immigrants come.
The questions arising in connection
with Chinese immigration stand by
| themselves. The conditions in China
are such that the entire Chinese coolie
class, that is, the class of Chinese
laborers, skilled and unskilled, legiti-
mately come under the head Of unde-
sirable immigrants to this country, be-
cause of their numbers, the low wages
for which they work, and their low
standard of living. Not only is it to
the interest of this country to keep
them out, but the Chinese authori-
! ties do not desire that they should be
admitted. In the effort to carry out
the policy of excluding Chinese la
borers, Chinese coolies, grave Unjust
ice and wrong have been done by this
nation to the people Of China. and
therefore ultimately to this nation it.
self. Chinese students, business and
professional men of all kinds-not
only merchants, but bankers, doctors,
manufacturers, professors, travellers,
and the like-should be encouraged to
come here and treated on precisely
the same footing that we treat stu
dents, business men, travellers, and
the like of other nations. Our laws
and treaties should be framed, not Sc
as to put these people in the excepted
classes, but to state that we will admit
all Chinese, except Chinese of the
coolie class, Chinese skilled or I'm
skilled laborers.
AS a people we have talked much
of the open door in China, and we
expect, and quite rightly intend to in
sist upon, justice being shown us by
4 the Chinese. But we can not expect
to receive equity unless we do equity
We can not ask the Chinese to do &c
us what we are unwilling to do tC
them They would have a perfect
right to exclude our laboring men i!
our Eaboring men threatened to come
into their country in such numbers
as to jeopardiZe the welI-being OF the
Chinese population; and as, mutatis
mutandis, these we're the conditions
with which Chinese immigration act
uaIfy brought this people face to face
we had and have a perfect right
which the Chinese government in nc
way contests, to act as we have acted
in the matter of restricting ccoiie i'm
migration.