Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1905-06-29
CHINESE EXCLUSION.

PreSlQenC4 f1OOSeVSlIS dCllOn VIII re-
gard to Chinese exclusion, as is the
case with almost any action of his, will
meet with general approval throughout
America. In his present attitude to-
ward China he followed out the first
part Of his advice contained in the
"big stick policy. Speak SOFTLY" he
says, and now that China has seen fit
to exclude American made goods from
her market because the United States
bars Cinnamon from her shores, the
President has pushed down hard on
the soft pedal, turned his ever pleas
ant smile upon the celestials and bids
them welcome-that is, the classes to
which America has always extended a
welcome. To Chinese who want to
come to America for study, either In
the schools or in the business houses,
in order that they may carry back to
their native land knowledge that will
aid in the progress of their people, the
United States extends a welcome. To
the educated, well-to-do Chinaman who
wants to "see" America, even though
he may ask questions that are hard to
answer, America extends her hand.
But the coolie, who works for three
cents day and feels like million
aire, who crowds American laboring
men out OF the way and establishes
himself in their place because he can
live on nothing or less, as 1t sometimes
seems, Is not In the desirable class as
an immigrant.
But it is to the desirable" Chinese
that President Roosevelt speaks softly.
The big stick>is as much of menace
as ever to those foreigners who would
lower the standard of American wages
| and of American citizenship. And the
| Chinese guilds, composed of educated
men, merchants and the class of peo-
pie generally classed as progressive"
will surely not insist upon the admis-
sion to the United States of such a
horde of unworthies as those three
cents-a-day coolies.
| The position Of the President and of
| the people of the United States at
! large is made clear by the following
editorial in the Boston Christian Her
| aid, explaining in an unmistakable
fashion the view of the question that
is taken in this country:
Whatever may be said about the
exclusion of Chinese laborers, COOLIES
from Canton and other men with vel
| low skins), against the incoming Of
whom protest is SO strong upon the
Pacific coast, other arguments must
be used to justify the exclusion or the
insulting supervision of Chinese gen.
tlemen with their wives and daugh-
tiers who come to this country to study
our institutions, to place their sons in
our colleges and to open relations
with our business men, There are
hundreds of thousands among the
400,000,00O Cinnamon, who can hold
their own with business men and
scholars anywhere.
i "The men who have represented the
Chinese empire at Washington, D. c..
are not singular exceptions, but mere
erous in China. Mr.. Burlingame, for
merly our minister at the Chinese
court, said: You have one Ralph Waldo
Emerson In China there are ten thous
and of them In this country we sci
dom have the chance to meet a cul
tivated Chinaman and we stubbornlJ
refuse to increase our chances, treat
ing them, when they come, as If they
were paupers tainted with malignant
diseases. China Is said to be waking
up, and is preparing to do business
with the world. She will certainly dc
business with the nations that treat
her with common decency. These re
marks have no reference to coolie i'm
migration and do not call for the repe
tition of the usual arguments agains
it,
|