The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1906-12-05

! 1GSCD anu lIlo lllullDilS Oh ulSI6I l6dI IL
| ing, in all our professional and social
bodies The japanese have won in a
! single generation the right to stand
abreast of the foremost and most en-
lightened peoples Of Europe and Amer
lea; they have won on their own mer-
| it's and by their own exertions the
I right to treatment on a basis of full
and frank equality. The overwhelming
mass of our people cherish lively re-
! gard and respect for the people of ia
pan, and in almost every quarter of
| the Union the stranger from Japan is
| treated as he deserves that is, he is
| treated as the stranger from any part
! of civilized Europe is and deserves to
| be treated. But here and there a most
unworthy feeling has manifested itself
! toward the Japanese-the feeling that
has been shown in shutting them out
from the common schools in San Fran
cisco and in mutterings against them
in one or two other places, because of
their efficiency as workers. To shut
them out from the public schools is a
wicked absurdity, when there are no
first-class colleges in the land, includ-
! ing the universities and colleges Of
California, which do not gladly well
come Japanese students and on which
| japanese students do not reflect credit.
We have as much to learn from Japan
as Japan has to learn from us; and no
nation is fit to teach unless it is also
willing to learn. Throughout Japan
Americans are well treated, and any
failure on the part of Americans at
home to treat the Japanese with like
courtesy and consideration is by just so
much a confession Of inferiority in our
civilization.
Our nation fronts on the Pacific, just
as it fronts on the Atlantic We hope
to play constantly growing part in
the great ocean of the Orient, We
wish, as we ought to wish, for a great
commercial development in our deal
ings with Asia; and it is out of the
question that we should permanently
have such development unless we free
ly and gladly extend to other nations
the same measure of justice and good
| treatment which we expect to receive
in return. 1t is only a very small body
Of our citizens that act badly Where
the federal government has power it
will deal summarily with any such.
Where the several states have power
earnestly ask that they also deal wise
| ly and promptly with such conduct, or
else this small body of wrongdoers may
bring shame upon the great mass of
their innocent and right-thinking fell
lows-that is, upon our nation as a
whole Good manners should be an in
ternational no less than an individual
attribute I ask fair treatment for the
Japanese as l would ask fair treatment
for Germans or Englishmen, French
men, Russians or Italians | ask it as
due to humanity and civilization. 1
ask it as due to ourselves because we
must act uprightly toward all men.
I recommend to the congress that an
act be passed specifically providing for
the naturalization of Japanese who
come here intending to become Ameri-
can citizens. One Of the great embar-
easements attending the performance
of our international obligations is the
fact that the statutes of the United
States are entirely inadequate. They
fail to give to the national government
sufficiently ample power, through Unit
ed States courts and by the use Of the
army and navy, to protect aliens III the
rights secured to them under solemn
! treaties which are the law of the land,
! | therefore earnestly recommend that
the criminal and civil statutes of the
United States be so amended and add
ed to as to enable the president, acting
for the United States government,
which is responsible in our information
al relations, to enforce the rights Of
aliens under treaties. Even as the law
now is, something can be done by the
! federal government toward this end,
and in the matter now before me al
fecting the Japanese, everything that
! it is in my power to do will be done,
and all of the forces, military and civil,
of the United States which I may law
fully employ will be so employed. There
should however, be no particle of doubt
as to the power of the national gov
eminent completely to perform and en-
force its own obligations to other ma
lions. The mob of single city may
at any time perform acts of lawless
violence against some class of foreign
ers which would plunge us into war,
That city by itself would be powerless
to make defense against the foreign
power thus assaulted, and if independ-
ent of this government it would never
venture to perform or permit the per-
| Torrance of the acts complained of.
The entire power and the whole duty
to protect the offending city or the Of
Tending community lies In the hands of
the United States government. 1t is
unthinkable that we should continue a
policy under which given locality may
be allowed to commit a crime against
a friendly nation, and the United States
government limited, not to preventing
the commission of the crime, but, in
the last resort, to defending the people
who have committed it against the con-
sequences of their own wrongdoing.
Cuba.
Last August an instruction broke
out in Cuba which it speedily grew ev-
ident that the existing Cuban govern
lment was powerless to quell. This gov
eminent was repeatedly asked by the
then Cuban government to intervene
and finally was notified by the presi-
dent Of Cuba that he intended to re-
sign; that his decision was irrevocable;
that none of the other constitutional
officers would consent to carry on the