The wageworker. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1904-????, 1906-03-30

compared 10 mere lHdt II Is lIuPOSSIDle
to draw conclusions affecting the one
from what is true about the other.
You hamper me in the effort to get
for you what l think you ought to
have in connection with the eight
hour law, when you make request
that is indefensible; and to grant
which would mean indefinite delay
and injury to the work on the isthmus.
LAS to the violations of the eight
hour law, Mr.. Morrison, you give me
no specifications At your earliest
convenience please lay before me in
detail, any complaints you have Of vio-
lations of the eight-hour law. Where
l have power I will see that the law
is obeyed. All ask is that you give
me the cases. l will take them up, and
If they prove to be sustained by the
facts l shall see that the law is en-
forced"
The Wageworker is not yet ready
to admit that Theodore Roosevelt can
do no wrong, therefore we decline to
admit that just because he asserts
that we ought to have just what he is
trying to get for us he ought to be
supported. The Wageworker asks
workingmen to ponder thoughtfully
over this amazing declaration from
President Roosevelt's lips:
"You hamper me in the effort to get
for you what think you ought to have
in connection with the eight-hour law
when you make request that is inde-
fensibie."
If he thinks we ought to have what
he thinks we ought to have, then we
suppose we must quietly submit to
having what President Roosevelt
thinks We ought to have. But it would
Emperor William or Gear Nicholas,
wouldn't it?
Referring to the Chinese question,
President Roosevelt spoke as follows:
Chinese Exclusion.
Now about the Chinese exclusion.
The number of Chinese now in this
country is, If remember Alright, some
sixty or eighty thousand. So far from
there being a great influx of Chinese.
the fact is that the number has stead
| lily decreased. There are fewer Chi
nese than there were ten years ago;
fewer than there were twenty years
years ago. Unquestionably some
scores Of cases occur each year where
Chinese laborers get in either by be-
ing smuggled over the Mexican and
under false certificates, but the steps
that we have taken, the changes in
the consuls that have been made with
in the last few years in the Orient,
ana the effort to conduct examinations
in China before the immigrants are al,
lowed to come here, are materially re-
ducing even the small number of cases
that do occur. But even as it is, the
Number of cases is insignificant. There
is no appreciable influx Of Chinese la.
bor,rs and there is not the slightest
or cemotest danger of any; the whole
scare that has been worked up on the
subject is a pure chimera. 1t is my
deeo conviction that we must keeE
out of this country every Chinese la
borer, skilled or unskilled-every Chi
naman of the coolie class. This is
what the proposed law will do; i,
vii, be done as effectively as under the
present law and the present law Is be
ing handled with the utmost efficiency
i Good Treatment for Some.
!, "But l will do everything in my
power to make it easy and desirab bic
, Tor the Chinese Of the business ant
|, professional classes, the Chinese trav
: elers and students to come here and
will do all / can to secure their goof
: treatment when they come; and nt
: laboring man has anything whatevel
, to Gear from that policy. / have (;
right to challenge you as good Ameri
} can citizens to support that policy
and in any event l shall stand ur
r flncllins for it, and no man can sa.
, with sincerity that on this or indeed
, Oh any CtueT pOluI lie mas any SACuS'
: for misunderstanding my policy.
t "You have spoken OF the immigra
, tiun laws. l believe not merely tha
: all proper steps should be taken t
: prevent the importation of laborer
t under any form, but l believe furthe
2 that this country ought to make
4 resol,ite effort from now on to proven
the coming to this country of mel
with a standard of living SO low tha
4 they tend, by entering into unfair com
t petition with, to reduce the standar
: OF living of our own people. Not on
e OF you can go further than l will g
E in the effort steadily to raise the statu
= of the american wage-worker, SO lon
!, as while doing it, l can retain a clea
a conscience and the certainty that l an
: doing what is right. / will do all il
9 my power for the laboring man excep
l to do what is wrong, and will not d
0 that for him or for anyone else
e That would be all right if it were no
L so wrong. The Chinaman is a cunnin