The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1906-03-23

whatever against It, I would not even
receive It save for the fact that in part
| IL affects tho executive. Therefore In
what / have To say j shall limit myself
solely to what YOU assert in reference
to the acts of the executive.
You speak of the S-hour law. Your
criticism, 40 far as II relates to the ex-
ecutlve, bears upon the signature OF the
appropriation bill containing the money
for expenditure ON the Panama canal.
with the proviso that the s-hour law shall
| not there apply. II your statement is In
tended to mean that no opportunity was
given for hearing. then the statement
| Is not In accordance with the facts. There
| was ample opportunity that any ono could
| such a hearing came to me.
Asked Him to Veto the Bill
IT received, however, some hundreds OF
kilograms and letters requesting the veto
| OF the entire appropriation bill because IL
| contained that provso. Frankly. | found
| IL difficult TO believe that you were writ
| Ing and telegraphing with any kind OF
| knowledge Of the conditions In the case.
| II believe cmphatically I'm the S-hour
| law for our own people In our own coun-
try. But the conditions OF labor such as
we have to work with in the tropics
| so absolutely different that there Is no
possible analogy between them and an
S,hour law for the Panama canal is an
| absurdity
Every one OF you know that We can
not get white labor; cannot get labor of
| the United States to go down TO Panama
| TO work We are driven to extremitIcs
| in the effort TO get any kind of labor at
| all. Just at the moment we are working
| chiefly with negro labor from tho West
| Indies, The usual result In the employ
Tuesday they work fairly well, Wedncs-
day and Thursday there ls a marked fall
ing Off. and by Friday and Saturday not
more than half sometimes less than q
fourth OF the luborerS Will be at work
The conditions that make the eight
hour law proper here. have no possible
reference to the conditions that make the
eiSht-hour law entirely improper there.
The conditions are so utterly different on
the isthmus as compared to here that II
Is impossible to draw conclusions affect
Ing the one from what Is true about the
other. 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 In
defcnSible. and TO grant which would
mean indefinite delay and injury to the
work on the isthmus.
'As TO the violations Of the eGht-houT
law. Mr.. Morrison, you give me no speciii-
cations At your earliest convenience.
please lay before me in detail any COM
plants you have of violations OF the
eight-hour law. Where l have power l
Will see that the law is obeyed All |
ask Is that you give me the cases. | VIII
take them up. and IL they prove 10 be
sustained by the facts l shall see that the
law Is enforced
Now, about the Chinese exclusion. The
number of Chinese now In this country
is If remember Alright, some 5000 or
10000. So far from there being great In
huX OF the Chinese, the 1act is that the
number has steadily decreased. There are
fewer Chinese than there were ten years
ago; FEWER than there were twenty years
ago: fewer than there were thirty years
ago.
"Unquestionably some scores of cases
occur each year where Chinese laborcrs
get in either by being smuggled over the
Mexican and Canadian borders, or by
coming in under false certificates. but the
steps that We have taken, the changes in
the Consuls that have been made within
the last few years In the Orient and the
effort to conduct examinations In China
before the immigrants are allowed to
come here. are materially reducing even
the small number OF cases that do occur
But even as it is the number OF these
cases is Insignificant There is no ap-
preciable influx OF Chinese laborers. and
there Is not the slightest nor the remotest
danger OF any; the whole scare that has
been worked up on the subject is pure
chlmcra.
Must Keep Out the Coolies.
1T Is my deep conviction that we must
keep out of this country every Chinese
laoorer, skilled or unskilled-every China
man of the coolie class. This is what the
proposed law will do; 1t Will be done as
effectively under the present law and
the present law is being handled with
the utmost efficiency. But 1 will do
and desirable for the Chinese of the busi-
ness and professional class. the Chinese
travellers and students 10 come here. and
| Will do oil L can To secure their good |
treatment when they come; and no abor- |
Ing man has anything whatever to fear
from that policy
good American citizens, TO support that
policy and In any event shall stand un- |
finchingly for it, and no man can say |
with sincerity that on this or indeed on |
any other point. he has any excuse for !
misunderstanding my policy
1ou have spoken of the immigration |
laws. believe merely that not only all |
proper steps should be taken TO prevent |
the Importation of laborers under any |
form, but that this country ought to |
make a resolute effort from now on to |
men with standard or living so low that |
they tend. by entering into unfair com
petition with. to reduce the standard OF |
living OF our own people.
Will Go the Limit.
Not one OF you can go further than |
will go In the effort steadily to raise the |
status of the American wage worker so |
long as while doing It l can retain a |
clear conscience and the certainty that L |
am doing what Is right. L will do all In |
To do what is wrong, and l Will not do !
that for him or for any ono else
We must not let our natural sentiment |
for succoring the oppressed and unfor- |
tunate OF other lands lead US into that |
warped moral and mental attitude or |
trying TO succor them a the expense OF |
our own people.
Laws should be enacted TO keep out all |
who do not show that they |
have the right stuff In them to enter into
our life on terms of decent equality with |
our own citizens This is needed first In |
the interests of the laboring man. but +!
in the interests OF all of us
as American citizens. for. gentlemen. the
bonds that unite all good American citi-
zens are stronger by far than the differ
ence which l think you acccntuate alto
gether too much between the men who do
one kind of labor and the men who do
another.
Don't Want Wrong Kind.
"As for immigrants. we cannot have
too many OF the right kind and we |
should have none at all of the wrong |
kind; and they of the right kind II |
we can be fairly sure that their children
and grandchildren can meet on terms OF
equality our children and grandchildren,
so as 10 try TO be decent citizens to-
gether and to work together for the up
lifting Of the republic
Now. word as To the petitionng or