Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-03-22

there apply. Il your statement is intended
to mean that no opportunity was given Tor
a hearing before me- then the statement Is
not In accordance with the facts. There
was ample opportunity, that any one could
but not a single request for such a hearing
came to me. l received. however. some
hundreds of kilograms and letters request
ing the veto Of the entire appropriation Din
because II contained that proytso. Frankly,
l found 1t difficult to believe that you were
writing and telegraphing with any kind or
knowledge of the conditions In the case
believe emphatically in the eight-hour law
for our own people in our own country. But
the conditions of labor such as We have to
work with in the tropics are so absolutely
different that there is no possible analogy
between them, and an eight-hour law for
the Panama canal is absurdity. Every
one of you know that we cannot get white
labor, cannot get labor OF the United States
to go down TO Panama and work. We are
driven to eXtremities in the effort to get
any kind of labor at all. Just at the mo-
ment We are working chiefly with negro
labor from the West Indies. The usual re-
suit in the employment of those men Is that
Monday and Tuesday they work fairly well
Wednesday and Thursday there Is marked
falling off. and by Friday and Saturday not
more than half, sometimes less than q
fourth. of the laborers will be at work The
conditions that make the eight-hour law
proper here have no possible reference to
the conditions that make the eight-hour law
entirely improper there. The conditions are
pared to here that IL is impossible to try TO
draw conclusions affecting the one from
what is true about the other You hamper
me III the effort to get for you what think
you ought to have in connection with the
eight-hour law when you make a request
that Is indefensible, and to grant such would
mean INDEFINITE delay and injury to the work
on the isthmus.
Violations of Eight-Hour Law.
AS to the violations of the elght-hour
law Mr. Morrison, you give me no speci6
cations. AT your earliest convenience nlease
lay before me in detail and complaints Won
have of violations of the eight hour law.
Where nave power l Will see that the law
Is obeyed. All I ask Is that Won give me-
the cases viii take them up, and If they
prove 10 pc sustained by the facts | shall
see that the law is enforced
Now, about the Chinese exclusion. The
NUMBER or Chinese now in this country is
II l remember Alright, some sixty or sew
enty thousand. So far from there being
great influx of the Chinese the fact is that
the number has steadily decreased There
are fewer Chinese than there We're ten years
ago. fewer than there were twenty wears
ago, fewer than there were thirty years ago.
Unquestionably some scores OF cases occur
eaeh year where Chinese laborers get in
either by being Struggled 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 con-
duct examinations In China before the I'm
migrants are allowed to come here, are ma
terially reducing even the sraaM number of
cases that do occur. But even as 1t is,
the number of these cases is insignificant
There Is no appreciable influx Of Chinese
laborers and there Is not the slightest or
most remote danger of any: the whole scare
that has been worked up on the subject Is
a pure chimera. 1t is my deep conviction
that We must keep out Of this country
every Chinese laborer skilled or unskilled-
every Chinaman of the coolie class. This
is what the proposed law will do: 1t will
be done as effectively as under the present
law; and the present law is; being handled
with the utmost efficiency. But ] will do
everything in my power TO make 1t easy
and desirable for the Chinese of the BUSH
ness and professional classes. the Chinese
travellers and students, to come here, and
I will do all / can to secure their good
treatment when they come, and no laboring
man has anything whatever to fear from
that policy. l have right to challenge you
as good American citizens to support that
policy; and in any event | shall stand un-
f1inchingly for IT. and no man can say with
sincerity that on this, or indeed, on any
other point, he has any excuse for misun-
derstanding my policy.
Importation of Laborers.
you have spoken of the immigration
laws. believe not merely that all possible
steps should be taken to prevent the irn-
portatfon of laborers under any form, but
believe further that this country ought to
make a resolute effort from now on to
prevent the coming to the country of men
with a standard Of Lying SO low that they
tend, by entering Into unfair competition
with, to reduce the standard of living OF,
our own people. No one Of you can 60
further than ! will go In the effort steadily
TO raise the status Of the American wage
worker, 20 long as while doing It. oan re-
tain clear conscience and the certainty
that am doing what Is right. / will do
all in my power for the laboran& man. ex-