The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-05-11


pardon; 1 misunderstood your ques-
: ton.
Mr. Hamilton of Michigan. / asked
| the gentleman if they displaced labor
Mr.. Burnett. No; they did not dis
place labor to a very great extent, for
there was work for all of them there;
but these very men who were then be-
ing brought in, since the hard times
have come, have taken the wings of
the morning and flown away, and car
ried their money with them, or else
they are paupers depending upon the
people in many communities to keep
them from starving. This at least is
the case in my section. Applause on
the Democratic side.] And you will
find the same trouble here. Hawaii is
going to be populated gradually, and
are We lettering the thing by placing
there the Italians or the Spanfards or
the people from the Azores who are
: Portuguese side by side with the Jap
anese? You can not obtain white men
or Americans to go there to make con-
tracts to perform that labor when at
every stage they have to come in con-
tact with some of the men from the
Mediterranean Sea or the Atlantic
Ocean that belong to the Iberic race,
different from the white people of our
own blood; and, Mr.. Speaker, / desire
here and now to enter my protest
against this entering wedge-because
that Is what it is. If you come up
with this kind of a plausible pretext
Tor 1t in this case, then the next thing
you would hear is that some other
country needs to be filled UP with some
other Industrious people, and therefore
you must open the flood gates in order
to let men come in under contract to
afford this labor. [Applause on the
Democratic side.1 Mr.. Speaker, I yield
back the balance of my time
Mr.. Williams. Mr.. Speaker, I yield
five minutes to the gentleman from
Missouri [Mr. Clark. Applause on
the Democratic side.l
Mr. Clark of Missouri. Mr.. Speaker,
in the first place, 1 believe that the
laws against the importation of con-
tract labor into the United States are
absolutely right and ought to be en-
forced rigidly. In the second place. if
the United States courts and the dis
trict attorneys and marshals and i'm
migration officers in Hawaii are not
enforcing the laws they ought to be
fired" and a new set put in who will
enforce the laws. Applause on the
Democratic side.l 1 am in favor of !
roofing the Chinese, japanese, and all II
other orientals whatsoever out of the
Hawaiian Islands and making that
place for white men to live. Tan
plause on the Democratic sidel Now. |
let US see what this bill provides for. |
1 am teetotally opposed to making
these islands over there the breeding
ground for mongreI lot of foreigners
who are going to put our own people
out of employment. Now, what does
this bill provide? This is the most |
Transparent trick I have ever seen in /
my lifetime. In the first place, it au-
thorizes the authorities of the Sand
Wien Islands to practically suspend |
the laws against contract laborers in
the Sandwich Islands for six years. On |
the face of it that may seem fair to
the uninitiated, but on page 2. in line
8, II you will read the clause begin
ming with the word even" You will
find the Joker in this bill Here it
is:
Even though it is not affirmatively
shown that such European aliens tick
cts or passages were not paid with |
money contributed to the said Terri
tory or its board of immigration by
individuals, companies, partnerships.
or corporations
What does that mean? WHY. it
means that these corporations, the big
sugar planters. and the corporations
that run them, shall contribute this
money to get these laborers over there
and be the beneficiaries of it. If you
do not believe that, read the second
section of the bill. 1t makes it alb
solutely plain. 1t is as follows:
Sec. .. That nothing contained in
the act entitled An act to regulate the
of aliens into the United
States approved February 20, 1907,
shall be taken. for a term of six years
from the approval hereof. to prohibit
any person, company, partnership, or
from contributing to the
said Territory of Hawaii, or TO the
board of immigration of said Terri
tGrX. Smoney to be used by the said
Territory. or board of immigration, or
the officers, members, or agents of
such board, in paying the transporta-
ton"
of these fellows. That gives the whole
thing away. It is just as clear as
crystal that the whole object of this
bill is to enable the big corporations
which run the great sugar plantations
in the Hawaiian Islands to get a lot
of cheap labor in there for their own
benefit, under the guise of having it
done by the constituted authorities of
the Sandwich Islands.
We have enough trouble here at .
home now. / saw ii stated in a news /
paper the other day. do not know |
whether it is a lie or the truth-that /
there are 4,50OO00 people out of en- /
ployment in the United States at this /
very minute. l take it that that is an /
exaggeration. but suppose half of it /
or two-thirds of il is true, Then. as /,
the gentleman from Alabama Mr.. !
Burnett suggested. a gentleman who /.
is on this Immigration Committee and I
also on the Immigration Commission !
sent abroad to investigate the subject. /
let US keep these cheap Johns out
of the Sandwich Islands; shut the Jap
anese out. shut the Chinese out, and I
our own laborers will go TO those is /
lands and work the rich land That u