The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1917-01-19
Much Oratorv; Felp Votes

now reached the President, there IS not much in the
makeup of the population Of this Territory to be
recommended According to what the senate had te
listen to- Chinese are strictly not wanted, japanese
are just bad and picture brides are worse, Porte
iRicans are not fit to be admitted to the United
States proper, the Azores furnish "the most unde
sirable immigration to this country from any place
lon earth y native Cubans are not wanted; native
Africans should be kept out and for the Fill
pino, he is equally n IBIS s9qntr Ey
excluded" 80.
Before anyone in Hawaii gets ruffled up oyer this
however, let us hasten to add that the authors OF
the remarks above were each one voted down by
the senate majority when the various exclusion
amendments to the bill were determined in the
senate committee on immigration. -, :,
The debate on the bill lasted for many days aud
Hawaii and its population figured frequently in the
Observation-Disclosures as the horrible example, On
December II, a fairly representative day in the
senate the Congressional Record furnishes the quo
ltations used below.
On that day, Hardwick of Georgia opened the de-
bate in support of the immigration Bill, which he
hoped he said would "be written on our statute
books with the Executives approval, hope;
4 without it, if must be-" Hardwick outlined his
general views in this statement; a.s. ~ i
Mr. President do not know that other senators win
agree with me; 1 do not know that majority of my
colleagues this side Of the chamber will ndorse
the statement that am about to make; but do not
hesitate to say, measuring my words with fun respon-
sbility for them X could have my way would
write in plain unvarnished and unmstakable language
into the statutes that immigrants could
to these shores who were not OF pure Caucasian
blood because, after all, when all is said and ell is
done this country is the white man . country dedicat
ed to his civilization and governed By his laws and
4 citizen of any within borders, do not
II why should admit yellow men, brown men, OF black
into this country to add to the confusion that
ali dv hava n M
the safe policy the wise policy would be TO admit
Caucasian immigrants only. - -'t&tf" 2t5ss +, +.
The particular point being debated was an amend
Iment by Reed of Missouri including amongst those
excluded natives Of Africa except persons Of the
white race" The debate shifted upon the Portu-
lguese islands off the African coast, whereupon
Reed offered this further amendment ALSO all
persons, except white persons from thesWest In
1des and the Cape Verde and Azores Islands"
IApropos Of this, the Missourian stated:
The amendment that now propose can not be brush.
ed aside the one just voted upon the ground
that there Is mhigration coming from these coun-
tries. There has been total immigration from them
in the last fifteen years Of 5793l and that mmigra-
ton seems to be steady and continuous. 4 5.
It win be admitted by every candid man that the
most undesirable immigration to this country today
from any place on earth is from these islands, and !
class Of people who in their morals in their ideas
of government in all those things that make for citi
zenshp, good bad, is coming to this country from
these islands that is the lowest the most vicious
ing to country from any spot spots Of earth.
This brought up the question of excluding the
black citizens of Cuba and the possibility of Gu
ban retaliation, something Reed did not think was
to be bothered over. Responding to Senator Cal
lnger, who defended the Cubans, Reed said
4 The government of Cuba is standing today because
the United States government is popping IL up, Cuba
hours without the assistance Of the fedora" govern.
4 ment. Our rights secured BY treaty with Cuba.
The senator may think there lot of good people
in xNhn NJ khai viii 7
say that people who not of the white race are
bad people, but 4 say that no not of the white
the United states q Amelica. Already in our laws
relating to Naturalization w have excluded from the
race the black raee, and the black race no man
claim is the equal 6fthe brown yellow race
!. The Reed amendment was defeated by twenty
eight to, thirty-six, with thftystwo not voting,
whereupon Reed asked to be allowed to move an
other amendment, to exclude "all persons Who are
not of the white race" The amendment edt no.
where. Then the debaters shifted from thebwest
coast of Africa to the east coast of Asia this
: amendment to enlarge the excluded races coming
up: persons who are native of the islands 'ad-
jacent to the Continent of Asia. "rs@
This is where the Filipino started to get his
panning, Smith OF South Carolina opening the
i, ball with -: IN I'D S, - e. "Ht' s""., a
Mr.. President before that amendment is acted upon
desire to call the attention of the senator from Mis-
souri, to decision Of the Supreme Court with which
presume he is familiar, and which / think would
apply in this The decision Supreme Court
in Gonzales against Williams, One hundred and ninety.
second United States Reports page IS to the effect
that citizens of the nSuar possessions of the United
States while not citiZens of this country the full
and complete sense not aliens within the meaning
of immigration laws The person involved in that
case was Porto Rean, hut of course, a Philippians
Islander is in the same category.
In view Of that decision il this amendment passes
do not know what it's effect may be references to
the Philippine Islands, but it me that 40 long
as that decision stands FiPinos would be quasiciti
and be entitled to all the rights and privileges of