Evening star., 1924-04-15

I
With conclusion of the japanese
exclusion discussion a number of
| amendments proposing changes in
! the quota basis must he considered.
senator Reed plans. however, to move
wednesday to limit debate. If that
| appears necessary, to assure a vote
on the whole bill before the end of
| the week
Whatever the result yesterday
would have been without the incident
| or the ambassadors letter. that COM
| InQhlcatlon served to change the vote
| OF NUM- Der of administration lead
| ers, including Senator Lodge Of Mas
! SachuSettS, chairman of the foreign
! relations committee
| The republican leader informed the
senate in open session that he re-
! garded the Hanihara letter as a
''veiled threat and declared that in
the face of that threat he could not
| support the immigration committee S
proposal to recognize by law the
+ gentlemen'S agreement"
number of other senator's took the
same view and only one voice. that
| or Senator Sterling, republican, South
Dakota, was raised in defense of the
| ambassadors action. senator Colt,
| chairman of the immigration commit
tee, joined Senator Sterling in the
vote. but did not speak.
Threw on Restraint.
|
usual restraints in dealing with in
ternational questions. They were
| blunt and outspoken in their declara-
| uonS that in view of the grave con-
| sequences" warning in the ambassa-
| dors letter there was nothing for
! them to do but to make ii clear once
! and for all that imm igration is a
| domestic question, in the handling of
| which no independent power could
! have it's sovereignty questioned.
Senator Lodge diverted the Senate
| from ii partisan war of words in or
! der to bring the Japanese question
! 10 an issue He moved Unexpectedly
| for an executive session to consider
! that phase of the immigration bill. A
! brief session behind closed doors fol-
| lowed, during which Senator John
| son made his long-awaited address in
| favor of Japanese exclusion.
At this point Senator Harrison,
! democrat, Mississippi, objected to fur
| ther consideration of the subject in
secret declaring that the people were
| entitled to know what was being said
and done in the Senate. Senator
| Lodge then withdrew his motion, the
| doors were reopened and the debate
| went forward.
While no record was taken of Sena-
tor Johnson'S address and the senator
spoke without notes. it was disclosed
that he had characterized the Hani-
nara leIIeT as lnlpeTIlnent and as
communication which would not be
tolerated" by even a fourth class
power. He added that it was mon
strous' that Secretary Hughes had
not replied in kind. instead of trans
mitting the letter to Congress.
Lodge Revealed Himself.
Senator Lodge himself revealed af-
ter the doors were reopened that he
had already informed his colleagues
intention hn
committee compromise as an answer
to the Hanihara letter
Asserting that he would only re-
peat what he had said in executive
session, Senator Lodge declared he
always had been very friendly to
the Japanese people and had intended
to do all in his power to make the
Legislation in the present bill as easy
for them and for their feelings as
possible.
But. the question of immigration. :"
he added, rs perhaps the greatest of
Fundamental sovereign rights. If a
country can not say who shall come
into the country, it has ceased to be
q sovereign coumry; it has become a
subject country.
Il regret to say that the letter ad-
dressed to our State Department by
the ambassador from Japan seems to
me letter improper to be addressed
by the representative of one great
country to another friendly country.
1t contains, l regret to say, veileu
threat.
Uphold L. s. Rights.
THE United States can not legis-
late by the exercise by any other
country of yelled threats. owing to
this, what we are now doing, there
fore, assumes the character of an
international precedent, and / think
it should be understood, and under
stood by the whole world, that the
United States alone is to say who
shall come into the United States to
form part of it's citizenship.
What our country determines as
to its immigration is neither just
cause of offense nor subject for
war, or threat of war. 1t is an un-
doubted sovereign right and nothing
else
Senator Moses of New Hampshire,
a republican of the foreign relations
committee, demanded to know why
Senator Lodge repeatedly USED the
words "veiled threat"
"The Senator knows perfectly
we'll he said, that in the compo-
sition of diplomatic communications
the two words grave consequences
are not veiled. They are well known
s1They are lust as we'll known, re-
plied Senator Lodge, "as the phrase
the United States could not regard
with Indifference the violation or the
Monroe doctrine. Everybody knows
what cannot regard with indifer-
ence' means. Both phrases are the
well recognized language of diplo-
macy. The letter of the japanese
ambassador creates a situation which
makes it impossible for me to sup
port the pending committee amend
ment
'This amendment has now assumed
the dignity of a precedent, and
never will consent to establish any
the right to think that they can stop
by threat or by compliment the ac-
ton of the United States when it de-
termines who shall come within its
gates and become part of it's citizen
ship That is decision which be-
longs to the United States alone, and
from that decision there can be no
appeal"
Senator Reed of Pennsylvania
voiced like sentiments-
1.-The letter of the Japanese am
bassador,' he said, puts the unpleas-
ant burden upon us of deciding
whether we will permit our IegisIa-
ton to be controlled by apprehen-
other nations if we do not follow a
particular line of legislative conduct.
/, for one, feel compelled, on account
of that yelled threat, if it may be
called that, to vote in favor of ex-
clusion and against the commit ee
amendment.
Il say that with deep regret, be-
cause I believe that this action, which
is forced upon us, means the waste
of twenty years of excellent diplo-
macy, means the waste of the fortu-
nate, happy results that followed the
ratification of the four-power treaty
in the Pacific, and it means throwing
away the good relations, or a large
part of them, that followed the
prompt and friendly action of Ameri-
ca after the Japanese eartbauake
of last year
Regarded Letter rs Threat.
Senator Swanson of Virginia, rank