If we bad terminated the treaty of Washington before a recent award was made. about the fisheries. the very day on which we were able to do it might have made all the difference in the world as to the effect. almost that difference which is made by the arrival of a reprieve whether it comes an hour before or an hour after an execution has taken place. If this treaty and this subject belonged to the class which I have endeavored thus to illustrate. all could see force in the objection that no postponement could occur without seriously affecting the rights concerned. But is anybody to tell me that this tide of Asiatic emigration which has been pouring and thundering on the western coast of this country is going between July and January to inundate and submerge the States of the Pacific coast. including particularly the State of California. with her one hundred and eightyfive thousand square miles. more than four times as large as the State in which I live ? The honorable Senator from Maine says that in the State of California. as he gathers from his investigation. there are one hundred and three thousand Asiatic pagans. that description of them I believe is most satisfactory to those who dislike them. and the honorable Senator from California says he thinks there are one hundred and twenty thousand. if I mistake not. Sup pose there are one hundred and twenty thousand men and women. the dregs. they say. of the Chi. nese Empire. one hundred Qnd twenty thousand of the debased and degraded sons and daughters of Chinese civilization. I infer that they arenot those who. from education. from culture from great endowment. are likely to be felt in the civilization or the affairs of California further than their numbers would naturally imply. By how much are these numbers to grow between July and January next? What is it in the life of the nation.in the life of the State of California. whether this flow of Chinese immigration be checked six months sooner or six months later ? It is of no more consequence than a speck on a disk so far off in space that it never could enter into human calculations. I will assume anything which the honorable Senator from California will argue as to what would occur or may occur between July and January. exaggerate it. multiply it. place it in any form you can. and what quantity does it make in the sum which the Senate sits to do today ?
Identified stereotypes
Asiatic immigrants are described as 'pagans' and 'the dregs of the Chinese Empire,' implying they are debased and degraded.