Speech #470033390

That from and after the expiration of sixty dlays next after the passage of this act. and until the oxpiratien of twenty years next after the passage oft his act. the cm~ig of Chinese laborers to tihe United States he. nd the saie is ereby. suspended. and d -ritg such sispcisien it shal net be lawful for ty Chinese laborer to come. or. .having so cI e after the expiration of said sixty (lays. to remain within the United States. I snbuit that you (nay lay the language of the treaty before any commonsense man in the United States who does net plume hiiseif upon the fact that he is a technical lawyer. and he will say that a prohibition for twenty years of Chinamoi coming into this country is net a reasonable sspension within the mnennig of the treaty. withont reference to the circumstances under which it was negotiated. it is only by isgeenity. it is only by construction. it isoiily by positive tortuireeft the language. that any suchelainm can be made as that this prohibition is merely a reasonable nspension. "ensuitable suspension" implies. x ci termini. that the isinfigraion is to li resaed at the cnd of the terat for which it is suepended. Does any Senator from California or the Paeifie coast. does any friend of I Iis bill. tell me that it is tbe intention of this bill. the intention of the advocates of the bill. that Chinese immigration shall ever be resumed to this country o I think rather that they would stand here tied avow that the intention of this bill was that it should never be resumed within this country. Twenty years is a long time in the life of man. I have no data on this subject. but I suppose that the Chinese laborer on the Pacific coast must average free twentyfiveto thirty years of ge.