Mr. President. I rise not for the purpose of engaging in this debate or to resist the passage of the bill. but simply to state the action of the Committee on Foreign Relations in respect to Chinese exclusion. At the beginning of this session of Congress several bills were referred to that committee. They were fully considered. The delegation from the Pacific coast. largely interested in the question. were united without respect to party. and very earnest in opposition to the admission of Chinese. They made representations to the committee that Chinese immigration was offensive to them and dangerous to their civilization. and repeated the arguments which have moved both Houses of Congress heretofore in the passage of restriction bills. They further said to us that certificates under the previous laws to departing Chinese who were here between the time of the execution of the treaty and the first law were fraudulently used as the means of admitting Chinese who had never been in America at all. and that all the provisions of the law which were intended to ameliorate and modify the harsh requirements of the exclusion were evaded and avoided by fraud. perjury. and other crimes. Therefore the Committee on Foreign Relations agreed unanimously upon hearing these statements that it was best to make the exclusion absolute.
Identified stereotypes
Chinese immigration is offensive and dangerous to civilization; they use fraud, perjury, and other crimes to evade the law.