Speech #500116121

That is the door. sir. that was opened up. which Senators on the other side of the Chamber seem now so anxious to close. A great many Chinese came in through that door thus opened by the Reppblican party. They were found to be an unsuitable addition to our population. they were found to be competing with our laboring people upon the Pacific coast. and in 1880 another treaty was negotiated. also by Republicans. for the purpose of giving us what we had surrendered by the treaty of 1868a right to put some limit upon the importation or immigration of Chinese into this country. That treaty was negotiated. and then we had some legislation for the purpose of carrying out that treaty. a history of which I have in my hand. collated and prepared by a distinguished Democrat of the other House. Hon. WILLIAmi D. BYNUBI. of Indiana. That was the first effort to restrict Chinese immigration into this country. The Republican party had said the Chinese had an inherent and inalienable right to comea right that inhered in them as men. a right which they could not alienate. a right which it would be an outrage on the part of any people in the world to deprive them of. That is what it meant by an inherent and inalienable right.