Speech #510028600

Mr. Speaker. the Chinese exclusion act passed at the last session of Congress was a Democratic measure. It met the approval. I believe. of the entire delegation from California. and was in accordance with public sentiment upon that side of the continent. We have long felt there that the Chinese are an undesirable portion of our population. While to a certain extent they may be utilized in the labor of the country. yet if we erect no barrier against their incoming they will entirely overrun that portion of the country to such an extent as to seriously disturb the labor interests of our own people and will exert a deleterious and depressing influence upon the prosperity of the whole Pacific coast. It was from good motives. from patriotic motives. that the people of California opposed the unrestricted immigration of Chinese into this country. Now. then. we find under the operation of the Chinese restriction act that various subterfuges are resorted to by the Chinese to evade its provisions. they find their way into this country in large numbers in a clandestine manner. coming over the border from the British possessions in the north and in large numbers over the Mexican boundary on the south. in defiance of the provisions of law. The bill under consideration simply proposes a method of registering Chinese already in the country. in order to ascertain the extent to which the law has been defied and disregarded. and to protect ourselves as far as possible against -illicit immigration of Chinese we have a law which prohibits the introduction of contract labor upon the Atlantic coast. and indeed on either side of the continent. which has the same principle involved as this bill has. Now. if similar subterfuges were resorted to for the purpose of enabling contract labor to come into the Atlantic ports illegally. how quick and ready would be members on this floor from that section of country to support all measures preventing such occurrence in the future. Now. that is the manner in which this stands. There seems to be a general sentiment against unrestricted Chinese immigration. this bill will aid in accomplishing this end. The only question that can be raised against this bill is whether it properly belongs to the Census Office to institute this practice of registry. That is the only question to be considered here. and if the House does not choose to support in its present shape this bill the duty will be incumbent upon us to provide for it in a separate act. But why not do it in the census act? We get the information in the Census Office. and in obtaining the information we may at the same time provide for the identification of the Chinese who have come into the country in defiance of law and in contravention of the Chinese exclusion act. I see no objection to it. and I hope the bill will be passed.