Speech #510041349

If he shows those two things. however. then he can. under this proposed committee amendment. which is a carte blanaee to him. remain forever afterwards in the United States of America and he is entitled to a certificate to that effect. It admits not only the 12.500 who claim to have been in here between the time of the making of the treaty and the passage of the act. but it admits every Chinese laborer that has ever been in this country heretofore and who has gone away. does it not? If that is so. that is a repeal of the Scott exclusion act wholesale. and my friend from New York should not object to this bill. I can assure him. If he is desirous of loosening up on the principle of exclusion. certainly he can not get a better bill than this. it seems to me. because this is. as every Senator must admit. if he will stop to think for a moment after reading it. a repeal of the Scott exclusion act. Let us read further from this committee amendment: And upon establishing such fact to the satisfaction of the court. such person shall not be subject tothe penalties of this act. but shall be given the certificate provided for in this act by the Secretary of time Interior upon the certification by said court. under its seal. of its judgment in the case. and such certificate shall entitle such said Chinese person to the same privileges and immunities as if originally issued by the Superintendent of the Census. That is why I object to that amendment. So far as I am concerned I do not desire in this act to attempt to make it an exclusion act. although I should be very glad to have a bill which I introduced early in this session. and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations. reported. so that the Senate might have the privilege of voting on an absolute exclusion bill pure and simple. one that will be effectual. not only for two years or four years at most. as is the case with our present acts. but for all time. I am not in favor of attempting. under the guise of carrying out a constitutional provision in relation to the taking of the census of the people of this country. to bring in exclusion ideas and all that kind of thing. But while I am not in favor of that. I am opposed. unalterably opposed. in a bill which professes to provide for the taking of the census simply. to permit amendments the effect of which will. if adopted. b6 to repeal legislation now on the statutebook upon the subject of Chinese exclusion. and that is what these amendments do. not only in respect to the question to which I have attracted attention. but in respect to two or three other vital points.