The gentleman from California says that the people do not understand the law that bears his name. I think that he discounts the intelligence of the American people. They do undrstand that this law denies to Chinese rights accorded to every other class of immigrants. They do understand that it denies to these people the constitutional right that presupposes every man to be innocent until proven a criminal. I denounce a law that assumes that a man is criminal and calls upon him to prove his innocence. whether that rule is applied by the Geary law in the State Department. or whether that rule is applied by the Commissioner of Pensions in the Pension Office to the soldiers of the Union. I denounce the law that denies the right of habeas corpus and commits a Chinaman to jail without bail pending his trial. and denies him the right to subpoena witnesses with the expense of process. The law as I understand it if enforced deports a man and his wife. born in China. and leaves their children born in this country worse than orphans. to beg or starve. The lawis asop to the "sandlotorators "andhoodlum element of the Pacific States. whoare themselves foreigners. I hold in my hand the petition which has been read. from the Detroit Annual Conference of the Methodist Church. praying for the repeal of the Geary law.
Keywords matched
immigrants deports