Thus the United States will have absolute free trade with the Philippine [lands if annexed. and the customs laws must be the same as ours. Thus we see that those who heretofore have decried competition in production with the laborers of Europe now invite competition with the laborers of Asia. where the cost of living and the rate of wages are not onetenth those of Europe. You Republicans will now have to tell the farmers and laborers of the country that you have reversed your policy. that you now favor and think it wise and just that the products of the factories and of the farms of this country "hould be sold in free and open competition in the home market with the products of Asiatic laborers who work for from 5 to 10 cents per a. whose only clothing is a cotton shirt. whose chief food is rice and bananas. and whose greatest delicacies consist of grasshopper soup and lizards. Mr. Chairman. there is yet another position taken by the advocates of annexation which can not be sustained. They insist that when ths Philippine Islands are annexed Congress will still have power to pass laws prohibiting emigration here of the large and undesirable population there. But. sir. the power to do this will not then exist. for the inhabitants of those islands will then have become citizens of the United States and will be entitled to this as one of their privileges. which neither the State governments nor the Federal Government can deprive them of. Before the enactment of section 1.
Identified stereotypes
Asiatic laborers are described as having low cost of living, low wages, and simple clothing and diet.