Speech #560024359

Mr. President. the bill to which the Senator from Wiscoiisin refersthe bill to repeal all the laws in regard to the importation of labor and to prohibit the further importation of laborwas brought into the Congress just about the time of our adjournment. perhaps two days before the final adjournment. There was no possibility of getting up the general bill which is under consideration now. and which disposes of the whole subject of the government of Hawaii. and I objected to putting in a special clause. which was reported bythe Committee on Immigrat.on. I believe. in regard to the labor system of.Hawaii. on the ground that it would disconcert the whole system of the law there. and we had not an opportunity to know exactly what the effect of it would be. Such a measure as that. if provided at all. ought to be provided in the general bill. and it was provided in the general bill that all the laws of Hawaii on this subject should be repealed and that the laws of the United States should take effect. which. of course. would introduce there the laws of the United States. I have always maintained that the act of annexation repealed the laws of Hawaii on the subject of the importation of labor. because that act of annexation in dealing with this question of immigration. as it did in regard to the Oriental peoples. established a public policy under which those laws of Hawaii would necessarily. in my opinion. go down. I did not suppose that we were improving the law really by the provision to repeal the laws of Hawaii that we put into the bill. The real substance of those acts. the provision we have in this bill now for the repeal of those laws. had already been enacted in the act of annexation. There is an established. fixed policy of the United States against the importation into any part of the United States of contract labor. Whether it is prohibited in a particular spot or not makes no difference. it is a general law. it is a general public policy. and I hold that no man cannow import a coolie or any man that is under a contract obligation into the United States. although there might not be a special statute applicable to the particular place. It could not be done. for instance. as was stated. I think. perfectly today. in Puerto Rico. Coolie labor could not be lawfully imported into Puerto Rico today. although we have no statute on the subject at all. for such importations are contrary to the public policy of the United States as declared in a general system of laws upon that subject. So I was not only gratified but I was anxious that the labor laws of the United States should be extended over Hawaii. I had been there and I had seen the effect of it. and while it was not at all. apparently. injurious to any Japanese who had come into that country or anyone else. while I could not see that there was any disadvantage to those people in consequence of the labor laws. yet it was a system that our people were opposed to and that our country was opposed to. and I have always advocated the laws for its suppression.