Speech #570041104

Mr. President. as I have the honor to represent in part a State on the Pacific slope. and live in a great commercial city. the entrepet for perhaps 75 per cent of the Chinese who have come into the United States. a city which is the headquarters of the Six Consolidated Chinese Companies. which are virtually those that bring the Chinese to this country. which make the laws for them while they are here. which direct the Chinese throughout our State. and one of which companies is usually the contrtxctor for the Chinese employed in irrigation on railroads. in great mining camps. and in the forests. it seems to me that perhaps it is not improper that I should relate to the Senate in a conversational way my own observations and experience during the forty years or more that I have been brought in contact with this undesirable class of immigrants who have come into the country. Mr. President. I think there can be no doubt that nine out of every ten men and women in the United States believe that there should be placed restrictions more or less rigorous on Chinese immigration to this country. The better the opportunities for learning what the Chinese are and what effect their presence in large numbers would have in this country the greater is the proportion of Americans who believe in restrictive measures and the more rigorous they believe those restrictions should be. Whereas in the far Eastern States. whose people have been able to see little or nothing of Chinese life. customs. and habits. and where is found a morbid sentiment based on the assertion of the Declaration of Independence that "all men are equal." there may be found a considerable number of Americans who are willing to wecome among them such numbers of Chinese as are willing to comeon the other side of the continent. which has borne the brunt of the Chinese invasibn. the voice of the people is practically unanimous in favor of exclusion. The State of California at a general election once voted on this question. and the result was 154.638 against immigration and 883 in favor. And even among the strongest proChinese advocates there will ever be found. I thinkas there must be among intelligent Americans who give any consideration to the questionan intimation that what they so earnestly demand might under some circumstances be improper to grant.