Mr. Chairman. this bill. unless it be properly amended. is a sham and a pretense on its face. Pretending to give aid to Cuba. it demands as a condition precedent of Cuba the enactment of immigration. exclusion. and contractlabor laws as fully restrictive of immigration into Cuba as the laws of the United States before our Government is to enter into negotiations of reciprocal trade relations with Cuba. It further requires concessions in favor of the products and manufactures of the United States by rates of duty which shall be less by an amount equivalent to at least 20 per cent ad valorem upon such products and manufactures than the rates imposed upon the like articles when imported. into Cuba from the most favored of other countries. Then. and not till then. shall there be a reduction of the tariff of the United States against Cuba. In other words. Cuba must first shackle herself with such immigration. exclusion. and contractlabor laws and restrictive tariffs against other nations as we choose to impose upon her before she is to receive our 20 per cent tariff reduction. I submit that this kind of help to Cuba is very much like cutting a mans head off to cure him of the headachethe remedy is most effective. but it does not benefit the patient. It occurs to me that the Platt amendment has already deprived Cuba of much of the independence that was vouchsafed her by the Teller amendment and that if we now pass the Payne reciprocity bill. there will be nothing more left. in point of fact. than a military possession. and we shall have simply added another colony to our already large variety.
Keywords matched
immigration