Speech #570045119

President. I think this bill and this debate indicate a great progress in sentiment. The sentiment of the country has passed. certainly so far as it is represented by a majority of the Senate. the stage. if it ever was in it. of a reckless seeking to accomplish the result of Chinese exclusion without regard to constitutional restraints. treaty obligations. or moral duties. There was in some quarters. as it seemed to me. in olden times. a disregard of all these restraints. certainly in the press. certainly in the harangues which were made to excited crowds in various parts of the country. Among other I can remember a visit of the apostle of Chinese exclusion to Boston and an address by him on the Boston Common which indicated that spirit. Now. that has gone largely. tnd the Senate has discussed this question with a temperate desire on the part of all classes and all Senators. whatever ways of thinking they have. to do what seemed to them for the benefit of labor. the quality of the citizenship of this country in a moderate and constitutional fashion. But I can not agree with the principle upon which this legislation or any legislation on the subject which we have had in the country since 1870 rests. I feel bound to enter a protest. I believe that everything in the way of Chinese exclusion can be accomplished by reasonable. practical. and wise measures which will not involve the principle of striking at labor because it is labor. and will not involve the principle of striking at any class of human beings merely because of race. without regard to the personal and individual worth of the man struck at. I hold that every human soul has its rights. dependent upon its individual personal worth and not dependent upon color or race. and that all races. all colors. all nationalities contain persons entitled to be recognized everywhere they go on the face of the earth as the equals of every other man.