Speech #580004334

The Cuban reciprocity bill of the Fiftyseventh Congress. which was the forerunner of the treaty bill now under discussion. was prepared and introduced by Mr. PAYNE. who is the Republican leader on the floor of the House and chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means. That bill in its first section provided as follows: That for the purpose of securing reciprocal trade relations with Cuba. the President is hereby authorized. as soon as may be after the establishment of an independent government in CubaMark the languageand the enactment by said Government of immigration and exclusion laws as fully restrictive of immigration as the laws of the United States. to enter into negotiations with said Government. otc. The House chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means on March 19. 1902. it is very evident. was not aware that anyone would suggest that exclusion laws at that time existed in Cuba. Again. in the body of the bill. Mr. PAYNEits authorsays: And whenever the Government of Cubs shall enact such immigration and exclusion laws. and shall enter into such commercial agreement with the United States. and shall make such concemsions in favor of the products and manufactures thereof as aforesaid. and which agreement. in the judgment of the President. shall be reciprocal and equivalent. he shall be authorized to proclaim such facts. both as to the enactment of such immigration and exclusion laws and the making of such ageement. and thereafter until the 1st day of December. 1903. the imposition of the duties now imposed by law on all articles Imported from Cuba. the products thereof. into the United States shall be suspended and in lieu thereof there shall be levied. collected and paid upon all such articles imported f::om Cuba 80per cent of the rate of duty now levied upon like articles imported from foreign countries. So if the law that passed the House at the last Congress and came to the Senate. and now sleeps the sleep of death with the Committee on Foreign Relations. Lad gone into effect. it would have provided that there should be no reciprocity between Cuba and the United States until the President had become satisfied that Cuba had enacted just such (xclusion laws as are on the f statute books of the United States. Then. further. Mr. President. this bill that represented the views of the chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means. and no doubt represented the views of his Republican colleagues. 8 provided thatThe President shall have power. and It i:hall be his duty. whenever he shall be satisfied that either such immigratior. or exclusion laws or such agreement mentioned in this act are not being :.ully executed by the Government of Cuba. to notify such Government thereof. and thereafter there shall be levied. collected and paid upon all article.. imported from Cuba the full rate of duty provided by law upon articles imported from foreign countries. That is pretty strong testimony as to the true state of the law. that is. the absence of exclusion laws in Cuba. The bill went to the Committee on Ways and Means. and it was reported back from the committee. retaining practically the identical provisions to which I have called the Senates attention. I will not stop to read the provisions of the bill as reported. but I desire to read in this connection the report of the majority of the Committee on Ways and Means that accompanied the bill as it was reported from that committee and put before the House for its consideration. On page 4 of this report I find the following: On the hearings before the committee it was generally conceded that no loss would accrue to our own sugar industry unless in the course of a few years the reduction in duty should stimulate the production of sugar in Cuba to such an extent that she should increase her product and be able to supply all the sugar we import from foreign countries. It also appeared that this is impossible unless she was able to import more laborers. and the fear was generally expressed that she might import cheap Asiatic labor to such an extent as to interfere with our home production. For this reasonBecause it might disastrously affect the agriculturists engaged in the cultivation of the sugar beetFor this reason the requirement was placed in the bill that she should adopt immigration and exclusion laws as restrictive as our own lawson these subjects. This would effectually check the immigration of cheap labor. But under the time limit of the present bill every danger of future injury to our own industries is entirely eliminated. Mark the language. Mr. President. The report not only gives the reasons why the Republican majority of the House of Representatives of the last Congress insisted that Cuba should enact restrictive immigration laws as strong in every way as our own. but the statement is made thatUnder the time limit of the present bill every danger of future injury to our own industries is entirely eliminated. Surely. Mr. President. in view of the bill as introduced by the chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means of the other House. in view of the bill as reported. in view of the report of the majority of that committee. in view of the free immigration of Chinese into Cuba in 1901. and in view of the evasiveandnoncommittal character of whatever communications have been read here. there is little room to doubt but that Cuba is as open to Chinese today as is the Chinese Empire. But this fact should be noticed in this connection. The reciprocity provided for in the bill that passed the House of Represenatives and was sent to the Senate during the last Congress expired by its express terms on the 1st of the month.