Speech #590162185

We exploit their property and tax them without representation. doing any old thing which we see fit. It is not worth while to mention the negroes. What I contend is that the people of the South ought to have the same consideration in dealing with their race question which the people of the North and of the South have had in dealing with the Indians. which the people of the Pacific coast have had in dealing with the Mongolians. and which the people of the United States are now exercising in dealing with the Malays. and when we seek. in our feebleness. to do that. environed by dangers and difficulties. and are trying to encourage more white people to come here and settle. Massachusetts steps to the front with resolutions of inquiry. and Massachusetts stands here as the sponsor for the doctrine that contract labor must not be admitted into the South. forsooth. because the Senator from that State has a large constituency of intelligent and good people who do not want the door thrown wide open for the admission into this country of European paupers to enter into competition in the labor market. We do not want European paupers to come into the South. So far as I am. concerned. there are certain countries in Europe from which I never would admit a solitary man. It is not worth while to mention them. We are trying to sift our immigration in South Carolina. We are very well satisfied with the people we have got there. and we shall welcome any of that stock. We can get those people. and we .are trying to get them under this billa little driblet. we had. all told. 468. I think on thefirst shipload and 150 on the second. We have only had two ships come to Charleston with immigrants. The solicitor of the Department of Commerce and Labor has told us that the methods pursued in getting these to come were not unlawful. but the Senator from Massachusetts has taken the law. and. in his holy zeal to keep out contract labor. he tries to shut the door and lock it and throw the key away. "If you want anybody. come North to the slums of our cities and get the scabs and riffraff and the scum that we do not want." We of the South would rather you would keep them. we do not want them either. and so long as they continue to pour across the Atlantic in the hordes that are now cominga million a yearif we can not get better ones. you may lock the door and throw tile key away. There is one other phase to which I wish to advert. but before I leave the part of the subject to which I have been addressing myself I wish to say that I have just had two telegrams handed to me. which I will send to the desk and ask to have read.