Speech #590163127

And yet we are to consider and pass upon a question of such inimense importance. couched in such language that it is difficult to understand. and without any chance. except in a few hours. to discuss it. and we are called upon to pass it blindly. simply to help the President out of a dilenma. I suppose that this clause grew out of the fact that there has been some difference of opinion between the Chief Executive and the citizens of San Francisco on the question of excluding Japanese pupils from their schools. t case in which. in tny opinion. its has been ably contended. the President has largely exceeded his authority. If this be true and the people of Oregon and California are content with the provision of this bill. as their States will receive the first impact of the Asiatic hordes which may attempit to flood our shores. we. perhaps. of the intermountain States. who live away from the coast. might be supposed to rest content. But I wvant to say. Mr. President. that there are several- hundred thousand citizens of this coutitry adjacent to the Pacific coast Statesaid I speak only for the Sttte which I have the ionor in part to represent herewho. notwithstanding the decision of the representatives front Califorttia. will not be satisfied with this flimsy subterfuge. The question of Asiatic imiigration affects all of the western part of the United States. � We have a large Chinese and Japanese population now in that part of the country. and the great labor organizations whose members are occupied in mining and other industrial pursuits which are the basis of prosperity inall that vast region are a unit against the further immigration of Asiatics into this country. and the people generally support them in that contention. [r-. President. we find here a provision that when tle President of the United States siall be satisfied that the purpose of the people to whom passports have been issued to go to the insular possessions of the United States or to the Canal Zone is to enter ibe United States ultimately to the ".detrimeiut of the interests of labor." he may refuse to admit them. Now. we know that the President of the United States recently i a communication to the Congress expressed hiltself in the broadest aind most liberal termis concerning the influx of Japanese into this country. and went so far as to recommend that they be allowed full privileges of citizenship.