President. I shall not enter into any discussion on the subject of spinal meningitis other than to say that statements read at the desk at the request of the Senator from Connecticut clearly show that this trouble has taxed the facilities at Seattle to such an extent that officials of the department admit they are scarcely able to handle it there and refer to the fact that they are able to handle it at San Francisco. The charge about bringing spinal meningitis to this country is a result of the steerage passengers who to a large extent constitute the Filipino laborers who come here. and it is to prevent such laborers coming here that the amendment which the Senator from California has presented is intended. It happened that this morning I received in the mail a letter from Seattle. Wash.. written on April 18. which I think contains a very clear statement of the situation at that port. The letter is from L. 0. Raasch. who lives in Seattle. He said: Let me call your attention to the vital need for stopping the immigration of Filipinos to the Pacific coast. Every. "President " liner coming to Seattle now is loaded down with from 200 to 350 of these people. plus the germs of epidemic meningitis. There is no worse problem which can confront a nation than a race problem. and there are already enough of these Filipinos here to show what is rapidly taking place.
Identified stereotypes
Filipino laborers bring spinal meningitis to the country.