Speech #710264531

In his present financial condition the American farmers interest in Philippine exportations of agricultural products is not to be forgotten or ignored. especially when he is being urged to reduce his acreage and production. I cite another element in our domestic life. the American Federation of Labor. representing the millions of working men and women of the United States. These representatives of labor cite the matter of Philippine immigration. pointing out that our exclusion laws against certain oriental nations do not apply to the Philippines. that workers from these islands come into America directly or by way of the Hawaiian Islands and elsewhere. and that already there have been disturbances in the United States due to the growing number of Philippine laborers whose hire can be obtained at prices far below the standard wages of American workmen and women. The average daily wage scale in the islands is from 50 to 75 cents a day for field laborers. and for industrial labor an average of $1 a day. While wages and the standard of living in the islands is from 200 to 300 per cent higher than that obtaining in other oriental countries. it is far below the American standard which. under the present arrangement. must confront Philippine competition. The interests of union labor. which for 32 years has been advocating Philippine independence. can not be overlooked in disposing of the Philippine question. Congress has demonstrated that it will not subject the 13.000.000 Filipinos to the rigors of our exclusion act. to our trade barriers. or to other handicaps placed upon the foreigner while these people are held within the jurisdiction and under the protection of American sovereignty. No foreign nation excludes its colonials from its own domain. nor can America initiate such a policy with propriety. Again. therefore. considering those questions of economics not related to the Filipinos themselves. but wholly American questions. it is not necessary to decide the Philippine status in favor of one or the other. but it is desirable to solve the Philippine problem for the future in the interest of all these elements of our American life.