I do not see why there is any need of passing a bill which will enable the British Government to say. "You are discriminating against us and in favor of Japan. you are discriminating against us and in favor of China." merely for the sake of keeping a few seamen from deserting in the port of San Francisco or Seattle. when. as a matter of fact. if those seamen come on a Chinese ship or on a Japanese ship there will be more of them who will be likely to desert than if they come on a British ship. It seems to me that the matter does not hold water. As a matter of fact. I think this bill ought to have been considered by the Committee on Commerce and by the Committee on Foreign Relations. because it concerns those matters just as well as it does the subject of immigration. In fact. except so far as mala fide seamen are concerned. it is a matter concerning commerce entirely.
Identified stereotypes
Chinese and Japanese seamen are more likely to desert than British seamen.