Speech #780068691

Mr. Speaker. our potential trade with China after this war is over should furnish jobs to hundreds of thousands. if not millions. of our boys when they return from the war. During the hearings on the proposal to repeal the Chinese Exclusion Act the testimony showed that the act was passed in 1882 to prevent a flood of cheap labor that threatened at that time. Since then we have passed laws that restrict immigration by placing all European countries on a quota basis. Under a quota only 107 Chinese people could- enter this country each year. Therefore. if the Chinese exclusion laws were repealed and China were placed upon a quota basis like other nations. at the rate of 107 Chinese immigrants. per year. cheap labor from China. the problem of the 1880s. could never become a problem in the future. Looking at the question before us. the proposal to repeal the Chinese Exclusion Act. and keeping in mind the best interests of our people as our primary objective. I say we should repeal the act. and thereby place China. our ally and friend. upon an equal footing with other nations that have been placed upon a quota basis. This. in my judgment. is the least we can do at this time to rectify our past mistakes in dealing with China. and to do justice to our most friendly ally in the present war.