A year or more ago that action was taken. So that China from now on will exercise her own internal destiny without the watchful eyes of soldiers from another country. when the V of victory is finally written in the eastern and western skies. I do not agree with the President that a mistake was made on Chinese exclusion 60 years ago. The essential point is that the condition was different from what It is today... Chinese exclusion back in 1879. which was the date of the first act that was enacted. was aimed as much against the abuses of our own people as it was against the Chinese. It was. after all. John Sutter who brought John Chinaman to this country. because when gold was discovered in 1849 there was a great exploratory effort in California that required labor. and in consequence the Chinese contract labor was brought into this country. not that they wanted to come particularly but because there were some people who were sweating a profit out of that contract labor among our own citizenry. As a result. our people and our country had to be protected against our own people as much as they did against those of a foreign country. So when the President observes that a mistake was made 60 years ago I do not agree. for all those early statutes in 1879. 1881. and 1882 referred in the main to Chinese laborers.
Keywords matched
Chinese exclusion contract labor