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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 2, 1906)
43 THE SUNDAY OREGOMAN, PORTLAND, SEPTEMBER 2, 1900. Chinese and the Panama Canal Judge Williams States Some Facts Bearing on Exclusion Opinion Which Concerns Laborers 1 PROPOSE in this writing to ex press my views upon the proposi tion of the Government to employ Chinese labor in the construction or the Panama Canal, but before proceed ing to that, I will give a brief history of the Chinese question, so far as the action of the Government therewith is concerned. Prior to 1844 China was comparatively a terra incognita to the people of this country. In that year Caleb Cushlng, our Minister to China, made a treaty with the government of that country, the chief object of which was to establish commercial re lations between the two nations. There was nothing In the treaty about the Immigration of Chinese to the United States. In 1858 another treaty was made by William B. Reed, our then Minister to China, which was nothing more than an extension into details of the Cushlng treaty. In 1862 Congress passed an act prohibiting vessels of the United States from engaging in the "coolie trade," but It seems to have been a dead letter and there was noth ing In the act to prevent foreign ves sels from importing coolies Into the United States, and the trade went on without interruption. In 1868 Anson Burllngame, acting for the Chinese Government, and William H. Seward, then Secretary of State, made a treaty, sections 5 and 6 of which read as fol lows: The United States of America and the Em peror of China cordially recognize the in herent and Inalienable right of man to change his home and allegiance and also the mutual advantage of the Immigration and emigration ot their cltlicna and aubjeta respectively from one country to the other for purposes of curiosity, of trade, or as per manent residents. The high contracting par ties therefore Join in reprobating any other than an entirely voluntary emigration for these purposes. They consequently agree to pass laws making It a penal offense for a citizen of the United states or Chinese sub ject to take Chinese subjects either to the United States or any other foreign country or for a Chinese subject or citizen of the United States to take citizens of the United States to China or to any other foreign country without their free and voluntary consent respectively. First Move to Restrict Chinese. This treaty, though made in 1868, was not published until some time in 1870. On the 6th day of December, 1S69, I introduced In the Senate a bill, of which the following is a copy: Section 1. That any contract or agree ment to procure or encourage the Importa tion or Immigration of Chinese Into the United States shall be null and void and any person entering Into any such contract or agreement shall be deeme guilty of a mis demeanor and upon conviction thereof shall be fined in a sum not less than 1500 ana Im prisoned not less than six months or both at the discretion of the court. Sec. 2. That any contract or agreement to employ or to furnish employment to any Chinaman or as to the nature or term of his services or as to the amount or use ot his wages prior to his immigration into the United States shall be null and void, and any person entering Into such contract or agreement shall be subject to conviction and punishment as provided in the foregoing sec tion. Sec. 3. That any compact or agreement for or on behalf of any vessel or ship to transport any Chinaman into the United States made with any other than the person so to be transported shall be null and void, and any person entering into such contract or agreement shall be subject to conviction and punishment as provided In the foregoing sections. Sec. 4. That any person recognizing, exe cuting or enforcing or aiding to recognize, execute or enforce any of said contracts or agreements wherever made shall be subject to conviction and punishment as provided In the foregoing sections. Sec. 5. That it shall not be lawful for any vessel or ship to transport Into the United States any Chinese woman not accompanied by her husband or father, and such rela tionship of the woman to the man accom panying her shall be evidenced by some offi cial document attested by an American Con sul and furnished to the officer of the ves el or ship and before the departure of the woman therefrom in any part of the United States. Said document shall be delivered to the collector of the proper district, whose duty it shall be to inquire into the facts. The violation of any of the provisions of this section by the owner, agent or officer of any vessel or ship shall subject the offender to conviction and punishment as provided in the foregoing sections. Sec. tt. This act shall not be construed to deny to Chinamen free from any contract or obligation of service the right of voluntary immigration Into the United States. Would Not Have Got Five Votes. This was the first move ever made in the Congress of the United States to re strict the Importation of Chinese to this country otherwise than the said act of 3R62. which simply denied the right of American vessels to engage In the "coolie trade." When I moved to refer the fore going. bill it was Jumped on by several Senators with both feet, and Senator Cole, of California, took that occasion to de scribe to the Senate the advantage of Chines labor to that state. I had all I could do to get the bill referred, and after I had made two or three speeches explanatory of the object and necessity of such legislation, the bill was referred to. the committee on commerce, where It was everlastingly buried. I doubt if at that time there were five memebrs of Congress who would have voted for that or any similar bill. When Burllngame came back; from China with the treaty of 1868 he brought with him a number of Chinese dignitaries, who, after they had been formally received by the Senate, were escorted by Senators to the House, where they were received in a ceremoni ous manner. These Chinese officials were attired in gorgeous robes, and were an object of curiosity and Interest to mem bers of Congress. This Burllngame treaty sit that time was regarded as a great achievement In diplomacy, and as the dawn of a golden era of good things in the fraternization of the Old and New World. Present Exclusion Laws. Nothing more was done in Congress rel ative to this matter Until 1875, when an act was passed prohibiting the Importa tion of Chinese women for unlawful pur poses, and In 1876 Senator Sargent, of Cal ifornia, tried to have negotiations opened to modify the Burllngame treaty, but was defeated. In 1878 an act was passed pro viding that not more than 15 Chinamen should be brought into this country at one time, but it was vetoed by President Hayes, upon the ground that it was in violation of the Burllngame treaty. In 1880 a new treaty was made in which it was agreed that the United 9tates might? regulate, limit or suspend, but should not prohibit, the coming of Chinese to the United States. In 18X2 an act was passed suspending the coming of Chinese labor era to this country for ten years, and in 1893 an act was passed continuing this suspension for ten years more. Mr. Gompers' Ignorance of Facts. Mr. Gompers has declared war upon the Government because It proposes to em ploy Chinese In the construction of the Panama Canal. He says that such em ployment would be in violation of the exclusion act, as that act excludes Chi nese laborers from the United States and "Its possessions." Mr. Gompers Is mis taken; there Is nothing In the act about "possessions." I quote the exact lan guage of the act: That from and after the passage of this act and until the expiration of ten years next alter the passage of this act the comlugsl 'of Chinese laborers to the United States be and the same is hereby suspended and dur ing such suspension it shall not be lawful for any' Chinese laborer to come from any for eign part or place or having so come to re main within the United States. The Isthmus of Darlen Is ' not the United States or any part of the United States. The United States' has jurisdic tion over what is called the "Canal zone" to protect its property and preserve the public peace, but the Inhabitants of that zone have as much right to participate in the government of their country as they ever had. It would be as much of a violation of the exclusion act to bring Chinese laborers to the United States from Panama as It would be to bring them from Hongkong. Moreover, the pro posed contract for the employment of Chinese provides that they shall be Imme diately deported when they cease to labor. Mr. Gompers says that Mr. Shonts promised not to employ Chinese upon the canal. What Mr. Shonts has to say about this does not appear, but, assuming that he made this promise, he had a right to change his mind. He may have said and may have intended at one time not to em ploy Chinese, but if he found that It was impracticable to prosecute the work suc cessfully with West Indian negroes, and that the employment of Chinese had be come a necessity, it was not only his right but his duty to do what in his judgment the public Interest required, Ir respective of any conversation he may have had with Mr. Gompers. But whai Mr. Shonts said or did not say is of no consequence. The question Is, will the employment of Chinese in the construc tion of the Panama Canal be prejudicial or Injurious to the rights and Interests of the' wage-earners of the United States? 'o Place for a White Man. The only possible reason that can be given for the exclusion of the Chinese from the Isthmus Is that their employ ment there will deprive our wage-earners of the right to work upon and dig the Panama Canal, but the conclusive answer to this reason is, that the white wage earners of the United States, If they were willing, cannot do this work. I have crossed the Isthmus several times, and on one occasion I was told by an engineer who assisted in the construction of the Panama Railroad that if the dead bodies of the men who died in working upon that road were laid side by side, they would reach across the Isthmus. This may be an exaggeration, but It Is a well-known fact that within three months from the time a shipload of laborers from the United States arrived on the Isthmus to work on the railroad, a majority of them were dead. The survivors were re turned as Invalids to the city from which they were taken. I, with a shipload of passengers, at one time was detained at Panama for a week, during which time many of these passengers contracted the Panama fever, and almost every day there was a burial at sea on our way from Panama to San Francisco. I am aware that the sanitary regulations are much better now than they were then, but sanitary regulations cannot change the climate or the soil, reduce the rainfall or modify the rays of a tropical sun. Some Questions to Answer. Panama is only eight degrees north ot the equator, and the heat there is con tinuous and Intolerable, and the natives do not expose themselves to the midday sun more than is absolutely necessary. Every day there are heavy" showers of rain, followed by a biasing sun, the heat of which makes the atmosphere thick and heavy with a hot vapor in which respira tion is much like breathing in a room filled with steam. The soil for the most part Is made up of dead and decaying vegetation which has been rotting for ages in the humidity and heat of a trop ical climate. Mr. Gompers, in his speech, describes the atmosphere of the Isthmus as "pestilential and miasmic," and yet he seems to want our laboring men to go down there and work In this "pestilential and miasmic" atmosphere. All experi ence shows that white men born and reared in a temperate climate cannot work safely upon lands located In the torrid zone, and I believe this fact has been demonstrated In the rice and tobac co fields of the Philippine Islands. Does Mr. Gompers really want our wage-earners to leave our healthful country, in which they can live and find plenty of employment at remunerative wages, and go down to the Isthmus of Darien and dig In the rotten soli and the "pestilential and miasmic" atmosphere of that country at the peril of their lives, or is he influ enced in his proposed war upon the Ad ministration on that account by other considerations? Would Mr. Gompers be willing to take his shovel and go down to the Isthmus and dig on the canal, or does he' prefer to make political speeches in the State of Maine? I believe it will be a sorry business for the Chinese if they accept the invitation to work on the Panama Canal, for in my opinion it will not only cost hundreds of millions of dollars but thousands of lives to complete the canal, unless the work is done by persons acclimated by birth or otherwise to the temperature and condi tions of the torrid zone. 1 have extract ed what Mr. Gompers has said upon this subject from, his speech published in the Labor Press of this city. GEORGE H. WILLIAMS. PALISADES FORMATION. Allied In Formation to Mount Hoi yoke and Cape Blomldon. "The Gates of the Hudson," in Century. The complete height of the cliff was much higher, originally, for the glacier that buried North America down to this latitude eroded billions of tons which went to the upbuilding of Long Island, trap bowlders being common in the soli of Brooklyn, and I have found on the top of the Palisades, opposite Spuyten Duyvil. glacial groovings and polishlngs that have survived the presumptive 15. 000 years since the glacier melted. The outpour of this mass from a volcano whose crater we cannot so much as guess In this day, was tremendous, and It cut the Hudson and .Hackensack val leys asunder and pushed the harbor sev eral miles to the southward, while re lated activities thrust above the "surface, either as downpours or uppours, the thousand miles of basaltic hills that chain the Carolinas to the Bay of Fundy, so that our Palisades are allied in form and time to Mount Holyoke and Cape Blomldon, while they relate in cause to the steam storms that swept thousands Into eternity at Krakatoa and Martin ique, and were felt around the world. To the mineralogist our Palisades do not yield as much of interest as we find in the rotting trap of Paterson, a few miles away, from which have been taken the largest prehnites in the world, sea green and wonderful; royal amethysts; balls of silky pectdllte. and quartz pseu domorphs that copy them; but we find In these cliffs occasional duplicates of the columns that make ' the Giant's Causeway and Fingal's Cave geometric shapes of three, four, five, six and more sides, not a result of crystallization, as was once Imagined, for trap Is a rock, not a mineral, but of lateral shrinking when it has cooled. Hardships of Past Ages. Life. Facto In the ages past how did peo ple ever manage to live without tele phones and the telegraph? 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