THEY CELEBRATE

Grover Cleveland

The Cortland Democrat, Friday, October 5, 1888.

THEY CELEBRATE.

The Signing of the Chinese Exclusion Bill.

   SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 1.—The news of President Cleveland's approval of the Chinese exclusion bill was received here to-day with marked interest. Large crowds congregated around the newspaper bulletin boards and discussed the situation. The Chinese manifested considerable excitement. The principal subject of discussion here is as to what effect the measure will have upon the several thousand Chinese who have arrived here within the past year and been landed by Federal courts upon writs of habeas corpus and are out on bail awaiting examination, and also upon the 2,000 more Chinese who are now on their way to this port.

   About 200 Chinese arrived here Saturday on the steamer City of New York. The [Belgic] will be due next Thursday with 800. Three other steamers are now on the Pacific with over a thousand Celestials bound for this port. Collector of the Port Hager expressed himself as being doubtful of the bill's effectiveness. U. S. District Attorney Carris stated that in his opinion the bill could not affect the 5,000 Chinese now on bail, but he believed those now on their way would be refused landing. He further stated that he did not believe that writs of habeas corpus would be issued except, possibly, in one or two cases in order to make a test of the matter. A prominent lawyer who handles Chinese cases almost exclusively in the Federal courts stated that in his opinion writs of habeas corpus would still have to be issued to Chinese demanding them, as it was a constitutional right and that bail also would have to be issued as heretofore. He also expresses the belief that all the Chinese holding return certificates could return to this country in spite of the exclusion hill, as the United States Supreme court has decided on several occasions that Congress cannot annul existing contracts such as these certificates are.

   Demonstrations were held in this city and other places in this State this evening to celebrate the passage and approval of the bill.

PAGE TWO/EDITORIALS.

   The President has signed the bill prohibiting the landing of Chinese laborers in this country.

   Mrs. Lucy Parsons, wife of Anarchist Parsons, who was hung in Chicago some months ago for participation in the Haymarket riots, has taken the stump for Harrison and Morton.

   The Cortland Standard fails to correct the statement published in its columns two or three weeks since claiming that potatoes were on the free list. If the editor of the Standard did not intend to mislead his readers, he should at once publish a correction of the falsehood. They are entitled to the correction. Will our neighbor do them as well as himself this simple act of justice?

   It would be impossible for the wealthy manufacturers to form a "trust" for the purpose of putting up the price of their goods, if the tariff on those goods was reduced, because when they raised the price higher than it ought to be, foreign goods could he imported and sold at a fair price. The chances for systematic robbery would be very much lessened.

   There are in this [country] twelve or fifteen envelope manufacturers who have become rich within a few years from the profits of their business. A year ago last August they formed a trust and put the price of envelopes up 20 per cent. The tariff of 25 per cent on envelopes allowed them to raise the price 20 per cent without fear of foreign competition, because they could still undersell the foreign manufacturer. But this is not an "infant industry." With their improved machines they are able to make envelopes cheaper than any other manufacturers in the world, and they have grown enormously wealthy at the old prices. Meanwhile the farmer, the laborer and the business man "pays the freight."

TAKE THE BEAM FROM YOUR OWN EYE.

   Last week the Standard indulged in a diatribe over the condition of Clayton avenue and its surroundings from a sanitary point of view, and demanded that something dreadful be done to the inhabitants of that street if they did not at once clean up. We suppose our neighbor was led to make these strictures from the fact that one of the employees in his office had died from fever and another had been and still is prostrated with the malady. In view of these facts would it not be well for the Standard to clean up its own premises before it insists on extra cleanliness upon the part of people residing on another street. Remove the beam from your own eye and the Board of Health may be depended on to look after your neighbor.

Harrison-Morton 1888 campaign poster.

Harrison’s Record.

(Albany Argus.)

   Here are the plain facts in the record of Ben Harrison on the question of imported Chinese labor, and the place in the official record where anyone can verify them who chooses to do so. The Congressional Record is on file in the State library, and anyone is admitted between nine A. M. and four P. M.

   The Record does not show that in even one instance, during his six years' service in the United States senate, Harrison voted to prohibit Chinese immigration:

   1. Harrison voted in favor of the Hoar amendment to admit skilled Chinese labor to this country. See Congressional Record, March 8, 1882, vol. 13, part 2, page 1716.

   2. Harrison voted in favor of the Hoar amendment to admit Chinese artisans to this country. See Record, same as above.

   3. Harrison "dodged" the vote on the final passage of the bill. See page 1753 as above.

   4. Harrison voted for John Sherman's motion to commit the bill prohibiting Chinese immigration and the veto to the committee on foreign affairs, to smother it. See Congressional Record, vol. 13, part 3, page 2616.

   5. Harrison voted against the motion to pass the bill over the veto. See page 2617, as above.

   6. Harrison voted to strike out the section in the ten-year bill, which prohibited the admission of Chinese to full citizenship. See Congressional Record, vol. 13, part 4, pages 3262-3.

   7. Harrison voted to strike out the section which prohibited the admission of Chinese skilled laborers, and his vote carried that amendment. See page 3264, as above.

   8. Harrison voted against restoring the section which had been stricken out. See pages 3410-11, as above.

   9. Harrison voted for the Edmunds amendment to exclude only Chinese engaged in manual labor, and admit skilled Chinese artisans. See pages 3411-12 as above.

   10. Harrison voted against the bill to prohibit Chinese immigration for ten years, which President Arthur signed. See page 3412 as above.

   11. Harrison "dodged" the vote on the bill to enforce more strictly the law of 1882 against Chinese immigration. See Congressional Record, volume fifteen, part six, page 5938, July 3. 1884.

   12. The Congressional Record, June 1, 1886, does not give the vote by which the last bill on the subject was passed. Thus those who opposed the legislation escaped going on record.

   This, we believe, is the complete record of Mr. Harrison's action on the subject of Chinese labor during his six years term in the senate. We find no record of any vote of his against Chinese immigration. We find two votes he dodged, one vote he cast for admitting Chinese to citizenship, and eight votes against different propositions to exclude Chinese labor from this country. If there were any other recorded facts, Republican papers would have presented them, citing the page of the Record. Ben Harrison is a great "protector of American labor." Of course, all Republican candidates always are about election time.

Chinese Exclusion Act: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Exclusion_Act