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About The Conservative (Nebraska City, Neb.) 1898-1902 | View Entire Issue (March 27, 1902)
Conservative. Iu a letter to The MR. WU Conservative Mr. Wu EXPLAINS. Ting Fang calls atten tion to the fact that in his speeches on the Chinese exclusion act , he has always contended that the United States is justified in restricting immigration. Mr. Wu has been repeatedly - edly misquoted , and placed in the atti tude of favoring the unrestricted impor tation of his countrymenwithout regard to grade or condition. As a matter of fact Mr. Wu has always advocated the exclusion of iudigents from China or elsewhere , and only contends that ar riving Chinamen should be measured by the same standard as those who arrive from other countries. Should the China * man fall below tk otheis he'wonld be excluded under a general law forbidding alien paupers to land. Bead , without prejudice , the following statement of Mr. Wu's position : "You observe that I agree with those who hold that this country needs re strictive immigration laws. But in order to produce good results such laws should be general in their scope. They should not single out any one people for exclu sion or make invidious distinction be tween nations or countries. In the second place such laws should be so enforced as to remedy the evil aimed at. They should be effective in keeping out the undesirable element without ob structing the entrance of the worthy and desirable class. Criminals , paupers , illiterates , and those who are liable to become a public charge ought not to be allowed to land , irrespective of race and nationality. In this connection , I cannot help touching upon a subject which concerns the wel fare of my countrymen. You know , of course , that I refer to the exclusion of Chinese from this country. Their ex clusion is brought about , you are prob ably aware , by special , and not by gen eral , laws. It is a'discrimination against the people of a particular country. It is not necessary for me hero to go over all the arguments that have been urged against-the immigration of Chinese into this country. Suffice it to say that they are all more or less unfounded and un sound , and can be easily traced to mis understanding and to ignorance of facts. It has often been contended , for exam ple , that if the bars of exclusion were to be let down , this country would be flooded with millions upon millions of China's surplus population. If such fears were based upon a more solid foundation than upou a fertile imagina tion , it would indeed constitute a men- ance to the political existence of the American Republic ; then it would be natural and proper that strict measures * should , be adopted to prevent such a catastrophe , and no reasonable person would raise any objection. But let us examine the facts of the cose. The population - ulation of the whole Empire of China is commonly supposed to be in round num bers 400,000,000 , but conservative esti mates by foreigners who have boon re siding in China make it considerably smaller , no more than 800,000,000. It should be remembered that China is a country that occupies an immense terri tory and is fully able to support this im mense population. The Chinese long ago acquired the habits of an agricultur al nation. Mencius , the most revered of the Chinese sages , next to Confucius , went so far as to say that burial of the dead and change of abode should not go beyond the limits of the native village or city. Thus all Chinese from their childhood have the notion of firm at tachment to their native home thor oughly instilled into them. They also have a horror of traveling abroad , and their education , habits and environ ments all tend to make them remain in the places of their birth without change. The inducements must be very great indeed to tempt them away from their ancestral homes. The truth is that all the Chinese that are in the United States come from only one single prov ince in China , nay , from a few districts of that province. Who has ever met a Chinese in this country , outside of the consular and diplomatic service , who hails from any other province than the Province of Kwangtung ? This province has a population of 25,000,000 , accord ing to the most trustworthy estimate. But of this population only about 6,000- 000 live in those districts which solely supply Chinese immigrants to this country. Suppose every obstacle to the free ad mission of Chinese to the United States should be removed ; does any man in his sober senses really believe that the en tire population of 5,000,000 of those dis tricts would immigrate to this country ? " Geronimo , the GBRONIHO. noted Apache war rior who has been a prisoner of the United States govern ment since his capture by General Lawton - ton twelve years ago , is to be freed and given the privileges of citizenship. Here is an opportunity for Nebraska's avenging press to unearth a criminal conspiracy between Roosevelt and Go- ronimosuoh as they have discovered be tween Savage and Bartley. It seems hardly fair for these Sherlock Holmes editors to trail none but treasurers , when painted savages of murderous in clinations are unshackled and allowed to return to the scenes of their former crimes. Savage is surely no more cen surable than Roosevelt , unless Bartloy is more dangerous than Geronimo , or peculation is a worse crime than mur der. The Conserva- PLEASE tive , like all other REMEMBER , journals , is fre quently taken to task on account of objectionable state ments inado by contributors. Signed articles offceii.'tippoar in these columns whiolil > 'dpuqfc ( < foiricido with the views of the liditor.'but' nevertheless scholarly rfudCconsidered worthy of publication. * liif'"some .easels the arti cles as a whole"are , consistent witli the policy of tho'paper , bi\b 'certain passages are at variahVe ) witV the opinions expressed in chd edrtorial columns. It can readily bo sdeh tlmt it would not bo wise for the editor to refuse a worthy contribution , because some phrase does not harmonize with his ideas , neither would ho be justi fied in amending the article , thus making the contributor appear to say what he does not wish to say. If a subscriber takes exception to some thing penned by oiiie of our contribu tors it is suggested that instead of holding the editor responsible , lie procure writing materials and pro ceed to pick the objectionable passages to pieces , setting forth his own views as clearly as possible , and sending the result of his reflections to The Con servative for publication , perhaps to be criticised by some other subscriber. In the republic of THE BEST. Mexico all classes seem to be perfectly satisfied to be governed by the best class. Literally an aristocracy is a government by the best. Under Presi dent Diaz Mexico is governed by the best citizenship in the republic. There is no studied or cultivated enmity be tween the poor and the rich. There are no agitators constantly stirring up wrath between those who have nothing and those who liave something. Each citizen of Mexico seems to understand that he has just what he has earned , saved and accumulated under the law , ' and expects no more. They have in that country no schools of statesmen who make it their duty to engender dis trust and hatred between the unfortun ate and the well-to-do. If in the United States of America there was less effort to engender suspi cion and enmity on the part of those hav ing little , against those having much , America would become a mucli more contented and prosperous country. But the constant statement that "the rich are getting richer and the poor poorer" irritates and vexes the multitude into following the mannderings and vapor- ings of consummate demagogues , who stir up this wrath for their own eleva tion and aggrandizement. Two presidential campaigns in the United States have been conducted solely for the purpose of arousing the poor against the rich , of making the fairly well-to-do thoroughly hate great wealth in every form. Eyon the courts have been assaulted , their edicts and processes held up as worthy of impeach ment. It is time now to begin to shut up the hollow hardness , the unpatriotic selfishness of the alleged leaders and statesmen in this country who hope to grow great and powerful by inciting hatred against capital and wealth wherever found.
