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.
