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ec. 9, 1878.

OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION.

e a printed schedule of such rates and fares to be properly framed hung in a conspicuous place at every railroad depot and every railstation in the State.

SEC. 14. The Railroad Commissioners shall perform all duties in ion to the railroads, other than those prescribed in the last two sec5, as may be required of them by law."

R. WHITE. All that I wished to do was to show that I gave them lute power; and that they were to arrange the fares and freights as eir judgment should be fair and just. Now, is it common sense for Scribbler to write down that Leland Stanford would be willing to hat power into the hands of any three men in this State? I regard the silliest nonsense and the most malicious sort of lying that could

t up.

R. HUESTIS. I move tha e of the Whole.

Cation resolve itself into Com

REMARKS OF KR. EOWARD.

HOWARD. Mr. President: I rise to a question of privilege. is a matter of no very great importance, perhaps, but I take two tions to this publication. The first is, that it insinuates that the - Committee on Corporations, in advocating this scheme, have been interest of the Central Pacific Railroad Company. Now, sir, it to me that the daily denunciations of the press in the interest and the corporations, notoriously so of the Central Pacific Railroad any, should have protected us from any such imputation. The pal organ here has denounced us as Communists, and has given o it by saying that we are Communists as bad as Jesus Christ and preme Court of the United States. [Laughter.] Well, now, to me that that should have been sufficient to have demonstrated writer of this article that none of us had been stowed away in the -holes of the Central Pacific Railroad Company.

it

n, sir, the writer is entirely mistaken when he assumes to say that gnates of the Central Pacific Railroad Company desire this Com, because they believe they can control it. Now, sir, that is a misecause they made an experiment on three Commissioners which disastrous. I have it from authority which I believe, that a railroad agent, or assumed railroad agent, approached one of the three Commissioners with a proposition. He happened to be a honor, who had borne his country's flag on many a field. He ignant to an extent amounting to a towering passion, and he appeal to the code-not to the Civil Code, not to the Penal Code, he code that obtains among railroads-but to the code which in among gentlemen once. that the party who had approached this gentleman had done it The officers of the railroad at once their authority, and they disowned him. Of course that stopped the railroad took its revenge. its conduit pipe it run into the Legislature the Hart bill. It When the Legislature met, the law under which the then existing Commission had been n, and of course wiped out the Commission. And they substiit, and carried through the Legislature, by means which I need rate, a proposition to have one Commissioner. It seems that e to the conclusion that while they could not manage three, as the Irishmen say, might be very convenient, and, therefore, aced the three Commissioners and took the one. he Governor would veto the Hart bill, and it was believed by It was given any people, but when he came to act on the matter his patriote better of him, and he signed it. That was the end of that

641

heard on a question of privilege. I move that he be allowed to go on.
MR. SCHELL. It seems to me that the gentleman has a right to be
MR. O'DONNELL. It won't take two minutes.

MR. HUESTIS. If the house desires to hear it I have no objection.
THE CHAIR. Doctor, go on.

MR. O'DONNELL.

MR. O'DONNELL. Mr. President: I rise to a question of privilege knows that members of the State and National Legislature can be called as a member of this body, and respectfully request my colleagues to give to account for words spoken in debate. In other words, so long as they me their attention. Every man familiar with parliamentary rules act in accordance with their sworn duty as members of the legislative In the discharge of my duty as a delegate I gave offense to the mandepartment of the government, they will be defended and protected. agers of a vulgar newspaper called the Chronicle. I differed from that essential to the protection of society from the attacks of professional newspaper on the law of libel. I voted for a measure which I deemed members of this body, and for the exercise of my right and privilege I have been vilified by the paper which I confess ought to be nameless libelers. In this step I acted in concert with some of the most honored and endeavor to aid the authorities in their endeavors to bring these men among honorable men. to justice. I do not think them worthy of the notice of this body. I do I shall at the proper time appeal to the Courts dered ask the passage of any resolution, nor do they require any vindication. All I ask now is the privilege of assuring every member of not think that any of the gentlemen whom this mongrel paper has slanthis body that the charges published against me in this nameless sheet due time I will cram the libel down the throats of the infernal libelers. I thank you kindly for your attention. are utterly false and without foundation, and I pledge myself that in

CHINESE IMMIGRATION.

who wishes to rise to a question of privilege, I move that the Convention
resolve itself into Committee of the Whole, Mr. Larkin in the chair, on
MR. HUESTIS. Mr. President: Now, if there is no other gentleman
the question of the report of the Committee on Chinese.
Carried.

IN COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE.

THE CHAIRMAN. The Secretary will read the first section.
THE SECRETARY read:

protection of the State, and the counties, cities, and towns thereof, from
to enact all needful laws, and prescribe necessary regulations for the
SECTION 1. The Legislature shall have and shall exercise the power
the burdens and evils arising from the presence of aliens, who are or
afflicted with contagious or infectious diseases, and aliens otherwise
who may become vagrants, paupers, mendicants, criminals, or invalids
dangerous or detrimental to the well-being or peace of the State, and to
impose conditions upon which such persons may reside in the State, and
to provide the means and mode of their removal from the State upon
failure or refusal to comply with such conditions; provided, that noth-
ing contained in the foregoing shall be construed to impair or limit the
power of the Legislature to pass such other police laws or regulations as
may deem necessary.
MR. BROWN. I move its adoption.

it

debate should exhaust itself. The debate has taken the range of the

MR. AYERS. Mr. Chairman: I believe it was understood that the

entire article.

don't see as there are any speakers here. The section is good enough.
THE CHAIRMAN. If there be no objection to section one-
MR. GRACE. It seems to me that the debate has exhausted itself. I
THE CHAIRMAN. If there are no amendments to section one the

Secretary will read section two.

REMARKS OF MR. BLACKMER.

It means

, I say that the Central Pacific Railroad Company does not e Commissioners; that they desire either one, or the Legislaat is what they want; and the accomplished author of this boring under a delusion. Nor is that all. Even if it were them to buy up the three Commissioners-which they have ble to do yet-or experiment, the people could fall back and others who have been under fire and come out unscathed; think we are in so much danger as the writer seems to think, judgment is a little error in the first section, and I was in hopes that the ee Commissioners. There is another thing in this matterMR. BLACKMER. Mr. Chairman: I wish to point out what in my ere, that if the writer of this letter was not above suspicion-I conversation with him upon that point. It is in the fifth and sixth eve that he had been stowed, and that this attack was a weak lines of the first section of the report, and I hope that this will not be Chairman of the committee would be here this evening, as I had a short e enemy. There is another matter in connection with this, passed so that it cannot be taken up again. I am not ready to offer an ave seen proper to provoke this attack upon us, which I may amendment, but I suggest that the words, "invalids afflicted with conntion. Two or three years ago, the North American Review tagious or infectious diseases," means altogether too much. n article which stated that the railroads no longer purchased more, I believe, than the committee themselves intended to convey, il, but that when they wanted a Senator, they elected himsh enough to elect him-and that then they owned him erm. The Central Pacific Railroad Company seems to have my inflict any people, and they certainly do not wish to have the because they may mean such diseases as are contagious or infectious, but that suggestion. They seem of late to have elected the simply upon that ground. Now, the section should certainly be modto have put a collar on him, with "Central Pacific Rail-ified so as to reach only the point aimed at. police power of this State invoked for the purpose of excluding them ny" written upon it, so that if he got lost, or strayed, he person have the smallpox, or anything of that kind that may be conaptured and returned to his lawful owner. of the last Legislature, that when the Hart bill was before tagious, that for that reason we would send them out of the State. Yet I am told here, re, he reappeared here and did his best to carry the Hart amended so that it would mean exactly what the committee, I think, Therefore, it is, I say, that the learned author of this had in their minds when the section was framed. this is broad enough to cover that. ng up the wrong tree. He does not understand his business will be no action takes Now, the section should be hatever may have been his purpose, he is mistaken alte facts-if he has any foot.

It is not intended that if a

I hope that 11

cause a printed schedule of such rates and fares to be properly framed and hung in a conspicuous place at every railroad depot and every railroad station in the State.

"SEC. 14. The Railroad Commissioners shall perform all duties in relation to the railroads, other than those prescribed in the last two sections, as may be required of them by law."

MR. WHITE. All that I wished to do was to show that I gave them absolute power; and that they were to arrange the fares and freights as in their judgment should be fair and just. Now, is it common sense for this scribbler to write down that Leland Stanford would be willing to put that power into the hands of any three men in this State? I regard it as the silliest nonsense and the most malicious sort of lying that could be got up. tion resolve itself into Com

MR. HUESTIS. I move tha mittee of the Whole.

REMARKS OF MR. FOWARD.

MR. HOWARD. Mr. President: I rise to a question of privilege. This is a matter of no very great importance, perhaps, but I take two exceptions to this publication. The first is, that it insinuates that the whole Committee on Corporations, in advocating this scheme, have been in the interest of the Central Pacific Railroad Company. Now, sir, it seems to me that the daily denunciations of the press in the interest and pay of the corporations, notoriously so of the Central Pacific Railroad Company, should have protected us from any such imputation. The principal organ here has denounced us as Communists, and has given virus to it by saying that we are Communists as bad as Jesus Christ and the Supreme Court of the United States. [Laughter.] Well, now, it seems to me that that should have been sufficient to have demonstrated to the writer of this article that none of us had been stowed away in the pigeon-holes of the Central Pacific Railroad Company.

MR. SCHELL. It seems to me that the gentleman has a right to be heard on a question of privilege. I move that he be allowed to go on. MR. O'DONNELL. It won't take two minutes.

MR. HUESTIS. If the house desires to hear it I have no objection.
THE CHAIR. Doctor, go on.

MR. O'DONNELL.

MR. O'DONNELL. Mr. President: I rise to a question of privilege as a member of this body, and respectfully request my colleagues to give knows that members of the State and National Legislature can be called me their attention. Every man familiar with parliamentary rules to account for words spoken in debate. In other words, so long as they act in accordance with their sworn duty as members of the legislative department of the government, they will be defended and protected. In the discharge of my duty as a delegate I gave offense to the managers of a vulgar newspaper called the Chronicle. I differed from that newspaper on the law of libel. I voted for a measure which I deemed libelers. In this step I acted in concert with some of the most honored essential to the protection of society from the attacks of professional members of this body, and for the exercise of my right and privilege I have been vilified by the paper which I confess ought to be nameless and endeavor to aid the authorities in their endeavors to bring these men among honorable men. I shall at the proper time appeal to the Courts to justice. I do not think them worthy of the notice of this body. I do dered ask the passage of any resolution, nor do they require any vindinot think that any of the gentlemen whom this mongrel paper has slancation. All I ask now is the privilege of assuring every member of this body that the charges published against me in this nameless sheet due time I will cram the libel down the throats of the infernal libelers. are utterly false and without foundation, and I pledge myself that in I thank you kindly for your attention.

CHINESE IMMIGRATION.

MR. HUESTIS. Mr. President: Now, if there is no other gentleman who wishes to rise to a question of privilege, I move that the Convention resolve itself into Committee of the Whole, Mr. Larkin in the chair, on the question of the report of the Committee on Chinese. Carried.

IN COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE.

THE CHAIRMAN. The Secretary will read the first section.
THE SECRETARY read:

Again, sir, the writer is entirely mistaken when he assumes to say that the magnates of the Central Pacific Railroad Company desire this Commission, because they believe they can control it. Now, sir, that is a mistake, because they made an experiment on three Commissioners which proved disastrous. I have it from authority which I believe, that a certain railroad agent, or assumed railroad agent, approached one of the former three Commissioners with a proposition. He happened to be a man of honor, who had borne his country's flag on many a field. He was indignant to an extent amounting to a towering passion, and he made an appeal to the code-not to the Civil Code, not to the Penal Code, not to the code that obtains among railroads-but to the code which did obtain among gentlemen once. The officers of the railroad at once declared that the party who had approached this gentleman had done it without their authority, and they disowned him. Of course that stopped it. But the railroad took its revenge. When the Legislature met, through its conduit pipe it run into the Legislature the Hart bill. It repealed the law under which the then existing Commission had been carried on, and of course wiped out the Commission. And they substi-impose conditions upon which such persons may reside in the State, and tuted for it, and carried through the Legislature, by means which I need not reiterate, a proposition to have one Commissioner. It seems that they came to the conclusion that while they could not manage three, that one, as the Irishmen say, might be very convenient, and, therefore, they displaced the three Commissioners and took the one. It was given out that the Governor would veto the Hart bill, and it was believed by a great many people, but when he came to act on the matter his patriotism got the better of him, and he signed it. That was the end of that

matter.

SECTION 1. The Legislature shall have and shall exercise the power to enact all needful laws, and prescribe necessary regulations for the protection of the State, and the counties, cities, and towns thereof, from the burdens and evils arising from the presence of aliens, who are or who may become vagrants, paupers, mendicants, criminals, or invalids afflicted with contagious or infectious diseases, and aliens otherwise dangerous or detrimental to the well-being or peace of the State, and to to provide the means and mode of their removal from the State upon failure or refusal to comply with such conditions; provided, that nothing contained in the foregoing shall be construed to impair or limit the power of the Legislature to pass such other police laws or regulations as may deem necessary. MR. BROWN.

it

I move its adoption.

MR. AYERS. Mr. Chairman: I believe it was understood that the

debate should exhaust itself. The debate has taken the range of the

entire article.

THE CHAIRMAN. If there be no objection to section one

MR. GRACE. It seems to me that the debate has exhausted itself. I

don't see as there are any speakers here. The section is good enough. THE CHAIRMAN. If there are no amendments to section one the

Secretary will read section two.

REMARKS OF MR. BLACKMER.

So, then, I say that the Central Pacific Railroad Company does not desire three Commissioners; that they desire either one, or the Legislature. That is what they want; and the accomplished author of this letter is laboring under a delusion. Nor is that all. Even if it were possible for them to buy up the three Commissioners-which they have not been able to do yet-or experiment, the people could fall back and elect three others who have been under fire and come out unscathed; MR. BLACKMER. Mr. Chairman: I wish to point out what in my so I do not think we are in so much danger as the writer seems to think, judgment is a little error in the first section, and I was in hopes that the of the three Commissioners. There is another thing in this matter-Chairman of the committee would be here this evening, as I had a short and I say here, that if the writer of this letter was not above suspicion-I conversation with him upon that point. It is in the fifth and sixth would believe that he had been stowed, and that this attack was a weak lines of the first section of the report, and I hope that this will not be device of the enemy. There is another matter in connection with this, passed so that it cannot be taken up again. I am not ready to offer an since they have seen proper to provoke this attack upon us, which I may amendment, but I suggest that the words, "invalids afflicted with conas well mention. Two or three years ago, the North American Review tagious or infectious diseases," means altogether too much. It means published an article which stated that the railroads no longer purchased more, I believe, than the committee themselves intended to convey, votes in detail, but that when they wanted a Senator, they elected him- because they may mean such diseases as are contagious or infectious, but advanced cash enough to elect him-and that then they owned him may inflict any people, and they certainly do not wish to have the during his term. The Central Pacific Railroad Company seems to have police power of this State invoked for the purpose of excluding them profited by that suggestion. They seem of late to have elected the simply upon that ground. Now, the section should certainly be modSenator, and to have put a collar on him, with "Central Pacific Rail-ified so as to reach only the point aimed at. It is not intended that if a road Company" written upon it, so that if he got lost, or strayed, he person have the smallpox, or anything of that kind that may be concould be recaptured and returned to his lawful owner. I am told here, by members of the last Legislature, that when the Hart bill was before tagious, that for that reason we would send them out of the State. Yet this is broad enough to cover that. Now, the section should be the Legislature, he reappeared here and did his best to carry the Hart amended so that it would mean exactly what the committee, I think, bill through. Therefore, it is, I say, that the learned author of this had in their minds when the section was framed. I hope that there letter is barking up the wrong tree. He does not understand his business will be no action taken, but that it can still be amended. There is fully, and whatever may have been his purpose, he is mistaken alto- discussion to be had, and it should be had now, but allow the Chairman, gether in his facts-if he has any facts-or in his conjectures; and he as I know it is in his mind, an opportunity to perfect the section as he does not pretend that they are anything more than conjectures. It desires. I would move that we do not pass any section to-night in any seems to me, in fact, that he had been dreaming, and it was nothing way so that it cannot be called up again in the regular way. more than a, feat of somnambulism which dictated this letter. MR. HUESTIS. I renew my motion.

MR. STUART. I second the motion.

THE CHAIRMAN. It is moved and seconded that the section be

MR. O'DONNELL. I rise to a question of privilege. I rise to a temporarily passed. question of privilege. I have a right here on this floor.

THE CHAIR. Does the gentleman withdraw his motion?
MR. HUESTIS. No, I will take the ruling of the Chair.

THE CHAIR. You are not in order, Mr. O'Donnell.

MR. FREUD. Mr. Chairman: I hope no such proceeding will be adopted. The Chairman will have an opportunity, when it comes up in Convention, to amend it as he may deem fit. I think we can go on with our usual business with propriety.

68222

642

DEBATES AND PROCEEDINGS

MR. AYERS. I send up an amendment to section one.
THE SECRETARY read:

"Strike out all after the word shall,' in the first line, to and including the word and,' in the second line."

MR. AYERS. The object of that amendment is to make the enact-
ment of such laws and the exercise of such powers mandatory.
MR. STUART. I suppose the whole article is open to discussion.
THE CHAIRMAN. It is all under consideration.

SPEECH OF MR. STUART.

MR. STUART. I have been a patient listener in this Convention, and have not been on the floor since its first organization-over two months ago. I have heard what was said with a great deal of instructionsometimes; and sometimes with disgust and disappointment. I have been, during my life, in California nearly thirty years. During the thirty years that I have been here I have been a cultivator of the soil. I have made my living, raised and educated a large family through the cultivation of the soil. I have employed hundreds and hundreds of men. I have never been in the political arena; it is distasteful to me, and consequently I know little of the political movements, and of the management, and the plans that are used in the State for self-preference. I do not know whether I shall get through to-night with what I want to say, or not. I am somewhat unprepared and unaccustomed to public speaking. I will only make a few remarks, and then prepare myself for some future day on this article a little better.

Sir, I am opposed to all these sections from number one to number eight. They are not proper to be placed in any Constitution of the It is in direct conflict with the ConstituUnited States, let alone ours. tion of the United States and the treaty-making power. It is a boyish action for us to admit either one or the whole of these articles to be engrafted in our organic law. It would be the laughing-stock of the world, a disgrace to the State, a movement toward secession, and a disregard of the constitutional laws of the United States. I am not prepared to be one of the advocates of, or one of the silent listeners here and have it pass. I believe, sir, it is in conflict with article six of the Constitution of the United States, which says: "This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof, and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, anything in the Constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding."

That is sufficient for me, sir. That is sufficient for any intelligent gentleman in this body to reflect upon before he will take up a hotch potch, you may call it, or a set of articles of that character, that is neither one act or another, that belongs to a Constitution. It looks to me like the act of a ward political meeting, for the purpose of catching votes, or like some of the acts of this Convention in that behalf. I do not desire to reflect upon any gentleman, or the course of any gentleman's procedure here; neither do I desire to make an unparliamentary remark. MR. O'DONNELL. You say you have employed hundreds of men; have you not employed hundreds of Chinamen?

MR. STUART. I have, sir, thousands of them, and hundreds of white too. men and thousands of white men, MR. O'DONNELL. I thought so. MR. STUART. That is what I am coming to now. There is not a man in California in my profession, that of farming, but what employs, The Chinaman becomes your directly or indirectly, the Chinaman. cook, the Chinaman becomes your servant, he becomes your hewer of wood and drawer of water, even in the City of San Francisco. The Chinaman has been, for the last twelve or fourteen years, a hobby horse for all political parties to pass their resolutions on and make their platforms. Before that, it was the honest contraband in the fence. The honest contraband and the Democratic party came hand and hand into every campaign until, finally, the question was ended in blood and war. The honest contraband now is never heard of, but the Chinaman is in the fence in his stead. The Chinaman is now used by both parties, or by all the parties, if there be more than two-I believe there are three parties now. One party, which is probably like other eruptions of that character, may throw something upon the surface that may remain there. There are a good many elected by this Workingmen's party, young men that I delight to know, men of talent, of character, of responsibility, and I hope they will succeed as politicians, I hope they will succeed as men, but I hope they will not lay themselves up in this Convention for the purpose of future promotion, for future renown. Here is the place to make it without regard to their political party, without regard to who will be Governor, or who will be the Judges, or who will be the next representatives in our Legislature and in our Congress. These things, sir, are what I am astonished at. This thing is what I have listened to for months with a great deal of calmness and a great deal of interest. These are matters which the gentlemen who are foremost in their aspirations probably know better than I do what their motives are. I do not intend to impugn them.

But let me go back a little further. In eighteen hundred and fifty, I believe it was, in San Francisco, there was a celebration of the admission of California into the Union. I think it was October fourteenth; the At that time, sir, if I am not State was admitted on September ninth. mistaken, the Chinamen, few as they were, were admitted to a post of honor, and they followed the officers of the State and city in the parade. From that time down to the war, every movement of our government and every movement of our State, was to induce the Chinaman to come here and to capture the oriental trade. There were treaties made, first by force, by Porter, for he went with the navy, next by peace, and next by Mr. Burlingame, who was at one time in the Congress of the United States. The Burlingame treaty admitted, and has since admitted, the Chinaman to our country as free probably as any other treaty that has

been made among the nations. That power lies in the government.
There have been steamboats between here and China subsidized, and
Chinese have been the laborers of this coast for almost twenty years.
there have been other connections made and railroads built since. The
was a member of a Constitutional Convention of the United States, I
White men we have plenty of here; and, sir, I will go further. If I
would raise my voice and put in an article there to repeal the nat-
We have
uralization laws. We have over forty million of inhabitants now, of
Americans-foreign and native born. We have too many.
thousands and tens of thousands of white men traveling this State and
the United States, voluntary idlers-not involuntary. We have a class
of so-called white laborers that never have worked, never intend to
I desire more especially to have this article passed over
work, and never will work. I do not desire to go into details on that
subject now.
until the Chairman of the committee comes in here so that he can
explain them to me. Looking at it as a juror, it looks like a perfect
hotch potch-nothing in it. There is not a section in the report that
should be put into any school book, let alone the Constitution of the
State. It is all very pretty to talk about, and the speech of my friend,
the Colonel from Los Angeles, Colonel Ayers, was all very beautiful,
Also, my young friend to the right, Mr.
handsomely arranged, beautifully delivered, and it almost, as Agrippa
said to Paul, converted me.
Freud, just from his college days. He was eloquent, but there was no
pith in it. It was a little as if we were upon a jury and some lawyer
was prosecuting a Chinaman for some act he had done. Unfortunately
our friend from Los Angeles quoted all his authorities from the minority
MR. AYERS. Not all of them.
report of the different Judges.
MR. STUART. Well, most of them, I took notice. He also quoted
remember when Taney made
very lengthily from Roger Taney.
another decision. Do you know what became of it? I remember his
Dred Scott decision. I think that was the first political case that was
ever decided in the United States, and I remember what that led to,
and I think you do. I want to steer clear of all that kind of Consti-
when we are out, by the Courts, or by the United States Courts and
tution making here; I want none of those things to be thrown up to us
these attorneys-that we are a set of school boys, here as a debating
society, getting in things not competent to a Constitution, and things
that would not be fit to put into a common school book. I will say, for
one on this floor, that I am in favor of holding America for Americans-
of discontent, as you call it; I have no confidence in anything that may
that Americans shall rule America. I have no confidence in this wave
be thrown on top. It is only intellect that will tell in the United States;
nothing else. I will say, sir, that I believe, taking the farmers in this
Convention-and I tried to find out how many there were-probably
twenty-(what I mean by farmers is, men that have cultivated the
land for years, men connected with farming pursuits, men who live
upon farms and support themselves and families there)-I believe that
a vote among them to-night, sir, would throw that report into the waste
basket. They would say: "We want labor; let the Chinamen alone."
in the hands where it belongs, and have none of this senseless tinkering
Let the Government of the United States control the matter; place it
I am somewhat
here, as you would tinker an old tin kettle if it was leaking. I have
not inflicted you before, and I do not intend to now.
unaccustomed to this kind of business, consequently I am going to leave
that to others who are better posted than myself-after awhile. Chi-
nese immigration is injurious to the country, is it? Chinese immigra-
tion to the country has made it what it is. [Derisive laughter.] Labor
has made it what it is. The labor that has been done for the last fifteen
years has been the progressive labor of the State of California. It has
been labor that has cleared up farms, that has planted fruit trees, that
has built cities, that has done every thing except the mining, and even
then, the tailings we always used to rent to Chinamen in early days.
Everything has been done by this labor. There is only one class of men
you can get for servants-I mean servants that will do what they are
wanted to do. I believe one white man is worth two Chinamen; that
one Chinaman is worth two negroes, and that one negro is worth two
tramps [laughter and hisses]-that is, for labor. It is a well known
fact that in all nature, both animate and inanimate, both animal and
every other kind, that the weak fall under the march of the strong.
That is a well settled fact in all governmental philosophy-that the
weak fall under the strong. The black man has faded away, and the
Chinaman takes his place as a laborer. He is for a day, and gone. The
A hundred thousand a month scattered
idea of the Chinaman, or the Chinese Empire, overthrowing the Anglo-
Saxon race is preposterous.
through the United States would not affect it in a hundred years. The
growth of the United States is something, and their energy is a great
deal; and it has surprised me that the laboring portion of the people of
That is what has been astonishing to me.
California have not captured all this floating capital of labor and rented
it out to us at increased rates.
No, it has not been astonishing. Almost every gentleman that ever got
astonished. Nothing astonishes me.
up, has been perfectly astonished at something. I have never been

One of the gentlemen from San Francisco said money never made the man. Well, that might be so, but I would like to see the man that ever made money and became very wealthy but what is a big man. I would like to see the nation that has large amounts of money and has become very rich, but has been great. That is a mistake. It fills in very well in speech; it is beautiful to the ear, and it is very well for those who are satisfied with declamation only. I will not say anything more about it now; some other time-to-morrow, may be, I will refer to it again. I would like to hear from the farmers here; the men who live by the cultivation of the soil; the producers; that class of men who form one half of the population of the United States-over twenty millions of men who feed the world. Two years of the stopping of farming-yes, one year-would starve one half of the nation to death. The

farmers have made the country wealthy; the farmers and the producers have covered every sea with the white sails of our commerce, and have gridironed the land with railroads. They have controlled the lightning , and sent it over the world. The farmers and cultivators have done this. Not the consumers that my young friend thinks so necessary. They are necessary if they will labor; but the consumer should eat the bread from the sweat of his brow, like all of us have done who lived here long, like myself. For three score years I have worked all the time; I have been laborious all my life; I have done hard manual labor; I have succeeded in doing that which I laid out to do, and consequently I have no regrets if I am not called a workingman. But I tell you that I am not speaking for any party. I do not belong to any party. I was elected by a nondescript party, Non-partisan. You can call me Independent, Republican, Union, American man. What I was speaking about was not my own nomination. What I say in regard to repealing the laws of naturalization I do not wish to be understood as saying for any party. It is my own doctrine; it is not the doctrine of any party I am acting with. I have got my own ideas upon the subject, and I have got them from reading the monthly review, not from my neighbors, and not from any political friends. Now, I would like to hear some gentleman from among the farmers say something in regard to this question.

REMARKS OF MR. NOEL.

MR. NOEL. Mr. Chairman

MR. LARUE. I would ask the gentleman if he is a farmer? MR. NOEL. Mr. Chairman: I do not desire to make a speech on the Chinese. I simply wish to express my satisfaction with section one, and my entire dissatisfaction with all the remainder of this report. I am prepared to go in this matter, that is, to rid the State of the curse of the Chinese, just as far as we can go consistently, and I am not willing to go any farther.

[Cries of "louder."]

I

My lungs are weak. This section one seems to me to be justified, if understand it, by the exercise of the police power of the State. MR. BEERSTECHER. I believe the gentleman is an attorney at law. I would ask him whether section one confers any new powers at all; whether there is anything in section one, as presented to us for adoption, that confers any additional powers upon the Legislature, or in any way changes or alters the condition of things as they exist to-day. In other words, whether section one amounts to anything at all? MR. NOEL. I will answer the gentleman. I believe it confers no additional power on the Legislature. I believe to-day that the Legislature has this power. But it seems to be deemed necessary that the Convention should give expression to something upon this subject, and it seemed to me to be about as harmless an expression as we can have, therefore I shall support it. [Laughter.] There is one other section, Mr. Chairman, that I do not know but I might support-section three. MR. BEERSTECHER. That secures the unanimous support of the Independent party.

MR. NOEL. Yes. The Independent party is entirely sound upon the Chinese question. Section three provides: "No alien ineligible to become a citizen of the United States shall ever be employed on any State, county, municipal, or other public work in this State after the adoption of this Constitution." I see no objection to that, so far as I am concerned. I will support that and section one, but no more of this

report.

REMARKS OF MR. WHITE.

MR. WHITE. Mr. Chairman: As a farmer who, like Mr. Stuart, has lived on a farm and raised his family and supported them out of the produce of the soil, I wish just to state at this time that I entirely dissent from his views in every particular that he has expressed them; and I will state, with regard to the farming community with which I am connected, that of the Pajaro Valley, the facts of the case. In eighteen hundred and fifty, eighteen hundred and fifty-one, eighteen hundred and fifty-two, eighteen hundred and fifty-three, and eighteen hundred and fifty-four we had plenty of white labor. There was not a Chinaman in our neighborhood. We neither had them as cooks, servants, or in workhouses. We never employed them in the harvest field, or in any other capacity whatever. So it run on for some years, and finally the Chinamen began to come in and settle in our center, in Watsonville. They crowded in there, and as they crowded in the white labor seemed to disappear. I will say for the farmers of that valley, that they universally had a great objection to employing them at all, but at the time of the harvest they would employ them to bind; and they gave them out the jobs of binding in the field because they could not find white men. Now, as to this great army of tramps which is talked about as some contagious sort of people that come around, I will tell you that my house is on the trail that was the shortest trail from the County of Santa Clara to Santa Cruz, consequently a great many white laborers came with their blankets, and I will say that I never wanted a man that these men would not turn in and work when I asked them.

In the twenty-five years I lived on that trail I never was refused by a single man, and I never even, in any way, was troubled by the tramps. When I offered them work they invariably took it. That is my experience. Even the religious papers talk about tramps, and some of them even say they ought to be seized and put into prison, at the time when the Chinamen were housed around these men's houses. They have no syinpathy at all with the men going around, and say they do not want work. I do not know of any such men traveling in this State, and I have had some experience about it. Now, sir, of late years they have been determined to get rid of these Chinamen, and they have worked in every way to prevent even their binding. For years I have not employed them. My son runs the farm, and he does not employ one of them; and he finds it more profitable not to employ them. Twenty-five cents an acre is saved by using white men to bind the grain, and that is about the

difference in the wages. That is the tendency among the farmers as to being rid of these Chinamen. Let the white men come; the men that will bring their families and deal with the stores and give the storekeepers some sort of show. The storekeepers and ranchers are joining in this cry against the Chinese, because they do not get any trade from them. They have no wives and children. They live upon a little rice, and they go to their own little stores to get that. Now that is the state of this case.

Can a country possibly prosper under the doctrine of Mr. Stuart? Here is a large laboring class. They can scarcely do anything else but labor for others. They are all thrown out of employment and looked upon with contempt, and a gentleman says a negro or Indian is worth two of them. If these Chinese were out of the country, these men would have a chance of working; they would settle down; they would take a few acres of ground. I wish I had at least five or six families of that kind settled on my place; let them have a few acres of land, and have them work for me in the harvest and in the Spring, and they live on the few acres of land in the meantime. We are trying to get rid of the Chinese in any possible way we can. We do not mistreat them. I cannot have any sympathy with the ideas expressed by my fellow farmer, because I know and see that the country is held back by these people.

Mr. Chairman, I did not intend to speak on this question at all, but Mr. Stuart appealed to the farmers, and I was astonished at the doctrine entirely in favor of these men running over the country. A short time ago some men proposed to buy four or five ranches down towards Santa Barbara or Los Angeles somewhere. They had it all planned had it all planned out on paper, and it made a splendid speculation. out to put a couple of hundred Chinamen on there with cattle. They They were getting a large capital subscribed in San Francisco, and they were going to do this until, upon consulting with some friends, they were told: "Do not do it; the people will go down there and clean it through very fear these men did not do this thing. Now, if we are to out, if it costs every one of them their lives. They will rise up." And preach that kind of doctrine, there would be no fear, and California would be absorbed by these men. kind of vassals can come here and do not drive men out of the country. It is all nonsense to say that that There was no difficulty in getting white hired girls some ten years ago. These men in San Francisco tell us that white girls do not come here at all now because they know that these Chinamen are in every house. here and finally became the wives of good men. Is this a wholesome state of affairs? These laboring girls used to come Now they do not come here at all; they go west, or somewhere where there are no Chinamen. I trust that there are very few farmers that hold the views of Mr. Stuart. I hope so, for the honor of that glorious profession of farming, which I have always gloried in. When I left it for a time, I could not keep away from it, and there I am still. [Applause.] THE CHAIRMAN. Order! Order!

MR. STUART. Mr. Chairman: A year ago last Summer about twenty to employ them. I wanted fifteen, or thirty white men came up near my place. I went down with others twelve, and so on; and we took them all. think; another wanted ten or After a little they inquired: wanted a dollar and a half. We gave them until Monday morning to "How much will you give?" "A dollar a day and board." They make up their minds, otherwise we would get other help. Nobody came. They did not want work. They would sooner go to San Francisco afoot; sooner go back to their beer. It is always my rule to buy an extra amount of beef and deal it out piece by piece to these tramps that come along. We have got to feed them. I would employ them if they would work for me. But I have always found myself the loser. It is not necessary for me to tell the gentleman this. If he has been a farmer twenty-five years he knows it. Speaking of the girls; it has not been the case for ten years that you could get a good one that would stay and work. I have paid high prices. I have paid them as high as eighty dollars a month, and found them; sixty dollars a month, and found them, when I lived in San Francisco. I have paid forty dollars a month-nothing less than that. Take them up to the ranch, where they could not hear the bell ring along the railroad line, and they get sick in a week or ten days and go away.

MR. BEERSTECHER. I would ask the gentleman if he considers one dollar a day and board fair wages?

MR. STUART. It is fair wages. You can get them East for twelve and fifteen dollars a month-that is half a dollar a day.

MR. BEERSTECHER. I don't wonder that they do not work for you. MR. WHITE. Wages in the Pajaro Valley are two dollars a day, and always have been, so far as I know. [Applause and confusion.]

THE CHAIRMAN. The house will keep order. MR. INMAN. I would like to know if this is a political meeting? THE CHAIRMAN. The Sergeant-at-Arms will keep order in the lobby. REMARKS OF MR. O'SULLIVAN.

MR. O'SULLIVAN. Mr. Chairman: I must confess that I have listened to this general tirade with indignation. Who are tramps? There are just as good men as any on this floor tramps in California. We were all tramps in forty-nine, will the gentleman remember that? Many gentlemen here, forty-niners-I am a forty-niner myself, have tramped in this State, in the mines. We were all tramps then and carried our blankets on our backs, and have seen an honorable and honest workingmen as there are in God's world tramping in this State in search of work and could not find it. I venture to say that the gentleman is an employer of Chinese.

MR. STUART. Yes.

MR. O'SULLIVAN. Yes; I knew it the first words that fell from his lips; that he had such a hatred of his white fellow man

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