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3862
labor contracts, and yon certainly do not want that.   Yon certainly 
do not want this section stricken out   It would let them all into the 
United States.   The section as amended by the amendment offered 
by the chairman of the committee [Mr. KNOX] brings the Chinese 
in that island all under the exclusion act ana prohibits them from 
coming to the United States from that island. If you add this to the 
section as amended by the chairman, then it would have force and 
effect, but you ought not to offer your amendment in lieu of that. 
Mr. DE ARMOND.   It did not seem to me from the reading of the 
amendment that the proposition I offer would have that effect; but 
it may have, and in order to obviate that I will offer it as a new 
provision, a new paragraph.   My amendment was drawn for the 
section as it was before any amendment to it hud been adopted. The 
CHAIRMAN.   Without objection, the amendment will be considered 
as offered in that way. Mr. KNOX.   I did not hear the gentleman's 
remark.   This amendment would leave all the Chinese and 
Japanese in the island who were there previous to that time.   If the 
gentleman's amendment is to be offered, it should be offered as a 
new paragraph. Mr. DE ARMOND.   I offer it as a new paragraph. 
The CHAIRMAN.   Without objection, that course will be pur-sued.           
Mr. SNODGRASS.   I should like to ask the gentleman a question.   
You say that all Chinese and Asiatics that have been brought into those 
islands under contracts shall depart in one year or be dealt with in 
accordance with the provisions of the Chinese-exclusion act.   What 
are the provisions of that act? Mr. DE ARMOND.   Oh. I have not 
time to go into that Mr. SNODGRASS.   If those people have been 
brought to those Islands -- Mr. DE ARMOND.   I can not yield to 
the gentleman for a speech in my time, nor could I read the 
provisions of the Chinese-exclusion act in twice five minutes. Mr. 
SNODGRASS.   I wish to be heard in opposition to the 
amendment. The CHAIRMAN.   The gentleman from Missouri [Mr. DE 
ARMOND] has the floor.                   Mr. DE ARMOND.   The object of 
the amendment is to prevent the coining into the United States and to 
take away from Hawaii those Asiatic laborers who came in under 
contract - some twenty-five or thirty thousand of them.   It is not 
enough that the amendment offered by the gentleman from 
Massachusetts [Mr. KNOX] may exclude them from the United 
States proper.   Whether it does it I can not tell, because I merely 
heard the amendment as it was read in the confusion of the House; 
but granting that it does, that, to my mind, is not sufficient.   They 
ought not to remain in Hawaii.   The contract system ought not to 
be maintained there, but they should be deported and should be dealt 
with in Hawaii, as well as in other parts of the United States, as are 
Chinese here against the provisions of our law, made, I suppose, for 
due reason and sufficient cause for the exclusion of the Chinese.   1 
would like to have these contract laborers taken out of the 
Hawaiian Islands as well as prevented from coming to any other 
part of the United States.   The amendment now pending, I think, 
will have that effect. The CHAIRMAN.   The time of the gentleman 
from Missouri has expired. Mr. KNOX.   I ask unanimous consent 
that the gentleman's time be extended five minutes. Mr. DE 
ARMOND.   I do not care for that much time.   I only want a 
moment. The CHAIRMAN.   Without objection, the gentleman will 
proceed. Mr. DE ARMOND.   It will supplement that which the 
gentleman from Massachusetts sought to accomplish by the 
amendment offered by him to the section.   As I caught the reading 
of his amendment, I think that the two provisions are in harmony 
and not at all in conflict. I think it is entirely right to prevent any 
and all of the Chinamen in the Hawaiian Islands from coming to 
any other part of the domain of the United States of America and 
that it is also proper and right and highly desirable to have all of 
the Chinese who are there under this contract-labor system taken 
hence as soon as possible.   A year is a reasonable time in which to 
quit our domain without hardship to them. Mr. BARHAM.   The 
gentleman's amendment does not now propose to strike out the 
other, as I understand it. Mr. DE ARMOND.    This is a new 
proposition. Mr. BARHAM.   I should like to have the amendment 
reported. The CHAIRMAN.   Without objection, the amendment will 
be reported in its present form.  The Clerk read as follows:
Amend by inserting the following at the end of section 102: "All Chinese and other 
Asiatics who came or were brought into Hawaii
since August 12, 1898, under any contracts or contract whereby they bound 
themselves, or were or are bound to any term of service, shall depart therefrom 
and from the United States within one year from the date of the taking; effect of 
this act, and any such person being in Hawaii or elsewhere in the United States 
after the expiration of said period shall be dealt with as if found within the 
United States in violation of the Chinese-exclusion act."
Mr. SNODGRASS.   Mr. Chairman, the people affected by this 
provision are poor people.   They may not be able to get away at the 
end of the time mentioned; and I think if that amendment is 
adopted, there ought to be some provision requiring the persons who 
brought them into those islands under labor contracts to aid them to 
get away.   If we are going to deal with them thus summarily, we 
ought to provide some way that they may be carried back. Mr. 
ROBINSON of Indiana.   That is provided for in the Chinese-exclusion 
act. Mr. SNODGRASS.   That is what I wished to ask the gentleman 
from Missouri when I addressed an inquiry to him. with reference to 
the provisions of the exclusion act.   Is that a provision of that act? 
Mr. ROBINSON of Indiana.   It is. Mr. SNODGRASS.   Then I 
withdraw all opposition to the amendment. The amendment offered by 
Mr. DE ARMOND was agreed to. Mr. NEWLANDS.   I offer the 
amendment which I send to the Clerk's desk. The CHAIRMAN.   
The gentleman from Nevada offers an amendment which will be 
reported by the Clerk. The amendment was read, as follows:
Amend section 102 by adding: "That there shall be a commissioner of labor, who 
shall be appointed by the President of the United States, by and with the advice 
and consent of the Senate, who shall hold his office for four years, unless sooner 
removed, whose duty shall be to acquire and diffuse among the people of Hawaii 
useful information on subjects connected with labor, and especially upon its 
relation to capital, the hours of labor, the earnings of laboring men and women, 
and the means of promoting their material, social, intellectual, and moral 
prosperity." It shall be his duty to make annual reports to the governor and 
legislature of the Territory of Hawaii, and also to the Department of Labor in 
the United States.   The commissioner of labor is also specially charged to inves-
tigate the causes of and facts relating to all controversies and disputes between 
employers and employees as they may occur, and which may tend to interfere 
with the welfare of the people of Hawaii, and to report thereon to the 
legislature of Hawaii and to the Department of Labor in the United States.   
The commissioner of labor shall annually make a report in writing to the 
governor and legislature of the Territory of Hawaii, as well as to the 
Department of Labor in the United States, of the information collected and 
collated by him, and containing such recommendations as he may deem calculated 
to promote the efficiency of the Department.   He shall require such statements 
as may be prescribed by the Department of Labor in the United States, from all 
employers of labor, as to the number of laborers employed, the nationality of the 
laborers, the daily, weekly, and monthly wages paid, and such other 
information as the Department of Labor may require.   Any failure to make such 
a statement by any person or corporation shall subject such person or corporation 
to a penalty of $100 for each and every refusal, to be collected and enforced by 
the government of the Territory of Hawaii in the courts of Hawaii, and to such 
other additional penalties as may be prescribed by the legislature of the 
Territory of Hawaii.   The legislature of Hawaii may add to the powers and 
duties of the commissioner of labor as herein prescribed, and may prescribe 
additional penalties.
Mr. NEWLANDS.   Mr. Chairman, the purpose of this amendment is 
to provide for the appointment of an official whose special duty it shall 
be to inquire into all questions relating to labor in the Hawaiian 
Islands, to collect and present statistics both to the governor of 
Hawaii, the legislature of Hawaii, and the Department of Labor at 
Washington.   It provides that this commissioner shall be 
appointed by the President, for the reason that I deem it unwise that 
this appointment should be given to the governor of the Territory, or 
that the labor commissioner should be elected -by the people there.   
The great danger to Republican institutions in those islands arises 
from their system of land tenure, which means centralization of 
land ownership in corporations of large capital, for the plantations 
are almost universally held and owned by corporations, and from 
the labor system that has prevailed there. Mr. COX.   Will the 
gentleman allow me to ask him one question there? Mr. 
NEWLANDS.    Yery well. Mr. COX.   I could not determine from 
your amendment what term of office is fixed or the salary? Mr. 
NEWLANDS.   The term is fixed at four years.   I have not 
provided for the salary.   This commissioner should be appointed 
by the President of the United States, because we should see to it 
that a republican government is maintained there; and the danger 
to republican government largely arises from the system of labor 
which the governing class there seek to maintain. Reports are to be 
made not only to the governor and the legislature of those islands, but to 
the Department of Labor in the United States, so that his reports to us 
annually may present all the statistical information.   Now. it has 
been the custom in almost every State in the Union to appoint such 
commissioners of labor and to organize such departments of labor. 
They have done great and efficient work.   We have a Commissioner 
of Labor of the United States and a United States Department of 
Labor, and the work of that department has been most

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