The State of the Territory: 1885

In the two years that have elapsed since the meetings of the previous Assembly, we note much for which to be thankful to the God of Nations. In this short span of time our population has added forty per cent. Our railroads are increasing, our mills are sending cargoes of lumber to distant foreign parts, and commerce now lands the tea of China upon our shores for transportation by rail to the Atlantic States. Our territorial financial affairs are so clear that you will not have difficulty in deciding upon a bill of taxation for the years 1886 and 1887. Regarding the penitentiary, the present contract system is private, and the convicts have been guarded at the expense of 30 cents per day. As our commonwealth matures and puts forth her claim of fitness for statehood, she must show her power to maintain the law and to preserve order. Stirring events connected with the anti-Chinese agitation have recently attracted the attention of almost the entire world to a portion of our Territory. I would recommend that the Chinese Restriction Act be so amended, and that negotiations be entered upon to obtain such modifications in the treaties between the United States and China as to protect the American working men from extended competition with Chinese cheap labor, which now threatens to retard the settlement of the Territory by a desirable class of immigrants.