JA 4:53 .05 A2-7 [H. Res. 345, Sixty-second Congress, second session.] CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES, IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, December 21, 1911. Resolved, That there be printed for the use of the Members of the House of Representatives five thousand five hundred copies of the hearings before the Committee on Foreign Affairs on House joint resolution 166, providing for the termination of the treaty of eighteen hundred and thirty-two between the United States and Russia. Estimated cost, $500. Attest: ii SOUTH TRIMBLE, Clerk. Rothman 6-12-51 CONTENTS. Page Statement of William G. McAdoo Speakers at mass meeting, New York, December 6, 1911 . Proceedings of mass meeting, New York, December 6, 1911. Resolutions of mass meeting, New York, December 6, 1911. President, Hon. Andrew D. White United States Senator James A. O'Gorman. Hon. William Randolph Hearst.. Representative William G. Sharp.. Representative Francis Burton Harrison Representative William M. Calder. Representative Henry M. Goldfogle Letter of Gov. Judson Harmon... United States Senator Boies Penrose.. Circulars of Department of State, May 28, 1907.. Letter of Louis Marshall and Edward Lauterbach to Secretary Root, Statement of Mr. Taft in letter accepting presidential nomination. Letter of Secretary Root to Mr. Jacob H. Schiff, October 19, 1908. Resolution of Representative Herbert Parsons, February 10, 1911. Resolution of Representative William Sulzer, April 6, 1911.. Extracts from Russian treaties with Germany, Austria, and France.. Summary of debate in French Chamber of Deputies, December 27, 1909.. "Russia and the American Passport," by Louis Marshall, Esq. Hearing before House Committee on Foreign Affairs, February 16, 1911.. TERMINATION OF THE TREATY OF 1832 BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND RUSSIA. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Monday, December 11, 1911. The committee met at 10 o'clock a. m., Hon. William Sulzer (chairman) presiding. The CHAIRMAN. The hearing this morning is on the House joint resolution No. 166, as follows: JOINT RESOLUTION Providing for the termination of the treaty of eighteen hundred and thirty-two between the United States and Russia. Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the people of the United States assert as a fundamental principle that the rights of its citizens shall not be impaired at home or abroad because of race or religion; that the Government of the United States concludes its treaties for the equal protection of all classes of its citizens, without regard to race or religion; that the Government of the United States will not be a party to any treaty which discriminates, or which by one of the parties thereto is so construed as to discriminate, between American citizens on the ground of race or religion; that the Government of Russia has violated the treaty between the United States and Russia, concluded at Saint Petersburg December eighteenth, eighteen hundred and thirty-two, refusing to honor American passports duly issued to American citizens, on account of race and religion; that in the judgment of the Congress the said treaty, for the reasons aforesaid, ought to be terminated at the earliest possible time; that for the aforesaid reasons the said treaty is hereby declared to be terminated and of no further force and effect from the expiration of one year after the date of notification to the Government of Russia of the terms of this resolution, and that to this end the President is hereby charged with the duty of communicating such notice to the Government of Russia. By the arrangement with the gentlemen who appear here from out of town and have agreed upon the list of speakers to address the committee, the first speaker will be Mr. McAdoo. STATEMENT OF MR. WILLIAM G. M’ADOO, OF NEW YORK, PRESIDENT OF THE HUDSON TUNNELS. Mr. McADOO. Mr. Chairman, I will not consume much of the time of the committee, my purpose being simply to present to you the resolutions adopted at a mass meeting of the citizens of New York on the evening of December 6, 1911. In doing so I should like to say for your information that that meeting was composed of representatives of every class of American citizens. It was not confined by any means to American citizens of the Jewish faith. That great auditorium was packed from pit to dome by an unusually intelligent and discriminating audience, one which was intensely in earnest, 3 and the action taken on that occasion, we are confident, we may sav represents accurately the feeling of the American people on this subject. Those resolutions, which are embodied in this printed pamphlet. I beg to submit to the committee. In this pamphlet is also included the speeches made on that occasion by some of the men who have distinguished themselves in American life. Among them were Presi dent Andrew D. White, United States Senator James A. O'Gorman. Hon. William R. Hearst, Bishop David H. Greer, Gov. Woodrow Wilson, Speaker Champ Clark, President Jacob Gould Schurman: Congressman N. E. Kendall, of Iowa; Congressman William Sulzer. Congressman Herbert Parsons, of New York; Congressman William G. Sharp, of Ohio; Congressman Francis Burton Harrison, of New York; Hon. William S. Bennet, Congressman William M. Calder, of New York; and Congressman Henry M. Goldfogle, of New York. The question presented for your consideration is one with which you are so familiar that it scarcely needs presentation on my part. For 40 years Russia has disregarded, as we think, the plain stipulations of this treaty. She has undertaken to apply a rigid test to American citizens seeking to enter Russia. We do not believe that this Government can afford to submit to any such test as applied to any part of its citizens. We believe that every American citizen, whatever his antecedents, is entitled to the benefits of a treaty made for every American citizen and every class of American citizenship. The Government of the United States has on its part strictly observed the obligations of their treaty, and Russia alone has been derelict in performance. It seems that when an American citizen presents a passport to the Russian consul general in New York or in any foreign capital for a visa he is immediately asked what is his religion. There are a few other questions also asked, but that seems to be the important one. The minute he confesses that he is a Jew the visa is refused and discrimination is at once made against a certain part of our citizens— a very large and important element of our citizens. Our diplomatic history is full of protests on the part of this Government against this discrimination. Large efforts have been made to get Russia to recede from a position which is utterly and wholly untenable, but without success. The time has now come when we believe that this committee and Congress should take a firm stand on this question and should insist that Russia either live up to the treaty or that it be abrogated. We do not believe that any satisfactory result is going to be accomplished any other way. There is no feeling of hostility, I believe, on the part of the American people generally. We can say with confidence, I think, that there is no feeling of hostility, generally, against Russia. This movement is not conceived or pushed in any unfriendly spirit to any nation. Our particular ground is that this Nation can not afford to have treaties with any nation that does not recognize the rights of American citizens. We can not afford to have treaties and maintain them with any power that does not concede at once that every American citizen, whatever his race or creed, is entitled to the full benefit and full protection of all treaties. |