Congress having passed the Geary law. and the Supreme Court having affirmed its constitutionality. any refusal or deliberate neglect of those whose duty it is to enforce it. to do so is criminal. There are few American citizens. I think. who would not now regard the unrestricted immigration of Chinese laborers to this country as a great evil and as menacing our national prosperity. With over 400.000.000 of Chinese just across the Pacific from us. struggling for existence. with increasing facilities for travel. with a demand in this country for cheap labor. with the advertisement this country receives in China from returning Chinese with a few hundred dollars of hoarded wages. which become a fortune there. if the coming of Chinese laborers had not been restricted. the annual immigration of that class of Chinese to this country would have now been enormous. Even tinder our restrictive laws. with the severe penalties provided for their violation. during the last year the British steamships sailing from Chinese ports to Victoria and Vancouver. in British Columbia. have been crowded with Chinese laborers intending to enter the United States along our unprotected borders. or by personating merchants and under forged certificates. Many have so unlawfully entered this country. and thousands have been refused permission to land and have been sent back. many of them only to renew the effort to evade our laws at some other point.
Keywords matched
immigration