Speech #530023291

What is known as the Henley act was passed. which made the certificate of identity the only evidence admissible when a laborer should come back from China. for. as I should have stated. in the former act the jeturn of the Chinese laborer was permitted. There being some doubt as to the rule of evidence. it was provided in the anendatory bill of 1884 that the sole evidence of identity should be the certificate. Time passed on. and in 1888 the great measure. the measure which must be considered the cardinal statute. was enacted. and that was the Scott exclusion act. which passed in the House of Representatives unanimously and had only 3 dissentient votes in the Senate. Now. that was the abrogation of treaty rights. if any statute was. That statute started a new policy. that prohibited. absolutely and forever. the return of any Chinese laborer who had left this country. I say it was a great act. and. like the Geary law. it was a proper law. and they are both great acts and right laws. because I believe. as an American. first in the protection of my own country. in its preservation. and in its independence. China for the Chinese. but America for American citizens is my creed! This- Scott exclusion act stopped the coming of any Chinese laborer. and. as I have shown. a great outcry was raised against it by the Six Companies. and a persistent protest was made against it by the Chinese Government. It was brought up before the Supreme Court of the United States. for these Chinese are always litigating. and if you will look at your last statement of amendments to the Federalstatutes. you will realize how numneious are the cases which have been. carried by their attorneys to the circuit courts of the United States and to the Supreme Court of the United States. The case to which I refer is found reported in 130 United States. under the title of Chae Chan Ping against The United Statesthe Chinese exclusion case. And you should bear in mind. when considering the discussion of this case. that the opinion of Our court of last resort upholding the constitutionality of the Scott law was unanimous. All the judges held that an act of the Federal Legislature. an act of Congress. being the last expression of the sovereign will. is greater than any treaty on earth. that we. sitting here. representing the people. can modify any treaty that has been entered into in the past. and as Judge Field said in the 112 United States. it is not to be assumed that Congress does not for some good purpose change our treaty obligations. The p iss ge of the Geary law in 189: became imperative. because it had been found that the only means adequate to prevent the smuggling in of the Chinese and to enforce their exclusion in the future was a law which should provide for the registration of the Chinese laborers and for the deportation of Chinamen who either would not or could not produce a certificate of registration. From 1888 to 1892 the Scott law had been constantly evaded by the smuggling in of hundreds. if not of thousands. of Chinaman from Victoria and through the waters of Puget Sound and from our extended frontier on the north. and from Ensenada and ether places along the Mexican line. The means of prevention in the hands of the Government were insufficient. there were not enough Government officials to guard the frontierfor instance. thre. inspectors could not effectually patrol a beat of 150 miles ofh the Washington frontier.