Speech #620070806

I am not now composing a flippant article in the Outlook. I am not laying down a set of rules that govern the altercations of the prize ring. I am trying to arrive at a proper interpretation of this treaty. and I assert that the whole subject of immigration is just as much an inherent power in any government as is the power of eminent domain and can not possibly become a justiciable question. Let me give you the language of the Supreme Court upon the subject: The power of the Government of the United States to exclude foreigners from the country. whenever in its judgment the public interests require such exclusion. has been asserted in repeated instances and can neither be granted away nor restrained even by treaty. Whether a proper consideration of previous laws or a proper respect for the nation whose subjects are affected ought to have qualified the inhibition are not questions for judicial determination. If there be any just grond of complaint on the part of the foreign Government. it must be made to the poiltical department. which is alone competent to act upon it. The power to regulate immigration is an incident of the sovereign right to expel or exclude objectionable aliens. The exercise of the power in a particular country is governed by the constitution and laws. In the United States it belongs to the National Government as part of its power to regulate commerce. It is an accepted maxim of international law that every sovereign nation has the power. as inherent to sovereignty and essential to selfpreservation. to forbid the entrance of foreigners within its dominions or to admit them only in such cases and upon such conditions as it may see fit to prescrige. (vattel. lib. 2. secs . 100 1 Philllmore. ld ed.. ch. 10. sec. 220.) In the United States this power is vested in the National Government. to which the Constitution has committed the entire control of international relations in peace as well as in war. it belongs to the political department of the Government. and may be exercised either through treaties made by the President and Senate or through statutes enacted by Congress. (The Chinese exclusion case. 130 U. .. 581 606611. Nishimura nkiu a. United States. 142 U. 5.. 651. 659.