US Presidency
1879

To the House of Representatives: After a very careful consideration of House bill 2423, entitled An act to restrict the immigration of Chinese to the United States, I herewith return it to the House of Representatives, in which it originated, with my objections to its passage. The bill, as it was sent to the Senate from the House of Representatives, was confined in its provisions to the object named in its title, which is that of An act to restrict the immigration of Chinese to the United States. The only means adopted to secure the proposed object was the limitation on the number of Chinese passengers which might be brought to this country by any one vessel to fifteen; and as this number was not fixed in any proportion to the size or tonnage of the vessel or by any consideration of the safety or accommodation of these passengers, the simple purpose and effect of the enactment were to repress this immigration to an extent falling but little short of its absolute exclusion.