The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1886-04-15
PRESIDENTS MESSAGE.
A Full Text Of the Presidents Message
Respecting Treaty Rights Of
Chinese Subj ,ots.
Individual H%ardshlps Due to Ambiguous
and Defective Acts OF Congress
Conditions Physically Impos-
sible to Perform.
THE MESSAGE.


WASHINGTON, April THE following
is the full text of the Presidents message
sent to the Senat yesterday respecting the
treaty rights of Chinese subjects:
To the Senate and House of Representatives
of the United States:
1 transmit herewith for tho consideration
of Congress, with q view to appropriate legis
lation in the premises, a report sf the Score
tary of State, with certain correspondence
touching the treaty rights of Chinese
subjects other than laborers, to go and
come of the r own free will and &C
cord; In my annual message Of the 9Th
plication Of the acts lately passed to OK
imm' grafton of Chinese laborers IN the
have occurred beyond the power of the BIZ.
determination:' These cases Of individual
fective provisions of the acts Of Congress
approved respectively on the 9Th OF May,
1Ss., and 9Th of July, 1884.
remedied by the action of the courts. In
other cases. however. where the phraseology
of the statutes has appeared to be conclusive
against any d secretion on the part of the OFF,
GERS charged with the execution of the law,
Chinese persons expressly entitled to free
admission under the treaty have been re.
whence they came. without being afforded
any opportun ty to show their right to their
Dr1V1l6g6 OIL free tnEr6SS ana 0Rre99 which IL
was the purpose of the treaty to secure. In
the language of one of the decis' ous of the
Supreme Court. to which l have referred;
that Congress, VIII lie processing to faithfully
execute the treaty stipula tons and recOg-
nlzing the fact that they secure to a certain
class the right to go from and to the United
States, intended to make its protection de-
pend upon the performance of conditions
T fd4m.. it G Tns gh gtases yep I%asSsiole to per
The act of July 5, 1884, imposes such an inn
possible condition IN not providing for the
s adm ssiG ,rsvs Sens9 ef t RSro sssms Ses5ie cI.sss. S ia
commerce al intercourse. Article 1 OF the
ply only to Chinese h nay go to the
United States as laborers. Article Q says
that Chinese subjects whether proceeding
merchants. or from curiosity. shall be
allowed to go and come OF Their own
free will and accord and be granted
Of the most favored nation. Section 8 OF the
Chinese Immigration act OF 1884 purports to
secure this right by means of certificates Of
sole evidence to establish their right OF
entry into the United States. But II provides
o d9T sh ea insSsnS Shi IN se depsrsins Y from ONO c Ssses
and Chinese who may at the time be subjects
of some government other than China. A
statute is s certainly e rxdy most \ ss Gn u;th ch wn,o a.
respect of Chinese subjects, enacts formal.
tiles as it regards subjects of other govern
/ call the of Congress to the fact
that the statute makes no provisions for the
numerous class of Chinese persons. subjects
of other countries than China, who desire to
come from such countries to the United
States. They may not be subjects Of the
country where they reside and trade, yet II
| Kong Kong, Honolulu, Havana or Colon de
| aires to come here he must produce q pre-
scribed form Of certificate in English, issued
| his place of residence no representative OF
China competent to issue such form of Ger
this tsw ne un can obtain anh.r none f- and ST.,
to the United States There being
therefore, no provision by which sucf
| retary of the Treasury undertook to remedy
the omission by recognizing as lawful certii
Gates those issued by Chinese Consul OF
advised by the United States Consul. Thil
seems q just application of the spirit Of thu
] law. He, however, went beyond the spirit o
1 the act by providing a circular dated Janu
airy IA, 1885, for original issuance of sucl
certificate by the United States Consul at tn,
port of departure in the absence of q Chimes,
vention of the United States Consul was in
tended by the act to be supervisory only. ]
became necessary, therefore. to amend thi
circular, and this was done on the 18th o
June following, by striking out the claus,
prescribing original certifcation by Unite,
States COnSulS.
the complaint of the Chinese Minister Ii
his note of March "a, 1885, is tina the Chines
merchant. Lay Sang, of King Lee & Co.. Sal
Francisco, having arrived at San Francisc,
from Hong Kong and exhibited q certihcat
of the United States Consul at Hong Kong a
to his status as q merchant. was refuse
permission to land and sent back to Hon
Kong. While his certificate was insufficient
under the present law, 1t Is to be remeH
bered that there is at Hong Kong no repre-
sentative of China competent to issue tn
required cert 11cate.
The. intent of Congress to execute tn
treaty is thus defeated and conditions ar
exacted by the act which. in the words of th
to perform" This anomalous feature shoul
be reformed in order that the recurrence O
such cases may be avoided and the imputl
ton o which would otherwise ref
upon the good faith of the United States 4
the execution of their solemn engagement!
ROvER CLEVELAND.