Evening journal. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1888-1932, 1892-09-16
CHINESE REGISTRATION
The Powerful Six Companies
VIII Fight the Geary Law.
THEY sAYIF IsUEoONsTITUTIONAI

! ment the Niongolians Here Have Il efused
TO File Their Photographs as Ordered.
WASHINGTON, Sept. 16-The edict Of the
Six Companies that Cinnamon in the United
States must not obey the act Of congress re.
quiring them TO register is likely to afford
test Of the authority Of those organizn.
tons over their countrymen It is based
not ON a spirit of defiance to the govern.
ment, but on the belief that the act is un.
constitutional This is a matter that the
Six Companies win test in the courts as
soon as possible, and meanwhile they pro-
pose to nullify its execution by calling upon
the Chinese everywhere not to register.
Yet should the courts pronounce the act
constitutional the unregistered might be
left in a bad fix, because the penalty OF
nonregistration within the statute period
is expulsion from the country. A good
many Chinese who do not like the race dis.
examinations made against them in the lave
of the land would nevertheless rather sub.
init TO them than DO expelled.
A good many, too, who may resent the
rigid exclusion system must reflect that
this exclusion is good deal worse for their
] NNNt-AtA AAAtA VIM WANT 70 NNlAt " AlAtAlIu
and can't come than for those who are al
ready here and enjoying a monopoly of
Chinese labor. AT all events, the Six Com
! panies evidently do not think it safe to rely
wholly on the sympathy Of their country.
men now here in their views, since they
add a threat Of disowning any who regis.
ter, and Of refusing to give them passes
back to China.
The Position Of the Six Companies.
Accordingly we find the old cry OF i'm.
perium in imperio raised again on the Pa
ciiic coast, where this matter has its chief
Importance. The position Of the Six Com
panies, however, is based on their record Of
aid to their countrymen for many years
and Of defense Of the latter in their legal
rights.
They doubtless think that they are en-
titled, in view Of this history, at least to
support in the present crisis.
1t is fair TO say that no suspicion is enter
tanned that the opposition of the Six Com
panies to the registry provision is based on
the belief that it win interfere with SNUG
Cling operations Of their own. All the evil
dence goes to show that these associations
are not engaged in the importation of labor
from China, whether lawfully OF unlawful
ly. They are really not COMPANIES, in the
business sense Of the term, not being en-
gagged in trade or manufacture Of any kind
If they We're called mutual benefit societies
the phrase would better express their char
acter
These six associations were established
many years ago in San Francisco, and at
that time every Chinaman on the Pacific
coast was believed TO belong TO one of
them. The original object Of their founda-
tion seems to have been that of sending the
dead back to China and the performance Of
the preliminary rites for that purpose The
cost Of the burial here, the embalming and
the subsequent removal was so great that
some such organization wasAreQuired. The
next step was naturally caring for the sick
and the poor among their members. The
difference in the districts or provinces
which furnished emigration accounted for
the formation of halg dozen such associa-
/ tons, each containing those who from
their residence in China OF other causes
/ were most nearly allied.
! Fourteen years ago, when the growing
authority Of these associations had excited
various charges against them in congress or
elsewhere, aud among others that of being
engaged in the coolie trade, the Six Com
panies made reply declaring that they had
''never directly or indirectly brought or
caused to DO brought one Of our coNntrymen
to this country under or by any contract,
written OF otherwise, as slave, coolie, labor
or or in any capacity They also disavowed
having ever "iet OF hired one or any Of our
people TO labor here in any capacity what
ever; have never had, demapded, required
X Tor received one dollar Of wages of the earn
/ ings Of our people here"
Confident 1T Is Unconstitutional.
This proclamation was signed by tho
Ia.
D Yong Wo, Ming Yung Kong Chow, Yam
! Wo, Sam Yup and Hop Wo. It is probably
conceded that they are benevolent associa-
tions without trade interests, although pos.
sessing undoubtedly more or less authority
p over their respective members It was long
= ago practice of the Pacific steamers to re-
fuse to sell a passage ticket to a Chinamau
unless he showed a receipt from tho com.
pany to which he belonged for the fee, al
4 that time fifteen dollars due on account OF
y the burial and transportation privileges al
i ready spoken of.
e The safe course would seem TO be TO test
e finally tho constltutionality Of the Geary
t law long enough before tho expiration OF
q the period named in it for registry to give
|, nh the Cinnamon fun opportunity to com
n ply with its provisions, should the decision
be other than the Six Companies now con
This it should DO very easy to do, because
3 the limit for registration prescribed in sec
IS ton 6 Of the Geary law is one year after it,
n passage, and the date of its approval wa
, May ., 1892.
d I5may be noted here that although III,
n bill which was passed in the house unde
4 the suspension of the rules, originally con
d tanned an elaborate provision for a certid
cate of residence, the senate struck It out
Then the conference committee arranged
the present provision as finally concuue,
g in. It requires "all Chinese laborers" II
D. the country TO apply to the collectors OF in
q ternal revenue ia their respective district
20 for certificates OF residence within one yea
u after the passage of the act.
Any Chinese laborer found without sucl
q certificate after the year may be arreste,
and taken Before n United States Judge
who must order him 20 be denorted from