Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1893-05-18
THE GEARY LAW.
The Chinese Law Appears I'm the
United States Supreme
Court at Last.
Some Interesting Points IN
Argument as to Its COnsti-
tutiOnality.

The special session of the supreme
court to hear argument on the consti-
tutionality of the Chinese law, upon
appeal from the judgment OF the
circuit court from the southern dis
trict of New York, attracted an at
tendance that more than exhausted
the limited capacity Of the court
room. The argument vas opened by
Joseph III. Choate for the petitioners
for a writ of habeas corpus for Fong
Yue Ling, Wong Guam and Lee Joe.
Choate prefaccd his argument with a
statement of facts in the three cases,
which he had referred to chiefly in
being initiated at various stages of
the operation OF the law. 1t
appeared from this that Lee Joe's
case presented, in addition to the
questions involved in the Others,
constitutionality of the provisions of
the exclusion act requiring them to
white witnesses in support Of their
right to receive certificates.
After a resume of the provisions Of
the treaty and a history Of the rela-
tons Of the United States and China,
Choate submitted that the exclusion
act deprived his clients of their
liberty without due process of law,
in direct violation of the fifth amend
ment to the constitution, and of pro-
lection to which they were I'M
qLestionably entitled; and further,
by the sixth section of the act, the
appellants were deprived of their
property without due process Of law,
and it Is therefore unconstitutional.
Solicitor Aldrich argued in favor Of
the constitutionality Of the Geary
law, which he said was not for
deportation of Chinese laborers, as
the counsel for the petitioners
enormously assumed, but to provide
a system Of Identification and regis
tration for such as are here. This is
a lawful purpose, whether applied to
citizens or aliens; in fact, the right of
the government to require identii-
cation and registration of its citizens,
their possessions, resources and
locations, was never seriously dis
puted. The means by which this
Identification is to be attained, the
solicitor general contended, is law
full and the act Just and humane in
its provisions. In conclusion, the
solicitor general said, assuming the
maxim that the safety of the people
is supreme, when the police powers
in relation to every subject are in
danger, must, under our system, rest
either in the United States or the
people. If it is assumed that Chinese
alien labor is a public danger threat
ening the safety of the people, then
the power to cope with it rests some
where; if not in the United States,
then in the states or the people. If
the latter, itoccurs to me the Chinese
residents Of this country have need
to repeat the old prayer, that they
may be saved from their friends Tor
counsell, for they can only induce the
court to hold that the power does not
belong TO the federal government,
but rests Ia the people Of the several
states to rid themselves of it's bane-
full presence by appropriate legis-
lation. The state of the Chinese
would then be worse than now; for
while the act under consideration
seeks only to, prevent preparation
of frauds upon the government, any
action by the people of a state most
directly affected would probably be
drastic in character, with the pur-
pose, not of protecting the govern
ment and daily accredited Chinese,
but expelling entirely from their
domain the obnoxious q
j. HUXLEY Ashton concluded the ar
guments, traversing a somewhat
different line of argument, asserting
that the question is fundamental and
concerned the principles of American
constitutional liberty, the right to
freedom, property and pursuit of
happiness of many thousands of per.
cons living and laboring under the
protection of this land, as well as the
friendly international relations be.
tween the United States and China,
and the welfare OF American citizens
and interests in that empire.
The funeral of Miss Lena Mouse,
the sixteenyear-old daughter OF
Philip Mouse, Of the town Of Fox
Lake, near Beaver Dam, Wis, was
held last week. On arrival of the
cortege at the cemetery the caskee
was opened for the last look, when Il
was noticed that large beads OF
preparation stood on the face and
hands of the girl and that the jcints
of the fingers and wrists were quite
timber. This caused great alarm but