The morning call., 1893-12-09
MCCREARY LAW.
A Scheme to NulIify 1t
Discovered.
MOCK HONG'S DOCUMENT.
Used to Land One of His COun-
trymen.
THE PHOTOGRAPH CHANGED.
The Handwriting Counterfeited-Pho-
tographs No Assured Protection
in Registration Certificates.

Within the next ten days Internal Rev.
enue Collector Welburn expects to receive
instructions from Washington which will
authorize him to at once open an office for
the registration Of Chinese under the Nc
Creary law. In order to give the Chinese
every facility for complying with the law
force of about 100 clerks will DE put on the
work. and Collector Welburn hopes to be
able to return certificates of registration
within forty-eght hours after their appli-
cation, prOvid ng, Of course, the Chinese
comply with the formalities and terms of
the amended law.
A grave apprehen sion has arisen in the
minds of both Collector of the Port Wise
and Collector Welburn as to whether or
not the registration measure will prove to
be as effective as it was hoped it would be.
A case tried before United States Com
missioner Heacock a day or two ago has
set the Government officers "a-thinking."
The chief objection to the Geary law
upon the par of the Chinese other than
the general objection to registering at al
was the fact that applicants had to furnish
photographs in duplicate. one of which
was to be pasted on their certificate of reg
Istration and the second on duplicate cer-
tificate held by the Government to aid in
Identifying the Chinese registering. To
this the MOngolians strenuOusly objected,
and the Photographic requirement was
made the basis of one of the leading
objections to the constituti0nality of the
Geary act.
Be ore the Geary act was practically
nullifed by President Cleveland, the
photograph clause had been practically
stricken from the bill by an order of Sec
retary Carlisle. who instructed Internal
Revenue Collectors, charged with the duty
of registering Chinese, to pay no attention
to it.
When the McCreary bill was introduced
the amendment that Congressman Geary
fought hardest for was that requiring
photographs. 1t was alleged, and truly,
that the Chinese look so much alike, are so
adept in the art of manufacturing scars,
moles, ETC., that one certificate could be
made to do for many. or more properly
that many Chinese could be fixed up to fit
one certificate, but if Photograph was
required this danger would b. sverted.
The case before Commissioner Heacock
day or two ago proves that the Chinese
have already found a way in which the
photograph clause may be avoided. Some
months ago Mock Hong, well-known
Chinese merchant concluded to leave this
city and locate in Victoria, B. C.. He Sc
cured a CuStOm-house certificate, in the
center of which was pasted his photograph
before the certificate was filled out, In
order that the handwriting might cover 1t.
and thus prevent Its removal. Mock Hong
went away, aud had not been heard of for
months until the other day when the
steamship Brlgic arrived from China.
No sooner had the steamship tied up TO
the wharf than a Chinese dressed in fow-
ing robes of silk walked down tile gang
plank and presented a certificate showing
that be was Mock Hong to he Custom
house Inspector on guard. This action
was in itself suspicious for had the
Chinese ever landed here before be would
have known that certificate or no certih-
cate he could not land In the manner at
tempted. The Chinese was also uDfOTtu-
nate In handing his certificate to an in
spector who knew Mock Hong. as re-
suit he was refused landing and was
brought up for hearing. Before the case
was tried the attorney for The Chinese
sent word that no attempt would be made
TO land the man as Mock Hong as he was
willing to be sent home to China.
This unusual action caused Collector
Wise to make al Investigation of the case.
He fou that the real Mock Hong was
still in Victoria. but that the Chinese who
had attempted to land had the original
certificate issued to him, except that Mock
Hong's photograph had been removed and
replaced by picture of the man who at
tempted to land as Mock Hong aud fur
thermore that the handwriting across the
face of the original picture had been
counterfeited and made to join ON 10 the
writing In the body Of the document in
such a way as to defy detection except by
experts even when closely examined.
It is this discovery that is worrying the
Government officers. Ii the pictures can
be removed and replaced by another, and
the handwriting counterfeited on the
registratio certificate as perfectly as il
was done on the Mock Hong document,
there will be little gained by the people of
the United States in Chinese registration.
For instance. Fong Fong will register and
get his certificate. photograph and all.
He will return to the fastness of the
noun tains, send his certificate to Wong
Wong in Victoria or China, who will re-
place Fong's photograph with his own, be
smuggled across the border, and. when
stopped by an officer, exhibit it and go his
way in peace. Fong. who has lived long
in community. has taken the precautiOn
10 show his certificate to officers and
white men, and if. after Wong's arrival,
he be found without his registration
papers, he will claim that ne has lost them,
and prove by evidence that cannot be
doubted that he once had registration
certificate. and upon this proof Fong will
secure a duplicate. ana both Wong and
himself 60 on their way rejoicing.
The readiness with which the Chinese
consented To the remanding OF the pseudo
Mock Hong to China leads the officers to
believe that the Six Companies did not
want their new scheme betrayed until
after the period for registration had ex-
pired.
Mock Hong. up in Victoria. will un-
donbtedly claim that his Custom-house
certificate was stolen from him and used
without his knowledge. and, il he can
prove it, will get another.
How to prevent the removal of photo
graphs from registration certificates Is the
question that is now b0thering the Gov
ernment officers, and they admit that they