The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1893-08-01
TO ENFORCE THE LAW.
Secretary Carlisle's Instructions
to Collector Hendricks.
CHINESE SMUGGLING MUST CEASE
The Practice of Attaching the onlciaI
Seal to Certificates of the Chinese Has
Aided In Evading the Law-omciaIs
Either Corrupt or Indifferent.

Ahe Frhctice OF Attaching the Omcial
Seal to Certificates of the Chinese Has
Aided In Evading tho Law-OniciaIs
Either Corrupt or Indifferent.
WASHINGTON, Aug. 1.-Secretary Car
Isle has taken hand in the Chinese situa-
tion Mt New York, which has been the oc-
casion of so much friction recently between
treasury agents and Collector Hendricks.
Several letters have passed on the subject,
and Secretary Carlisle brings the matter
to a close in long letter, in which he says
that the practice of allowing department
officials to attach the official seal 10 certif-
icates issued by the Chinese consul at New
York was innugurated before the present
method of evading the law became preya-
lent. He proceeds:
Your assumption that the responsible
ity for the execution of the laws relating
to the exclusion Of Chinese rest alone upon
the collector is unwarranted. Upon that
officer is devolved the duty of examining
and deciding upon the testimony presented
by Chinese persons claiming the right to
enter the United States, but in all cases of
doubt it is his duty, as 1t is the usual prao-
tiee OF collectors of customs, to submit the
case to the secretary of the treasury for his
decision, with whom lies the ultimate re-
PPoh9'p'iipy ioi tuiOTctultnt OIL UneS6
laws, and whose lawful instructions in the
premises should be obeyed by the collectors
without question.
THE department cannot concur in your
view that the unauthorized practice, dis
continued by his order of the 18th inst, of
huthenticating the certificates of the
Chinese consul at New York by the sigma
ture and seal of the collector should be re-
sumed. Evidence is before the department
in one case where a Chinese person repre-
sented himself to be n member of a firm of
Chinese merchants in New York and was
SO certified by the Chinese consul at New
York, which certificate was duly authen-
ticated by the seal of the custom house
and the signature of one of your deputies,
when in point of fact the Chinese person
who presented himself at the custom house
was another and entirely different person
from the one named in the certificate.
This man applied for admission at one
of the frontier custom houses upon the GER
tifleate mentioned, which, according to
your theory, would be conclusive evidence
OF his right to enter, inasInuch as the pho
tograph was that Of the person who pre-
sented himself; but it was not that of the
person named in the certificate. who was
real parsonage, formerly residing In New
York and who was still in China. That
many cases of this kind have occurred is
beyond question, and the department sees
no good reason for the continuance of a
practice by your Office which, in instances
like that mentioned, only serves as an aid
to those engaged in violating the law.
ut is an ascertained fact that many
hundreds Of Chinese laborers have come
into the country within the past year un-
der the guise of merchants students, act
ors or other persons Of the exempt class,
aided in some cases by customs officers,
who were either corrupt or Indifferent to
their duty in the premises. 1t is my duty,
as it is my purpose to employ all the
means under my control to enforce the law
in good faith, and TO that end shall ex-
pect the cordial cooperation of all officers
of the customs -