The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1893-06-05
THERICHTS OF NATIONS
A Case Which Recalls the Chinese
Exclusion Law.
OUR GOVERNMENT INCONSISTENT

Secretary Foster Refused to Acknowledge
the Right OF Austria to Exclude Our
American Citizens Gin the Interest Of
Public Order"
WASHINGTON, June 5.-The decision OF
the supreme court Of the Chinese exclu.
sion act, recently delivered, may possibly
have a much wider scope and affect a
greater variety of persons than was prob.
ably foreseen by the associate justices who
Joined with Mr.. Gray in declari ng it to be
the law of the land.
1922 just published by the state depart.
ment, contains a case in point wherein the
arguments used by a foreign government
to justify or explain its decree Of expulsion
of citizen of the United States, it is
pointed out by those who are familiar with
the subject, are In suggestive paraphrase
with those outlined by Justice Gray in an.
nouncing the opinion and Judgment of the
supreme court of the United States on the
18th Of last month. The circumstances of
the case, as shown by the published CORE
spondenee, were these;
Leon Splitter, born at Vienna, Austria,
January, 1867, emigrated to the United
States in February, 1882; was naturalized
in New York in January, 1885, and re.
turned to Europe Nov. 4, 1880, and to vi.
emma in July, 1890. In an affidavit Mr..
Splitter declared that his residence was
New York, where he was a "manufac-
turer," and that he intended ito return to
the United States within two years with
the purpose of residing and performing
the duties of citizenship therein"
In March, 1892, Splitter was notified by
tho o,,tbnritiao nf Wanna fhut hp had
been expelled from Austria under law Of
1871. He appealed to Minister Grant, who
brought the case to the attention of Count
Kalnoky, prime minister and minister of
foreign affairs, protesting that this treat
ment Of Splitter was In violation of the
treaty of 1870 between Austria Hungary
and the United States, granting certain
rights and the protection thereof to the
citizens Of their respective countries.
Replying to Minister Grants complaint
on behalf of Splitter, Count Welserscheimb.
for the minister of foreign affairs, said
that Spitzer's emigration to the United
States was manifestly for the purpose Of
evading the military duty which the Aus
trian government exacts of its citizens;
that the expulsion of such individuals is
based upon considerations of public order,
and "that every state has right to expel
foreigners from its territory for reasons as
above stated, and that the question
whether and when reasons for such expul-
sion exist can be judged only by an inter
nal point of yiew.n
This accords with the views expressed by
Mr.. Justice Gray, and the language is
quite similar.
Minister Grant notified Count Kalnoky
that this government could not accept
that Interpretation of the treaty,a position
in which he was supported by Secretary
Foster, who, after stating that the United
States would entertain proposition for a
modification of the treaty in question, said
"But so long as the treaty remains in
force, the United States government will
insist upon n strict compliance with its
terms, ard after careful examination oi
the case in point it is reluctantly Obliged
to dissent from the views expressed by the
Austria Hungarian government"
This ended the correspondence SO fal
made public, and.as Spitzer's departure fol
the United States was intimated in one ol
| Minister Grants letters it probably CLOSED
| the incident. In view, however. of the ap
parent inconsistency between the views oi
| the executive and judicial branches o.
government as disclosed by this CORE
| spondence and the decision on the Geary
| law, the attitude of the government upor
| the next case of alleged violation of treat,
rights by European government will bl
watched with interest.