The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1893-05-19
THE LAW SUSTAINED.

the Geary act is enforced III the
United states tie Chinese govern
ment will expel from its territories
all natives of the United States,
missionaries. merchants and trav-
elers. 1t is argued by many OF
our own people that such course
would be justifiable, but such per :
sons seem to desire that the letter
and not the spirit of the law be en-
forced when the former favors the
Chinese, and vice versa. 1t is diff
ficult to understand upon what
ground these people, in the light
of past events, base their reason
ing when they conclude that the
course outlined by the missionaries
would be justifiable. Under our
present treaty regulations only
certain Of China's subjects may
come to the United States, and it
would have required small effort
upon the part OF the Chinese gov
ernment to prevent the violation
of these provisions of the treaty.
The futillty Of guarding the bor-
ders of the United States against
the unlawful influx Of the Chinese
had been thoroughly demonstrated
and if the stipulations regaI ding
such immigration was to be efec-
tive, supplementary laws were
necessary. To this end the Geary
law was enacted. After subscrlb-
ing to the treaty the Chinese gov
ernment cannot in fairness object
to this law. 1t is rather its duty
to strengthen the hands OF the Uni
ted States in executing it. The
law works no hardship on subjects
of China who are entitled to a resi-
dence here, and if they do not de-
sire to comply with it they have
the alternative of the penalty.
The spirit Of the law is certainly
Just, and the Chinese government
has no reasonable grounds for re-
taliation.
Heretofore, there has been a
question as to the constItutionality
of the sixth section of the act, but
the cases taken before the supreme
court for the purpose Of determin-
ing this point was decided this
week, and the decision upholds
the law. After the court con
cluded the announcements Of the
opinions, counsel for the Chinese
moved a rehearing and an argu-
ment before the full bench at the
next term, Justice Harlan hav.
ing been absent. The court took
the motion under advisement, the
effect Of which is to postpone pro
ceedings under The judgement an
nounced. At present the court
stands five to three in favor of the
law.
The unexpected refusal of the
Chinese to register complicates tc
some extent the execution of the
law. The penalty imposed by the
law upon a Chinaman adiudged
to be not lawfully entitled to 6
residence in the United States, is
Imprisonment for one year and de
portation at the expiration of that
time. The law did not provide
the means of inflicting the penalty
upon as many as have refused tC
register, and it would perhaps be
Justice to allow them another op
portunity to comply with the law
Should they not then do so, the
proper course to pursue would be
to incarcerate as many of them as
we have accommodations for, and
it is probable we would be spared
the expense of imprisoning ard
deporting the remainder.
In the mean time if the Chinese
government wishes to exchange
her missionaries for our Chinese
population, we shall not object
We have no fear that the former
will come into competition with
the white labor of the land. There
is a wide missionary field at home.
anyway.
The result of Mondays city elec-
L H..