Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1893-05-18
GEARY LAW VALID.
The United States Supreme Court SustanS
the Newly Enacted Exclusion Law.

the Newly Enacted Exclusion Law.
WASHINGTON, D. c., May 15.-The su-
preme court to-day, through Justice
| Gray, sustained the decision of the
New York courts in favor of the consti-
nationality Of the Geary exclusion act.
Justice Brewer dissented
The announcement that decision in
the case was expected attracted large
attendance of spectators and the
fact that it was the last day Of the
term accounted for the presence of
an unusually large array of attorneys
within the bar, including Attorney
! General Olney, Solicitor General Aid
rich, Senators Pugh, Dolph and Cock
rell. Ex-Justice Strong and several
members Of the diplomatic corps were
| interested spectators.
Justice Gray IN announcing the judy
ment of the court, said that the power
of this nation to restrict or prohibit the
immigration Of any aliens into the coun-
try or to require such aliens already in
! the country to remove therefrom, was
well-settled principle of international
law and was confirmed by an unbroken
! line of decisions in this court. The leg
I islative power Of the government had
/ LOU CliHoCcIitlcu duN Ol us COuSUl-
| tutiOnal limitations in the act under
consideration. 1t was within it's power
| to determine the regulations under
which these aliens should be permitted
! to remain in the United States, or fail
! ing to observe these regulations, they
! should be required to leave the coun-
| try.
The provisions of section of the act,
which are the part of the law particu-
| larly at issue, were not inconsistent
with the relations and duties Of the
| Legislative and judicial departments of
| the government. The mode of proce-
dure set forth in the section are
! similar to that in other we'll
established proceedings, such as the
| habeas corpus and naturalization, fixing
the requirements Of citizenship and the
| like, in which the judicial branch of the
| government accepted the determination
of the executive upon the questions in
volved.
AS to the requirements that the
! Chinese entitled to remain in this coun-
| try should establish that right by the
evidence of one credible white witness,
! Justice Gray said that it was
With, within the power Of Of the legis-
of evidence that might be received in
a case at law and what force should
/ be given to the testimony SO offered.
Not discussing the wisdom nor
the justice of the act in ques-
ton, which was beyond the
province of the judicial branch of the
| government, it remained only to say
that the judgment of the circuit court
! Southern District Of New York in refus-
ing to grant writs Of habeas corpus to
the several petitioners was affirmed.
Justice Gray stated that as it had been
impossible in the brief time elapsing
since the hearing of the argument upon
the petitions to prepare in writing the
opinion of the court, it would be filed
/ as soon as it was possible.
At the conclusion of Justice Gray'S
/ opinion, Justice Brewer announced that
! he felt compelled to dissent from the
| view of the majority Of the court. He
read his views at some length, declaring
! in substance that the act in 1892 was
unconstitutional and that if it were up
/ held there was no guarantee that SINH
| lar treatment might not be accorded to
! other classes of our population than
| these chinese.
Justice Field, who delivered the opin-
| ion of the supreme court of the United
| States in the first case under the eXclu-
sion act, also read a dissenting opinion.
! He held that there was wide difference
! between exclusion OF immigrants and
the deportation of alien residents, and
/ he characterized the act in the strongest
/ language as inhuman and brutal and as
/ violative of the constitution to every
section.
Chief Justice Fuller also dissented
from the opinion of the court.
After the court had concluded the
announcement of opinions, j. III. Ash
ton, of counsel for the Chinese, moved
! for a rehearing of the case and an argu-
ment before a full bench at the next
term. At present the court stands
five to three in support of the
law, Justice Harlan being absent. The
court took the motion under advise
ment, the effect of which is to postpone,
until the motion is acted upon, any pro-
ceeding under the Judgment of the
court announced to-day.
| The act requires that every Chlnaman
sn the United States shall on or before
May appear in person before the
collector of internal revenue in whose
district he resides and register, the
certificate of which registration shall
| be evidence of his right to remain in
this country. Cinnamon failing to reg
lister are liable to arrest and deporta-
ton. It is estimated that there are in
! the United States 100000 Cinnamon, of
whom comparatively few have complied
with the provisions of the act.
Pending the decision the Treasury
Department issued orders that no steps
should be taken under the act.