St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-05-16
THEY MUST REGISTER.

THEY MUST REGISTER.
The United States supreme court ha
sustained the GEARY Chinese exclusion
law. Chief Justice FULLER aud JUS
tees BREWER and FIELD dissented
| FULLER and FIELD are Democrats ant
BREWER is Republican, fact which
shows clearly that political inclinations
have had no influence in the matter.
There will, no doubt, be considerable
division of opinion among the people as
to the wisdom of this law, if not upor
the soundness of the decision, but the
division will not be upon any party
lines.
Few great questions have arisen in
this country on which the arguments,
pre- and con, were so evenly divided as
in this.
China has a population Of over 400,-
100000, and when it is considered that
the Chinese empire has 1,399,609 square
miles, while the United States has, eX-
elusive of Alaska, 3,025,609 square
miles, with only population of about
100000 something Of an idea can be
formed Of the crowded condition of the
former country. The resources of
China are far short of those of the
United States. hence its mass of people
have for centuries been compelled to
subsist upon food which Americans,
and the people of all other countries of
our race, consider unfit to eat. There was
nothing more natural than that the Chi
neSe should flock to this country when
the way was open to them. And when the
way was first opened they came in such
numbers as clearly showed that we
would soon be Overrun with them. They
obtained employment upon the Pacific
coast at such low wages as to shut out
American labor entirely. To make
matters worse, the heavy corporations of
the coast engaged in bringing the coolies
over under the contract system, which
was little less than slavery. Matters
ran on until it became necessary to
adopt laws checking the dangerous in
fiuX of the race.
A law was first adopted by congress
prohibiting the coolies from coming
here, but permitting those here to re-
main. The law required that China
man who was here prior to its taking
effect, could, by securing certificate.
go back to China and return. The cool
les proved to be possessed of consider
able cunning. and readily hit upon a
plan to help their friends of the native
country to reach America. They dis
covered that Americans were unable to
distinguish the difference between them,
so they managed to secure in one way
and another a good many certificates,
and when they reached China they gave
their extra certificates to different ones,
and thus there continued to be an in
crease of Chinese cody population here.
The GEARY law was designed to de-
feat that fraudulent practice. 1t re-
quires that every Chinaman now here
shall register his full name, descrip-
ton of himself. and file his photos raph.
The supreme court decision holds that
the United States and every other coun-
try has the right to exclude any for
eigner from its domain, or any class of
and cites many precedents
of that court and European courts.
Justice BREWER maintained that the
act was unconstitutional, and that if it
was upheld it would afford only prec-
edent for the enactment of laws eX-
Guiding other nationalities.
Justice FIELD held that the GEARY
law was inhuman and brutal. lie as
serted that there was wide difference
between the deportation of alien resi-
dents and the exclusion of immigrants.
Chief Justice FULLER conceded with
both Of the dissenting justices.
To what extent the enforcement of
this law will disturb our relations with
China, it is difficult to forecast. Chinese
and the better class of that
country are not excluded. and it seems
probable that the advantages of trade
with America will prevent China from
making any serious retaliatory move
ment 1t is certain that China would
suffer much more by losing our trade
Than we would by losing its trade.
Thirty years ago we secured nothing
from that country except through Eng
and, and if our trade relations were
broken. we would simply go back to the
Did way. The Chinese government
could drive out of its country all Amer
leans, but that would cut small figure.