The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-05-03
The Governments Representative Il
Come to Savannah To-day.

The Governments Representative to
Come to Savannah To-day.
Registrar Barnes of the internal reve-
nue. department will arrive in the city to-
day to register the Chinese residents
under the terms of the Geary exclusion
act. which goes into effect next Saturday
A year ago congress, at the instance Of
Representative Geary of California, ex-
tended for ten years the laws forbidding
Chinese TO come into this country, and
added new features, requiring every
Chinese laborer then in the United
States to register with the collector
of internal revenue of the district in which
he lived and to get from him a certificate
of residence The act provided that if
Chinaman failed to get this certificate of
residence he should be deemed to be I'M
lawfully within the United States; that
he should be handed before a United States
Judge and, unless he could show to the
judges satisfaction that he had failed to
get his certificate through some unavoid-
able misChancc that he should be shipped
out of the country.
II being the duty of the treasury to
make certain regulations for the proper
carrying out of the act, eX-Secretary Eos
ter ruled that two reputable white wit
nesses should attest each Chinaman's APP
plicatiOn for certificate, and that the APP
plicants photograph should be attached
to the certificate, so as to prevent the pos
sible trading in certificates.
Mr.. Carlisle thought to encourage APP
pnCatiOn for certificates by dropping the
photo regulation and requiring only one
witness TO character instead of twO but
the supplemented Celestial was not thus
to be caioled into obeying a law which he
feels to be harsh and unjust and which
he has been advised is unconstitutional
He, therefore folds his arms and takes
no further notice.
Arrangement has been made with the
joint consent of the treasury and of the
Cinnamon that test case shall be pre-
pared and presented as soon as possible to
the supreme court of the United States,
with a. view to having the constitu-
tionality of the law tested To that end
a Chinaman will be arrested and brought
before a United States Judge, who will
pronounce him guilty of breach of the
law and order him to prison for safekeep-
ing until the government send him out of
the country. 1t has been further arranged
that the United States supreme court
shall take the case under considera ton at
once; and IL is expected that this dis
tmguished tribunal will render a decision
the week after, or not later than MAY 49,
There is much anxiety in both the state
and treasury departments as to the char
dIlef OF the decision t1dJ the supreme
court may arrive at. OF course, if the
act be declared unconstitutional, that
will end the matter in the meantime, and
the Cinnamon now here win remain here
without further mOlestat ion. But if the
courts decision affirm the constitutional
ity OF the law, then will come trouble for
both the departments named. The
act will then have to be en-
forced; and, as the Cinnamon will
under no inducement comply with its pro-
visions, deportation Of the entire nation
allty will be the only alternative. The
arrest, transportation to the coast, and
conveyance home of the illegal "trcspass-
ers" will cost, it has been estimated. not
less than $50 per head and the deporta-
ton of the 100000 Mongols would entail
upon the treasury the tidy figure of$5, 000,-
0Q0: The treasury is scarcely in a CON
clifton to bear such an immediate drain
upon its resources; and naturally, there
lore, 1t is anxious about the result of the
appeal to the supreme court
Savannah has quite a colony of
Chinese laundrymen, and while some of
t!hem do not like the registration idea it
is understood that their leader here, Sam
Lee, has advised them to comply with the
law, and Registrar Barnes will have
nee time to-day taking down the Lees,
vans, Lungs and Sings and issuing them
certificates