The times., 1899-09-26

General Otis reported to the War Depart
Chinese who were detained on shipboard
by him on account of his application of the
Chinese exclusion act to the Philippines
had been permitted to land The Chinese
Minister to the United States, Mr. Wu
Ting fang, called on DR.. Hill, the Acting
Secretary of State. yesterday afternoon and
was informed of General Otis action Later
on, the State and the War Department
gave out the following joint statement:
The Chinese from Annoy on the steamer Es-
meralda and Salvadora, about half of them being
previous residents of the Philippines have been
permitted to land, owing to the special cir
cuinstances of the case, on the promise OF the
Chinese Consul General at Manila that no more
Chinese will leave China for the Philippines
qualified TO land under existing War Department
regulations
The action of General Otis in permitting
the Chinese to land has disposed of the
case at issue to the satisfaction of all the
parties concerned. The officials who were
at first inclined to regret that the incident
arose are now glad that 1t was brought up
at this time, as it gave the opportunity for
reaching an understanding with the Chi
nese Government on a matter which might
have proved a source of constant en-
barrassment to the Administration owing
to the misunderstanding that existed in re-
gard to the application of the exclusion act
to the Philippines In issuing his order
to that effect General Otis said that the
provisions Of the exclusion laws of the
United States were applied to the territory
under his control.
This is regarded by the Administration as
an unfortunate ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS and c,,11
sequent events showed not quite what
General Otis intended to convey. He has
the right to exclude any class of persons
or any individual from the Philippines as
a purely military measure, but it is held
by officials here that General Otis has no
authority to apply the legislation of Con-
gress to the islands, unless Congress so
specified. 1t is also conceded by the Adj
mlnistration in this connection that the
President is equally powerless to apply the
| laws OF the United States to the Philip
! pines without the authority of Congress to
do SO. The Administration. however. SUP
ports General Otis in his explanation that
| the exclusion Of the Chinese from the ISL
ands was a purely military measure. He
| has the right to adopt any means he may
deem necessary 10 maintain the authority
Of the United States, but such action must
be based on military reasons.
The State Department has explained to
| the Chinese Minister that the action of
| General Otis was not intended as a dis
! elimination against Chinese subjects as
such. but as a military necessity. The
Minister has been told the exclusion ap-
plies equally TO all other persons, without
regard to nationality, whose presence in
| the Philippines at this time might be
detriment to the maintenance OF American
| authority. General Otis has explained that
| owing to the danger of a fight between the
rival Chinese factions in Manila, of which
| the Tagals might take advantage and at
i tempt to burn theseity and massacre the
| Americans, he had issued his order for
bidding any more Chinese to land. This
was a purely military reason and its pro-
priety is conceded by the Government.