The San Francisco call., 1899-06-11

~ INCE the dismissal of Chief Meredith
of the Chinese Bureau the Chinese
J brokers have not been able any long
~ er to secure copies of the transcripts
of the statements of Chinese immigrants
on the steamers made to members of the
Chinese Bureau, and they have been put
ting their heads together to devise some
other means of landing their coolie chat
tells. 1t was necessary to obtain these
transcripts in order that the testimony
of the witnesses secured in Chinatown by
the brokers' bureau should correspond and
be consistent with that of the immigrant
as taken down by the shorthand reporter
of the bureau. Otherwise the discrepancy
would be fatal to their case.
There is now on foot a scheme whereby
immigrants may be landed easily by the
usual perjured evidence, and that Is to
provide that there shall be only one eX-
animation and that before the United
States Court Commissioner. In order 10
accomplish this end movement has been
started to test the right of the Chinese
Bureau to examine or pass upon the
claims for admission of Chinese alleging
themselves to be native-born. An argu-
ment has been made to the Secretary of
the Treasury, and 1t is a plausible one,
that the exclusion act relates only to la
tives of China, and that it cannot legally
govern the going or the coming of ma
tives of the United States. Hence, it is
argued. although the immigrant be clad
in Chinese costume and speak no lam
guage but Chinese, if he makes claim that
he is an American citizen by virtue of
his birth the exclusion act cannot be an
piled to him. 1t will be the duty OF the
Collector of the Port to pass him inside
the gates or to exclude him on the ground
that his assertion of nativity is not be-
neVed. In the former case the immigrant
will be arrested by members of the Chi
nese Bureau for being illegally within 1he
United States and he will have the right.
claiming citizenship, of an appeal to the
local United States courts on writ of
habeas corpus. Then he will go before a
United States Commissioner with his wit
nesses and prove his nativity if he can.
Should he be excluded in the first place
by the Collector he can invoke the writ Of
habeas corpus as an American citizen. as
ne does now, and appear before the Com
missioner. In either case the bureau will
not have any record of statement made
by him to be contradicted by his wit
nesses.
This law point was brought up in the
DICK Williams case two years ago by
Lyman L. Mowry, the acknowledged au-
thor1ty on Chinese exclusion law. Mr..
MONTY argued on that occasion that the
'A' . "ii'' II an american citizen. could
not come under the exclusion act. no mat
Ter what might be his garb or speech.
Inc fact that he claimed to be a native
Oh TINS country was all that was required.
Inc truth or falsity of the statement of
the immigrant could be determined only
upon habeas corpus proceedings. The
court old not pass upon the point because
II was not considered relevant to the issue
tnen pending before the court. There
seems to be much merit in the contention
OF Mr. Mowry from a technically legal
point of view, and 1t is this proposition
that is now being laid before the Secre-
tary of the Treasury in Washington by
interested persons.
Another snag in the way of the coole
importers has been and is United states
Court Commissioner Heacock Judge
Heacock himself fcross-eXamineS the emma
man who claims to be a Yankee, ana III
nine cases out of ten he has been aple oy
very few questions to determine whether
the witnesses have lied or whether they
have told the truth. Hence 1t IS the puI
pose of the ring to avoid Judge Heacock
as much as possible. 1t is expected tnat
the Treasury Department VIII announce
its policy in three or four weeks from
the present time, and If 1t should be IN
the line of Mr. Mowry's contention the
Pacific Slope will be flooded with coolies