The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1900-12-07
OUTSIDE Of CHINATOWN Startling NEW ruling
A BOMBSHELL FOR HAWAIIAN
CHINESE.
Citizens of the Republic Not Americans
Now in Spite of the Enabling Act.
Some Voted.

The United States Treasury depart
ment has exploded a bombshell among
the Chinese of Honolulu, in the shape
of a ruling received by Collector Stack
| able, which declares that Chinese citi-
zens of the Republic of Hawaii were
not made citizens of the United States
by the Territorial Act. 1t is a short
| ruling, simply stating that the EN-
abling act" does not give the rights
| of American citizenship of Chinese citi-
zens of Hawaii, and thus knocking out
| the hopes of many Chinese who have
thought that they were Americans.
Many such voted as Americans in the
recent election.
Section of the Territorial bill says
that "All persons (the word white was
crossed out of the original draft of the
| bilD who were citizens of the Republic
of Hawaii on August 18th, 1899, are
hereby declared to be citizens of the
| United States"
This appears to be very plain, but in
a letter received here on November 19
by Collector Stackable, the treasury
! department informed that official that
"naturalized Chinese citizens of the
| Republic of Hawaii do not, by virtue
of the 0nalbling act, acquire the rights
| of citizenship of the United States"
That is all there is on the subject.
The Chinese may take their choice of
| the two rulings, bu' Collector Stackable
| and the collector at San Francisco
take their orders from the treasury de-
partment, whose ruling is the latest.
| Any Chinese who tries to go to San
Francisco, whether he be one of those
recognized as American citizens or not,
will be turned back.
There is one other section in the ter
ritorial act which has to do with the
| Chinese. 1t provides that Chinese in
the islands when the act takes effect
| "a tpG
! of residence as required by the Geary
exclusion law. The section first quoted
appears to overlap this 1t makes citi
zens of all, Chinese included, who were
| Hawaiian citizens in August, 1898, and
thus makes them legally no longer
Chinese" and not under the necessity
| of having any certificates at all
There are many Chinese in Honolulu
who were citizens of Hawaii in August,
1898, and up to this time they have all
| been considered Americans, since the
passage of the territorial law. They
were accepted as such during the re-
cent campaign, and they voted on No
vember 6. Now the treasury depart
ment has declared them all foreigners
and ruled that they should not have
voted.
10 what nation do these Chinese be-
! long? That is a question over which
the lawyers may split hairs. The Mon
| golians are not Chinese subjects, for
they forswore allegiance to their native
country. They are not citizens of the
Republic of Hawaii for it no longer
exists The government at Washing
| ton has just declared that they are
not Americans. This seems to make
them first class examples of men with
| out a country.
Application was made to Collector
Stackable this morning by Attorney
William A. Henshall for papers that
would enable a Chinese who was sup
! posed to be an American to land at
San Francisco, and Henshall found
himself against the startling new
ruling. 1t does not effect Chinese born
| here, who may ultimately be allowed
! to land in America, but none of them
would be surprised if another ruling
| permanently excluded even them. Hen
shall has appealed the matter to
Washington and further explanations
of the law are awaited from the treas
| ury department.
! The attorney is inclined to think that
| habeas corpus proceedings at San
| Francisco would knock out the new
ruling. 'The enabling act is clear on
the subject" he said this morning. "and
if an American Chinese stopped at San
| Francisco should make appeal to the
courts the matter might be quickly set
| tied"
The administration at Washington
| mas utNelOpeu lHe greatest SlIlCllCSo
! in dealing with the Chinese, and rules
of extraordinary severity are in effect
| regarding travel. The right, even of
Chinese who are admitted to be citi-
zens of the United States, to travel
between Hawaii and the mainland is
denied. This has not yet been ruled
upon by the courts. A Chinese Ameri-
can citizen arriving here from San
| Francisco now would be sent back,
even though he brought with him alb
solutely conclusive proof of his citi-
| zenship.
At the present time the protection of
American citizenship does not seem to
amount to much, for a Chinese, as is
shown by the action of consuls in the
orient, in utterly ignoring the demands
of such recognition. The Chinese who
have sworn allegiance to the Stars and
! Stripes and who are supposed to have
! equal" rights to the protection of the
| flag and to privileges under it, seem
to have run up against some queer in
terpretations of the constitutional sec
tions which refer to distinctions of race,
creed and color.
Fine Job Printing, Star Office.