Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-04-16
At THE WHITE HOUSE
Validity Of the Chinese Ex-
clusion Law.
MR.. KNOX'S OPINION
IT WILL CONTINUE IN EFFECT
UNTIL REPEALED.
Alaskans Hope for Legislation in Their
Behalf-Senator Elkins Has
a Conference.

text OF his opinion regarding the validity
of the Chinese exclusion law He expects
TO place 1T in the hands of the President
this afternoon or Monday. While the opin-
ION has not been made public. it is under
STOOD. IN brief. Mr.. Knox holds that not
withstanding the denunciation of the pres
ent treaty by China. the exclusion law at
present on the statute books will continue
In effect until it shall have been abrogated
by act of Congress
The Attorney General had conference
with the President today, but it is known
that he did not at that time present his
opinion on the Chinese question to Mr..
Roosevelt After the denunciation of the
existing treaty by China, the subject of
the exclusion of Chinese was considered
oy the President and his cabinet. The Pres
ioent also discussed the matter with the
iedoefs IN Congress. In accordance with
the action of the Chinese government the
treaty Will expire on the 7th of next De-
cemper 1t was manifestly necessary there
Iore' that 1t should be determined before
me adjournment of the present session of
CONGRESS whether or not the law enacted
originally In 1892 would continue in effect
after the treaty had lapsed.
Ins question was referred to the At
eorhey General by the President and il is On
that question he has prepared an opinion
In erect, the Attorney Generals opinion it
Is understood, Is that it would require az
hrmatiVe action by Congress to repeal the
law now on the statute books In other
by limitation " Npiie
In It's effect, the exclusion law is more
drastic than the treaty. While the treaty
Is III Iorce the points of difference between
the law and the treaty are decided in ac
coruanee with the terms of the latter IT
is the hope of the Chinese government that
new treaty may be negotiated which will
n h1af f<.T +,
than Is the present treaty Indeed. such a
treaty now is being considered, but the ne
EQUATIONS nave not progressed sufficiently
to Indicate what the precise nature of the
convention may be eventually
Alaskans Continue to Hope.
The contingent of influential Alaskans
who have been in Washington all winter
working in behalf of legislation for that ter
ritory are still hopeful that something will
be done, but their hopes are growing less
strong each day. John G. Hyde, the repub-
ncan national committeeman of Kansas; j.
w ivey, Z. p. Dam B. F. Millard s. A.
Hemple, d. A. Mckenzie and NJ J. Sulli-
van, all OF Alaska, were at the White House
To-Day. They regard President Roosevelt as
one od .. tneir Warmest advocates of beneficial
legislation for the territory, and they hone
ne Will do all he can to induce republican
leaders to put through some of the bills
that are half through Congress now The
N'SioeS PeoSCO ioui VI i've plllS OF value TO
Alaska the Alaskans state and these hills
are pending in the House, but so far there
has not been the slightest suggestion that
the House leaders will give even a day be-
1ore adjournment to consideration of Alas
kan affairs. This is dispiriting to the Alas
kans, who have worked so hard all winter
and they do not think they have been treat
ed fairly The bills now before the House
1t is stated, do not involve intricate or dam
gerous problems, and are straight questions
that could be attended to without danger
OF political or other criticism.
The Al1skans said today that the Ieeisla-
ton sought to be put through was of the
utmost Importance and necessity to the peo-
pie of Alaska and to the future of the ter
ritory and that If nothing is done at this
session it will probably be two years before
they will be able to get anything into law
of the same kind, owing to the fact that the
Eext session of Congress will be short one
largely devoted to appropriation bills.
The AlaSkanS are not the only people i'm
portuning the President to help them in be-
half of bills that are hung up in one or the
other of tie houses of Congress, and that
promise to sleep until the next session and
then die, but the President is not in position
to accommodate these earnest requests He
generally goes no further than to ask
Speaker Cannon or some of his friends in
the Senate to give hearings to the persons
who are asking that something be DONE
What he will do in the Alaska case is not
known. as he is known to be deeply inter-
ested in the welfare of that portion of the
pecially emphatic in referring to the fact
that Alaska promised great development if
assisted by suitable legislation by Congress.
Senator Elkins in Conference.
Senator Elkins of West Virginia spent
some time with the President in conference
as to political and legislative matters. The
vigorous pushing of Senator Elkins' name
for the vice presidency by the republicans
of his state is attracting general attention
Senator El1ins himself does not discuss
the matter with his friends. When Sena-
tor Elkins was asked today about the fac
tiona1 divisions of his party in West Vir-
gina, he said: 'That will come out all
right and the state will cast its electoral
vote for Roosevelt for President The DEM
ocrats are divided over the same questions
that are giving concern to the republicans,
and there Is not the least fear that the
state will be lost to the party
Archbishop Messmer of Milwaukee and
Rev. William H. Ketcham director of the
bureau of Catholic Indian missions, were
pl esented to the President. Senators Dill
lii CHAN, Long, Kean and Dryden and a
good many other congressman introduced
friends The President spent a considera-
BILE part of the day shaking hands with
callers and with delegations of visitors to
the city, number of school children from
out of town points being in the number.