226 



CONGRESS. (THE FISHERIES TREATY CHINESE EXCLUSION.) 



executive power now sought through legislative ac- 

 tion. 



I am satisfied that upon the principles which should 

 govern retaliation our intercourse and relations with 

 the Dominion of Canada furnish no better opportunity 

 for its application than is suggested by the conditions 

 herein presented : and that it could not be more effect- 

 ively inaugurated than under the power of suspension 

 recommended. 



While I have expressed my clear conviction upon 

 the question of the continuance of section 29 of the 

 treaty of 1871, I, of course, fully concede the power 

 and the duty of the Congress in contemplating legisla- 

 tive action to construe the terms of any treaty stipu- 

 lation which might upon any possible consideration 

 of good faith liinit such action ; and likewise the 

 peculiar propriety in the case here presented of its 

 interpretation of its own language as contained in the 

 laws of 1873, putting in opperation said treaty, and of 

 1883 directing the termination thereof; and if in the 

 deliberate judgment of Congress any restraint to the 

 proposed legislation exists it is to be hoped that the 

 expediency of its early removal will be recognized. 



I desire also to call "the attention of the Congress to 

 another subject involving such wrongs and unfair 

 treatment to our citizens as, in my opinion, require 

 prompt action. 



The navigation of the Great Lakes and the im- 

 mense business and carrying trade growing out of 

 the same, have been treated broadly and liberally by 

 the United States Government, and made free to all 

 mankind, while Canadian railroads and navigation 

 companies share in our country's transportation 

 upon terms as favorable as arc accorded to our own 

 citizens. 



The canals and other public works built and main- 

 tained by the Government along the line of the lakes 

 are made free to all. 



In contrast to this condition, and evincing a narrow 

 and ungenerous commercial spirit, every lock and 

 canal which is a public work of the Dominion of 

 Canada is subject to tolls and charges. 



By Article XXVII of the treaty of 1871 provision 

 was made to secure to the citizens of the United States 

 the use of the Welland, St. Lawrence, and other 

 canals in the Dominion or Canada, on terms of equal- 

 ity with the inhabitants of the Dominion, and to also 

 secure to the subjects of Great Britain the use of the 

 St. Clair Flats Canal on terms of equality with the 

 inhabitants of the United States. 



The equality with the inhabitants of the Dominion 

 which we were promised in the use of the canals of 

 Canada did not secure to us freedom from tolls in 

 their navigation, but we had a right to expect that 

 we, being Americans and interested in American com- 

 merce, would be no more burdened in regard to the 

 same than Canadians engaged in their own trade ; 

 and the whole spirit of the concession made was, or 

 should have been, that merchandise and property 

 transported to an American market through these 

 canals should not be enhanced in its cost by tolls 

 many times higher than such as were carried to an 

 adjoining Canadian market. All our citizens, pro- 

 ducers and consumers, as well as vessel owners, were 

 to enjoy the equality promised. 



And yet evidence has for some time been before the 

 Congress, furnished by the Secretary of the Treasury, 

 showing that while the tolls charged in the first in- 

 stance are the same to all, such vessels and cargoes as 

 are destined to certain Canadian ports are allowed a 

 refund of nearly the entire tolls, while those bound 

 for American ports are not allowed any such advan- 

 tage. 



To promise equality and then in practice make it 

 conditional upon our vessels doing Canadian business 

 instead of their own is to fulfill a promise with the 

 shadow of performance. 



I recommend that such legislative action be taken 

 as will give Canadian vessels navigating our canals, 

 and their cargoes, precisely the advantages granted to 



our vessels and cargoes upon Canadian canals, and 

 that the same be measured by exactly the same rule 

 of discrimination. 



The course which I have outlined, and the recom- 

 mendations made, relate to the honor and dignity of 

 our country, and the protection and preservation of 

 the rights and interests of all our people. A govern- 

 ment does but half its duty when it protects its citi- 

 zens at home and permits them to be imposed upon 

 and humiliated by the unfair and overreaching dis- 

 position of other nations. If we invite our people to 

 rely upon arrangements made for their benefit abroad, 

 we should see to it that they are not deceived ; and if 

 we arc generous and liberal to a neighboring country, 

 our people should reap the advantage of it by a return 

 of liberality and generosity. 



These are subjects which partisanship should not 

 disturb or confuse. Let us survey the ground calmly 

 and moderately, and, having put aside other means of 

 settlement, if we enter upon the policy of retaliation, 

 let us pursue it firmly, with a determination only to 

 subserve the interests of our people, and maintain the 

 high standard and the becoming pride of American 

 citizenship. GROVEB CLEVELAND. 



EXECUTIVE MANSION, Aug. 23, 1888. 



After the reading of this message in the 

 House of Representatives, a bill such as the 

 President asked for was introduced; on Au- 

 gust 30 it was amended and reported favorably 

 from the committee to which it was referred ; 

 and on September 8 it was passed. But the 

 Senate took no action on the measure, the ma- 

 jority holding that the retaliatory law of 1887, 

 which the President had not used, gave him 

 ample power in the premises. Mr. Sherman, 

 of Ohio, submitted a resolution for an investi- 

 gation of the relations of the United States and 

 Canada, with a view to establishing closer re- 

 lations, but the subject remained undecided at 

 the close of the session. 



Chinese Exclusion. On March 1, 1888, the 

 Senate passed a resolution asking the President 

 to negotiate a treaty with China, providing that 

 no Chinese laborer shall enter the United 

 States. This treaty was negotiated and trans- 

 mitted to the Senate, March 17. That body 

 amended it by adding a provision that Chinese 

 laborers formerly in this country but now 

 absent should be excluded, whether holding 

 certificates to that effect or not. The treaty 

 was then approved, and a measure passed to 

 carry it into effect, which was signed Septem- 

 ber 13. On September 3, after a rumor that 

 the Chinese authorities had refused to ratify 

 the treaty, Mr. Scott, of Pennsylvania, brought 

 forward the following bill in the House of Rep- 

 resentatives : 

 A supplement to an act entitled " An act to execute 



certain treaty stipulations relating to Chinese," 

 approved the 6th day of May, 188'2. 



Be it enacted, etc., That from and after the passage 

 of this act, it shall be unlawful for any Chinese la- 

 borer who shall at any time heretofore have been or 

 may now or hereafter be a resident within the United 

 States, and who shall have departed or shall depart 

 therefronij and shall not have returned before the 

 passage ot this act, to return to or remain in the United 

 States. 



SEC. 2. That no certificates of identity provided 

 for in the fourth or fifth sections of the act to which 

 this is a supplement shall hereafter be issued ; and 

 every certificate heretofore issued in pursuance thereof 



