CONGRESS. (CHINESE EXCLUSION THE DIRECT-TAX BILL.) 



229 



he enabled to return to this country, should be grant- 

 ed by the Chinese consul instead uf the United States 

 collector, as had he-en provided in the treaty. 



The obvious and necessary effect of this last propo- 

 sition would be practically 'to place the execution of 

 the treaty beyond the control of the United States. 



Article I of the treaty proposed to be so materially 

 altered, had, in the course of the negotiations. bn-n 

 settled in acquiescence with the request of the Chi- 

 nese plenipotentiary, and to his expressed satisfaction. 



In 1886, as appears in the documents heretofore re- 

 ferred to, the Chinese Foreign Office had formally 

 proposed to our minister strict exclusion of Chinese 

 laborers from the United States without limitation; 

 and had otherwise and more definitely stated that no 

 term whatever for exclusion was necessary, for the 

 reason that China would of itself take steps to pre- 

 vent its laborers from coming to the United States. 



In the course of negotiations that followed, sugges- 

 tions from the same ^quarter led to the insertion in 

 behalf of the United States of a term of "thirty 

 years." and this term, upon the representations of 

 the Chinese plenipotentiary, was reduced to *' twenty 

 years," and finally so aarreed upon. 



Article II was wholly of Chinese origination, and 

 to that alone owes its presence in the treaty. 



And it is here pertinent to remark that everywhere 

 in the United States laws for the collection of debt-* 

 are equally available to all creditors without respect 

 to race, sex, nationality, or place of residence, and 

 equally with the citizens or subjects of the most 

 favored nations and with the citizens of the United 

 States recovery can be had in any court of iustice in 

 the United States by a subject of China, whether of 

 the laboring or any other class. 



Xo disability accrues from non-residence of a plain- 

 tiff, whose claim can be enforced in the usual way by 

 him or his assignee or attorney in our courts of justice. 



In this respect it can not be alleged that there ex- 

 ists the slightest discrimination against Chinese sub- 

 :md it is a notable fact that large trading-firms 

 and companies and individual merchants and traders 

 of that nation are profitably established at numerous 

 points throughout the Union, in whose hands every 

 claim transmitted by an absent Chinaman of a jus't 

 and lawful nature could be completely enforced. 



The admitted and paramount right and duty of 

 every government to exclude from its borders all'ele- 

 ments of foreign population which for any reason re- 

 tard its prosperity or are detrimental to tlie moral and 

 physical health of its people, must be regarded as a 

 recognized canon of international law and intercourse. 

 China herself has not dissented from this doctrine, 

 but has, by the expressions to which 1 have referred, 

 led us confidently to rely upon such action on her 

 part in co-operation with us as would enforce the ex- 

 clusion of Chinese laborers from our country. 



This co-operation has not, however, been accorded 

 us. Thus from the unexpected and disappointing re- 

 fusal of the Chinese Government to confirm the acts 

 of its authorized agent and to carry into effect an in- 

 ternational agreement, the main feature of which was 

 voluntarily presented by that Government for our ac- 

 ceptance, and which had been the subject of loner 

 and careful deliberation, an emergency has arisen in 

 which the Government of the United 'States is called 

 upon to act in self-defense by the exercise of it- 

 lative power. I can not but regard the expressed de- 

 mand on the part of China for a re-examination and 

 renewed discussion of the topics so completely cov- 

 ered by mutual treaty stipulations as an indefinite 

 postponement and practical abandonment of the ob- 

 jects we have in view, to which the Government of 

 China may justly be considered as pledjred. 



The facts and circumstances which I have narrated 

 lead me, in the performance of what seems to me to 

 be my official duty, to join the Congress in dealing 

 legislatively with the question of the exclusion of 

 Chinese laborers, in lieu of further attempts to adjust 

 it by international agreement. 



But while thus exercising our undoubted right in 

 the interests of our people and for the general welfare 

 of our country, justice and fairness seem to require 

 that some provision >hould be made by act or joint 

 resolution, under which such Chinese laborers as 

 shall actually have embarked on their return to the 

 United States before the passage of the law this 

 day approved, and are now on their way, mav be 

 permitted to land provided they have duly and law- 

 fully obtained and shall present certificates heretofore 

 issued permitting them to return in accordance with 

 the provisions of existing law. 



Xor should our recourse to legislative measures of 

 exclusion cause us to retire from the oifer we have 

 made to indemnify such Chinese subjects as have 

 suffered damage tfirough violence in the remote and 

 comparatively unsettled portions of our country at the 

 hands of lawless men. Therefore I recommend that, 

 without acknowledging legal liability therefor, but 

 because it was stipulated in the treaty which has 

 failed to take effect, and in a spirit of humanity befit- 

 ting our nation, there be appropriated the sum of 

 19.75, pa vable to the Chinese minister at this 

 capital on behalf of his Government as full indemnity 

 for all losses and injuries sustained by Chinese sub- 

 jects in the manner and under the circumstances men- 

 tioned. GROVER CLEVELAND. 



EXECUTIVE MANSION, Oct. 1, 1888. 



The Direct-Tax Bill. The liveliest episode of 

 the session was the struggle in the House of 

 Representatives over the bill to pay back the 

 direct tax levied by the Government in 1861 

 and onlv partially collected. It was passed by 

 the Senate, Jan. 18, 1888, as follows : 



Be it enacted, etc., That it shall be the duty of the 

 Secretary of the Treasury to credit to each State and 

 Territory of the United States and the District of Co- 

 lumbia a sum equal to all collections made from said 

 States and Territories and the District of Columbia, 

 or from any of the citizens or inhabitants thereof, or 

 other persons, under the act of Congress, approved 

 Aug. 5, 1861, and the amendatory acts thereto. 



SEC. 2. That all moneys still due to the United 

 States on the quota of direct tax apportioned by sec- 

 tion 8 of the act of Congress approved Aug. 5, 1861, 

 are hereby remitted and relinquished. 



SEC. 3. 'That there is hereby appropriated, out of 

 any monev in the Treasury not otherwise appropri- 

 ated, such sums as may be necessary to reimburse 

 each State, Territory, and the District of Columbia 

 for all money found due to them under the provisions 

 of this act ; and the Treasurer of the United States is 

 hereby directed to pay the same to the governors of 

 the States and Temto'ries and to the commissioners 

 of the District of Columbia : Pr&ridtd, That where 

 the sums, or any part thereof, credited to any State, 

 Territory, or the District of Columbia, have been col- 

 lected by the United States from the citizens or in- 

 habitants thereof, or any other person, either directly 

 or by sale of property, such sums shall be held in 

 trust by such State. Territory, or the District of Co- 

 lumbia' for the benefit of those persons or inhabitants 

 from whom they were collected, or their legal repre- 

 sentatives : Ami provided further , That no part of 

 the money collected from individuals and to be held 

 in trust as aforesaid shall be retained by the United 

 States as a set-off asrainst any indebtedness alleged to 

 exist against the State, Territory, or District of Co- 

 lumbia in which such tax was collected: And pro- 

 r>irther. That no part of the money hereby ap- 

 propriated shall be paia out by the governor of any 

 State or Territory, or any other person, to any attor- 

 ney or agent under any contract for scrvice> now ex- 

 isting or heretofore made between the representative 

 of any State or Territory and any attorney or airent. 

 All claims under the trust hereby created shall be 

 filed with the governor of such Sta'te or Territory and 

 the commissioners of the District of Columbia, re- 



