78 



CALIFORNIA. 



in a civil proceeding, shall forfeit his license to prac- 

 tice law. Xo such foreigner shall be granted license 

 to carry on any business, trade, or occupation in this 

 State, nor shall such license be granted to any per- 

 son or corporation employing them. No such for- 

 eigner shall have the right to catch fish in any of the 

 waters under the jurisdiction of the State; nor to 

 purchase, own, or lease real property in this State ; 

 and all contracts of conveyance or lease of real estate 

 to any such foreigner shall be void. 



SEC. 7. The presence of foreigners ineligible to be- 

 come citizens of the United States is declared herein 

 to be dangerous to the well-being of the State, and 

 the Legislature shall discourage their immigration by 

 all the means within its power. It shall provide for 

 their exclusion from residence or settlement in any 

 portion of the State it may see fit, or from the State, 

 and provide suitable methods, by their taxation or 

 otherwise, for the expense of such exclusion. It shall 

 prescribe suitable penalties for the punishment of 

 persons convicted of introducing them within for- 

 bidden limits. It shall delegate all necessary power 

 to the incorporated cities and towns of this State for 

 their removal without the limits of such cities and 

 towns. 



SEC. 8. Public officers within this State are forbid- 

 den to employ Chinese in any capacity whatever. 

 Violation of this provision shall be ground for re- 

 moval from office ; and no pei'son shall be eligible to 

 any office in this State who, at the time of election 

 and for three months before, employed Chinese. 



SEC. 9. The exercise of the right of suffrage shall 

 be denied to any person employing Chinese in this 

 State, and it shall be a sufficient challenge that the 

 person offering to vote is employing Chinese, or has 

 employed them within three months next preceding 

 the election. 



The objections were urged against these sec- 

 tions by dissentient members of the Committee, 

 that they denied the right of the Chinese to 

 the protection of law ; that it was a plan of 

 starvation by constitutional provision ; that the 

 sections interfered with the rights of American 

 citizens by declaring whom they should em- 

 ploy. It was well known that the principal 

 portion of the Chinese coming to California 

 belonged to dangerous classes. The convic- 

 tions of the Chinese in San Francisco for one 

 year to the 31st of October, 1878, were 2,488. 

 It would cost less to send these convicted 

 criminals out of the State than to keep them 

 in jail. They could be sent away for $15 each. 

 It was not an entire remedy for the Chinese 

 evil, but it was the best thing that could be 

 done under the circumstances. Congress could 

 remove the evil. Not much would come from 

 requesting a modification of the Burlingame 

 treaty. The Chinese were already taking ac- 

 tion to procure delay. It was patent to every 

 observer that China was encouraging this im- 

 migration. Congress could legislate and pre- 

 vent Chinese immigration. This was fully es- 

 tablished, even though it leads to a declaration 

 of war. The state of political parties at pres- 

 ent was favorable for securing such legislation, 

 t had been said that to exclude Chinese from 

 the country was contrary to the policy of the 

 American people, but from the foundation of 

 the Government liberal naturalization laws had 

 only entitled the white race to settle in this 

 country. One fact had always stood out in 

 this republic, that it was a white man's gov- 



ernment for white men. Citizenship had been 

 conferred upon four millions of colored people, 

 but this arose from necessity. The naturaliza- 

 tion laws excluded Orientals from citizenship 

 because it would be a disturbing element in 

 the government. If these people were not 

 adapted to become citizens, there were some 

 arguments against allowing them to become 

 denizens. It was a mistake to suppose that 

 cheap labor was beneficial to a country. There 

 was no need now of fostering immigration, 

 because, by the law of material increase, a 

 healthy, vigorous race doubled itself in twenty- 

 five years. Taking the present population at 

 40,000,000, it may be naturally expected that 

 the population of the United States at the end 

 of the century would be 75,055,000. Chinamen 

 had learned the art of drawing the maximum 

 from the soil and living on the minimum of 

 subsistence. For ten thousand years Chinese 

 had been learning how to live on next to no- 

 thing, working sixteen hours out of twenty- 

 four. Five Chinamen could exist on food suffi- 

 cient for one white laboring man. The white 

 man, therefore, can not compete with him, not 

 without adaptation brought on by training for 

 thousands of years, and no one wanted to see 

 white laborers thus degraded. If the Chinese 

 are to continue coming here, schoolhouses must 

 be pulled down, for white men can not send 

 children to school. Marriage among white peo- 

 ple would cease on account of poverty. Mi- 

 gration could be accounted for by natural law. 

 Starvation had been the great cause in past 

 ages. There were seventy millions of China- 

 men now starving, and the only country open 

 to this starving race is the Pacific States and 

 Territories of the United States. The question 

 was, therefore, a subject deserving the atten- 

 tion of American statesmen. 



A debate continuing two or three days took 

 place, when the report of the Committee was 

 adopted, after very little alteration by the Con- 

 vention. This was chiefly verbal. The im- 

 pression seemed to prevail that the settlement 

 of the question was beyond the power of the 

 State, and that these sections would be de- 

 clared unconstitutional by the courts. 



The proposition to address a memorial to 

 Congress on the subject was approved by the 

 Convention. The folio wing able memorial was 

 reported by the Committee and unanimously 

 adopted by the Convention : 



To the Senate and House of Representatives of the 

 United States : The people of the State of Califor- 

 nia, by their delegates now assembled in Constitu- 

 tional Convention, respectfully present to the Senate 

 and House of Representatives of the United States 

 this memorial, the object and purpose of which is to 

 invoke the exercise of the supreme national authority 

 for relief from Chinese immigration, an evil of such 

 magnitude and of a character so threatening to the 

 highest interests of the State as to excite in the 

 minds of our whole people t the most serious dissatis- 

 faction and alarm. As becomes a people devoted to 

 the national Union, and filled with a profound rev- 

 erence for law, we have repeatedly, by petition and 

 memorial, through the action of our Legislature, and 



