388 



IMHIGKATIOX, CHINESE. 



books shall be safely kept in the custom-house ; and 

 every such Chinese laborer so departing from the 

 United States shall be entitled to, and shall receive, 

 free of any charge or cost, upon application therefor, 

 from the collector or his deputy at the time such list 

 is taken, a certificate signed by _the collector or his 

 deputy and attested by his seal of office, in such form 

 as the Secretary of the Treasury shall prescribe, 

 which certificate shall contain a statement of the 

 name, age, occupation, last place of residence, per- 

 sonal description, and facts of identification of the 

 Chinese laborer to whom the certificate is issued, 

 corresponding with the said list and registry in all 

 particulars. In case any Chinese laborer, after having 

 received such certificate, shall leave such vessel before 

 her departure, he shall deliver his certificate to the 

 master of the vessel, and if such Chinese laborer shall 

 fail to retum to such vessel before her departure from 

 port, the certificate shall be delivered by the master to 

 the collector of customs for cancellation. The cer- 

 tificate herein provided for shall entitle the Chinese 

 laborer to whom the same is issued to return to and 

 re-enter the United States upon producing and deliv- 

 ering the same to the collector of customs of the dis- 

 trict at which such Chinese laborer shall seek to re- 

 enter ; and upon delivery of such certificate by such 

 Chinese laborer to the collector of customs at the time 

 of re-entry in the United States, said collector shall 

 cause the same to be filed in the custom-house, and 

 duly canceled. 



CHINESE LABORERS. By section 5 any Chi- 

 nese laborer mentioned in section 4, being in 

 the United States and desiring to depart by 

 land, is entitled, free of charge, to a certificate 

 of identification similar to that provided for in 

 section 4 in case of such lahorer desiring to 

 leave by water. 



Section 6 is as follows : 



That in order to the faithful execution of Articles I 

 and II of the treaty in this act before mentioned, every 

 Chinese person other than a laborer who may be en- 

 titled by said treaty and this act to come within the 

 United States, and who shall be about to come to the 

 United States, shall be identified as so entitled by the 

 Chinese Government in each case, such identity to be 

 evidenced by a certificate issued under the authority 

 of said Government, which certificate shall be in the 

 English language, or (if not in the English language) 

 accompanied by a translation into English, stating 

 such right to come, and which certificate shall state 

 the name, title, or official rank, if any, the age, height, 

 and all physical peculiarities, former and present 



person - , - - ... . _. 



treaty in this act mentioned, to come within the 

 United States. Such certificate shall be prima facie 

 evidence of the fact set forth therein, and shall be 

 produced to the collector of customs, or his deputy, 

 of the port in the district of the United States at 

 which the person named therein shall arrive. 



Section 7 subjects to a fine not exceeding 

 $1,000, and imprisonment for not more than 

 five years, any person who shall make or 

 knowingly use a fraudulent certificate. 



Section 8 requires lists of Chinese passen- 

 gers on vessels arriving at ports of the United 

 States to be kept and delivered by masters of 

 such vessels to collectors of customs. 



By section 9 collectors are required to exam- 

 ine and compare certificates and lists. 



Section 10 provides for the forfeiture to the 

 United States of vessels violating the provis- 

 ions of the act. 



Section 11 declares that "any person who 



shall knowingly bring into or cause to be 

 brought into the United States by land, or 

 who shall knowingly aid or abet the same, or 

 aid or abet the landing in the United States 

 from any vessel of any Chinese person not 

 lawfully entitled to enter the United States, 

 shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and 

 shall, on conviction thereof, be fined in a sum 

 not exceeding $1,000, and imprisoned for a 

 term not exceeding one year." Section 12 is 

 as follows: 



That no Chinese person shall be permitted to enter 

 the United States by land without producing to the 

 proper officer of customs the certificate in this act re- 

 quired of Chinese persons seeking to land from a ves- 

 sel. And any Chinese person found unlawfully within 

 the United States shall oe caused to be removed there- 

 from to the countrv from which he came, by direction 

 of the President of the United States, and at the cost 

 of the United States, after being brought before some 

 iustice, judge, or commissioner of a court of the 

 United States, and found to be one not lawfully en- 

 titled to be or remain in the United States. 



Section 13 exempts from the provision of 

 the act officers of the Chinese Government 

 traveling on business of that Government, and 

 makes their credentials equivalent to the pre- 

 scribed certificate. The servants of such offi- 

 cers are also exempt. Section 14 declares that 

 no State court or court of the United States 

 shall admit Chinese to citizenship. By section 

 15 " Chinese laborers " as used in the act shall 

 be taken to mean " both skilled and unskilled 

 laborers, and Chinese employed in mining." 



JUDICIAL INTERPRETATION : CASE OF An SING. 

 The provisions of this law have been the 

 subject of judicial interpretation in several 

 important cases. In the case of Ah Sing, heard 

 in the United States Circuit Court in California 

 in August, 1882, by Justice Field, of the United 

 States Supreme Court, and Circuit Judge Saw- 

 yer, it was held that the prohibition of the 

 act does not apply to a Chinese seaman who 

 shipped on an American vessel leaving the 

 United States before the passage of the act, 

 and returning from a foreign port after the 

 act went into effect. The facts proved were that 

 Ah Sing, a subject of the Emperor of China, 

 had come to this country six years ago. On 

 May 5, 1882, he shipped as a cabin waiter on 

 the American steamer City of Sydney, which 

 left San Francisco for a voyage to Australia 

 and returned to San Francisco August 8th. 

 The Act of Congress being then in force, the 

 master of the vessel refused to land Ah Sing, 

 whereupon the case was brought before the 

 Circuit Court on a writ of habeas corpus. The 

 law on this point was interpreted by Justice 

 Field as follows : 



We do not, however, find any difficulty in arriving 

 at the meaning of the act. Its provisions are plain. 

 The master of a vessel is prohibited from bringing 

 within the United States, and landing or permitting 

 to be landed, any Chinese laborer from any foreign 

 port or place; and that means, from bringing any 

 Chinese laborer embarking at a foreign port or place. 

 The prohibition does not apply to the bringing of a 

 laborer already on board of the vessel when it touches 

 at a foreign port. When we speak of merchandise as 



