No. 136.
Mr. Porter to Mr.
Cheng Tsao Ju.
Department of State,
Washington, September 19,
1885.
Sir: I have the honor to advert to the
Department’s note to you of the 11th ultimo, and with reference to that
portion of it touching the application of the second rule of the
Treasury circular, of December 6, 1884, in regard to the issuance by
United States consular officers of certificates to Chinese subjects, not
laborers, about to return to the United States, and your request for a
fixed form of certificate to obviate difficulties experienced in the
past, I desire to say that I am informed by recent letter from the
Treasury Department that there appears to be no objection to the
issuance by the consular officers of this Government of suitable
certificates to Chinese persons, other than laborers, who, under the
provisions of paragraph 2 of Treasury circular No. 7, dated January 14,
1885, are permitted to land in the United States on the production of
any evidence satisfactory to the collector of customs at the port of
entry, subject, of course, to the two amendments to that circular
mentioned in the Treasury circular, No. 7016, of July 13, 1885, by
striking out from paragraph 5 the last sentence commencing with the
words “or if there be no such Chinese officer,” and by inserting in the
first sentence of paragraph 6 the words “at the date of the treaty”
after the words “united States.” Under these circumstances, therefore,
the Treasury Department is of opinion that no particular form of proof
is necessary.
That the situation may be the better understood, I have deemed it proper
to append hereto copies of the Treasury circulars No. 174, of December
6, 1884, and No. 7, of January 14, 1885; also a copy of No. 7016, dated
July 13, 1885, amending the same, all of which have been kindly
furnished by the Treasury authorities.
Accept, sir, &c.,
JAS. D. PORTER,
Acting
Secretary.
[Page 192]
[Inclosure 1.]
circular relating to chinese persons coming
to the united states.
Treasury Department, Office of the
Secretary,
Washington, D.
C., December 6,
1884.
To Officers of the Customs and
others:
To promote uniformity in the admission of Chinese persons of the
exempt class, under the act of July 5, 1884, the following rules are
prescribed:
- (1)
- Chinese persons, other than laborers, who are now, or who
may hereafter be, lawfully within the United States, and who
may desire to depart from and return to the United States,
may do so on production of a certificate corresponding to
that required by section 6, of the act of July 5, 1884, to
be issued by a Chinese consular officer stationed within the
United States.
- Certificates issued under the act of May 6, 1882, and
decision 6240, before the passage of said act of 1884, are
to be regarded as having the same effect as if said act of
1884 had not been passed.
- (2)
- Chinese subjects, not laborers, desiring to come to the
United States from countries other than China, may do so on
production of a certificate corresponding to that required
by section 6 of the act of July 5, 1884, to be issued by a
Chinese diplomatic or consular officer, if there be one at
the port of departure, countersigned by a United States
consular officer, or, if there be no such Chinese officer
stationed at such port, on a like certificate to be issued
by a United States consular officer.
- (3)
- The regulations contained in decision 5544, and dated
January 23, 1885, relative to the transit of Chinese
laborers through the territory of the United States, will be
applied to all Chinese persons intending to so go in transit
through the United States.
- (4)
- Chinese persons who may be compelled to touch at ports of
the United States in transit to foreign countries, may be
permitted to land under the regulations of January 23, 1883
(S. 5544), so far as the same may be applicable, such
persons to take passage by the next vessel leaving for their
destination or the voyage of which may form part of the
route necessary to carry them to their destination.
[Inclosure 2.]
circular—chinese persons coming to the united
states.
Office of the Secretary, Treasury
Department,
Washington, D.
C., January 14,
1885.
To Officers of the Customs and
others:
The following regulations relating to the rights of Chinese laborers
to enter the United States are deemed to be in accordance with the
recent decision of the Supreme Court in the case of Chew Heong,
plaintiff in error, vs. The United States,
and the existing regulations relating to the admission of Chinese
persons other than laborers into the United States are restated and
modified for your information and government:
- (1)
- Chinese laborers lawfully residing in the United States
and who left the United States by sea after the passage of
the act of July 5, 1884, are entitled to enter the United
States only upon the production of the certificate
prescribed in section 4 of that act, or of the certificate
prescribed in section 5 of the act of May 6, 1882, in case
they depart by land.
- (2)
- The fourth section of the act of May 6, 1882, as amended
by the act July 5, 1884, prescribing the certificate which
shall be produced by a Chinese laborer as the only evidence
permissible to establish his right of re-entry into the
United States, is not applicable to Chinese laborers who,
residing in this country at the date of the treaty of
November 17, 1880, departed by sea before May 6, 1882, and
remained out of the United States until after July 5, 1884,
and such persons may be permitted to land without any
certificate upon production of evidence satisfactory to the
collector of such facts.
- (3)
- Chinese laborers residing in this country at the date of
the treaty of November 17, 1880, or who shall have come into
the same before the expiration of ninety days next after the
passage of the act of May 6, 1882, and who left the United
States before the passage of the act of July 5, 1884, are
entitled to re-enter the United States upon the production
of the certificates prescribed by sections 4 and 5 of the
act of May 6, 1882. Certificates issued under the act of May
6, 1862, and decision 6240, before the passage of said act
of 1884, are to be regarded as having the same effect as if
said act of 1884 had not been passed.
- (4)
- Chinese persons other than laborers coming to the United
States for the first
[Page 193]
time from China can be permitted to enter the United
States only upon the production of the certificate
prescribed by section 6 of the act of July 5, 1884, such
certificate being the sole evidence permissible on the part
of the person so producing the same to establish a right of
entry into the United States.
- (5)
- Chinese subjects, not laborers, desiring to come to the
United States from countries other than China may do so on
production of a certificate corresponding to that required
by section 6 of the act of July 5, 1884, to be issued by a
Chinese diplomatic or consular officer, if there be one at
the port of departure, countersigned by a United States
consular officer; or, if there be no such
Chinese officer stationed at such port, on a like
certificate to be issued by a United States consular
officer.*
- (6)
- Section 6 of the act of 1884 does not apply to Chinese
persons other than laborers lawfully in the United
States.† Such persons are, by
treaty, entitled “to come and go of their own free will and
accord,” and when they leave the United States are entitled
to re-enter on any evidence satisfactory to the collector
that they are not Chinese laborers.
- For the convenience of such persons and of the customs
officers and others, such persons who may desire to depart
from and return to the United States may enter the United
States on production of a certificate corresponding to that
required by section 6 of the act of July 5, 1884, to be
issued by the collector of customs of the port of departure,
which certificate may be prima facie
evidence of a right to enter the United States.
- (7)
- The regulations contained in decision 5544, and dated
January 23, 1883, relative to the transit of Chinese
laborers through the territory of the United States, will be
applied to all Chinese persons intending to so go in transit
through the United States.
- (8)
- Chinese persons who may be compelled to touch at the ports
of the United. States in transit to foreign countries, may
be permitted to land under the regulations of January 23,
1883 (S., 5544), so far as the same may be applicable, such
persons to take passage by the next vessel leaving for their
destination or the voyage of which may form part of the
route necessary to carry them to their destination.
[Inclosure 3.]
circular relating to chinese persons coming
to the united states.
Treasury Department, July 13, 1885.
Collector of Customs, San Francisco, Cal.:
Sir: Referring to your communication of the
3d ultimo, relative to the regulations concerning Chinese persons
coming to the United States, I inclose herewith a copy of an opinion
obtained, under date of the 6th instant, from the Solicitor of the
Treasury upon the subject.
You will perceive that most of the provisions of the regulations as
restated and modified by circular No. 7, of the 14th of January
last, are found to be fully in accordance with the law as expounded
by the United States courts and the Attorney-General, and that the
circular requires in two particulars only amendment (as indicated in
red ink on a copy of the circular, also herewith inclosed), by
striking out from paragraph 5 the last sentence, commencing with the
words “or if there be no such Chinese officer,” and by inserting in
the first sentence of paragraph 6 the words “at the date of the
treaty” after the words “United States.”
You will consider the circular as amended in the particulars
mentioned.
Very respectfully,
C. S. FAIRCHILD,
Acting
Secretary.
