Mr. Hay to Mr. Nabeshima.
Washington, June 25, 1900.
Sir: Referring to your notes Nos. 22 and 23 of the 7th and 12th instant, respectively, and to the Department’s notes Nos. 39 and 11 of the 11th and 18th instant, respectively, in reply, on the subject of the alleged discrimination against Japanese subjects in the enforcement of quarantine measures at San Francisco and in Colorado as a precaution against bubonic plague, I have the honor to inform you that the Department is in receipt of a letter from the Secretary of the Treasury, dated the 21st instant, inclosing a report on the subject by the Surgeon-General of the Marine-Hospital Service. The report is dated the 21st instant.
In his report the Surgeon-General, after referring to the information contained in his letter of June 3, a copy of which was sent to you with the Department’s note of the 6th instant, says that upon the issuing of an injunction by the United States court in San Francisco, May 28, any measure that might be construed as a discrimination against any race was forbidden by his bureau in terms; that later, upon an order of the same court, all quarantine restrictions were removed by the local authorities of San Francisco within that State, and that subsequently, upon the advice of the United States district attorney, the bureau directed Surgeon Kinyoun to remove all quarantine restrictions of any character whatsoever which were in force against the State of California.
The Surgeon-General adds that there remains, therefore, so far as the Marine-Hospital Service is concerned, no quarantine restriction imposed upon travel within the State of California or from California to any other State.
With reference to the statements in your note of the 7th instant to the effect that the action of the health authorities of Colorado is most extraordinary and unusual, and that the rule adopted by them is an unjustifiable discrimination against Japanese subjects, the Surgeon-General says that the health regulations of Colorado, as well as those of Texas and Louisiana, have been adopted by those States in their independent capacity, and that his bureau has no connection therewith.
Accept, etc.,