Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 1.djvu/503

 IN BB TIBURCIO P^EROTT. 495 �county, municipal, or other public work, except in punishment for crime. �"Sec. 4. The presence of foreigners ineligible to become citizens is declared to be dangerous to the well-being of this state, and the legislature shali discourage their immigration by ail the means within its power * * * *." �The end proposed to be attained by this extraordinary ar- ticle is clearly and even ostentatiously avowed. Its title proclaims that it is directed against the Ghinese. It forbids their employment by any but private individuals, and when through the operation of the laws they shall have become, or be liable to become, vagrants, paupers, mendicants, or crim- inals, the legislature is directed to provide for their removal from the state if they fail to oomply with such conditions as it may prescribe for their continued residence. �The f ramers of the article do not seem to have relied upon the efficacy of the provisions imposing such extensive restric- tions upon the rights of the proscribed race to labor for their living, to reduce them to the condition of vagrants, paupers, mendicants, or criminals, or persons who "may become" Buch. The legislature is directed to impose conditions of resi- dence, and provide for the removal of "alien$ otherwise dan- gerous or detrimental to the well-being or peace of the State," and lest any doubt or hesitation should be felt as to the pro- priety of including wealthy and respectable Ghinese in this class, the fourth section declares "the presence of foreigners ineligible to become citizens of the United States" (i. e., the Ghinese) to be "dangerous to the well-being of the state." And the legislature is directed to "discourage their immigra- tion by ail the means within its power. " �Would it be belieyed possible, if the fact did not so sternly oonfront us, that such legislation as this could be directed . against a race whose right freely to emigrate to this country, and reside here with ail "the privileges, immunities, and •xemptions of the most favored nation," has been recognized and guaranteed by a solemn treaty of the United States, which not only engages the honor of the national govem- ��� �