Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 2.djvu/745

 738 FEDEBAIi BEFOBTBB. �offence punishable by imprisonment, while the same acts, performed in the same manner and under the same circum- stances, by other aliena are not an oflfence ; and such other aliens are exempt from the punishments denounced by the law against them. It is impossible, tberefore, to say that the Chinese "enjoy the same privileges, immunities, and ex- emptions" as are "enjoyed by the citizens or subjects of the most favored nation, " as is stipulated they shall by the treaty, or that the "state," by this act, does not "deny" to them "the equal protection of the laws," contrary to the fourteenth amendment to the national constitution. �While it is not very likely that the act in question was in fact intended by its framers to apply to any but Chinese, yet, owing to carelessness in the phraseology used, others than Chinese may have occasion to invoke the national constitu- tion for their protection. The language is : "Ail aliens incap- able of becoming electors of this state are hereby prohibited from fishiag," etc. By article 2 of the constitution the right of suffrage is limited to "maie persons;" so that ail alien women are "incapalle of becoming electors," and, being so, are within the terms of the statute; so that German, French, Italian, English, and Irish women, before becoming citizens, are forbidden to take fish, shrimps, lobsters, oysters, etc., in the waters of California. So, also, under the act of April 12, before cited, it is provided that "no license to transact any business or occupation shall be granted or issued by the state, or any county or city, or city and county, or town, or any municipal corporation, to any alien not eligïble to become an elector of the state,-" and the violation of this provision is made a punishable offence. So that, under the terms of this act, it is an offence to grant or issue a "license to transact any business or occupation" to any alien Caucasian woman; and alien women of European extraction will be unable to engage in any such "business or occupation" as requires a license. A similar infelicity of expression is found in article 2 of the constitution, relating to the right of suffrage, in which it ia provided "that no native of China • * * shall ever exer- cise the privileges of an elector in this state," without regard ����