Page:The National Geographic Magazine Vol 16 1905.djvu/616

Rh their detailed negotiations, which were fully reported to their government, will show that they made no other demands. After receiving most sacred assurances that the restriction shall be "reasonable, and not absolute prohibition," the Chinese government gave consent to the American government's demands. This was considered at the time by the American Commissioners, as their official reports show, as a concession from the Chinese government without any ''quid pro quo''. The Chinese government had good reason to believe that the question would be handled with due leniency, and that the American people would not take advantage of their good nature.

Fourteen years elapsed, and the American government by resolution of the Senate again sought to negotiate a modification of the treaty with the Chinese government. The treaty of 1894, which expired December last by limitation, containing a provision that no Chinese laborer shall enter the United States, was the result. It should be stated that there is no indication in this resolution that the Senate desired the exclusion of any other class of Chinese than laborers. It is evident that the object of the American government was to secure, and the consent of the Chinese government was given to, the prohibition of Chinese laborers only, and no other class. During more than a score of years of restriction and prohibition, abuses have sprung up on both sides. Time will not permit me to enumerate the numerous cases of hardship and unjust treatment of which the exempt classes of Chinese have been made the victims because of the overzealousness of some United States government officials in discharging their duty in keeping out the prohibited class of Chinese. Suffice it to say that prior to the President's order of last June it had so stirred up the feeling of the Chinese people that the boycott against American goods was the regrettable consequence.

In compliance with the wishes of the American government, the Chinese government has issued an imperial decree, warning the people to respect every treaty stipulation under penalty of severe punishment, and urging them to suppress the boycott pending action of Congress to relieve the situation, and the provincial authorities have issued similar proclamations. The Chinese government, while viewing with concern the exclusion of Chinese laborers under undue discrimination is, nevertheless, not unwilling to take into consideration the condition of things alleged to exist in this country. But aside from the laboring class, all other classes should be admitted, and should receive the same treatment as is accorded to similar classes of Europeans entering this "land of freedom." As the laws and the immigration regulations stand today, aside from the five classes named in the expired treaty of 1894, namely, students, merchants, teachers, travelers, and officials, the following classes of Chinese cannot enter the United States, to wit, bankers, lawyers, journalists, priests and the clergy, physicians, dentists, insurance agents, brokers, and traveling commercial agents. Nothing was farther than this from the thought of the original negotiators.

In fact, the laws on the subject seem to be in such a state of hopeless confusion that different attorneys-general have rendered conflicting opinions as to the meaning of certain vital requirements, with the result that the regulations, which should be intended merely to carry into effect the provisions of the laws, impose conditions additional to the laws and unwarranted requirements, which have the force of legal enactments. In consequence Chinese subjects have been made to suffer great hardship in their attempt to land in the United States, and after being admitted they have been incessantly harassed by immigration agents of the government