Forty-Seventh Congress. Session I. 1882
Chapter 126.-An act to execute certain treaty stipulations
relating to Chinese.
Preamble. Whereas, in the opinion of the Government
of the United States the coming of Chinese laborers
to this country endangers the good order of certain
localities within the territory thereof:
Therefore,
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives
of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
That from and after the expiration of ninety days
next after the passage of this act, and until the
expiration of ten years next after the passage of
this act, the coming of Chinese laborers to the
United States be, and the same is hereby, suspended;
and during such suspension it shall not be lawful
for any Chinese laborer to come, or, having so come
after the expiration of said ninety days, to remain
within the United States.
SEC. 2. That the master of any vessel who shall
knowingly bring within the United States on such
vessel, and land or permit to be landed, and Chinese
laborer, from any foreign port of place, shall be
deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction
thereof shall be punished by a fine of not more
than five hundred dollars for each and every such
Chinese laborer so brought, and may be also imprisoned
for a term not exceeding one year.
SEC. 3. That the two foregoing sections shall not
apply to Chinese laborers who were in the United
States on the seventeenth day of November, eighteen
hundred and eighty, or who shall have come into
the same before the expiration of ninety days next
after the passage of this act, and who shall produce
to such master before going on board such vessel,
and shall produce to the collector of the port in
the United States at which such vessel shall arrive,
the evidence hereinafter in this act required of
his being one of the laborers in this section mentioned;
nor shall the two foregoing sections apply to the
case of any master whose vessel, being bound to
a port not within the United States by reason of
being in distress or in stress of weather, or touching
at any port of the United States on its voyage to
any foreign port of place: Provided, That all Chinese
laborers brought on such vessel shall depart with
the vessel on leaving port.
SEC. 4. That for the purpose of properly indentifying
Chinese laborers who were in the United States on
the seventeenth day of November, eighteen hundred
and eighty, or who shall have come into the same
before the expiration of ninety days next after
the passage of this act, and in order to furnish
them with the proper evidence of their right to
go from and come to the United States of their free
will and accord, as provided by the treaty between
the United States and China dated November seventeenth,
eighteen hundred and eighty, the collector of customs
of the district from which any such Chinese laborer
shall depart from the United States shall, in person
or by deputy, go on board each vessel having on
board any such Chinese laborer and cleared or about
to sail from his district for a foreign port, and
on such vessel make a list of all such Chinese laborers,
which shall be entered in registry-books to be kept
for that purpose, in which shall be stated the name,
age, occupation, last place of residence, physical
marks or peculiarities, and all facts necessary
for the indentification of each of such Chinese
laborers, which books shall be safely kept in the
custom-house; and every such Chinese laborer so
departing from the United States shall be entitled
to, and shall receive, free of any charge or cost
upon application therefor, from the collector or
his deputy, at the time such list is taken, a certificate,
signed by the collector or his deputy and attested
by his seal of office, in such form as the Secretary
of the Treasury shall prescribe, which certificate
shall contain a statement of the name, age, occupation,
last place of residence, personal description, and
fact of identification of the Chinese laborer to
whom the certificate is issued, corresponding with
the said list and registry in all particulars. In
case any Chinese laborer after having received such
certificate shall leave such vessel before her departure
he shall deliver his certificate to the master of
the vessel, and if such Chinese laborer shall fail
to return to such vessel before her departure from
port the certificate shall be delivered by the master
to the collector of customs for cancellation. The
certificate herein provided for shall entitle the
Chinese laborer to whom the same is issued to return
to and re-enter the United States upon producing
and delivering the same to the collector of customs
of the district at which such Chinese laborer shall
seek to re-enter; and upon delivery of such certificate
by such Chinese laborer to the collector of customs at the time of re-entry in the United States, said
collector shall cause the same to be filed in the
custom house and duly canceled.
SEC. 5. That any Chinese laborer mentioned in section
four of this act being in the United States, and
desiring to depart from the United States by land,
shall have the right to demand and receive, free
of charge or cost, a certificate of indentification
similar to that provided for in section four of
this act to be issued to such Chinese laborers as
may desire to leave the United States by water;
and it is hereby made the duty of the collector
of customs of the district next adjoining the foreign
country to which said Chinese laborer desires to
go to issue such certificate, free of charge or
cost, upon application by such Chinese laborer,
and to enter the same upon registry-books to be
kept by him for the purpose, as provided for in
section four of this act.
SEC. 6. That in order to the faithful execution
of articles one and two of the treaty in this act
before mentioned, every Chinese person other than
a laborer who may be entitled by said treaty and
this act to come within the United States, and who
shall be about to come to the United States, shall
be identified as so entitled by the Chinese Government
in each case, such identity to be evidenced by a
certificate issued under the authority of said government,
which certificate shall be in the English language
or (if not in the English language) accompanied
by a translation into English, stating such right
to come, and which certificate shall state the name,
title, or official rank, if any, the age, height,
and all physical peculiarities, former and present
occupation or profession, and place of residence
in China of the person to whom the certificate is
issued and that such person is entitled conformably
to the treaty in this act mentioned to come within
the United States. Such certificate shall be prima-facie
evidence of the fact set forth therein, and shall
be produced to the collector of customs, or his
deputy, of the port in the district in the United
States at which the person named therein shall arrive.
SEC. 7. That any person who shall knowingly and
falsely alter or substitute any name for the name
written in such certificate or forge any such certificate,
or knowingly utter any forged or fraudulent certificate,
or falsely personate any person named in any such
certificate, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor;
and upon conviction thereof shall be fined in a
sum not exceeding one thousand dollars, an imprisoned
in a penitentiary for a term of not more than five
years.
SEC. 8. That the master of any vessel arriving
in the United States from any foreign port or place
shall, at the same time he delivers a manifest of
the cargo, and if there be no cargo, then at the
time of making a report of the entry of vessel pursuant
to the law, in addition to the other matter required
to be reported, and before landing, or permitting
to land, any Chinese passengers, deliver and report
to the collector of customs of the district in which
such vessels shall have arrived a separate list
of all Chinese passengers taken on board his vessel
at any foreign port or place, and all such passengers
on board the vessel at that time. Such list shall
show the names of such passengers (and if accredited
officers of the Chinese Government traveling on
the business of that government, or their servants,
with a note of such facts), and the name and other
particulars, as shown by their respective certificates;
and such list shall be sworn to by the master in
the manner required by law in relation to the manifest
of the cargo. Any willful refusal or neglect of
any such master to comply with the provisions of
this section shall incur the same penalties and
forfeiture as are provided for a refusal or neglect
to report and deliver a manifest of cargo.
SEC. 9. That before any Chinese passengers are
landed from any such vessel, the collector, or his
deputy, shall proceed to examine such passengers,
comparing the certificates with the list and with
the passengers; and no passenger shall be allowed
to land in the United States from such vessel in
violation of law.
SEC. 10. That every vessel whose master shall knowingly
violate any of the provisions of this act shall
be deemed forfeited to the United States, and shall
be liable to seizure and condemnation on any district
of the United States into which such vessel may
enter or in which she may be found.
SEC. 11. That any person who shall knowingly bring
into or cause to be brought into the United States
by land, or who shall knowingly aid or abet the
same, or aid or abet the landing in the United States
from any vessel of any Chinese person not lawfully
entitled to enter the United States, shall be deemed
guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall, on conviction
thereof, be fined in a sum not exceeding one thousand
dollars, and imprisoned for a term not exceeding
one year.
SEC. 12. That no Chinese person shall be permitted
to enter the United States by land without producing
to the proper officer of customs the certificate
in this act required of Chinese persons seeking
to land from a vessel. And any Chinese person found
unlawfully within the United States shall be caused
to be removed therefrom to the country from whence
he came, by direction of the United States, after
being brought before some justice, judge, or commissioner
of a court of the United States and found to be
one not lawfully entitled to be or remain in the
United States.
SEC. 13. That this act shall not apply to diplomatic
and other officers of the Chinese Government traveling
upon the business of that government, whose credentials
shall be taken as equivalent to the certificate
in this act mentioned, and shall exempt them and
their body and household servants from the provisions
of this act as to other Chinese persons.
SEC. 14. That hereafter no State court or court
of the United States shall admit Chinese to citizenship;
and all laws in conflict with this act are hereby
repealed.
SEC. 15. That the words "Chinese laborers",
whenever used in this act, shall be construed to
mean both skilled and unskilled laborers and Chinese
employed in mining.
Approved, May 6, 1882.