The 'Ticket-of-Leave' Law: A New Era of Exclusion
New federal legislation mandates that Chinese laborers must register and carry certificates to remain in the country, a move critics denounce as treaty-breaking.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The new anti-Chinese act that has now become a law does not contain the obnoxious and treaty-breaking provisions that were incorporated in the Geary bill. It continues the present law in force, but adds provisions that are expected to make its enforcement less difficult. The authority to refuse bail in habeas corpus cases is one of those provisions, and the requirement that every Chinese shall register and obtain a certificate of his right to remain here is another. Senator Sherman said he regarded the provision requiring every Chinaman now legally here to take out a certificate, under penalty of removal from the country, as in plain violation of the existing treaty with China. Precisely as under the Australian law a convict is allowed to go at large upon a ticket of leave, these people are allowed to go at large and earn their livelihood, but they must have this ticket of leave in their possession. And this is the legislation that is supposed to be in harmony and consistent with the treaty!
“These people are allowed to go at large and earn their livelihood, but they must have this ticket of leave in their possession.”
This reporting tracks the 1892 implementation of the Geary Act, which extended the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. The 'ticket-of-leave' system described here remains a chilling historical parallel to modern debates over immigration status, surveillance, and the dehumanization of non-citizens.
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