The Struggle Over Fraudulent Certificates
Federal authorities clamp down on an alleged scheme to bring Chinese immigrants into the U.S. through falsified identity papers.
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.
A problem which has been giving more or less trouble to the government officials was decided today. It relates to the issuance of Chinese certificates of identity. Secretary Carlisle received a communication from the collector at San Francisco, stating that he was informed by the consul at Hongkong that he was unable to ascertain that the Chinese government had given any authority to any of its officers to issue certificates to merchants and other persons of the exempt class under the Chinese exclusion act. Secretary Gresham replied with an enclosure from the Chinese minister at Washington City, in which the minister states that customs officers are authorised to issue certificates of identity to such Chinese persons other than laborers who desire to come to the United States. The treasury department is bound to respect the statement of the Chinese minister and the certificates will be adopted. H. N. Simmons, United States consul at Hongkong, has informed the state department that he believes from 600 to 1,000 fraudulent notarial certificates have been distributed to intending Chinese immigrants each month. Consul Simmons refused to certify to two certificates, as persons presenting them, while ostensibly having been in the United States, as their certificates showed, could not give any account of the country, and in fact declared that 'sedan chairs were the only means of traveling in America.' Instructions will be sent to all collectors of customs calling attention to these fraudulent certificates in circulation and cautioning them against receiving them.
“Consul Simmons refused to certify to two certificates, as persons presenting them... declared that 'sedan chairs were the only means of traveling in America.'”
This story highlights the systemic use of bureaucratic gatekeeping to manage immigration, a theme that remains central to American civic life. The 'fraudulent certificate' investigation of 1891 mirrors modern anxieties about documentation, border policy, and the criminalization of movement.
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