Chinese Residents Ordered to Register—Or Face Deportation
Federal notices circulating in Seattle warned Chinese laborers that they must produce photographs and a credible witness to obtain certificates of residence under the Geary law.
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.
Instructions to Chinese relative to registry under the McCreary act are now being circulated by the collector of internal revenue in this district. The notices have been received by Deputy Collector Harlan of this city and are being distributed to the Chinese within his jurisdiction. After reciting the main point of the Geary law and the amendment of November 3, 1893, the notice says:
'This makes it necessary that all Chinese laborers who made application and received certificates under the act of May 5, as well as those who failed to comply with the provisions of said act, to at once make application and receive certificates of residence under the present law; otherwise, in case of refusal to do so, all such Chinese persons will be subject to arrest and deportation from the country.
'Each applicant must produce one creditable witness to the fact of residence (who may be of any nationality), and must accompany his or her application by two unmounted photographs of himself or herself, which must be of sufficient size and distinctness to accurately represent the entire face of the applicant, the head to be not less than one and one-half inches from base of hair to base of chin.
'This office is now ready to receive applications and to furnish the certificates, for which no charge will be made. Those intending to apply will save time by at once procuring the necessary photographs, so that they may promptly obtain the certificates. Chinese merchants who so desire may also procure certificates under the same restrictions as laborers, but this is not obligatory.'
“otherwise, in case of refusal to do so, all such Chinese persons will be subject to arrest and deportation from the country.”
The Geary Act's registration regime forced Chinese residents to prove their right to remain, with photographs and credible witnesses—an early American ID system aimed at a single community. The echoes are direct in modern debates over immigrant registration, surveillance, and deportation.
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