President Cleveland Speaks on Chinese Exclusion

The President today sent the following message to the House of Representatives: It is made the constitutional duty of the President to recommend to Congress from time to time such matters as he shall judge necessary and expedient. The question of the treatment of subjects of China sojourning within the jurisdiction of the United States presents such a matter for the careful and earnest consideration of the Executive and Congress. The recent outbreak in Wyoming Territory, where a number of inoffensive Chinamen, rightfully within the protection of the treaties and the law, were murdered by a mob, and the still more recent threatened outbreak of the same character in Washington Territory are still fresh in the minds of all. It is but just to say that they are traceable to the lawlessness of men, not citizens of the United States, engaged in competition with Chinese laborers. Hence, prejudice is the chief factor in originating these disturbances. Native and alien laborers are under the protection of the law and equally entitled to enjoy the benefits of assured public order. If there were no treaty in existence referring to the rights of Chinese subjects, they would be entitled to the same degree of protection from violence and the same free forum for redress of their grievances as any other aliens.