Treaty, the said Government shall have and enjoy all the rights incident to such construction, as well as the exclusive right of providing for the regulation and management of the canal.

ARTICLE III.

The United States adopts, as the basis of the neutralization of such ship canal, the following Rules, substantially as embodied in the Convention of Constantinople, signed the 28th October, 1888, for the free navigation of the Suez Canal, that is to say:

1. The canal shall be free and open to the vessels of commerce and of war of all nations observing these Rules, on terms of entire equality, so that there shall be no discrimination against any such nation, or its citizens or subjects, in respect of the conditions or charges of traffic, or otherwise. Such conditions and charges of traffic shall be just and equitable.

2. The canal shall never be blockaded, nor shall any right of war be exercised nor any act of hostility be committed within it. The United States, however, shall be at liberty to maintain such military police along the canal as may be necessary to protect it against lawlessness and disorder.

3. Vessels of war of a belligerent shall not revictual nor take any stores in the canal except so far as may be strictly necessary; and the transit of such vessels through the canal shall be effected with the least possible delay in accordance with the Regulations in force, and with only such intermission as may result from the necessities of the service.

Prizes shall be in all respects subject to the same Rules as vessels of war of the belligerents.

4. No belligerent shall embark or disembark troops, munitions of war, or warlike materials in the canal, except in case of accidental hindrance of the transit, and in such case the transit shall be resumed with all possible dispatch.

5. The provisions of this Article shall apply to waters adjacent to the canal, within 3 marine miles of either end. Vessels of war of a belligerent shall not remain in such waters longer than twenty-four hours at any one time, except in case of distress, and in such case, shall depart as soon as possible; but a vessel of war of one belligerent shall not depart within twenty

four hours from the departure of a vessel of war of the other belligerent.

6. The plant, establishments, buildings, and all works necessary to the construction, maintenance, and operation of the canal shall be deemed to be part thereof, for the purposes of this Treaty, and in time of war, as in time of peace, shall enjoy complete immunity from attack or injury by belligerents. and from acts calculated to impair their usefulness as part of the canal.

ARTICLE IV.

It is agreed that no change of territorial sovereignty or of the international relations of the country or countries traversed by the before-mentioned canal shall affect the general principle of neutralization or the obligation of the High Contracting Parties under the present Treaty.

*1

No. 190.

Chinese Exclusion Act

April 29, 1902

A BILL to prohibit the coming of Chinese and persons of Chinese descent into the United States, and to regulate the residence of Chinese therein, was introduced in the House, January 18, 1902, by Julius Kahn of California, and referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs. The immediate occasion of the bill was the approaching expiration, by limitation, of the "Geary act" of 1892. A substitute bill, reported by James B. Perkins of New York, March 26, was followed, April 1, by another substitute bill and a minority report filed by Champ Clark of Missouri. The substitute bill of the committee was taken up April 4, and on the 7th passed the House, with amendments, without a division. The Senate Committee on Immigration reported the bill without amendment, but on April 17 a bill on the same subject, introduced January 16 by John H. Mitchell of Oregon, and passed by the Senate April 16, was substituted for the House bill and the bill was passed. Two conference committees were necessary before the bill received its final form. The report of the second conference committee was accepted by both houses April 28, and the next day the act was approved.

REFERENCES. Text in U. S. Stat. at Large, XXXII., Part I, 176, 177. For the debates see the Cong. Record, 57th Cong., 1st Sess.; a summary 1 Signed: "John Hay, Pauncefote." - ED.

statement of the differences between the reports of the first and second conference committees is in ibid., p. 4709. The Perkins report is House Report 1231. On the Mitchell substitute, said to embody the views of Pacific Coast senators and representatives, see Senate Report 776. The most important work on the general subject is Coolidge, Chinese Immigration (1909).

An Act To prohibit the coming into and to regulate the residence within the United States, its Territories, and all territory under its jurisdiction, and the District of Columbia, of Chinese and persons of Chinese descent.

Be it enacted That all laws now in force prohibiting and regulating the coming of Chinese persons, and persons of Chinese descent, into the United States, and the residence of such persons therein. . . . be, and the same are hereby, reenacted, extended, and continued so far as the same are not inconsistent with treaty obligations, until otherwise provided by law, and said laws shall also apply to the island territory under the jurisdiction of the United States, and prohibit the immigration of Chinese laborers, not citizens of the United States, from such island territory to the mainland territory of the United States, whether in such island territory at the time of cession or not, and from one portion of the island territory of the United States to another portion of said island territory: Provided, however, That said laws shall not apply to the transit of Chinese laborers from one island to another island of the same group; and any islands within the jurisdiction of any State or the District of Alaska shall be considered a part of the mainland under this section.

SEC. 2. That the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized and empowered to make and prescribe, and from time to time to change, such rules and regulations not inconsistent with the laws of the land as he may deem necessary and proper to execute the provisions of this Act and of the Acts hereby extended and continued and of the treaty of . . . [December 8, 1894,] . . . between the United States and China, and with the approval of the President to appoint such agents as he may deem necessary for the efficient execution of said treaty and said Acts. SEC. 3. That nothing in the provisions of this Act or any other Act shall be construed to prevent, hinder, or restrict any foreign exhibitor, representative, or citizen of any foreign

nation, or the holder, who is a citizen of any foreign nation, of any concession or privilege from any fair or exposition authorized by Act of Congress from bringing into the United States, under contract, such mechanics, artisans, agents, or other employees, natives of their respective foreign countries, as they or any of them may deem necessary for the purpose of making preparation for installing or conducting their exhibits or of preparing for installing or conducting any business authorized or permitted under or by virtue of or pertaining to any concession or privilege which may have been or may be granted by any said fair or exposition in connection with such exposition, under such rules and regulations as the Secretary of the Treasury may prescribe, both as to the admission and return of such person or persons.

SEC. 4. That it shall be the duty of every Chinese laborer, other than a citizen, rightfully in, and entitled to remain in any of the insular territory of the United States (Hawaii excepted) at the time of the passage of this Act, to obtain within one year thereafter a certificate of residence in the insular territory wherein he resides, which certificate shall entitle him to residence therein, and upon failure to obtain such certificate as herein provided he shall be deported from such insular territory; and the Philippine Commission is authorized and required to make all regulations and provisions necessary for the enforcement of this section in the Philippine Islands, including the form and substance of the certificate of residence so that the same shall clearly and sufficiently identify the holder thereof and enable officials to prevent fraud in the transfer of the same Approved, April 29, 1902.

No. 191.

Act for the Construction of an

Isthmian Canal

June 28, 1902

A BILL for the construction of an isthmian canal was introduced in the House, December 6, 1901, by William P. Hepburn of Iowa, and referred to the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce. On the 19th

the bill was reported with amendments, and on January 7, 1902, passed by a vote of 308 to 2, 1 answering "present", and 44 not voting. The Senate Committee on Interoceanic Canal reported the bill, March 13, 1902, without amendment. The bill was taken up in the Senate April 17, and June 19 passed with amendments by a vote of 67 to 6, 15 not voting. The House accepted the Senate amendments, and June 28 the act was approved. An act of June 29, 1906, authorized the construction of a lock canal across the Isthmus of Panama, "of the general type proposed by the minority of the Board of Consulting Engineers" created by order of President Roosevelt, January 24, 1905. REFERENCES. Text in U. S. Stat. at Large, XXXII., Part I, 481-484. For the debates see the Cong. Record, 57th Cong., 1st Sess. Senate Report 1 is a comprehensive history of the canal question. The Hepburn report of December 19 is House Report 15; the Morgan report of March 13 is Senate Report 783. The Senate hearings on the House bill form Senate Doc. 253. Senate Report 1337 and Senate Doc. 5, 56th Cong., 2d Sess., are also valuable. On the general subject see W. F. Johnson, Four Centuries of the Canal (1906).

An Act To provide for the construction of a canal connecting the waters of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

Be it enacted, . . . That the President of the United States is hereby authorized to acquire, for and on behalf of the United States, at a cost not exceeding forty millions of dollars, the rights, privileges, franchises, concessions, grants of land, right of way, unfinished work, plants, and other property, real, personal, and mixed, of every name and nature, owned by the New Panama Canal Company, of France, on the Isthmus of Panama, and all its maps, plans, drawings, records on the Isthmus of Panama and in Paris, including all the capital stock, not less, however, than sixty-eight thousand eight hundred and sixty-three shares of the Panama Railroad Company, owned by or held for the use of said canal company, provided a satisfactory title to all of said property can be obtained.

SEC. 2. That the President is hereby authorized to acquire from the Republic of Colombia, for and on behalf of the United States, upon such terms as he may deem reasonable, perpetual control of a strip of land, the territory of the Republic of Colombia, not less than six miles in width, extending from the Caribbean Sea to the Pacific Ocean, and the right to use and dispose of the waters thereon, and to excavate, construct, and to perpetually maintain, operate, and protect thereon a canal, of such depth and capacity as will afford convenient passage of ships