1880, restrictive of the immigration of Chinese laborers into the United
States, individual cases of hardship have occurred beyond the power of
the Executive to remedy, and calling for judicial determination.

The condition of the Chinese question in the Western States and
Territories is, despite this restrictive legislation, far from being
satisfactory. The recent outbreak in Wyoming Territory, where numbers of
unoffending Chinamen, indisputably 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
fresh in the minds of all, and there is apprehension lest the bitterness
of feeling against the Mongolian race on the Pacific Slope may find vent
in similar lawless demonstrations. All the power of this Government
should be exerted to maintain the amplest good faith toward China in the
treatment of these men, and the inflexible sternness of the law in
bringing the wrongdoers to justice should be insisted upon.

Every effort has been made by this Government to prevent these violent
outbreaks and to aid the representatives of China in their investigation
of these outrages; and 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.

Race prejudice is the chief factor in originating these disturbances,
and it exists in a large part of our domain, jeopardizing our domestic
peace and the good relationship we strive to maintain with China.

The admitted right of a government to prevent the influx of elements
hostile to its internal peace and security may not be questioned, even
where there is no treaty stipulation on the subject. That the exclusion