whether native or naturalized, respect for them as such in foreign
countries. We should make every effort to prevent humiliating and
degrading prohibition against any of our citizens wishing temporarily
to sojourn in foreign countries because of race or religion.

The admission of Asiatic immigrants who cannot be amalgamated with our
population has been made the subject either of prohibitory clauses in
our treaties and statutes or of strict administrative regulation
secured by diplomatic negotiation. I sincerely hope that we may
continue to minimize the evils likely to arise from such immigration
without unnecessary friction and by mutual concessions between
self-respecting governments. Meantime we must take every precaution to
prevent, or failing that, to punish outbursts of race feeling among our
people against foreigners of whatever nationality who have by our grant
a treaty right to pursue lawful business here and to be protected
against lawless assault or injury.

This leads me to point out a serious defect in the present federal
jurisdiction, which ought to be remedied at once. Having assured to
other countries by treaty the protection of our laws for such of their
subjects or citizens as we permit to come within our jurisdiction, we
now leave to a state or a city, not under the control of the Federal
Government, the duty of performing our international obligations in
this respect. By proper legislation we may, and ought to, place in the
hands of the Federal Executive the means of enforcing the treaty rights
of such aliens in the courts of the Federal Government. It puts our
Government in a pusillanimous position to make definite engagements to
protect aliens and then to excuse the failure to perform those
engagements by an explanation that the duty to keep them is in States
or cities, not within our control. If we would promise we must put