State, county, municipal, or other public work, except in punishment for crime".

Section 4."---The legislature shall delegate all necessary power to the incorporated cities and towns for the removal of the Chinese without the limits of such

cities and towns, or for their location within prescribed portions of those limits; it shall also provide the necessary legislation to prohibit their introduction into this state after the adoption of this constitution."

Upon the convening of the next session of the legislature, laws, in pursuance of this article of the Constitution, were passed. For any corporation to hire a Chinese was made a crime and punishable by a fine of $100 to $1,000 and imprisonment for the first offense, and $500 to $5,000

for the second, with a of imprisonment.1

proportional increase in the term

This law was fought out in the courts

by the Sulphur Bank Quicksilver Mining Company and was declared unconstitutional, as well as being in violation of the the treaty of 1868 between the United States and China, generally known as the Burlingame Treaty.2 In the same

year an act was passed empowering the supervisors of any

1.

Fa

Calif. Penal Code, 1880, Art.178-9

In re Tiburcio

Parrott 6 Saw. 349

incorporated city, to remove the Chinese within its borders

This

out of the city provided they set aside some portion or section of the limits of the city for their residence. grant of power to the cities was the cause of many strict ordinances of cities discriminating against the Chinese, the chief offender of which was San Francisco.

In all these attempts to check and regulate the Chinese immigration, the state of California had to admit its failure to secure satisfactory results. The Federal laws were not stringent enough to accomplish the purpose, and continually Congress was being urged to more effective legislation. In 1893 a joint resolution was sent to Congress by the State legislature urging the protection of its people from the Mongolian. It admitted the inadequacy of the State legislature to accomplish this purpose.1 A similar resolution was sent in 1897 urging restrictive legislation for the protection of the people of the state. 2 In 1901 a resolu

tion was again sent jointly from the two houses of the legislature to Congress urging protection from the inflow of Orientals. It contained the following: " Whereas it is for the best interest of the state of California, that our labor be protected from the competition of the Chinese, Japanese,

Calif Statutes, 1893, p.620

1.

2.

Ibid., 1897, p.589