In 1855 this law was amended to the effect that the license fee should increase at the rate of two dollars per month for each succeeding year.1 It was realized that this law would soon become absolutely prohibitive so in 1856 it was repealed and the law of 1853, with a license fee of four dollars per month straight, was restored.2 In 1861, because of a decline in the revenues from this tax, a greater inducement was made for its enforcement by giving a 20% commission. It was to apply to "all for eigners not eligible to become citizens of the United States, residing in the district", 3 In 1868 the law was slightly amended so as to give the counties all the income from the The result of the enforcement of these license laws had driven all the Chinese from the mining districts and many had migrated into other states or entered other industries.5 By the adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Federal Constitution and the laws passed in pursuance thereof, nearly all these laws of the state of California were declared null and void, because of the discrimination against for 1. Calif. Statutes, 1855, p.216 2. Ibid. 1856, p.141 3. Ibid. 1861, P.447 345 4. 5. 6. Ibid. 1868, P. 173 Coolidge, Chinese Immigration, p.34 eigners by the classification used in those laws. Although the income from the se license laws had been decreasing the last few years of their operation, they had nevertheless been a paying proposition to the state from a financial viewpoint. It has been estimated that the Chinese paid nearly the whole income from this tax because other foreigners left the country when the law was put in operation. From the year 1855 to the year 1870 the total income has been estimated at about $5,000,000. The law had long been recognized as unconstitutional but the Chinese, who suffered the brunt of the tax, had no recognition in the courts, by the law of 1850 as interpreted by C.J. Murry, and none of the tax payers would take the case to court because all the income from the tax meant that much less in the regular tax assessment. As has been indicated, the result of these laws was that it drove the foreigners from the mining camps and many from the confines of the state. The Chinese who had stayed as long as possible in the districts were forced into agricultural pursuits or else go to the cities and enter other kinds of work.3 The census showed that about 42% of the white population of the state in the year 1870 was foreign born. The Chinese constituted about one-fourth of the forCoolidge, Chinese Immigration, p.36 Ibid. p.8 1. 2. 3. App. Leg.Jo. vol.4, p.205. (quoted in Coolidge, C.I.) 1860-1870. eign males in the state of California during the decade The foreign born white became the strongest opponent of the Chinese and as they became naturalized they expressed their hatred of the Oriental through the ballot. The scene of the antagonism shifted, ofcourse, with the movement of the Chinese and became fram now on centered in the cities.1 The movement to check Oriental immigration was contemporaneous with the discrimination against him as expressed in the Mining License legislation. As early as 1852 the state legislature passed a law compelling the masters of ships to give a bond of $500 per capita for all Chinese landed from their ships or paying in lieu of the bond a sum of from $5 to $10 per capita to insure against hospital expenses.2 In 1855 this law was amended to the effect that the master of every ship had to pay a sum of $50 per person on board ineligible to become citizens of the United States. This law was brought into court and declared unconstitutional. In 1862 a law was passed which was known as the Police Tax law. It imposed a tax of $2.50 per month on all Chinese who were not engaged in the production or the manufacture of sugar, rice, coffee or tea. This law included Coolidge, Chinese Immigration, p.40 7 How. 122 |