"
At a subsequent conference the Americans said:
The Chinese commissioners have in their project explicitly recognized
the right of the United States to use some discretion, and have
proposed a limitation as to time and number. This _is_ the right to
regulate, limit, or suspend.
In one of the conferences the Chinese asked the Americans whether they
could give them any idea of the laws which would be passed to carry the
powers into execution. The Americans answered that this could hardly be
done; that the United States Government might never deem it necessary
to exercise this power. It would depend upon circumstances. If Chinese
immigration concentrated in cities where it threatened public order,
or if it confined itself to localities where it was an injury to the
interests of the American people, the Government of the United States
would undoubtedly take steps to prevent such accumulations of Chinese.
If, on the contrary, there was no large immigration, or if there were
sections of the country where such immigration was clearly beneficial,
then the legislation of the United States under this power would be
adapted to such circumstances.
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