notes and Treasury notes shall fall and remain below one hundred million dollars the authority to issue certificates as herein provided shall be suspended: And provided further, That whenever and so long as the aggregate amount of United States notes and silver certificates in the general fund of the Treasury shall exceed sixty million dollars the Secretary of the Treasury may, in his discretion, suspend the issue of the certificates herein provided for: And provided further, That of the amount of such outstanding certificates one-fourth at least shall be in denominations of fifty dollars or less: And provided further, That the Secretary of the Treasury may, in his discretion, issue such certificates in denominations of ten thousand dollars, payable to order. [Sec. 5193 of Revised Statutes repealed.]

SEC. 7. That hereafter silver certificates shall be issued only of denominations of ten dollars and under, except that not exceeding in the aggregate ten per centum of the total volume of said certificates, in the discretion of the Secretary of the Treasury, may be issued in denominations of twenty dollars, fifty dollars, and one hundred dollars; and silver certificates of higher denomination than ten dollars, except as herein provided, shall, whenever received at the Treasury or redeemed, be retired and canceled, and certificates of denominations of ten dollars or less shall be substituted therefor, and after such substitution, in whole or in part, a like volume of United States notes of less denomination than ten dollars shall from time to time be retired and canceled, and notes of denominations of ten dollars and upward shall be reissued in substitution therefor, with like qualities and restrictions as those retired and canceled.1

SEC. 8. That the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized to use, at his discretion, any silver bullion in the Treasury of the United States purchased under the Act of... [July 14, 1890] ..., for coinage into such denominations of subsidiary silver coin as may be necessary to meet the public requirements for such coin: Provided, That the amount of subsidiary silver coin outstanding shall not at any time exceed in the aggregate one hundred millions of dollars. Whenever any silver bullion purchased under the Act of . . . [July 14, 1890] ..., shall be used in the coinage of subsidiary silver coin, an amount of

1 Amended by act of March 4, 1907 (U. S. Stat. at Large, XXXIV., 1289). — ED.

Treasury notes issued under said Act equal to the cost of the bullion contained in such coin shall be canceled and not reissued. SEC. 9. [Uncurrent subsidiary silver coin to be recoined.]

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SEC. II. That the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized to receive at the Treasury any of the outstanding bonds of the United States bearing interest at five per centum per annum, payable . . . [February 1, 1904] and any bonds of the United States bearing interest at four per centum per annum, payable . . . [July 1, 1907] . . and any bonds of the United States bearing interest at three per centum per annum, payable . . . [August 1, 1908] . . ., and to issue in exchange therefor an equal amount of coupon or registered bonds of the United States in such form as he may prescribe, in denominations of fifty dollars or any multiple thereof, bearing interest at the rate of two per centum per annum, payable quarterly, such bonds to be payable at the pleasure of the United States after thirty years from the date of their issue, and said bonds to be payable, principal and interest, in gold coin of the present standard value, and to be exempt from the payment of all taxes or duties of the United States, as well as from taxation in any form by or under State, municipal, or local authority: Provided, That such outstanding bonds may be received in exchange at a valuation not greater than their present worth to yield an income of two and one-quarter per centum per annum; and in consideration of the reduction of interest effected, the Secretary of the Treasury is authorized to pay to the holders of the outstanding bonds surrendered for exchange, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, a sum not greater than the difference between their present worth, computed as aforesaid, and their par value

SEC. 14. That the provisions of this Act are not intended. to preclude the accomplishment of international bimetallism whenever conditions shall make it expedient and practicable to secure the same by concurrent action of the leading commercial nations of the world and at a ratio which shall insure permanence of relative value between gold and silver.

Approved, March 14, 1900.

No. 189. Treaty with Great Britain regarding an Isthmian Canal

November 18, 1901

By the Clayton-Bulwer treaty of 1850 the United States and Great Britain agreed upon a joint control and neutralization of any isthmian canal that might thereafter be constructed. The apparent prospect of the construction of a canal at Panama by a French company led to an increasing demand in the United States for the abrogation of the treaty, and for the control of the canal by the United States alone. The Hay-Pauncefote treaty of February 5, 1900, authorized the construction of a canal either by the United States or by a private corporation, but retained the provision for neutralization. Amendments made by the Senate, declaring the Clayton-Bulwer treaty superseded and authorizing defensive measures by the United States in the management of the canal, were rejected by Great Britain, and the treaty failed. The Hay-Pauncefote treaty of November 18, 1901, in form a compromise between the original draft of 1900 and the Senate amendments, was ratified by President Roosevelt December 26, and by Great Britain January 20, 1902, and on February 22 was proclaimed. See post, Nos. 191 and 192.

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REFERENCES. Text in U. S. Stat. at Large, XXXII., Part 2, 19031905. The treaty of 1900, with other documents, is in Senate Document 85, 57th Cong., 1st Sess. (reprinted in Foreign Relations, 1901, pp. 237–246). The comparative merits of the Nicaragua and Panama routes were exhaustively treated by Senator Morgan, of Alabama, in Senate Report 1337, 56th Cong., 1st Sess. See also the report of the Walker commission, November 30, 1900 (Senate Doc. 5, 56th Cong., 2d Sess.). For the diplomatic history of the canal question see Moore, Digest of International Law, III., 2–222.

ARTICLE I.

The High Contracting Parties agree that the present Treaty shall supersede the afore-mentioned Convention [the ClaytonBulwer treaty] of the 19th April, 1850.

ARTICLE II.

It is agreed that the canal may be constructed under the auspices of the Government of the United States, either directly at its own cost, or by gift or loan of money to individuals or Corporations, or through subscription to or purchase of stock or shares, and that, subject to the provisions of the present

Treaty, the said Government shall have and enjoy all the rights incident to such construction, as well as the exclusive right of providing for the regulation and management of the canal.

ARTICLE III.

The United States adopts, as the basis of the neutralization of such ship canal, the following Rules, substantially as embodied in the Convention of Constantinople, signed the 28th October, 1888, for the free navigation of the Suez Canal, that is to say:

1. The canal shall be free and open to the vessels of commerce and of war of all nations observing these Rules, on terms of entire equality, so that there shall be no discrimination against any such nation, or its citizens or subjects, in respect of the conditions or charges of traffic, or otherwise. Such conditions and charges of traffic shall be just and equitable.

2. The canal shall never be blockaded, nor shall any right of war be exercised nor any act of hostility be committed within it. The United States, however, shall be at liberty to maintain such military police along the canal as may be necessary to protect it against lawlessness and disorder.

3. Vessels of war of a belligerent shall not revictual nor take any stores in the canal except so far as may be strictly necessary; and the transit of such vessels through the canal shall be effected with the least possible delay in accordance with the Regulations in force, and with only such intermission as may result from the necessities of the service.

Prizes shall be in all respects subject to the same Rules as vessels of war of the belligerents.

4. No belligerent shall embark or disembark troops, munitions of war, or warlike materials in the canal, except in case of accidental hindrance of the transit, and in such case the transit shall be resumed with all possible dispatch.

5. The provisions of this Article shall apply to waters adjacent to the canal, within 3 marine miles of either end. Vessels of war of a belligerent shall not remain in such waters longer than twenty-four hours at any one time, except in case of distress, and in such case, shall depart as soon as possible; but a vessel of war of one belligerent shall not depart within twenty

four hours from the departure of a vessel of war of the other belligerent,

6. The plant, establishments, buildings, and all works necessary to the construction, maintenance, and operation of the canal shall be deemed to be part thereof, for the purposes of this Treaty, and in time of war, as in time of peace, shall enjoy complete immunity from attack or injury by belligerents. and from acts calculated to impair their usefulness as part of the canal.

ARTICLE IV.

It is agreed that no change of territorial sovereignty or of the international relations of the country or countries traversed by the before-mentioned canal shall affect the general principle of neutralization or the obligation of the High Contracting Parties under the present Treaty.

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No. 190. Chinese Exclusion Act

April 29, 1902

A BILL to prohibit the coming of Chinese and persons of Chinese descent into the United States, and to regulate the residence of Chinese therein, was introduced in the House, January 18, 1902, by Julius Kahn of California, and referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs. The immediate occasion of the bill was the approaching expiration, by limitation, of the "Geary act" of 1892. A substitute bill, reported by James B. Perkins of New York, March 26, was followed, April 1, by another substitute bill and a minority report filed by Champ Clark of Missouri. The substitute bill of the committee was taken up April 4, and on the 7th passed the House, with amendments, without a division. The Senate Committee on Immigration reported the bill without amendment, but on April 17 a bill on the same subject, introduced January 16 by John H. Mitchell of Oregon, and passed by the Senate April 16, was substituted for the House bill and the bill was passed. Two conference committees were necessary before the bill received its final form. The report of the second conference committee was accepted by both houses April 28, and the next day the act was approved.

REFERENCES. Text in U. S. Stat. at Large, XXXII., Part I, 176, 177. For the debates see the Cong. Record, 57th Cong., 1st Sess.; a summary 1 Signed: "John Hay, Pauncefote." - ED.