Mr. Nabeshima to Mr. Hay.
Washington, May 22, 1900.
Sir: I have the honor to inform you that I am in receipt of a communication from Count Mutsu, His Imperial Majesty’s consul at San Francisco, in which he states that the board of health of that city has notified him that the Surgeon-General of the United States Marine Hospital Service has issued an order prohibiting any Japanese or Chinese from leaving San Francisco without being inoculated as a precaution against the bubonic plague. The consul states further that the board of health is enforcing this order strictly and not permitting Japanese to go even to the other side of the bay, thus interfering with their liberty of movement and thereby subjecting them to inconvenience and humiliation. It would seem from what the consul says that this order is restricted to Japanese and Chinese, and that neither citizens of the United States nor persons of any other nationality are required to observe it. For that reason Count Mutsu has protested to the board of health against its further enforcement so far as Japanese subjects are concerned, and has requested me to bring the matter to your attention. That I have the honor to do because, apart from other considerations, the action of the Surgeon-General of the Marine Hospital Service appears to me to involve a very serious question of principle. His order, as I have had the honor to indicate, is not general in character, but is only applicable to two nationalities. To that extent, therefore, it discriminates against those nationalities and in favor of the people of other nationalities in San Francisco. In so far as it affects the subjects of His Imperial Majesty such action, I respectfully submit, is not in harmony with the guarantees contained in the treaty between Japan and the United States, which assure to the subjects or citizens of either party the same privileges, liberties, and rights in connection with residence and travel in the territories of the other as are enjoyed by native subjects or citizens, or by the subjects or citizens of the most favored nation. Therefore I have the honor to submit the matter for your consideration and beg to express the hope that the discrimination established by the Surgeon-General’s order against Japanese subjects may be removed or other appropriate action taken to remedy the inequality of the conditions at present imposed upon them in San Francisco.
Accept, etc.,