Moreover, in the light of the law, who was a
"merchant" and who a "visitor"? In 1884 Congress attempted to remedy
these defects of phraseology and administration by carefully framed
definitions and stringent measures.[48] The Supreme Court upheld the
constitutionality of exclusion as incident to American sovereignty.
Meanwhile in the West the popular feeling against the Chinese refused
to subside. At Rock Springs, Wyoming, twenty-eight Chinese were killed
and fifteen were injured by a mob which also destroyed Chinese
property amounting to $148,000. At Tacoma and Seattle, also, violence
descended upon the Mongolian. In San Francisco a special grand jury
which investigated the operation of the exclusion laws and a committee
of the Board of Supervisors which investigated the condition of
Chinatown both made reports that were violently anti-Chinese. A state
anti-Chinese convention soon thereafter declared that the situation
"had become well-nigh intolerable." So widespread and venomous was the
agitation against Chinese that President Cleveland was impelled to
send to Congress two special messages on the question, detailing the
facts and requesting Congress to pay the Chinese claims for indemnity
which Wyoming refused to honor. The remonstrances of the Chinese
Government led to the drafting of a new treaty in 1888.
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