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 THE 
 
 CHINESE 
 
 AT HOME AND ABROAD. 
 
 TOGETHER WITH 
 
 The Report of the Special Committee of the 
 Board of Supervisors of San Francisco, on the 
 Condition of the Chinese Quarter of that City. 
 
 By WILLARD B. FARWELL. 
 
 SAN FRANCISCO: 
 
 A. L. BANCROFT & GO. 
 
 1885.
 
 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1885, by 
 
 ^YILLARD B. FARWELL 
 
 In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C.
 
 OOISTTENTB. 
 
 PART I. 
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 intbodttctobt. 
 
 Paqe. 
 
 The Chinese Question should be discussed dispassionately — Need of Missionary 
 
 ■work among the American people— Original attitude of San Francisco 
 
 toward the Chinese — What the change of sentiment has been — Political 
 
 I status of the Chinese— Inconsistencies of the American policy — The logical 
 
 consideration of the Question , 7-14 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE CHINESK AT HOME. 
 
 Opinions of the Abbe Hue— John Henry Gray, Archdeacon of Hong Kong, on the 
 Chinese— The experiences of the Missionary, Rev. Justice Doolittle— Slavery 
 in China — False statements exposed — Mr. Con^rell's testimony — The proofs 
 as given in 'Williams' "Middle Kingdom "—Bayard Taylor, Hon. Wm. J. 
 Shjtw and other travelers on the Chinese at Home 14-30 
 
 CHAPTEE III. 
 
 THE IKHUaiANITT OF THE KACE. 
 
 The better side of the Chinese thararter always held up to view — Horrible cruelties 
 practiced in Courts of Justice — Thrilling story told by the Abbe Hue — 
 Prisoners with hands nailtd to carts— Chinese Prisons and Punishments — 
 Tortures and savage practices — How writers all agree on these points — Ex- 
 periences of Mr. Loch and hir Henry Parkes — The massacre at Tein-Tsin — 
 Justice both blind and deaf iu China— Infanticide in China— How it is prac- 
 ticed among rich and poor — Inhumanity among the Chinese in California — The 
 bigotry of a Missionary writer
 
 ii, CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTEE IV. 
 
 THK CHINKSE ABKOAD. 
 
 Effect of contact of Christianity and Idolatry— Contaminating influences of the 
 Chinese element— Millions ready to come— The Chinese in the Indian Archi- 
 pelago — Chinatown in Singapore— A leproduction of Chinatown in San 
 Francisco— Filthy habits— The Colony at Penang— Sir John Bowling's -visit to 
 the Philippines— The Chinese in Australia— Sir Thomas Herbert on the 
 Chinese in the Indian Archipelago— Dampier's description— Proof that the 
 Chinaman never assimilates and never changes— Chinese multiplying here by 
 the generative process— The seriousness of the problem 50-60 
 
 CHAPTEE V. 
 
 THK INCONSISTENCIES OF MISSIONARY WEITEES. 
 
 Religious zeal blinds them to the truth — The clergyman as a political economist — 
 The rhapsody of an enthusiast — His position untenable — Are the QJiinese here 
 by order of Providence ? — If so, it is blasphemy to oppose their coming — Chris- 
 tianity retreats as Idolatry advances— The story of a church— Conversions of 
 Chinese in California — The brethren of Puget Sound 60-72 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 CHINESE CHEAP LABOB FOE THE DEVELOPMENT OF CALIPOENIA. 
 
 What has Chinese cheap labor accomplished in California? — The Chinese and the 
 Central Pacific Railroad — A reckless missionary statement — Mr. Crocker's tes- 
 timony — The Rev. O. Gibson as a political economist — The real effect of 
 Chinese cheap labor— How it prevents the settlement of California with small 
 farmers — The Chinese and the capitalists — The Chinese and manufacturers in 
 California — Address to the people by the Legislative Committee 72-87 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE POINTS OF VIEW. 
 
 The difference of point of view between the people of the Pacific and Atlantic 
 coasts — The testimony of a united people — The folly of the scare about dis- 
 turbance of commercial relations — Eastern manufacturers building up a new 
 manufacturing rival nation — The skill and ability of the Chinese admitted — 
 But shall American mechanics be brought down to their level m mode of 
 life?— Criticisms upon missionary writers — False statements exposed — Shall 
 •we spread ruin among our own people to exalt the Chinese ? 87-98
 
 CONTENTS. Ill, 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE OPIUM HABIT. 
 
 A new rival for the alcoholic evil— Two twiu evils of intemperance instead of one— 
 The opium habit worse than intemperance in the use of alcoholic stimu- 
 lants — The Kev. Mr. Speer's testimony — Mr. Willirms on the use of opium — • 
 What the Abbe Hue says — Mr. Doolittle's experiences — What opium has done 
 for China— What it is doing for (;alifornia 94-103 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE INTRODUCTION AND SPBEAD OF LEFBOST. 
 
 The third horror — Leprosy unknown in America until the Chinese came — The report 
 of Dr. Foye — Leprosy iu the Hawaiian Islands — The leper colony there — Shall 
 ■we become a nation of lepers? 104-111 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE EACES IN CONFLICT. 
 
 The massacres in Wyoming and Washington Territories — Forbearance toward the 
 Chinese, and maintenance of the supremacy of the law in California — Playing 
 with fire — Dangers ahead — Kace conflicts in other countries — The massacres in 
 Batavia and Manilla — TLe insanity of men when excited by wrongs — Power- 
 lessness of the Government to prevent, even if able to punish — San Francisco 
 has long stood in danger— Antagonistic elements in nature and among men — 
 Not a question of seuLiment, but one of common sense andcouunon humanity 
 — Relations of the States of the Pacific Coast. 111-llS 
 
 PART II. 
 
 Report of Special Committee of Board of Supervisors of San Francisco 1-95 
 
 Chinatown in Sacramento 97-111
 
 PART I
 
 * ' As yet, our Mongolian visitors are substantially free to 
 labor as they will and for -whom they will, as long as they 
 render due obedience to our laws. As yet, I judge that the 
 benefits resulting from their immigration have decidly over- 
 balanced the evils. But what has hitherto been a rivulet may 
 become a Niagara, hurling millions instead of thousands upon 
 us from the vast, overcrowded hives of China and India, to 
 cover not only our Pacific slope but the Great Basin, and 
 pour in torrents through the gorges of the Rocky Mountains 
 into the vast, inviting valley of the Mississippi. The pros- 
 pect demands instant, earnest consideration. The stream 
 of Mongol immigration may vastly enlarge itself, yet remain 
 beneficent and fertilizing; but not if it is to work (as many 
 apprehend) a retrograde change in our industrial organiza- 
 tion, and result in the establishment of a novel and specious 
 serfdom but little removed in essence from old-fashioned 
 slavery," — Horace Greeley's "Essays on Political Economy, ^^ 
 1870.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 The "Report of the Special Committee of the Board of 
 Supervisors of San Francisco," which will be found repub- 
 lished in this volume, presents a truthful and fair statement 
 of the mode of life of the Chinese in San Francisco. Strik- 
 ing, and indeed shocking as its revelations are, thej fall 
 far short of conveying to the reader who has never visited a 
 "Chinese quarter" here or elsewhere, a perfect conception 
 of the real condition of things in that locality. No one ha& 
 yet been found bold enough to attack a single statement of 
 fact contained in this report, or to call in question the just- 
 ness of the indictment thus presented against the Chinese as 
 residents of our country. It is probably the first time that 
 the practical effects of Chinese immigration have ever been 
 clearly and fairly presented for public consideration; the first 
 time that the plain, unvarnished truth has been told, stripped 
 of the ad captand^im nonsense and noise with which the ques- 
 tion has so long been burthen ed, and by which the public 
 mind has been nauseated and misled. 
 
 The plan contemplated in this work has been to show, 
 first, what are the salient features of Chinese manners and 
 customs at home; to expose, so far as reference to recog- 
 nized authorities will permit, the vices, low grade of mor- 
 ality, cruelties, and all the general evil qualities which the 
 race possess, conceding to them all the virtues which their
 
 4 PREFACE. 
 
 warmest admirers may desire to set down to their credit, and 
 then, by comparing their mode of life when transplanted to 
 these or other shores outside of the ' ' Flowery Kingdom," to 
 ascertain how far their native vices, their low grade of 
 morals, their heathenism, their cruel practices and innate 
 inhumanity are modified by the process of transplanting 
 them to other shores, to breathe a new atmosphere and be 
 fostered under other skies. 
 
 If it can be proved, incontrovertibly, that the Chinese at 
 home are a race unfit in every aspect of life to mingle with 
 and exist among a Christian community; if it can be proved 
 that their race characteristics are so utterly at variance 
 with those of the Caucasian type that assimilation with 
 that race is impossible; if it can be proved that their 
 presence on our shores results alone in sowing the seeds of 
 immorality, vice and disease among our people, and plunges 
 a large mass of the laboring classes into poverty and misery; 
 if it can be proved that they alone, and a comparatively few 
 capitalists, are benefited pecuniarily, and that they remain an 
 unconverted pagan multitude still, impervious to every effort 
 that may be made to convert them to the " true faith;" if it 
 can be proved that instead of Christian contact resulting in 
 lifting them up it results in pulling Christian people down to 
 the level of their own degradation — what can there be said in 
 favor of the longer toleration of the coming of this race, or 
 the longer acceptance of the cant and bigotry that have here- 
 tofore been uttered or written in their behalf? 
 
 All this it is proposed to prove, and to prove incontroverti- 
 bly, in this work. Having this end in view, and believing 
 that the task thus planned and entered upon has been ac-
 
 PREFACE . 5 
 
 complished, it is submitted for public consideration, with the 
 assurance that it embodies only a plain, fair statement of 
 immutable truths, and that it involves a lesson from which 
 unprejudiced civilized humanity can hardly fail to profit. 
 
 W. B. F. 
 
 San Francisco, September, 1885.
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 INTKODUCTORT. 
 
 The discussion of the question of Chinese immigration 
 into the United States, and the effects of such immigration 
 upon the public welfare, ought surely to be conducted with- 
 out prejudice and without passion. There is little to choose 
 in the ministrations of public criticisms between the pre- 
 judice which controls the minds of sentimentalists and 
 religious enthusiasts, and the passion which fires the hearts 
 of the " sand-lot " orators, in the advocacy of their theories 
 and the inculcation of their doctrines upon this question. 
 
 So important a public problem as this, so overshadowing 
 indeed in its importance, every other question that has ever 
 agitated the minds of the American people since African 
 slavery was abolished, may well command calmness of 
 thought, coolness of consideration and indeed the most con- 
 scientious effort of the human mind in seeking its solution. 
 
 It is impossible to find a writer upon this question who 
 has given the result of his labors to the public thus far in 
 printed form, whose arguments are not perverted by the 
 baldest prejudice, and whose facts and figures are not to a 
 greater or lesser extent distorted and misrepresented; who 
 does not seek to force the conclusions which he too plainly 
 wishes to arrive at to meet the bias of his mind in every 
 instance. If there is an exception to this rule it will be 
 difficult to find it. This remark does not aj)ply to writers 
 upon China and the Chinese, as historians or otherwise, but 
 only to those who have written upon the subject of the 
 Chinese in connection with their immigration into the 
 United States, since that question began to take on the form
 
 8 INTRODUCTOEY 
 
 of a State and National issue. So far as tlie orators of the 
 * ' sand lots " and tlieir followers are concerned, those, who, 
 however well meaning and honest they may be, unite in the 
 common, passionate cry "the Chinese must go," without yet 
 ever having formulated a single practicable method of carry- 
 ing their rallying cry into effect, and witliout considering 
 how to deal with the problem from any other than the stand- 
 point of passion, there is no occasion to say more than that 
 their action can never produce any other than calamitous 
 results, both to themselves and the singular class of people 
 whose presence among us thus invites and possibly justifies 
 their hatred 
 
 There is not only missionary work to be done by the 
 Christian denominations among these idolatrous people, but 
 there is an almost boundless field for the thoughtful men of 
 California and the Pacific Coast generally, to do missionary 
 work among the American people, to open their eyes and 
 convince them of the inexpressible dangers that now threaten 
 their future prosperity from this very thing of Chinese 
 immigration. The need of conversion on this question will 
 come home to everyone, when we stop to consider that in 
 the earlier years of the settlement of California by the 
 American people — particularly as regards San Francisco — 
 the immigration of the Chinese and their presence among 
 us, was regarded by the people here with a degree of favor 
 equal to that which now animates a large body of the Amer- 
 ican people upon the subject. And it was not till years of 
 contact in the fields of commerce and industrial interests 
 had taught them a lesson in the danger which they were 
 courting, that the real magnitude and character of the Chinese 
 question dawned upon them. It need not, and cannot be said, 
 justly, then, that the people of California, when they set their 
 faces — regardless of party prejudice — against the further 
 increase of the Chinese horde, are governed by any other 
 thought or desire than that inspired by the admitted " first
 
 INTKODUCTORY. y 
 
 law of nature," "self preservation," than a sincere convic- 
 tion which a long and bitter experience by contact with this 
 Asiatic race has begotten, and which compels them now to 
 insist upon the adoption of such remedial measures as shall 
 relieve them of the national wrong under which they are 
 suffering. 
 
 It should be the unceasing effort, then, of the thoughtful 
 men of the Pacific Coast to so present the story of the effects 
 of Chinese immigration among them, in the garb of unvar- 
 nished and incontrovertible truth, as to carry the same con- 
 viction to the hearts of all thinking people in every State of 
 the Union as that which this practical experience of the peo- 
 ple of the Pacific Coast has brought home to them and 
 convinced them of their pending danger. This cannot bet- 
 ter be done than by the presentation of so truthful a state- 
 ment and exhibit of the exact relations which they now bear 
 among us, after thirty-five years of social and industrial 
 contact, as will cany conviction to the minds of all reasoning 
 men, and secure such unity of national action as will deal 
 with this great problem upon the basis of public right and 
 justice. 
 
 What the people of the Pacific Coast especially demand 
 is that the American people will lay aside all prejudice and 
 pre-conceived views upon the Chinese question and examine 
 the whole subject matter in the light of incontrovertible tes- 
 timony, such as they are now enabled to present, without 
 passion and without bias. It has already been said that 
 time was when the people of San Francisco, for example, 
 were as strongly in favor of Chinese immigration as any of 
 its advocates are to-day in other sections of our country. 
 
 Upon the occasion of the admisson of California into the 
 Union, the people of San Francisco celebrated the event 
 with great enthusiasm. Not the least conspicuous feature of 
 the public procession were the Chinese, who, as invited 
 guests, took part in the event. In 1853, upon the occasion
 
 10 INTRODUCTOKY. 
 
 of the delivery of a lecture on China by the Rev. Mr. Speer, 
 the Hon. H. H. Haight, subsequently Democratic Governor 
 of the State, presented the following resolutions at the close 
 of the lecture, which were unanimously adopted: 
 
 "Resolved, That the present position of Oriental nations 
 is fraught with the most profound interest to the Christian 
 world, and that we, as citizens of California, placed by the 
 wonderful leadings of Providence so immediately in con- 
 tact with one of the most ancient, intelligent and populous 
 of these nations, hail with peculiar satisfaction the signs of 
 the times; and that we feel an imperative obligation to em- 
 ploy our money, our influence and utmost effort for the welfare 
 of that vast portion of the human family, our older brothers — 
 the people of China. 
 
 ' ' Resolved, That we regard with pleasure the presence of 
 great numbers of these people among us as affording the 
 best ojDportunity of doing them good, and through them of 
 exerting our influence upon their native land." 
 
 It is not too much to say that if these resolutions were 
 submitted for endorsement to the popular vote of the people 
 of San Francisco to-day, there is not a man in the whole 
 community, except those directly and pecuniarily interested 
 in keeping the Chinamen here, who would not repudiate the 
 sentiment which they embody by an emphatic no ! Is it to 
 be presumed that such a change of sentiment has been 
 brought about in the minds of an intelligent people except 
 by such practical results growing out of long years of con- 
 tact with the Chinese as have compelled them to conversion? 
 It should be remembered that this change of public sen- 
 timent in California during these years of contact with the 
 Chinse is not the conversion of a people coming from any 
 one section of the Union, or representing any one State; but 
 that California — "Child of the Union," as she has been 
 aptly called — has a population made ujd of representatives 
 from every part of the United States as well as European 
 countries. Whatever, then, by practical experience, carries 
 conviction home to the minds of a people so constituted,
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 11 
 
 ought to be accepted bj the people of all the rest of the 
 States as convincing, and should insure their acquiescence 
 and cooperation. It should be accepted as proof positive ia 
 itself that the position held bj the people of California on 
 this question is necessarily right, and necessarily deserving 
 of the sympathy and aid of the people of the nation. 
 
 If, then, a true exhibit of the causes which have led to 
 this change of sentiment can be conveyed into the minds of 
 their fellow-citizens throughout the country, it is reasonable 
 to assume that they, too, will experience "a change of heart" 
 upon this momentous issue. It is the object of the compila- 
 tion of incontestible facts, which will be presented in this 
 work, to carry home conviction to the hearts of all fair- 
 minded men under whose observation it may fall, and to 
 bring about, to that extent, at least, such a reformation in 
 the public mind upon the Chinese question as shall strengthen 
 the arms of the people of the Pacific Coast, in the contest 
 which they are making to remove the incubus which has 
 fastened itself upon them, and to avert the still greater 
 danger which threatens the whole country by the further 
 toleration of Chinese immigration. 
 
 No fair and impartial statement of the Chinese question 
 can be made that does not embody an exhibit in brief of the 
 social, industrial, moral and religious sides of Chinese life 
 in China itself, and the same conditions of their existence 
 after being translated to these shores, and after haviug estab- 
 lished themselves by a residence of prolonged existence 
 among us. The most liberal and earnest advocate of unre- 
 stricted foreign immigration into the United States, 
 the wildest enthusiast upon the theory of making 
 this land the asylum of the poor and oppressed of all 
 nations, will surely not contend that the public welfare, or 
 the welfare of the wide mixture of nationalities that assem- 
 ble here can ever be promoted, except it be followed by 
 intermixture, or what is better termed "assimilation,"
 
 12 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 and complete AmericanLzation in social and industrial 
 manner and mode of life. And the only rational defense of 
 this unlimited immigration tlieory rests solely upon the 
 results that have heretofore obtained in putting it into prac- 
 tice and adhering to it as a measure of fixed public policy. 
 Going farther than this, it involves also all the conditions 
 of perfect political assimilation ; and hence it is accompanied 
 by such terms of naturalization to all the rights of citizen- 
 ship, that all may, after a brief period, enter into and parti- 
 cipate in all the political rights that the native American 
 enjoys, as freely as if born and bred upon the soil. 
 
 This theory presupposes that every adult as well as every 
 child immigrant coming into the United States is capable of 
 being Americanized, as heretofore stated, by brief contactwith 
 Americans and brief residence upon American soil. Now if 
 this be the underlying theory of the American form of govern- 
 ment, and if it can be proved beyond controversy that there 
 are nationalities which cannot be Americanized, which cannot 
 assimilate and which thus form an exception to this presup- 
 posed theory, which send to us a class of human material 
 that, by reason of ethnological or other natural laws, must 
 always remain separate in race characteristics, and in social 
 and industrial life must always be antagonistic to the same 
 phases of American life proper; if it can be proved that the 
 contact of such a race with the assimilated or composite 
 American race jproper is productive only of the spread of 
 vice and disease of blood, and degrading and injurious to 
 American free labor, then no unbiased mind can fail to say 
 that such a race should be made an exception to the Amer- 
 ican theory, and American soil should not be opened to 
 them as an asylum or a home. 
 
 What happens in the case of the Chinese is this : The 
 nation, by Congressional law, recognizes that they are not 
 fit for political citizenship, but does not deny them the right 
 of asylum or home among us. The case is thus half admit-
 
 INTEODUCTOEY. 13 
 
 ted, and tlie battle half won. Now let us take one step 
 further. In the case of children born upon the soil from 
 Chinese parentage, the prohibition against naturalization 
 cannot apply, and they are and must be citizens. Now, if it 
 can be proved that even with Chinese children born upon 
 the soil the same race characteristics prevail in all respects 
 that exist among the adult immigrants, then the same ob- 
 jections obtain against their exercising the rights of citizen- 
 ship which have caused the Chinese to be made exceptions 
 against naturalization; and we thus have created, by admit- 
 ting Chinese immigration at all, the very means of defeat of 
 the precaution which Congress has taken, to prohibit Chinese 
 naturalization. Such is the anomalous and absurd position 
 in which we have placed ourselves by this self-frustrating 
 system of Congressional legislation; because it will later on 
 appear that such is the precise status of Chinese children 
 born upon American soil, in so far as thirty-five years of ex- 
 perience with Chinese immigration and habition here goes 
 to prove. Let us, in logical order, see, then, first : what are 
 the characteristics of life in China of the classes of Chinese 
 who immigrate to America; second, what are their character- 
 istics when transplanted to these shores. There need be no 
 dispute upon either of these points, because there is no dis- 
 pute on the part of those who have written from experience 
 and observation upon the subject of the manners and cus- 
 toms of the Chinese iu China, unbiased uj)ou the subject of 
 Chinese immigration into America. While the presentation 
 of the mode of life of the Chinese here, in the Pieport pre- 
 sented by the Special Committee of the Board of Supervisors 
 of San Francisco upon so-called "Chinatown" in that city — 
 not one single statement in which has been so far disputed 
 or attempted to be controverted — settles beyond question 
 what the characteristics of the Chinese are when thus trans- 
 planted; for the picture of "Chinatown in San Francisco," 
 presented in this Keport, is a picture of every "Chinatown" in
 
 14: THE CHINESE AT HOME. 
 
 every other large city or town in California or elsewhere, in 
 any country to which there has been any considerable influx 
 of Chinese; and there is no country on the habitable globe to 
 which there has been any marked Chinese emigration where 
 the same system of clannish isolation does not exist in all 
 large communities, and there is no city in such countries 
 that does not boast its "Chinatown," which quarter, in every 
 instance, is a reproduction of the "Chinatown" of San Fran- 
 cigco — on a greater or lesser scale, as the case may be — as 
 that quarter will be found to be described in this work. 
 Further than this, it is the object of this exhibit to prove 
 that the "Chinese at Home" are the "Chinese Abroad" in 
 every essential particular, unchangeable in any material as- 
 pect, non-assimilating in nature, and hence productive only 
 of evil consequences when migrating to these shores, to be- 
 come practically, if not politically, American citizens. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE CHINESE AT HOME. 
 
 With the history, inventions and achievements of the 
 Chinese as a people, with the code of morals taught by Con- 
 fucius or other Chinese moralists, with the higher and 
 better attributes of Chinese civilization we have at present 
 no concern, because as these are represented here by the 
 few merchants or scholars who necessarily drift here with 
 the tide of coolieism that forms the great bulk of Chinese 
 immigration proper, they scarcely enter into consideration 
 when dealing with this question. Certainly were Chinese 
 immigration confined alone to this higher class, this ques- 
 tion would cease to agitate the public mind.
 
 THE CHINESE AT HOME. 15 
 
 "What are tlie race characteristics, what are the capabili- 
 ties for absorption and assimilation into the body politic of 
 American nationality if permitted to come here, of the class 
 of Chinese who form this great bulk of Asiatic immigration 
 to our shores, what is to be the physical, moral and religious 
 effect upon either race by such contact ! These are the more 
 important features of the problem which we are called upon 
 to solve, and to these let us address ourselves. Let us see 
 first what'is the verdict of impartial writers upon this sub- 
 ject. 
 
 M. I'x^bbe Hue, the eminent Frenchman, whose travels 
 and observations in China were of a more thorough and 
 complete character than those of any traveler who preceded 
 or who has since succeeded him, has left in his "Journey 
 through the Chinese Empire " a record of his observations 
 and conclusions upon the Chinese character that ought to 
 be accepted as indisputable authority. He says: 
 
 / " Among the principal causes of pauperism in China may 
 be mentioned, besides the excessive carelessness of the 
 government and the exuberance of the population, gambling, 
 drunkenness and debauchery. These vices, of course, are 
 not peculiar to China, they have been known in all ages and 
 countries and_ have always brought disorder and misery in 
 their train. It is true, however, that the Chinese give them- 
 selves up to them with a passion never exceeded among any . 
 
 ^nation that has ever existed. 
 
 " Gaming is prohibited by the laws of the Empire, but 
 all legislation on this subject has been overpowered by the 
 habits of the people, and China is now in fact one vast gaming 
 house. Chinese games are very numerous; they play at 
 cards, chess, draughts, dice and tsei-mei, a game similar to 
 Italian morra. He who loses is obliged to pay a cup of 
 brandy. The Chinese are also passionately fond of cock- 
 fights, as well as of combats between crickets, grasshoppers, 
 etc., and these interesting amusements always give occasion 
 to wagers, often to a considerable amount. Habitual gam- 
 blers prefer cards and dice; they assemble both in private 
 houses, and in public establishments, a good deal like our
 
 16 THE CHINESE AT HOME. 
 
 cafes except that nothing but tea is drank in them. There 
 they pass days and nights, playing with so much passion, 
 that they scarcely give themselves time even to take their 
 food. There is not a village that has not its gaming house 
 and its professed gamesters. 
 
 " The Chinese are, as we have said, industrious and 
 economical, but their cupidity, their immoderate love of 
 lucre and their decided taste for stock-jobbing and specula- 
 tion easily tempt them to gambling when they are not en- 
 gaged in traffic. They seek eagerly for strong excitements, 
 and when once they have got into the habit of gambling 
 they seldom or never recover from it. They cast aside every 
 obligation of station, duty and family, to live only for cards 
 and dice; and this fatal passion gains such an empire over 
 them that they proceed even to the most revolting extremi- 
 ties. When they have lost all their money they will play 
 for their houses, their land, and their wives, even, whose 
 destiny often depends on a cast of the dice. Nay, the 
 Chinese gambler does not stop here, for he will stake the 
 very clothes he has on for one game more; and this horrible 
 custom gives rise to scenes that would not be credible did 
 we not know that the passions always tend to render men 
 cruel and inhuman. 
 
 * ' In the northern provinces, especially in the environs of 
 the Great Wall, you may sometimes meet, during the most 
 intense cold of winter, men running about in a state of 
 complete nudity, having been driven pitilessly from the 
 gaming houses when they had lost their all. They rush 
 about in all directions like madmen to try and save them- 
 selves from being frozen, or crouched down against the chim- 
 neys, 'which in those countries are carried along the walls of 
 the houses on a level with the ground. They turn first one 
 side toward the warmth, then the other, while their gambling 
 companions, far from trying to help them, look on with fero- 
 cious and malignant hilarity. The horrible spectacle seldom 
 lasts long, for the cold soon seizes the unfortunate creatures 
 and they fall down and die. The gamblers then return to 
 their tables and begin to play again with the most perfect 
 composure. Such facts as these will appear fabulous to 
 many persons, but having resided several years in the north 
 of China we can testify to their perfect authenticity." 
 
 * -x- * * * * *
 
 THE CHINESE AT HOME. 17 
 
 ''Many rain themselves witli brandy, as others do with 
 gaming. In company, or even alone, they will pass whole 
 days and nights in drinking successive little cnps of it until 
 their intoxication makes them incapable of carrying the cup 
 to their lips. When this passion has once seized on the 
 head of a family, poverty, with all its lugubrious train, very 
 soon makes its entrance into the house." 
 
 * « -X- -Sfr -K- -x- -H- 
 
 ** Gambling and drunkenness, then, are the two perma- 
 nent causes of pauperism in China; but there is a third, still 
 more disastrous. 
 
 " Chinese society has a certain tone of decency and re- 
 serve that may very well impose on those who look only at 
 the surface and judge merely by the momentary impression; 
 but a very short residence among the Chinese is sufficient to 
 show that their virtue is entirely external, their public 
 morality is but a mask worn over the corruption of their 
 manners. We will take care not to lift the unclean veil that 
 hides the putrefaction of this ancient Chinese civilization. 
 The leprosy of vice has spread so completely through this 
 skeptical society that the varnish of modesty with which it 
 is covered is continually falling off and exposing the hideous 
 wounds which are eating away the vitals of this unbelieving 
 people. Their language is already revoltingly indecent, and 
 the slang of the worst resorts 6f licentiousness threatens to 
 become the ordinary language of conversation. There are 
 some Provinces in which the inns on the road have apart- 
 ments entirely papered with representations of all kinds of 
 shameless debauchery, and these abominable pictures are 
 known among the Chinese by the pretty name of 'flowers.' 
 
 " The ravages of pauperism, it may well be supposed, 
 must be terrible in a society in which gambling, drunken- 
 ness and libertinism are thus largely developed; and, in fact, 
 there do exist countless multitudes perpetually stagnating in 
 vice and misery, and always ready to enroll themselves un- 
 der the banners of theft and highway robbery. To this 
 pauperism especially, we believe, is to be ascribed the mon- 
 strous crime of infanticide, so common in China, and for the 
 prevention of which the charity of Europe, and particularly 
 of France, has been so deeply interested. 
 
 * ¥r ^ * « * *
 
 18 THE CHINESE AT HOME. 
 
 "As for ordinary infanticides — the suffocation and 
 drowning of infants — they are innumerable, more common, 
 unquestionably, than in any other place in the world, and 
 their principal cause is pauperism. From the information 
 we have collected in various provinces, it appears that per- 
 sons in embarrassed circumstances kill their new-born 
 female children in the most pitiless manner. 
 
 % ¥: ^ '^ * i^ ¥r 
 
 " In certain localities, where the culture of cotton and 
 the breeding of silk-worms furnish young girls with suitable 
 occupations, they are allowed to live, and the parents are 
 even unwilling to see them marry and enter another family. 
 Interest is the supreme motive of the Chinese, even in cases 
 where the heart alone ought to have influence." 
 
 Again, in referring to the condition of women in China, 
 M. Hue says: 
 
 ' ' The public and private servitude of women — a servi- 
 tude that opinion, legislation, manners, have sealed with 
 their triple seal — has become, in some measure, the corner- 
 stone of Chinese society. The young girl lives shut up in 
 the house where she was born, occupied exclusively with the 
 cares of housekeeping, treated by everybody, and especially 
 by her brothers, as a menial, from whom they have a right 
 to demand the lowest and most painful services. The 
 amusements and pleasures of her age are quite unknown to 
 her; her whole education consists in knowing how to use her 
 needle; she neither learns to read nor write; there exists for 
 her neither school nor house of education; she is condemned 
 to vegetate in the most complete and absolute ignorance, 
 and no one ever thinks of or troubles himself about her till 
 the time arrives when she is to be married. Nay, the idea 
 of her nullity is carried so far that even in this, the most im- 
 portant and decisive event in the life of a woman, she passes 
 for nothing. The consulting her in any way, or informing 
 her so much as the name of her husband, would be consid- 
 ered as most superfluous and absurd. 
 
 * -X- -X- * -K- -X- -55- 
 
 "The state of perpetual humiliation and wretchedness to 
 which the women of China are reduced does sometimes drive 
 them to frightful extremities, and the judicial annals are full 
 of the most tragical events arising from this cause. The
 
 THE CHINESE AT HOME. 19 
 
 number of women who bang tbemselves, or commit suicide 
 in various ways, is very considerable. When this catastrophe 
 occurs in a family, the husband shows, usually, a great 
 deal of emotion, for, in fact, he has suffered a considerable 
 loss, and will be under the necessity of buying another 
 wife." 
 
 Such are some of the commentaries upon the character of 
 the Chinese made by M. Hue. A pure-minded, pious, truth- 
 ful historian, he ranks the world over as an authority whose 
 writings are beyond question, and who has chronicled 
 nothing that he has not seen or learned of through incon- 
 testible proofs. 
 
 Let us call the next witness. An English authority, 
 John Henry Gray, M. A., LL.D., Archdeacon of Hong Kong, 
 the author of "China: a History of the Laws, Manners and 
 Customs of the People," recognized to-day as a standard 
 authority on Chinese matters, says: 
 
 " Of the moral character of the people, who have multi- 
 } plied until they are 'as the sand which is upon the seashore,' 
 I it is very difficult to speak justly. The moral character of 
 j the Chinese is a book written in strange letters, which are 
 i more complex and difficult for one of another race, religion 
 and language to decipher than their own singularly com- 
 pounded word symbols. In the same individual virtues and 
 vices, apparently incompatible, are placed side by side. 
 Meekness, gentleness, docility, industry, contentment, cheer- 
 fulness, obedience to superiors, dutifulness to parents, and 
 reverence for the aged, are in one and the same person the 
 J companions of insincerity, lying, flattery, treachery, cruelty, 
 ' jealousy, ingratitude, avarice, and distrust of others. *The 
 Chinese are a weak and timid people, and, in consequence, 
 like all similarly constituted races, they seek a natural refuge 
 I in deceit and fraud. 
 
 / ■' Their religion is a mass of superstitions; their govern- 
 ment is in form — that which of all others is perhaps most 
 liable to abuse — an irresponsible despotism; their judges are 
 venal; their- judicial procedure is radically defective, and 
 has recourse in its weakness to the infliction of torture; their
 
 20 THE CHINESE AT HOME. 
 
 punishments are, many of tliem, barl^arous and revolting; 
 their police are dishonest, and their prisons are dens of cru- 
 elty. A considerable mass of the population does not know 
 how to read, and nearly everywhere there is a prejudiced 
 ignorance of all that relates to modern progress. Their 
 social life suffers from the baleful effects of polygamy, and, 
 to a certain extent, of slavery; and their marriage laws and 
 customs hold women in a state of degrading bondage. 
 ^ Hi ■«• * -H- * -x- 
 
 "In the houses of wealthy citizens it is not unusual to 
 find from twenty to thirty slaves attending upon a family. 
 Even citizens in the humbler walks of life deem it necessary 
 to have each a slave or two. The price of a slave varies, of 
 course, according to age, health, strength and general person- 
 al appearance. The average price is from fifty to one hundred 
 dollars; but in time of war or revolution, poor parents, on 
 the verge of starvation, offer their sons and daughters for 
 sale at remarkably low prices. I remember instances of 
 parents, rendered destitute by marauding bands who in- 
 fested the two southern Kivangs in 1854-55, offering to sell 
 their daughters in Canton for five dollars apiece. The ranks 
 of slaves are also recruited from the families of gamblers, 
 whose losses not unfrequently compel them to sell their 
 children. Amongst the many Chinese friends and acquaint- 
 ances I made during my residence at Canton, one, an old 
 man named Lum Chi-Ivee, was what may be termed a slave 
 broker; and I remember two bright-looking youths being 
 sold to him by their profligate father who had gambled his 
 means away. The oldest had fetched fifty dollars and the 
 younger forty. The old slave-broker offered one of the 
 youths to me at the advanced price of $350. The usual price 
 of an ordinary, able-bodied male slave is about $1U0. 
 
 * ■«■ % -X- * -K- 4fr 
 
 " The slavery to which these unfortunate persons are sub- 
 ject is perpetual and hereditary, and they have no parental 
 authority over their offspring. The great-grandsons of 
 slaves, however, can, if they have sufficient means, purchase 
 their freedom." 
 
 The Eev. Justice Doolittle, "fourteen years member of 
 the Fuhchan mission of the American Board," in his "Social 
 Life of the Chinese," furnishes the following testimony on 
 the slavery question :
 
 THE CHINESE AT HOME. 21 
 
 "Parents can sell their children to be s.aves or to be 
 the adopted children of the buyer. Husbands can sell their 
 wives to be the wives of other men, not to be their slaves. 
 These who have bought children of their parents can sell 
 them to others. Children are not unfrequently stolen from 
 their parents, taken to some other part of the province or 
 empire and sold for slaves. 
 
 '* The Chinese use the same terms to indicate the sale 
 and purchase of children and wives that they use when 
 speaking of the sale and purchase of land and 6attle, or any 
 description of property." 
 
 Here, it will be seen, that there is no distinction made in 
 the sale of the sexes into slavery. But that there may be no 
 cavil on this point let us persue Mr Doolittle's testimony 
 further. He says: 
 
 * ' The following statements in regard to the marriage of 
 a male slave, and of his owner's control over the slave's de- 
 scendants have been furnished by a literary gentleman in 
 whose family clan there is such a slave. 
 
 "The owner of a male slave, after he has arrived at 
 about thirty years of age at the latest, should procure a 
 wife for him. Some delay doing this until a considerably 
 longer period, but such delay subjects the owner to reproach 
 and the slave becomes more and more dissatisfied and un- 
 faithful. His male children and grand children belong, so 
 to speak, to his owner, and must do according to his bidding, 
 though he may not, or at least usually does not sell them for 
 money." 
 
 * -X- * ¥: * * " 
 
 "In the year 1858, a man at Fuhchau sold his wife for 
 about $20. Another man about the same time offered his 
 only son, a bright lad of five or six years, for sale for $16. 
 
 "He was offered $10 by a man " which was refused. 
 
 It is well to halt for a moment in this citation of evi- 
 dences of authoritative -writers upon China and its people, to 
 point out the inconsistencies, nay, the untruthfulness of 
 some American missionary writers who have heretofore 
 undertaken the task of defending Chinese immigration
 
 22 THE CHINESE AT HOME. 
 
 into America -upon high moral and religious grounds. One 
 of these writers, the Eev. O. Gibson, in his book on "The 
 Chinese in America," says: 
 
 "The fact is, and intelligent men know it, that, so far 
 as the male population of China is concerned, no such thing 
 as slavery, in our acceptance of the term, exists. The 
 Chinese people always regarded with horror the American 
 system of African slavery." 
 
 And again, in his sworn testimony before the Congres- 
 sional Committee, published in the same book, he says : 
 
 "In China there is no system of slavery, so far as the 
 male sex is concerned." 
 
 Coming from a man who resided ten years in China, such 
 testimony as this cannot be set down to ignorance; and with 
 such unassailable evidence as has already been given in flat 
 contradiction of his testimony, and which will be presently 
 reinforced by other equally responsible authorities, it cer- 
 tainly bears the semblance of wilful perversion of the truth. 
 Moreover, as will hereafter be made conclusively to appear, 
 Mr. Gibson's book abounds in what may here be mildly des- 
 ignated as misstatements of facts, but which the reader of 
 this may consider should be called by a harsher term. 
 
 Let us return to the subject of the Chinaman at home, as 
 seen by other well-known writers. Mr. Conwell, in his 
 book entitled "Why and How," treating in general on the 
 mode of life of the Chinese, has a chapter on "Chinese 
 Slavery," from which a few extracts will not be amiss, in 
 view of Mr . Gibson's statements : 
 
 " The slave in China is whipped, branded, put in stocks 
 and pillories, and otherwise maltreated, as often as were the 
 African slaves in the Southern States of the American 
 Union. They have as hard tasks to perform, as little of 
 the luxuries of life, and are nearly as often separated from 
 their families as were the bondmen in the English Colonies."
 
 THE CHINESE AT HOME. 23 
 
 *'In China it is not considered respectable for a master 
 to sell a husband away from his whole family, although the 
 girls may be sold at any time. Neither is it fashionable to 
 keep a male slave after he is thirty years of age without pur- 
 chasing a wife for him; but if native evidence is trustworthy, 
 the observance of this moral law is the exception rather than 
 the rule. The male slave is a valuable piece of property, 
 and the heathen master is more apt to use it in the way 
 which will return the greatest dividend, without regard to 
 morality or suffering, than is the slave-owner in civilized 
 lands." 
 
 Mr. Conwell also relates in circumstantial detail the 
 method by which the Coolie frequently obtains the means 
 to enable him to come here* And that is, by mortgaging 
 his family to the party advancing him money, which mort- 
 gage carries with it the liability of direct sale of wife and 
 children — sons as well as daughters — into slavery, to be 
 sold to the highest bidder. He relates with equal circum- 
 stantiality the mode of proceeding in making such sale, and 
 specifically refers to the following instance. 
 
 "The sale of a family in Canton in the month of April, 
 1870, will well illustrate what may become of the delinquent 
 Coolie's family in case of a sale under the bond. This family 
 lived in the town of Tsunghwa, and were mortgaged to a 
 broker in Canton, through a Mandarin, for the price of the 
 Coolie's tickets and a few unpaid debts left behind. His fail- 
 ure to pay made a foreclosure necessary, and consequently a 
 sale. The vendors having made repeated attempts to sell in 
 Tsunghwa, finally brought the family — mother, two sons, 
 and one daughter — to Canton, and exposed them for sale 
 near one of the gates. They were there nearly a week before 
 the first sale was made, and that only included the disposal 
 of the girl to the keeper of a brothel iu Hainan for thirty- 
 three dollars and seventy-five cents. Two days after, the 
 youngest son, twelve years of age, was sold to a silk manu- 
 facturer among the foreign population of Canton for sixty 
 dollars. The same day the older son, who was eighteen 
 years of age and quite intelligent, attracted the attention of 
 a sea-captain, who, out of compassion gave seventy-six dol- 
 lars for the boy and put him on board a vessel loading with
 
 24 THE CHINESE AT HOME. 
 
 Coolies for tlie southern ports of North America. The ex- 
 traordinary low price received for the children made the 
 sale of the mother necessary, and, as no Chinaman wanted 
 so old a woman for wife or mistress, she was purchased by 
 a speculator, and afterwards ' let out ' to European families 
 as a nurse; and it was from her and the captain that I re- 
 ceived the story of the family's misfortune. 
 
 " Several instances have been known where such families 
 have been purchased by the agents of ships that were wait- 
 ing for a cargo of Chinese, and sent to America under a 
 written contract to work for the purchaser a certain length 
 of time after their arrival in America; but they were in- 
 structed what to say to the Consul, and of course answered 
 in the negative when asked by him if they were under any 
 contract to labor." 
 
 ' ' The sales, however, by emigrants to America form but 
 an infinitessimal portion of the great traffic in human flesh, 
 made necessary by poverty and two thousand years of super- 
 stitious tyranny." 
 
 In his "Middle Kingdom" Mr. "Williams says: 
 
 "The proportion of slaves to free men cannot be stated, 
 but the former have never attracted notice by their numbers, 
 nor excited dread by their restiveness. Girls are more 
 readily sold than boys : at Peking a healthy girl under twelve 
 years of age brings from thirty to fifty taels, rising to two 
 hundred and fifty or three hundred for one of seventeen or 
 eighteen years old. In times of famine orphans or needy 
 children are exposed for sale at the price of a few cash." 
 
 Again, he says: 
 
 " Slavery exists in a modified form of corporeal mortgage 
 for debt, and thousands remain in this serfdom for life 
 through one reason or another." 
 
 But the chief object of alluding thus at length to the 
 question of slavery in China at this moment is to show the 
 utter unreliability of the statements made by the Rev. Mr. 
 Gibson, who stands forward as the champion advocate of 
 Chinese immigration, and justifies his action by such a
 
 THE CHINESE AT HOME. 25 
 
 clearly false presentation of facts as that shown in liis 
 treatment of this branch of the subject. 
 
 Of all the existing authorities in the English language 
 upon China, Williams' "Middle Kingdom' is perhaps recog- 
 nized as that of the highest standard. And his testimony 
 of the Chinese character and mode of life is thus summed 
 up by him at the close of his first volume. After crediting 
 them with a full resume of all their virtues, he proceeds as 
 follows : 
 
 "When, however, these traits have been mentioned, the 
 Chinese are still more left without excuse for their wickedness, 
 since, being without law, they are a law unto themselves; 
 they have always known better than they have done. 
 With a general regard for outward decency, they are vile 
 and polluted in a shocking degree; their conversation is full 
 of filthy expressions, and their lives of impure acts. They 
 are somewhat restrained in the latter by the fences put 
 around the family circle, so that seduction and adultery are 
 comparatively infrequent; the former may even be said to be 
 rare, but brothels and their inmates occur everywhere on 
 land and water. One danger attending young girls going 
 abroad alone is that they will be stolen for incarceration in 
 these gates of hell. By pictures, songs and aphrodisiacs, 
 they excite their sensuality, and, as the Apostle says, ' re- 
 ceive in themselves that recompense of their error which 
 is meet.' 
 
 ' ' More uneradicable than the sins of the flesh is 
 the falsity of the Chinese, and its attendant sin of base 
 ingratitude; their disregard of truth has perhaps done more 
 to lower their character than any other fault. They feel no 
 shame at being detected in a lie (though they have not gone 
 quite so far as not to know when they do lie), nor do they fear 
 any punishment from their gods for it. On the other hand, 
 the necessity of the case compels them, in their daily inter- 
 course with each other, to pay some regard to truth, and 
 each man, from his own consciousness, knows just about 
 how much to expect. Ambassadors and merchants have 
 not been in the best position to ascertain their real 
 character in this respect, for on the one side, the courtiers 
 of Peking thought themselves called upon, by the mere
 
 26 THE CHINESE AT HOME. 
 
 presence of an embassy, to put on some fictitious appearances, 
 and on the other the integrity and fair dealing of the hong 
 merchants and great traders at Canton is in advance of the 
 usual mercantile honesty of their countrymen. A Chinese 
 requires but little motive to falsify, and he is constantly 
 sharpening his wits to cozen his customer, wheedle him by 
 promises, and cheat him in goods or work. There is nothing 
 which tires one so much when living among them as their 
 disregard of truth, and renders him so indifferent as to 
 what calamities may befall so metidacious a race; an abiding 
 impression of suspicion toward everybody rests upon the 
 mind, which chills the warmest wishes for their welfare and 
 thwarts many a plan to benefit them. Their better traits 
 diminish in the distance, and patience is exhausted in its 
 daily proximity and friction with this ancestor of all sins. 
 Mr. Abeel mentions a case of deceit which may serve as a 
 specimen. 
 
 ' ' Soon after we arrived at Kulang Su, a man came to us 
 who professed to be the near relation and guardian of the 
 owners of the house in which we live, and presented a little 
 boy as the joint proprietor with his widowed mother. From 
 the appearance of the house and the testimony of others, we 
 could easily credit his story that the family were now in re- 
 duced circumstances, having not only lost the house when 
 the English attacked the place, but a thousand dollars be- 
 sides, by native robbers; we therefore allowed him a small 
 rent, and gave the dollars to the man, who put them into the 
 hands of the child. The next month he made his appear- 
 ance; but our servant, whom we had taken to be peculiarly 
 honest for a heathen, suggested the propriety of inquiring 
 whether the money was ever given to those for whom it was 
 professedly received, and soon returned with the informa- 
 tion that the mother had heard nothing of the money, the 
 man who received it not living in the family, but had now 
 sent a lad to us who would receive it for her, and who, our 
 servant assured us, would give it to the proper person. A 
 day or two afterward our cook whispered to me that our 
 honest servant who had taken so much pains to prevent all 
 fraud in the matter bad made the lad give him one-half the 
 money for his disinterestedness in preventing it from falling 
 into improper hands; and further examination showed us 
 that this very cook had himself received a good share to 
 keep silent.'
 
 THE CHINESE AT HOME. 27 
 
 "Thieving is exceedingly common, and the illegal exac- 
 tions of the rulers, as has already been sufficiently pointed 
 out, are most burdensome. This vice, too, is somewhat re- 
 strained by the punishments inflicted on criminals, though 
 the root of the evil is not touched. While the licentiousness 
 of the Chinese may be in part ascribed to their ignorance of 
 pure intellectual pleasures and the want of virtuous female 
 society, so may their lying be attributed partly to their 
 truckling fear of officers, and their thievery to the want of 
 sufficient food or work. Hospitality is not a trait of their 
 character; on the contrary, the number and wretched condi- 
 tion of the beggars show that public and private charity is 
 almost extinct; yet here, too, the sweeping charge must be 
 modified when we remember the efforts they make to sustain 
 their relatives and families in so densely peopled a country. 
 Their avarice is not so distinguishing a feature as their love 
 of money; but the industry which this desire induces or 
 presupposes is the source of most of their superiority to 
 their neighbors. The politeness w^hich they exhibit seldom 
 has its motive in good-will, and consequently when the var- 
 nish is off", the rudeness, brutality, and coarseness of 
 the material is seen; still, among themselves, this exterior 
 polish is not without some good results in preventing quar- 
 rels, where both parties, fully understanding each other, are 
 careful not to overpass the bounds of etiquette. 
 
 " On the whole, the Chinese present a singular mixture. 
 If there is something to commend there is more to blame; 
 if they have some glaring vices they have more virtues than 
 most pagan nations. Ostentatious kindness and inbred sus- 
 picion, ceremonious civility and real rudeness, partial inven- 
 tion and servile imitation, industry and waste, sycophancy 
 and self-dependence, are, with other dark and bright quali- 
 ties, strangely blended. In trying to remedy the faults of 
 their character by the restraints of law and the diffusion of 
 education, they have no doubt hit upon the right mode; and 
 their shortcomings show how ineffectual both must be until 
 the Gospel comes to the aid of ruler and subject in elevating 
 the moral sense of tLe whole nation. Female infanticide, in 
 some parts openly confessed and divested of all disgrace 
 and penalties everywhere; the dreadful prevalence of all the 
 vices charged by the Apostle Paul upon the ancient heathen 
 world ; the alarming extent of the use of opium (furnished, 
 too, under the patronage and supplied in purity by the
 
 28 THE CHINESE AT HOME. 
 
 pov/er and skill of Great Britian from India), destroying the 
 prodnctions and natural resources of the people; the univer- 
 sal practice of lying and dishonest dealings; the unblushing 
 lewdness of old and young; harsh cruelty toward prisoners 
 by officers; and tyranny over slaves by masters — all form 
 a full, unchecked torrent of human depravity, and prove the 
 existence of a kind and degree of moral degradation of which 
 an excessive statement can scarcely be made, or an ade- 
 quate conception hardly be formed." 
 
 Bayard Taylor says of thera in his work entitled ' 'India, 
 China, and Japan," published in 1855 
 
 "It is my deliberate opinion that the Chinese are, mor- 
 ally, the most debased people on the face of the earth. 
 Forms of vice, which in other countries are barely named, are 
 in China so commen that they excite no comment among the 
 natives. They constitute the surface level, and below them 
 are deeps and deeps of depravity so shocking and horrible 
 that their character cannot even be hinted. There are 
 some dark shadows in human nature which we naturally 
 shrink from penetrating, and I made no attempt to collect 
 information of this kind; but there was enough in the things 
 Avhich I could not avoid seeing and hearing — which are 
 brought almost daily to the notice of every foreign resident — 
 to inspire me with a poweful aversion of the Chinese race. 
 Tlieir touch is pollution, and, harsh as the opinion may 
 seem, justice to our oion race demands that they shoidd not he al- 
 loioed to settle on our soil. Science may have lost something, 
 but mankind has gained, by the exclusive policy which has 
 governed China for the past centuries." 
 
 The Hon. Wm. J. Shaw testified before the Legislative 
 Investigating Committee of California in 1875 as follows : 
 
 " I was also assured that a very large portion of the pop- 
 ulation, particularly the working population, were simply 
 slaves — some of slaves from birth; but as a rule, or at least 
 in very frequent instances, they were enslaved in a manner 
 not unknown to foreign nations, being sold to pay debts. 
 A very large portion of the laboring classes composes this 
 latter class."
 
 THE CHINESE AT HOME. 29 
 
 Pekin, in my opinion, is one of the filthiest cities to be 
 found. There is what is called a Chinese citj of Pekin and 
 a Tartar city. The Chinese city is filthy to a degree almost 
 beyond belief. I have seen tricks perpetrated in the streets 
 of Pekin proper that would only be tolerated in brutes iu 
 a civilized country. When I was there I wondered how 
 ladies could go into the streets at all, and I was told that 
 they hardly ever did; and they never attempted to walkin the 
 streets, but when comj^elled to go out used the convej-ances 
 of that country. When they wanted exercise they were car- 
 ried to the walls of the city, upon the top of which they 
 could walk without seeing sights that would be disgusting. 
 Those streets are filthy beyond what should ever be seen 
 among human beings. The great mass of the people, it 
 seemed to me, were ignorant, and not in a position to be re- 
 moved from ignorance. They have, it is true, a system of 
 education, but that system is confined to certain books 
 Avritten four thousand years ago. They think there is no 
 knowledge anywhere that is not found in those books, and, 
 as a consequence, their learning, from the highest to the 
 lowest, must be very limited, according to our ideas." 
 
 In no aspect is the moral nature and social life of the 
 Chinese to be commended. Their very presence is not only 
 debasing to all who come in contact with them because of 
 their hideous vices, but in their daily intercourse with each 
 other they are vile to the last degree. Mr. Doolittle, the 
 author of ' ' Social Life in China, " says very truly : 
 
 " One of the best ways of learning the real moral 
 condition of a people is to ascertain how they talk when 
 excited or exasperated." 
 
 And he then proceeds to describe the habits of the 
 Chinese in this respect : 
 
 " The Chinese have a large vocabulary of curses, oaths 
 and imprecations. On the most trivial occasions they, al- 
 most without exception, are in the habit of imprecating 
 upon those who have excited their anger the most direful 
 vengeance, or expressing their feelings in the most filthy 
 language. Their common language, when offended or in- 
 sulted, is usually of the most vile description, abounding
 
 30 THE INHUMANITY OF THE RACE, 
 
 with indelicate and obsceno allusions. They seem to stiive 
 within themselves, as though a wager were at stake, who 
 shall excel in the use of hlthy, loathsome and vindictive 
 terms. It is one of the most common occurrences in the 
 public streets for two or more Chinese, or parties of Chinese, 
 to bandy back and forth the most vulgar language and utter 
 the most dreadful curses on each other. 
 
 " The Chinese here have a saying that their 'mouths are 
 exceedingly filthy,' and no one who has acquired their 
 dialect can have the least doubt of its truth. They have 
 another saying that the ' heart of woman is superlatively 
 poisonous,' meaning that the language uttered by females, 
 when cursing others, is more virulent and filthy than that 
 used by men. It is not easy for a foreigner to perceive the 
 truth of this saying when both sexes seem to have arrived 
 at the highest attainable facility in heaping the vilest lan- 
 guage and the most awful curses upon those with whom they 
 happen to be at variance." 
 
 Such is the testimony of the most eminent English and 
 American authors who have written upon China and the 
 Chinese from their own experience and observation. Such 
 is the condition of the " Chinese at Home;" such are the 
 people to whom w^e are now urged by sentimentalists and 
 religious enthusiasts to open wide our gates, to invite to 
 seek an asylum upon our shores, to be with us, and of us, 
 to add new spice and variety to the Olla-podrida of race mix- 
 ture which now constitutes the nationality of the American 
 people. 
 
 CHAPTEK III. 
 
 THE INHUMANITY OP THE EACE. 
 
 The patient industry, docility and amiability of the 
 Chinese, and, indeed, every praiseworthy trait of character 
 which they possess, has been elaborated and commended by 
 writers upon China and the Chinese, until, from being idola-
 
 THE INHUMANITY OF THE EACE. 31 
 
 tors themselves they have too frequently been presented as 
 human idols to be venerated for their virtues and admired 
 for their genius. The inhuman side of their natures has 
 generally been turned to the wall and hidden from the pub- 
 lic gaze, except by authorities of the high standard already 
 quoted, and to whom it will again be necessary to refer, as 
 well as to other reliable proofs, in dealing with the subject 
 of the inhumanity of the race. 
 
 It is well, perhaps, in discussing this branch of the sub- 
 ject, to begin with the so-called "tribunals of justice "in 
 China, and their methods of dealing with the criminals of 
 every degree that are brought before them for punishment. 
 It will be found that the cruelties practiced in their nefarious 
 calling by the criminal classes are more than rivaled by the 
 inhuman tenor of the criminal laws, and the barbarous 
 methods of the judges by whom they are administered, 
 
 M. I'Abbe Hue thus relates an experience which befel 
 him in the province of Hou-pe, upon the occasion of enter- 
 ing "a hall of justice" for the purpose of obtaining an 
 interview with the prefect then sitting in judgment in a 
 criminal trial. 
 
 ' ' All eyes were immediately turned toward us and a 
 movement of surprise was perceptible throughout the 
 assembly. Two men with great beards, yellow caps and 
 red girdles formed a very surprising apparition. 
 
 " i^^or ourselves, at the first glance we cast into the hall, 
 we felt a cold perspiration come over us and our limbs 
 tottered under us; we were ready to faint. The first object 
 that presented itself on entering this Chinese judgment hall 
 was the accused — the person on his trial. 
 
 "He was suspended in the middle of the hall, like one 
 of those lanterns of whimsical form and colossal dimensions 
 often seen in the great pagodas. Eopes attached to a great 
 beam in the roof held him tied by the wrists and feet so as to 
 throw the body into the form of a bow. Beneath.him stood 
 five or six executioners armed with rattan rods and leather 
 lashes, in ferocious attitudes, their clothes and faces sj)otted 
 with blood, the blood of the unfortunate creature who was
 
 32 THE INHUMANITY OF THE EACE. 
 
 uttering stifled groans, while his flesh was torn almost in 
 tatters. The audience present at this frightful spectacle 
 appeared quite at their ease, and our yellow caps excited 
 much more emotion than the spectacle of torture. Many 
 laughed, indeed, at the horror visible in our faces. 
 
 "The magistrate, to whom our coming had been hastily 
 announced, rose from his seat as soon as he perceived us, 
 and crossed the hall to meet us. As he passed near the 
 executioners, he had to walk on the tips of his toes, and held 
 up his beautiful silk robes, that they might not be soiled by 
 the pools of half-coagulated blood with which the floor was 
 covered. He saluted us smilingly, and saying he w^ould 
 suspend the proceedings for a moment, conducted us to a 
 small room situated behind the judge's seat. We sat down, 
 or rather we fell, upon a divan, and were some moments 
 before we could recover our composure. 
 
 "The Prefect of Kouaug-tsi-hien was nearly forty years of 
 age; his features, the tone of his voice, his looks, his man- 
 ners, all expressed so much mildness and goodness, that we 
 could not recover from our astonishment. It seemed to us 
 impossible that this should be the man who had ordered 
 the frightful measure we had just witnessed; and so strong 
 a feeling of curiosity took possession of us, that Ave asked 
 whether we might, without iudiscretion, put some questions 
 to him concerning the terrible affair he was engaged in. 
 
 " 'On the contrary,' he replied, 'I should myself desire 
 that you should understand the nature of this trial. You 
 appear to me astonished at the extreme severity I have shown 
 toward the criminal; the torture he is enduring has moved 
 you to compassion. The emotions that agitated your hearts 
 on your entrance into the hall mounted to your faces, and 
 became visible to everybody. But this criminal does not 
 merit any consideration; if you knew his conduct, you would 
 certainly not think I was treating him with too much rigor, 
 I am naturally inclined to mildness, and my character is 
 averse from all cruelty. A magistrate, also, must be the 
 father and the mother of his people.' 
 
 " 'What great crime, then, has this man committed, to 
 be subjected to so horrible a torture ?' 
 
 " 'This man is the chief of a band of ruffians, who, for 
 more than a year past, have been committing outrages on 
 the Great River, which they were in the habit of traversing 
 night and day in a large boat. He has pillaged a consid-
 
 THE INHUMANITY OF THE EACE. 33 
 
 erable unmber of merckants' junks, and committed more 
 than fifty murders. He has ended by confessing all his 
 crimes, and on this point the truth has been brought to 
 light; but he persists in not denoimcing his companions, and 
 I am obliged to employ these extreme methods to reach all 
 the guilty.' " 
 
 ^ ^ H« •J' •«• ii- 
 
 " The magistrate afterwards related to us some abomina- 
 ble atrocities committed by this gang of robbers, of their 
 cutting out the tongues and tearing out the eyes of men, 
 women and children, of their cutting their prisoners to 
 pieces with circumstances of horrible barbarity; such were 
 the amusements in which these monsters in human form in- 
 dulged on board their vessel. 
 
 " These details, frightful as they were, did not surprise 
 us. Our long residence in China had taught us to what degree 
 the instinct of evil is developed among this 'people.'''' 
 
 The Abbe then relates how he and his companion returned 
 to the court room, where concealed behind a bamboo trellis 
 work, which, by order of the judge had been let down before 
 them, they witnessed further progress of the trial. The 
 suspended prisoner not having answered a question of the 
 judge to his satisfaction — 
 
 " The prefect took up from the table a piece of bamboo 
 wood, and threw it into the middle of the court. A figure was 
 marked upon it, which pointed out the number of blows the 
 prisoner was to receive. One of the executioners picked it 
 up, examined the figure, and cried in a chanting tone, * fif- 
 teen blows', that is to say, the criminal would receive thirty, 
 for the executioners always double the number ordered by 
 the judge, and this multijalied by the number of executioners, 
 furnished a frightful total. There was immediately a stir in 
 the assembly, all eyes were fixed with eager curiosity, some- 
 times on the miserable prisoner, sometimes on the execution- 
 ers. Many smiled and arranged themselves a little more 
 conveniently on their seats, like people about to witness 
 something interesting. 
 
 " The executioners took their places, and soon the 
 body of the criminal was swinging and turning about under 
 the shower of blows, while he uttered terrible shrieks, and
 
 34 THE INHUMANITY OF THE RA.CE. 
 
 his blood spurted out ou all sides, and ran down the rattans, 
 reddening the naked arms of the executioners. It was im- 
 possible to endure such a spectacle any longer, and we asked 
 one of the officers of the court, who had remained wdth us, 
 whether there was not any way of getting out without crossing 
 the hail." 
 
 Such is the course of criminal justice in China, adminis- 
 tered by a judge who says of himself: " I am naturally 
 inclined to mildness, and my character is averse to all 
 cruelty." 
 
 But we have not done with the Abbe"s^experiences in 
 this direction. 
 
 * ' One day, when we were passing along the road leading 
 to Peking, we met a party of soldiers with an officer at their 
 head, escorting a number of carts, in which were literally 
 piled up a crowd of Chinese, who were uttering horrible 
 cries. As we stopped to allow these cart-loads of human 
 beings to pass, we were seized with horror on perceiving 
 that these unfortunate creatures were nailed by the hands to 
 the planks of the cart. A satellite whom we interrogated, 
 replied with frightful coolness : ' We've been routing out a 
 nest of thieves in a neighboring village; we got a good many 
 of them, and as we hadn't brought chains enough, we were 
 obliged to contrive some way to prevent their escaping, so 
 you see we nailed them by the hand. 
 
 "'But do not you think there maybe some innocent 
 among them ?' 
 
 " ' Who can tell? They have not been tried yet. We are 
 taking them to the tribunal, and by and by, if there are any 
 innocent men among them, they will be separated from the 
 thieves. 
 
 "The fellow seemed to think the thing quite a matter of 
 course, and was even a little proud of the contrivance. 
 
 "Perhaps what was most hideous of all in this dreadful 
 spectacle w^as the mocking hilarity of the soldiers, who were 
 pointing out to one another with an air of amusement the 
 contortions and grimaces of the miserable creatures in their 
 agony of pain. If a people can exhibit such barbarity as 
 this in quiet and peaceable times, it may be imagined of 
 what excesses they are capable under the excitement of rev- 
 olution and civil war."
 
 THE INHUMANITY OF THE RACE. 35 
 
 So far, the testimony of M. I'Abbe Hue upon tlie inhuman 
 side of the Chinese character. What he has written upon 
 the subject of infanticide, and the selling by parents of chil- 
 dren into slavery, has already been told in a former chapter, 
 but might better, perhaps, have found a place here. Still it 
 need not be repeated. It goes to the debit of this people 
 "when we arraign them for their inhumanity, and is after all, 
 perhaps, the most inhuman of all the inhuman traits of char- 
 acter which they possess. For what can be more inhuman — 
 this bloody picture of torture not excepted — than the crime 
 of infanticide and the selling of children into hopeless 
 slavery? But let us call the next witness. Mr. Gray, in his 
 "History of the Laws, Manners and Customs of the People 
 of China," says, in speaking of the prisons* 
 
 " They are polluted with vermin and filth of almost every 
 kind, and the prisoners seldom or never have an opportunity 
 afforded them of washing their bodies, or even of dressing 
 their hair, water in Chinese prisons being a scarce commod- 
 ity, and hair combs articles almost unknown. In each cell 
 are placed large tubs for the use of prisoners; and it is diffi- 
 cult to conceive how human beings can breathe the stench, 
 for the air seems nothing else, which arises from these tubs, 
 more particularly during the hot season." 
 
 4: ^H ♦ sj: :J: ^ 
 
 "There is a law which admits of the seizure and deten- 
 tion ' as hostages ' of families, members of which, having 
 broken the laws of the Empire, have fled from justice. Such 
 hostages are not liberated until the offending relatives have 
 been secured, and consequently they are not unfrequently 
 imprisoned during a period of five, ten or twenty years. In- 
 deed, many of them pass the period of their natural lives in 
 captivity. Thus the mother, or aunt, of Hung Sow-tsuen, 
 the leader of the Taiping Eebellion, died, after an imprison- 
 ment of several years, in the prison of the Namhoi magis- 
 trate at Canton. During her captivity I frequently visited the 
 unoffending old woman, and grievously indeed did she feel 
 her imprisonment, for no crime or offense of her own. Should 
 the crime of the fugitive b^e a very aggravated and heinous 
 one, such, for example, as an attempt upon the life of the
 
 36 THE INHUMANITY OP THE RACE. 
 
 Sovereign of the Empire, it is not unusual to put tlie im- 
 mediate, although perfectly innocent, relations of the of- 
 fender to death, whilst those who are not so nearly related 
 to him are sent into exile. In 1803 an attempt was made 
 to assassinate the Emperor Kahing. The assassin was no 
 sooner apprehended than he was sentenced to be put to 
 death by torture, and his sons, who were in the happy days of 
 childhood, were put to death by strangling." 
 
 :;: ■.':: :i: ^ :':•• ♦ 
 
 "In the month of March, 1859, I saw, in the dead-house 
 attached to the prison of the Pun-yu magistrate of Canton, 
 five dead bodies, all with the appearance of death from star- 
 vation — a capital punishment which Chinese rulers not 
 uufrequently inflict upon kidnappers and other grave of- 
 fenders. " 
 
 t-ji ^ sf; ^ ^ ^ 
 
 '* In not a few cases I have seen these houses [of deten- 
 tion] so densely crowded as to remind me of the heart-rend- 
 ing history of the Black Hole in Calcutta. I had an opportu- 
 nity of inspecting one of these ' lock-ups ' in the hot month of 
 August, 1861. It was crowded to excess, and — certainly 
 not to my astonishment, for the heat was intense — all of the 
 prisoners were in a state of complete nudity. Had as many 
 Europeans been incarcerated in so small a cell, they must 
 all have inevitably perished." 
 
 Again, in speaking of a village near Canton which had 
 been entered by Imperialist troops engaged in the suppres- 
 sion of a rebellion, Mr. Gray says : 
 
 ** During this rebellion the Imperialist forces, who had 
 driven the rebels from several villages in the vicinity of Can- 
 ton, proceeded to cut off the ears of many of the innocent and 
 unoffending villagers, asserting that they ought not to have 
 allowed the rebels to enter. In one of these villages which 
 I visited I saw not only men but boys of ten or twelve years 
 of ago who had been treated in this brutal manner. I had 
 my attention also directed to a very aged man who had been 
 cruelly scalped; and, upon leaving the village, a man who 
 was following me took me to a place beyond its precincts 
 where three headless human bodies were lying. They were 
 peasants, who, for no offense whatever, had been decapitated 
 by the brutal soldiers."
 
 THE INHUMANITY OF THE RACE. 37 
 
 * 'Again, when the city of Canton was recaptured in 1854, 
 several of the insurgents were punished for their sedition in 
 a very singular manner. The infuriated royalists, with the 
 view of marking their prisoners-of-war for life, cut the prin- 
 cipal sinew of the neck of each, so that his head inclined 
 towards the shoulcler. 
 
 "For capital and other offenses of a serious nature there 
 are six classes of punishments. The lirst class is called 
 Ling-chee. It is inflicted upon traitors, ]3arricides, matri- 
 cides, fratricides, and murderers of husbands, uncles, and 
 tutors. The criminal is bound to a cross, and cut either 
 into one hundred and twenty, or seventy-two, or thirty-six, 
 or twenty-four pieces. Should there be extenuating circum- 
 stances, his body, as a mark of imperial clemency, is divided 
 into eight portions only. The punishment of twenty -four 
 cuts is inflicted as follows : the first and second cuts remove 
 the eyebrows; the third and fourth the shoulders; the fifth 
 and sixth thelDreasts; the seventh and eighth the parts be- 
 tween each hand and elbow; the ninth and tenth the parts 
 between each elbow and shoulder; the eleventh and twelfth 
 the flesh of each thigh; the thirteenth and fourteenth the 
 calf of each leg; the fifteenth pierces the heart; the sixteenth 
 severs the head from the body; the seventeenth and eigh- 
 teenth cut off the hands; the nineteenth and twentieth the 
 arms; the twenty-first and twenty-second the feet; the twen- 
 ty-third and twenty-fourth the legs. That of the eight cuts 
 is inflicted is follows: the first and second cuts remove the 
 eyebrows; the third and fourth the shoulders; the fifth and 
 sixth the breasts; the seventh pierces the heart; the eighth 
 severs the head from the body. A great many political 
 offenders underwent executions of the first class at Canton 
 during the Vice-royalty of his Excellency Yeh. On the 14th 
 day of December, 1864, the famous Hakka rebel leader, Tai- 
 Chee-kwei by name, was put to death at Canton in this man- 
 ner. I most inadvertently visited the execution ground five 
 minutes after the criminal had been thus put to death by 
 torture, and I saw tha fragments of his remains scattered 
 over a portion of this renowned Aceldama. His hands and 
 feet were amongst the most conspicuous portion of his re- 
 mains." 
 
 Mr. Williams, in his "Middle Kingdom," adds his con- 
 tribution of testimony as follows :
 
 38 THE INHUMANITY OF THE RACE. 
 
 "Among the modes of torture employed in court, and 
 reported in the Gazette, are some revolting to humanity, but 
 which of them are legal does not appear. The clauses under 
 Section 1, in the Code, describe the legal instruments of 
 torture; they consist of three boards, with proper grooves for 
 compressing the ankles, and five round sticks for squeezing 
 the fingers, to which may be added the bamboo; besides 
 these no instruments of torture are legally allowed, though 
 other ways of putting the question are so common as to give 
 the impression that some of them, at least, are sanctioned. 
 Pulling, or twisting the ears with roughened fingers, and 
 keeping them in a bent position while making the prisoner 
 kneel on chains, or making him kneel for a long time, are 
 among the illegal modes . Striking the lij^s with sticks un- 
 til they are nearly jellied, putting the hands in stocks 
 before or behind the back, wrapping the fingers in oiled 
 cloth to burn them, suspending the body by the thumbs and 
 fingers, tying the hands to a bar under the knees so as to 
 bend the body double, and chaining by the neck close to a 
 stone, are resorted to when the prisoner is contumaceous. 
 One magistrate is accused of having fastened up two crim- 
 inals to boards by nails driven through their palms; one of 
 them tore his hands loose, and was nailed up again, which 
 caused his death; using beds of iron, boiling water, red-hot 
 spikes, and cutting the tendon Achilles, are also charged 
 against him; but the Emperor exonerated him on account 
 of the atrocious character of the criminals. Compelling 
 them to kneel upon pounded glass and salt mixed together 
 until the knees became excoriated, or simply kneeling upon 
 chains, is a lighter mode of the same inlliction. Mr. Milne 
 mentions seeing a wi'etch undergoing this torture, his hands 
 tied behind his back to a stake held in its position by two 
 policemen; if he swerved to relieve the agony of his position, 
 a blow on his head compelled him to resume it. The 
 agonies of the poor creature were evident from his quivering 
 lips, his pallid and senseless countenance, and his tremulous 
 voice imploring relief, which was refused with a cold, mock- 
 ing command, " Suffer or confess." 
 
 Eobert K. Douglas, of the British Museum, Professor of 
 Chinese at King's College, London, and author of a late 
 work on China, upon the subject of the inhumanity of the 
 Chinese, furnishes the following: evidence :
 
 THE INHUMANITY OP THE ilACE. 39 
 
 '* But the greatest blot on Chinese administration is the 
 inhumanity shown to both culprits and witnesses in crim- 
 inal procedure. Tortures of the most painful and revolting 
 kind are used to extort evidence, and punishments scarcely 
 more severely cruel are inflicted on the guilty parties. 
 Flogging with bamboos on the hind part of the thighs or 
 between the shoulders, beating the jaws with thick pieces of 
 leather, or the ankles with a stick, are some of the prelimi- 
 nary tortures applied to witnesses or culprits who refuse to 
 give the evidence expected of them. Further refinements of 
 cruelty are reserved for hardened offenders, by means of 
 which infinite pain and often permanent injury are in- 
 flicted on the knee-joints, fingers, ankles, etc. Occasionally 
 the tortures pass the limits of endurance, and death releases 
 "the victim from his miseries; but as a rule, in the 'severe 
 question,' life is preserved, but at the expense of crippled 
 limbs. 
 
 :5: Hs * ♦ Hi * 
 
 " It follows, as a natural consequence, that in a country 
 where torture is thus resorted to, the punishments inflicted 
 on criminals must be proportionately cruel. Death, the 
 final j)unishment, can unfortunately be inflicted in various 
 ways, and a sliding, scale of such executions is used by the 
 Chinese to mark their sense of the varying heinousness of 
 murderous crimes. For parricide, matricide, and wholesale 
 murders, the usual sentence is that of Ling die, or ignomin- 
 ious and slow death. In the carrying out of this sentence, 
 the culprit is fastened to a cross, and cuts, varying in num- 
 ber, at the discretion of the judge, from eight to a hundred 
 and twenty, are made first on the face and fleshy parts of the 
 body; next the heart is pierced, and finally, when death has 
 been thus caused, the limbs are separated from the body 
 and divided. During the year 1877, ten cases in which this 
 punishment was inflicted w^ere reported in the Peking Gazette, 
 in one of which, shocking to say, a lunatic was the sufferer, a 
 circumstance which adds a weird horror to the ghastly scejie. 
 
 :;: rjJ :i: :;: :i: sH 
 
 " It is almost impossible to exaggerate the horrors of a 
 Chiuese prison. The filth and dirt of the rooms, the bru- 
 tality of the jailors, the miserable diet, and the entire 
 absence of the commonest sanitary arrangements, make a 
 picture too horrible to draw in detail."
 
 40 THE INHUMANITY OP THE RACE. 
 
 In 1860, Sir Henry Parkes and Mr. Loch, two English- 
 men, were treacherously taken prisoners, and confined in 
 the prison of the Board of Punishments at Peking. In Mr. 
 Loch's " Narrative of Events in China," he describes their 
 treatment thus: 
 
 " The discipline of the prison was in itself not very 
 strict, and had it not been for the starvation, the pain aris- 
 ing from the cramped position in which the chains and ropes 
 retained the arms and legs, with the heavy drag of the iron 
 collar on the bones of the spine, and the creeping vermin 
 that infested every place, together with the occasianal beat- 
 ings and tortures which the prisoners were, from time to 
 time taken away for a few hours to endure, returning with 
 bleeding legs and bodies, and so weak as to be scarce able to 
 crawl — there was no great hardship to be endured . . . There 
 is a small maggot which appears to infest all Chinese prisons; 
 the earth, at the depth of a few inches, swarms with them; 
 they are the scourge most dreaded by every poor prisoner. 
 Eew enter a Chinese jail who have not on their bodies or 
 limbs some wounds, either inflicted by blows to which they 
 have become subjected, or caused by the manner in which 
 they have been bound; the instinct of the insect to which I 
 allude, appears to lead him direct to these wounds. Bound 
 and helpless, the poor wretch cannot save himself from their 
 approach, although he knows full well that if they once 
 succeed in reaching his lacerated skin, there is the cer- 
 tainty of a fearful, lingering and anguishing death before 
 him." 
 
 Mr. Douglass, after quoting the foregoing extract from the 
 narrative of Mr. Loch, proceeds as follows : 
 
 ** In the provincial prisons, the condition of the wretched 
 culprits is even worse than in those of the Board of Pun- 
 ishments. Those who were present at the first inspection of 
 the Canton prison, after the taking of that city in 1859, will 
 never forget the sight which met their gaze. As the 
 wretched creatures were dragged out into the light of day, 
 and the full horror of their condition became apparent, 
 English soldiers who were present wept as they had not 
 wept since they were children, at the sight of such unutter- 
 able suffering. There is no reason to suppose that the
 
 THE INHUMANITY OP THE RACE. 41 
 
 Canton prisons are not typical of others throughout the 
 Empire; on the contrary, the gross neglect and abominable 
 cruelty of magistrates and jailors, which are occasionally 
 shown up in the Peking Gazette, point to the conclusion 
 that other jails are as foul, and other wardens are as 
 brutal even, as those of Canton." 
 
 But why prolong this tale of horrors ? Enough has been 
 shown to convince every honest-minded man that this is a 
 race whose inhuman instincts are not surpassed by those of 
 the American savage; that it permeates every class, from 
 the highest to the lowest; that their so-called tribunals of 
 justice are but torture-chambers; that their criminal laAvs 
 are but the refinement of cruelty, and the very natures of 
 the people the essence of stoical, cold-blooded brutality. 
 Without religion themselves, they are but demons in their 
 hatred of Christianity, as they have shown themselves to be 
 upon hundreds of occasions, in all of which their brutal 
 cruelty and unparalleled inhumanity have been exemplified 
 in the most thrilling manner. Take the massacre of Tein- 
 tsin, on the 21st of June, 1870, and which was thus described 
 by a writer familiar with the facts : 
 
 "The French Consul and foreign merchants, their wives, 
 daughters and children; the Catholic priests and the Sisters 
 of Mercy, and about one hundred orphan children, were 
 cruelly murdered. These children had been gathered by the 
 Sisters from the by-ways of the town, where they had been 
 left to die by their mothers. The Coolies set fire to the 
 building occupied by the Sisters, whom they dragged into 
 the streets. There they were stripped naked, outraged, ex- 
 posed to the public gaze, their eyes plucked out, their breasts 
 cut off, then ripped open, tore out their hearts, and delib- 
 erately cut them in pieces and divided the fragments among 
 the infuriated mob ." 
 
 The Author of ''Twelve Tears in China," "A British 
 Resident," Edinburgh, 1860, says: 
 
 "Justice is depicted blind, but in China the bandage 
 that darkens the eyes should cover the ears also. The 
 horrors of a Chinese prison are so great that prisoners.
 
 42 THE INHUMANITY OF THE RACE. 
 
 deeming deatli an escape, go with, apparent contentmeni; to 
 the place of execution. In Shanghai I have seen them 
 crammed like wild beasts in a cage, rolling about in the 
 midst of filth and disease, begging for food. In the depth 
 of winter prisoners are chained to each other in strings, 
 one of them not unfrequently hanging dead to his comrades. 
 Once a party of pirates were seized and landed near the for- 
 eign houses; there had been a deficiency of chains, so the 
 poor wretches were joined together with a large nail 
 clenched through the hand of each. At Foochow, I met a 
 prisoner whom they were carrying into the city in a cage 
 barely large enough to contain his body, cramped up in a 
 sitting posture; two of the bars at the top had been cut to 
 allow his head to pass through, every jostle or step in the 
 movement of his bearers causing his face to be dashed 
 against the broken bars. It is in the recollection of Canton 
 residents when four men were placed in the cangue, with a 
 guard around them, and publicly starved to deatli in the 
 open streets." 
 
 Mr. Doolittle, in his "Social Life of the Chinese," here- 
 tofore referred to, says, in speaking of "Imprisonment:" 
 
 * ' This kind of punishment, except in the case of those 
 who are rich or who have rich friends willing to bribe the 
 jailors to treat them well, is awful and revolting beyond 
 description. Insufficient and vile food is given them, and 
 horrible tortures unknown to the laws inflicted. 
 
 * * * * 45- * -Sfr 
 
 " Beheading convicts, of two methods, diiferingin degree 
 of ignominy: One is that of simply striking off the head of 
 the wretch at one blow, while kneeling, with his hands tied 
 behind him, and while bending down his head. The other 
 is that where the body of the victim is mangled or cut in 
 several places previous to his head being struck off. This is 
 called 'cutting into small pieces'' It is described as cutting 
 into the eyebrows or over the eyes, the cheeks, the fleshy 
 part of the arms and the breasts in such a way that the skin 
 of the flesh in these different places will hang down. Then 
 a stab is made with the sword by the executioner into the 
 abdomen, which is followed by cutting off the head. 
 
 ■55- -Sfr -s?- * * * * 
 
 " Women who are condemned tb die as a punishment for
 
 THE INHUMANITY OP THE RACE. 43 
 
 committing adu]teiy are oftentimes made to suffer death 
 this way." 
 
 Mr. Doolittle fui'ther testifies on the subject of the hor- 
 ribly inhuman practice of infanticide: 
 
 "In the farming districts in the neighboring country the 
 family which has several girls born to it destroys all after 
 one or two, unless some of their acquaintances desire them 
 to bring uj) as future wives of their boys. In this city 
 [Fuhchau] the custom of killing girls at birth is probably 
 not so universal as in the country. Some intelligent Chinese 
 estimate that the probable proportion of city families which 
 destroy one or more of their female children, in case they 
 have several, and do not have good opportunities of giving 
 them awav to be the wives of their friends, as about one- 
 half. 
 
 * * * -x- * * * 
 
 "The principal methods of depriving the unfortunates of 
 life are these : By drowning in a tub of water, by throwing 
 into some running stream, or by burying alive. The latter 
 method is affirmed to be selected by a few families in the 
 country under the belief that their next child will be a boy. 
 The most common way is the first mentioned. The person 
 who usually performs the murderous act is the father of the 
 child. 
 
 •H- -Jfr * ^ * * ^ 
 
 "The professed reason for the destruction of female in- 
 fants by poor people is their poverty. 
 
 ¥r ¥: ^ it ^ ^ ^ 
 
 " Poverty is no excuse for the drowning of the female 
 children of the rich. But that infanticide is practiced quite 
 frequently by wealthy families rests on the most explicit and 
 ample testimony, the observation and the admission of their 
 neighbors and their countrymen. One of the female ser- 
 vants above mentioned states that in the native wealthy 
 family where she was employed before she came to labor in 
 the missionary's family, one girl had been already destroyed, 
 two had been kept alive, and it was understood that if the 
 last child had been a girl it would also have been destroyed, 
 for the simple reason that more girls in the family were not 
 desired. The rich here usually destroy the girls born to 
 them after they have the number they wish to keep and 
 rear."
 
 44 THE INHUilANITY OF THE RACE. 
 
 It is proved, then, by such an accumulation of evidence 
 as to put it beyond question, that satanic cruelty and inhu- 
 manity are an inseparable trait of character of the Chinese 
 race; for in one form or another it permeates every class. 
 The poor sell their own flesh and blood into slavery, and 
 look on at the practice of these cruelties, perpetrated in the 
 name of the law and by the officials of the law, with the same 
 degree of cold-blooded interest and satisfaction that more 
 civilized people exhibit upon occasions of theatrical or 
 other like displays. The rich, the law-makers, and every 
 class, in fact, sanction these hellish practices, and through 
 all and among all, indifference to human suffering is a race 
 characteristic equally as well marked as is the type of form 
 and feature by which they are known. As a race they are 
 without pity. Whatever disguise of gentleness and docility 
 they may wear, as a people they are proved to be monsters. 
 The rich and poor alike destroy the lives of their female 
 children with as little display of parental feeling or com- 
 punction of conscience as would be exhibited if they were 
 puppy dogs; and, indeed, it may well be believed that under 
 some phases of the Buddhist doctrine of metempsychosis the 
 destruction of the life of the latter would be looked upon 
 by most of the race as the greater crime and the greater sin. 
 
 Our system of laws and fear of our courts of justice may 
 restrict this people in the exercise of their satanic inclina- 
 tions when they come among us; but just so far as they can 
 go without detection and punishment in the practice of cru- 
 elties toward each other and toward all with whom they are 
 brought in contact — saying nothing of their constant viola- 
 tion of the civil and criminal laws in other methods — just so 
 far they will, and do go, in the j^ractice and perpetuation of 
 their hideous inhumanity. For in this respect, as in all 
 others, the Chinaman is the Chinaman still, whether upon 
 his native soil or transplanted to other lands, and should 
 excite no other feeling but that of horror and disgust in the 
 breasts of all civilized people with whom he is brought in 
 contact.
 
 THE INHUMANITY OF THE EACE. ' 45 
 
 Let US turn to the testimony of tlie inhumanities of the 
 Chinese upon American soil. 
 
 It is in proof that most of the Chinese women in Califor- 
 nia — all of the Chinese prostitutes, in fact — are simply slaves. 
 Brought here as such in the first instance, bought and sold 
 here from time to time in absolute defiance of the law, and 
 treated, often, worse than the dogs that haunt the streets 
 and live upon the offal of the gutter. On this point we will 
 cite first Mr. Gibson, who, despite his pro-Chinese proclivi- 
 ties, has from time to time been compelled to tell some plain 
 truths as to the habits and the cruelties practiced toward 
 this class, in perpetuation of their natural proclivities. In 
 his examination before the Legislative committee in 1876 he 
 testified as follows: 
 
 Q. — Is it not a well settled matter that a great many people 
 are held in slavery here — bought and sold? 
 
 A. — Only the women. I don't think there is a man so 
 held. The women, as a general thing, are slaves. They are 
 bought or stolen in China and brought here. They have a 
 sort of agreement, to cover up the slavery business; but it 
 is all sham. 
 
 ****** 
 
 Mr. Haymond. — Then, so far as the women are concerned, 
 they are in slavery, with more hard features than have been 
 known to white races ? 
 
 A. — Yes, sir. And even after the term of prostitution 
 service is up, the owners so manage as to have the women 
 in debt more than ever, so that their slavery becomes life- 
 long. There is no release from it. 
 
 Q. — When these people become sick and helpless, what 
 becomes of them ? 
 
 A. — They are left to die. 
 
 Q. — No care taken of them? 
 
 A. — Sometimes, where the women have friends. 
 
 Q. — Don't the companies take care of them? 
 
 A. — Not frequently. 
 
 Q. — Is it not a frequent thing that they are put out on 
 the sidewalk to die, or in some room without water or food ? 
 
 A. — I have heard of such things. I don't know. I don't
 
 46 THE INHUMANITY OF THE RACE. 
 
 think they are kind; I think they are very unkind to the sick. 
 Sometimes the Avomen take opium to kill themselves. They 
 do not know they have any rights, but think they must keep 
 their contracts, and believe themselves under obligations to 
 serve in prostitution. 
 
 Q. — What is their treatment? Is it harsh? 
 
 A. — They have come to the asylum all bruises. They are 
 beaten and punished cruelly if they fail to make money. 
 When they become worn out and unable to make any more 
 money, they are turned out to die. 
 
 James H. Bovee, jail-keeper in the Sheriff's office, testified : 
 
 Q. — How do they treat their sick and helpless? 
 
 A. — I have seen them thrown out on the street and on 
 the sidewalk, and I have seen them put into little rooms 
 without light, bedding or food. There they were left to die. 
 
 Q, — What opportunities have these women to escape, if 
 they should desire ? 
 
 A. — I don't see that they have any at all, for where a 
 woman escapes a reward is offered and she is brought back. 
 W^here they can get her in no other way they use our courts. 
 
 Matt. Karcher, for many years Chief of Police for Sacra- 
 mento City, testifies (Evidence, p. 131) : 
 
 Q — Do you know what they do with their sick when they 
 become helpless and unable to make more money ? 
 
 A. — Put them in some out-house, or on the sidewalk, to 
 
 die. 
 
 Q. — Without food or bedding? 
 
 A. — Generally. I have found men and women, both, in 
 that condition. I have found them by accident, while hunt- 
 ing for other things — stolen goods, criminals, etc. 
 
 Q. — You found women without food or drink, and with- 
 out covering? 
 
 A. — Yes, sir. 
 
 Q. — And death would have come from disease or starva- 
 tion, or both ? 
 
 A. — Yes, sir. 
 
 Q. — Is that the common way of disposing of these women 
 when they become useless ? 
 
 A. — Yes, sir, if not the only way. 
 
 Q. — They are less cared for than are useless domestic 
 animals by the white race ?
 
 THE INHUMiiNITy OF THE BACE. * 47 
 
 A. — A great deal less. 
 
 Geo. W. Duffield, a San Francisco j)olice officer, testified 
 in regard to Chinese prostitutes : 
 
 The women are treated now a great deal better than they 
 used to be. They used to receive very rough treatment. 
 They have not been beaten much lately, because the police 
 watch them and arrest them for beating. When they be- 
 come sick and helpless they send them to the hospitals, or 
 leave them to die. Sometimes they leave them with a cup 
 of rice, to die without attendance. They take no care of 
 them when they get sick. I have caught Chinese in the act 
 of turning the sick out to die, leaving them on the sidewalk 
 and in the street to perish. 
 
 Oliver C. Jackson, a Sacramento police officer, tes- 
 tified : 
 
 Q. — Do you know what is done with these women wJjen 
 they become sick, helpless and incurably diseased '? 
 
 A. — Where they see that they will be of no further use to 
 make money, they turn them out on the sidewalk to die. 1 
 have seen men and women also turned out to die in this 
 manner. I have found dead men while searching for stolen 
 property, and I have had the Coroner attend to- them. ^ ^ 
 A great many die in out-of-the-Avay places, abandoned by 
 the Chinese, without food or drink. 
 
 James Duffy, another Sacramento police officer, testified : 
 
 Q. — When Chinese become hopelessly sick, what do they 
 do with them? 
 
 A. — I know of cases where women, hopelessly sick, have 
 been turned out to die of disease or starvation, or both. I 
 have been with undertakers after the bodies of such persons. 
 One we found alone in a wash-house, dead. There was no 
 furniture in the room, and nothing for the sick woman to 
 subsist upon. 
 
 James Coffey, another Sacramento police officer, testified : 
 
 Q. — Do you know whether these women are owned or 
 not? 
 
 A. — They are bought and sold just like we buy and sell 
 cattle . The merchants here, who claim to be connected
 
 48 THE INHUMANITY OF THE RACE. 
 
 with the sis companies, also claim ownership of these Chi- 
 nese women. 
 
 Q. — Do you know what they do with these women when 
 they become sick and helpless ? 
 
 A. — Some are taken care of, and some are placed in 
 rooms by themselves to die . Then hardly anybody goes to 
 see them. They are turned out to die. I have known two 
 cases of that kind in Chinatown during the last year — one 
 man and one woman. 
 
 Ah You, a Chinaman doing business as a butcher in Sac- 
 ramento, testified : 
 
 Q. — When those women get sick and are going to die, do 
 they put them in houses by themselves, without food or 
 water ? 
 
 A. — In case a woman got no husband, and don't know 
 enough to go to the hospital, they put her out of the way. 
 
 Q. — Why don't the Chinese companies take care of them 
 when they are sick ? 
 
 A. — The company can't attend to much business of 
 that kind. 
 
 Chas. P. O'Neil, a police officer in Sacramento for twenty 
 years, testified: 
 
 Q. — Do you know how these women are treated by the 
 persons who own them ? 
 
 A. — It looks to me like they were very closely confined 
 in the houses. I have known the masters and mistresses to 
 whip the women, but I have never heard of it a second time 
 where I have gone and cautioned them. When they become 
 sick and helpless they turn them out to die. I have known 
 two cases where they have put them in empty houses and left 
 them there to die. In one case I took the woman and had 
 her conveyed to the hospital, where she died. I found her 
 in a high fever, alone, in an unfurnished room. She was 
 sitting in a corner, moaning. I found the party who hired 
 the room and the party who put her there. I went for him, 
 but he "got up and dusted." I haven't seen him since. 
 The Chinese have some superstition in regard to j)ersons 
 dying in their houses, and that will probably account for the 
 manner of treatment. They believe that to let one die in 
 the house brings bad luck.
 
 THE INHUMANITY OF THE RACE, 49 
 
 David Supple, a San Francisco police officer, testified in 
 regard to Chinese prostitution : 
 
 Q. — Do you know wliat they do with them when they 
 become sick and helpless? 
 
 A. — They put them out on the street to die. I have had 
 charge of the dead myself, on the street. I have seen sick 
 and helpless women turned out in that way. 
 
 Such is the picture of Chinese inhumanity here, leaving 
 out of view the system of cruel assassination which they 
 openly practice with a quasi official license from their own 
 self-constituted authorities, and which will be alluded to 
 later on. It is this people whom the Rev. Mr. Speer com- 
 pares with our own, and between whom he finds the following 
 similarity : 
 
 " Each (America and China) is occupied by a peo- 
 ple naturally thoughtful, earnest, acquisitive and enter- 
 prising; each by a people strangely conglomerate, yet 
 strangely hemogeneous; each by a people among whom in- 
 tellect and education constitute the only patent of nobility; 
 each by a people the freest upon its own continent, and 
 governed mainly by the rules of its own selection; and each 
 country is now in the travail of a change from old bondage 
 and feebleness to new power, light and influence, which will 
 be felt to the very corners of the earth." 
 
 Is it not a crime, as well as a sin, that men clothed in 
 the garb of gospel ministration should seek to to mislead 
 public thought by such monstruous propositions as this in 
 the face of such testimony of the utter depravity and bar- 
 barity of a race of people thus placed on parallel lines with 
 our own ? Is it not worthy of the condemnation of mankind 
 that a race imbued with these attributes of inhumanity 
 should be held up as fit material for admixture with our own 
 and as having been sent to our shores by divine command 
 to become with us, in one hemogeneous whole, living exam- 
 ples of the "common brotherhood of man" ?
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE CHINESE ABROAD. 
 
 The evidence as to tlie manners and habits of the Chinese 
 at home is conclusive. Conceding all that may be said in 
 their praise as to their habits of industry and their frugality, 
 there can be no doubt or question that this, the oldest known 
 civilization in the world, is rotten to the core with vice and 
 crime, with sensuality and lust, with the universal indulg- 
 ence in all the baser passions, and no better motive for their 
 industrious inclination than the love of money, than sordid, 
 unfeeling avarice. It is in proof that there is no human abom- 
 ination or cruelty that they do not practice. That they are 
 a race to which the attribute of gratitude for favors or kind- 
 ness bestowed upon them is unknown. That contact with 
 Christianity, when they emigrate to the very strongholds of 
 Christianity itself, leaves but a trace of impression upon 
 the outward surface of their lives. That for every human 
 soul converted from their ranks to the Christian faith, they 
 plant a hundred vices in our midst and scatter the seeds of 
 disease that render thousands of lives but chapters of 
 misery, leaving out of view the perdition of the hereafter 
 which our Christian faith sternly attaches to their sin. The 
 practical illustration of this will be found embodied in the 
 report of the Special Committee of the Board of Super- 
 visors of San Francisco, which constitutes Part II. of this 
 work. 
 
 That the banners of Christianity and Christian civiliva- 
 tion may be advanced throughout the remotest confines of 
 the Chinese Empire by never ceasing missionary work upon 
 Chinese soil itself, may well be our prayer and our faith. 
 But that these people should be invited to our shores in
 
 THE CHINESE ABROAD. 51 
 
 countless thousands in the hope and expectation of Christ- 
 ianization here, is a proposition too horrible to the physical, 
 moral and religious well-being of our own people to be 
 thought of — judging from the frightful evidence which the 
 presence of the thousands who are already here have 
 furnished in the story of their lives so far, and the faithful 
 picture of their condition at present wherever they are 
 gathered together in communities among us. 
 
 Beyond question, if leffc unchecked, the most liberal 
 prognostications that have yet been made by writers upon 
 the Chinese question as to the millions upon millions that _V^ 
 will swarm in upon us, will be verified. Possibly the Ameri- 
 can Republic is not strong enough, possibly there is not 
 wisdom enough in the land to enact laws that will prevent 
 the fulfillment of their prognostications; but the time has 
 come, and the issue is joined; the contest must be made. 
 Two races, standing face to face with each other, between 
 whom, as history thus far shows, there can be no assimila- 
 tion, are contending for industrial supremacy upon this Con- q 
 tinent. Can any rational mind doubt where the victory will ' 
 rest, unless the broad ocean that separates the two conti- ' 
 nents which each inhabit shall be declared an impassible 
 barrier across which the invading race shall not pass? ' 
 The American sentimentalists who find in " The Declara- ^ 
 tion " certain immutable principles which it would shock 
 their very natures to see trenched upon, who live and die in 
 the political faith that all men are born free and equal, that 
 ours is a land which divine wisdom has set apart as an asylum 
 for the oppressed of all nations, who believe in the universal 
 brotherhood of man, will do well to study the picture of the 
 "Chinese at Home," thus far furnished them in the pre- 
 ceding statement of the case. They will continue to do well 
 by examining all that is to follow, showing how perfectly 
 successful the race has been in transplanting their idolatry, 
 their vices, their diseases, and all their contaminating influ- 
 ences in immigrating to these shores.
 
 52 THE CHINESE ABROAD. 
 
 How utterly wasted have been the presumably regenera- 
 tive influences of Christian contact, and how utterly falla- 
 cious, in this instance at least, becomes the sentimental 
 theories of the common brotherhood of man. They will do 
 equally well to study the question of Chinese emigration to 
 other lands, where in every instance they will find that the 
 American example is but a reptition of all that has gone before. 
 That the Chinaman is the same every where, still clinging to the 
 idolatry, the habits and vices of his race, with stubborn, 
 clannish tenacity, wherever he may be found in contact with 
 a Christian people, whether that contact be a thing of the 
 present, or as it has been in some instances a matter that 
 has withstood two centuries of test. 
 
 The Chinese settlements in the Islands of the Indian 
 archipelago, some of them dating back past the middle of 
 the seventeenth century, those of our own age in Australia, 
 in British Columbia, in our own country, saying nothing 
 of the coolies of South America and the West India 
 Islands, all present in their main features a repetition of 
 " Chinatown " in San Francisco, equally impregnable against 
 the influences of Christianity, equally characterized by the 
 vices of the race, equally filthy, and equally as well marked 
 in race proclivities and physical characteristics. With a few 
 rare instances of exception, where they have been brought 
 in contact with kindred races of the Philippine group, the 
 Chinaman remains a Chinaman wherever he has settled out- 
 side of the " Flowery Kingdom," uninfluenced for good by 
 contact with other races, but disseminating with frightful 
 regularity his vices and their hereditary fruits among all who 
 surround him. 
 
 In 1824-25, Chinese were first introduced into Singapore 
 by English merchants, to engage in the manufacture of rope 
 mats, etc. A " Chinatown " was established there, which, 
 from that day to this, has remained as well marked, as exclu- 
 sively Chinese in its aspect as is the Chinese quarter in San 
 Francisco.
 
 THE CHINESE ABROAD. 53 
 
 " When the number had increased to several thousand," 
 says Conwell, "a ship-load of prostitutes was brought down 
 from Macao as a matter of speculation. These were followed 
 by others, until Chinesetown was filled with them. The 
 attention of the gEnlish authorities being called to the sub- 
 ject, and the Chinese fearing the removal of their mistresses, 
 took them in marriage according to the custom of China." 
 **■«•* -jt * * 
 
 "As for the character of the woman, it has no weight 
 with a Chinaman of the laboring class, as virtue in a woman 
 seems to be of no consequence to him. From these mar- 
 riages sprang up a generation of children who have since 
 intermarried among themselves, and who know no other 
 home." 
 
 Originating in this manner the "Chinatown" of Singa- 
 pore stands to-day simply a reflex of the ' 'Chinatown" of San 
 Francisco. Not a single feature in the social condition of 
 its inhabitants exhibits the slightest evidence of tendency to 
 assimilation with the Caucasian elements about them ; but 
 Chinese in all its characteristics, it remains and will remain 
 until every one who now proclaim that the doctrine of the 
 common brotherhood of man must be typified and exem- 
 plified in the American Eepublic by inviting the race hither- 
 ward without limit, shall have passed away and generation 
 after generation of their successors in belief shall have fol- 
 lowed them. 
 
 Speaking further of the characteristics of the Chinese in 
 Singapore, the writer just quoted says, in language that 
 might with equal force and equal truth apply to the habits 
 of the Chinese in San Francisco : 
 
 " They take good care of their own persons, but their 
 houses, children, cats and dogs are filthy in the extreme. 
 The stench about their dwellings is almost unendurable to a 
 European; and the cesspools and slimy ditches in their back 
 yards would breed the cholera in the most salubrious climate 
 in the world. While the Chinaman is cleansing the house of 
 his employer and removing every particle of dirt with scru- 
 pulous care, his family at home are living in the most
 
 54 THE CHINESE ABROAD. 
 
 slovenly quarterf?, where vermin of a hundred species revel 
 in luxurious nastiness. How tliej can go from neat stores 
 or fine drawing-rooms, where tbey are employed, to eat and 
 sleep in these foul quarters is a mystery which I have yet to 
 hear explained." 
 
 The colony at Penang, on the Prince of Wales Island, 
 (Molucca) originated some years later, but in a similar way 
 to that of Singapore. There, with a population of about 
 sixteen thousand, a "Chinatown" exists which is a direct 
 counterpart of that at Singapore in all its features, and 
 there the same line of non-assimilation is drawn with the 
 same exactitude. The same writer, in describing his visit to 
 this settlement, says : 
 
 " How bad the filth might appear were it not for the 
 rich foliage of the trees overhead that attracts the eye, or 
 how offensive its odors might seem did not the spice trees 
 drown it with sweetness, I will not venture to say." 
 
 And he adds : 
 
 " As far as the Penang and Singapore colonies are con- 
 cerned, there can be said to be but little difference between 
 the habits, customs, or religious faith of the Chinese there 
 and in China. ' 
 
 Sir John Bowring in his "Visit to the Philippine 
 Islands," says, in speaking of the Chinese colonies there: 
 
 "There are few facts of more interest in connection with 
 the changes that are going on in the Oriental world than 
 the outpouring of the Chinese population into almost every 
 region eastward of Bengal; and in Calcutta itself there is 
 now a considerable body of Chinese, mostly shoemakers, 
 many of whom have acquired considerable wealth, and they 
 are banded together in that strong gregarious bond of na- 
 tionality which accompanies them wherever they go, and 
 which is not broken — scarcely influenced — by the circum- 
 stances which surround them. 
 
 "Yet they are but birds of passage, who return home 
 to be succeeded by others of their race.
 
 THE CHINESE ABROAD. 55 
 
 "Thousands upon thousands of Chinamen arrive, and 
 are scattered over the islands, but not a single Chinese 
 woman accompanies them Irom their native country. In the 
 year 1857, 4,233 Chinamen landed in the port of Manila 
 alone, and 2,592 left for China. 
 
 H: * * * * * 
 
 "In 1855 there were in the fortress of Manila 525 China- 
 men, but of females only two women and five children. In 
 Binondo, 5,055 Chinamen, but of females only eight, all of 
 whom were children. 
 
 "No women have been obtainable either for the British 
 or Spanish colonies, though the exportation of coolies had 
 exceeded 60,000, and except by kidnaping and direct pur- 
 chases from the procu?'esses or brothels, it is certain no 
 women can be induced to emigrate. This certainly ought to 
 be seriously weighed by the advocates of the importation of 
 Chinese laborers into the colonies of Great Britain. 
 
 * :5J :5: ♦ :'.: :i: 
 
 "When a Chinese is examined under oath, the formula 
 of cutting off the head of a white cock is performed by the 
 witness, who is told that if he do not utter the truth, the 
 blood of his family will, like that of the cock, be spilt, and 
 perdition overtake them. My long experience of the Chi- 
 nese compels me to say that I believe no oath whatever — 
 nothing but the apprehension of punishment — affords any, the 
 least security against perjury. 
 
 ***** 4: 
 
 "But little disgrace attends lying, especially when unde- 
 tected and unpunished, and the art of lying is one of the best 
 understood arts of the government." 
 
 In Australia the Chinaman is the same that he is in Cal- 
 ifornia. "The Chinese element," says the editor of the 
 Melbourne Age, "is not only unchangeably foreign — it is, 
 besides, imbued with such inherent, corruptive influences 
 that its presence has a directly demoralizing effect." The 
 Herald speaks in like terms: "The commercial advantages 
 which we derive from their presence do not compensate for 
 the degradation which, question the fact as we may, is felt
 
 56 THE CHINESE ABROAD. 
 
 by the European and all of European descent in being asso- 
 ciated with the Chinese in numerical proportion which they 
 assume in this community. The disgust which their habits 
 excite is not limited to the man of refined tastes, but is felt 
 by all sorts and conditions, from the humblest digger on the 
 gold fields to the honorable member on his easy seat in the 
 Legislative Council." 
 
 An English writer in Hoiisehold Words has the following : 
 
 "The writer of this paper has seen much of the Chinese 
 character developed on the gold fields of Australia, and he is 
 bound to admit that many of the charges brought against it 
 are true. The Chinese in Australia never speak truth when 
 a falsehood better serves the purpose of the moment; and, 
 when they have a chance of filching from the European, 
 nothing can escape their fingers. They are adepts in the 
 making of false gold; and it is hard to keep them from fouling 
 the water-holes, by which all are sujDplied — a matter of much 
 moment in a warm, dry climate. Nor is this the worst. 
 Women and children of tender age frequently receive gross 
 insult and outrage at their hands, so that it is not safe for a 
 family to live near their encampments. The colonial public 
 was recently shocked by the gross cruelty involved in the 
 details of the forcible expulsion of the Chinese from the 
 Buckland diggings. Subsequent information showed that 
 insults offered by them to the families of European residents 
 had provoked outrage in retaliation. 
 
 "Again, their habits are not pleasant. Crouching in 
 their low, squat tents, huddled together, dirty in their own 
 persons, careless of their removal of filth from their own 
 dwellings, Australian Chinese in encampment create a very 
 Tartarus of foul sights and foul smells." 
 
 In 1875 the Board of Health of Sydney, New South 
 Wales, appointed a sub-committee "to inspect and report 
 upon the condition of the Chinese in that town." An extract 
 from the report of the committee will suffice to show the 
 condition of the Chinese there : 
 
 "Met at the Town Hall on Tuesday, December 7, 1875, 
 and went first to Park street, where we inspected several 
 boarding-houses, all clean and in orderly condition. In the
 
 THE CHINESE ABROAD. 57 
 
 same street is a wooden lioiise containing eight rooms, occu- 
 pied by Wall Lu Ong, a Chinaman carpenter, employing a 
 number of men. Seventeen persons sleep in the house, all 
 countrymen of the proprietor. In one room, 14x12 feet, 
 were eight beds, the room being partitioned off into bunks 
 like the steerage of a ship; bedding of a very bad kind. In 
 some bunks were mattresses, in others only rags and cloth- 
 ing; mosquito curtains black with dust. In another room 
 over the shop were five rooms of a similar description. We 
 looked into the kitchen down stairs, which was dirty and 
 smoky. The whole place stinks aloud, the horrible and 
 sickening opium smell pervading all through it. Among the 
 workmen were several apprentices. The workmen on wages, 
 we ascertained, earn from 10s to 15s a week and their food. 
 This day's inspection was not performed without serious 
 fatigue and risk to the health to Dr. Read and myself. For 
 the next forty-eight hours the horrible, sickly smell of opium 
 smoking, which pervades all the Chinese quarters, seemed 
 to adhere to us, to say nothing of the fear of infection. " 
 
 In December, 1877, Mr. Macalister read a paper before 
 the Eoyal Colonial Institute in Queensland from which the 
 following extract is taken. 
 
 "Nowhere, (he says) has the Chinaman settled in any 
 considerable numbers that be has not created a blot on our 
 institutions. Even in cities among the amenities of city 
 life, the Chinese quarter is viewed with loathing. Nowhere 
 has he blended with the Anglo-Saxon, the interval between 
 them is so great that it cannot be passed. The progressive 
 ideas of civilization do not harmonize with those dwarfed 
 by age. They are not colonists in our acceptance of the 
 term; they come alone and do not bring their babies or 
 families with them. Dr. Hue asserts of them, that they are 
 sceptical and indifferent to every thing that concerns the 
 moral side of man. And this estimate of them has double 
 force when applied in the exceptional conditions under 
 which they live in Queensland. They regard a good coffin 
 as of more importance than a correct life, and certainly 
 what we hear of their habits, though unfit for description, 
 is sufficient to deter a government from forcing them on a 
 people unwilling to receive them. They do not speak or 
 understand our language, have no desire for progress, and
 
 68 THE CHINESE ABROAD. 
 
 have no conception of representative or free institutions. 
 Thej come to Queensland for none of the ordinary mechani- 
 cal pursuits of life, their secret is simple enough — to take 
 possession of the gold fields, to extract from the earth its 
 auriferous deposits, and to this extent to impoverish the coun- 
 try; aud, having doue this to return to China and there 
 spend their days. They invest no capital in our undertak- 
 ings, and undertake no industries of a permanent character. 
 After they have gone there is no trace of their existence, 
 not even a tombstone; their very ashes they make an effort 
 to have transplanted to the ' Flowery Land.'" 
 
 Sir Thomas Herbert, in Herheri's Travels, page 364, in 
 the quaint language of his times, describes the character of 
 the Chinese in the islands of the Indian Archipelago. Long 
 ago as this was written, it describes the habits of the 
 Chinese of to-day wherever they colonize, and the language 
 used might equally as well apply to "Chinatown" in San 
 Francisco as to the Chinese colonies in either of the islands 
 referred to. It is another proof that the character of the 
 Chinese is unchangeable, and that vice is its major constit- 
 uent element. 
 
 "The Chyneses are no quarrelers, albeit voluptuous, 
 costly in their sports, great gamesters, and in trading too sub- 
 tile for 3'oung merchants; oft times so wedded to dicing that 
 after they have lost their whole estate, wife and children are 
 staked; yet in little time, Jew like, by gleaning here and 
 there, are able to redeem their loss, if not at the day, they 
 are sold in the market at most advantage." 
 
 Dampier, in his account of Achin, says of the Chinese: 
 
 " But as their business decreases, their gaming among 
 themselves increases, for a Chinese if he is not at work, had 
 as lieve be without victuals as without gaming; and they are 
 very dexterous at it." 
 
 Mr. Crawford in his " History of the Indian Archipelago" 
 and in speaking of the Chinese who had settled there when 
 he wrote, more than sixty years ago, says : 
 
 "The Chinese settlers may be described as at once
 
 THE CHINESE ABROAD. 59 
 
 enterprising, keen, laborious, luxurious, sensual, debauched 
 and pusillanimous." 
 
 ¥r ^ ^ ¥: ¥r ¥r 
 
 " They are the least conscientious people alive; the con- 
 stant prospect of gain or advantage must be presented to 
 them to induce them to fulfill their engagements, which they 
 will always evade when their judgment is not satisfied that 
 an adherence to them will be certainly profitable." 
 
 All this too, might as well have been written in our own 
 times and applied with truth to the Chinese in America, as 
 to have been written in an earlier century and applied to 
 earlier generations of the race colonized elsewhere. 
 
 The proof then, is incontrovertible, that the Chinaman, 
 transported to other lands than his own, is the Chinaman 
 still, with all his native habits and inclinations, with all his 
 filth, with all his clannishness, with all his diseases, with all 
 his hideous vices. No more than the leopard can change his 
 spots, can the Chinaman change; at least until through long 
 generations of contamination of the race which undertakes 
 the task, and the sacrifice of the physical and moral health 
 of a hundred of the individuals of such self-sacrificing race 
 for every Chinaman reformed and christianized. / 
 
 From the practical side of the question — stripped of the 
 halo and the glamour with w^hich the exstatic thoughts and 
 beatific aspirations of the religious enthusiast and the senti- 
 mentalist surround it — is it not a monstrous crime against 
 humanity itself, and necessarily a crime against Divine laws, 
 to continue longer the advocacy of Chinese immigration? 
 
 It is true that the race is already planted upon American 
 soil. It is true thi-.t it is a living, vital element, already 
 through the generative process of and by the material now 
 among us, multiplying and increasing through the resistless 
 laws of nature. It is true that they are here to stay, and that 
 there is no method that does not violate the laws of God and 
 man by which we may rid ourselves of them. But is that, 
 with all the exhibit that has been made, and that later on
 
 (30 THE INCONSISTENCIES OF 
 
 will be made further, of the blight and pestilence which their 
 presence in a civilized Caucasian community begets, a good 
 and sufficient reason why we should continue to enlarge the 
 risk and the evil which their unlimited admission involves, 
 why we should thus court an evil which our experience thus 
 far proves to be a curse to humanity ? To put an end to the 
 farther influx of this race, and to deal wisely with those 
 already here, is a problem large enough and serious enough 
 in itself to employ the best thought and action of the Amer- 
 ican people, without taking upon themselves a heavier bur- 
 then at present. Particularly is this true, when the fact is 
 considered that as the case stands the brunt of the battle 
 and the test in this experimental contest of races is neces- 
 sarily borne by the people of California, and of San Fran- 
 cisco in particular. Upon them is forced the stern duty and 
 the moneyed cost, of so dealing with, and regulating the 
 residence, habits, and modes of life of those already here 
 and those who may come hereafter, that the least possible 
 evil may be borne and disseminated by reason of their 
 coming. Is it just that they should be put to further cost, 
 and further local risk and burthen, that the sentiment of the 
 "common brotherhood of man" may be fostered, and the 
 bigoted cant of the short-sighted religious enthusiast be 
 appeased? 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE INCONSISTENCIES OF MISSIONARY WRITERS. 
 
 There is no dispute or question as to the reliability of the 
 authors herein quoted, except such as comes mainly from 
 missionary writers. Their religious zeal blinds their ability 
 to entertain a thought beyond making a Christian convert
 
 MISSIONARY WEITEES. 61 
 
 out of au idolator, regardless of the co&t of such conversiou 
 to the Christian community, in the spread of vice, disease 
 and immorality, by reason of the contact with the race, from 
 which the heathen convert is to be snatched like the "brand 
 from the burning." And it is these writers who have never 
 ceased to misdirect public opinion, who have made use of 
 constant misrepresentation in the presentation of the Chi- 
 nese question; who have either ignorantly or otherwise 
 falsified facts, and suppressed or distorted the truth. 
 
 If commerce and manufactures in all their details can 
 better be directed by clergymen than any other class, if les- 
 sons in political economy can be better and more wisely 
 inculcated by them ; if the police direction, the administra- 
 tion of punishments for crime, the exercise of stern measures 
 for the suppression of vice, can more safely be left in their 
 hands, or at the supervision of the man of God, than in the 
 hands of those members of society who ordinarily exercise 
 these functions; if the clergy are the true statesmen of the 
 land, the true political economists, then the question of 
 Chinese immigration may be safely left with them, and their 
 precepts in^regard to the same may be safely followed. But 
 it is not likely that even the most earnest advocate of Chi- 
 nese immigration will take the affirmative of these proposi- 
 tions in so far as such supervision of his worldly affairs 
 might be affected thereby. Why, then, should the advice 
 and the dictum of the missionary, as such, be any longer a 
 potential factor in the consideration of the Chinese question ? 
 Grant the truth of the sublime precept that 
 
 " God moves ia a mysterious way, 
 His wonders to perform," 
 
 does it necessarily follow that the movement of Asiatic races 
 toward these shores is necessarily a resultant of divine com- 
 mand ? No missionary has yet written upon this question 
 since Chinese immigration into the United States com- 
 menced, who has not directly or indirectly taken the affirma- 
 tive of this proposition. If we concede its correctness, then
 
 62 THE INCONSISTENCIES OP 
 
 discussion is ended, for a Christian people will liardlj be 
 found opposing the divine will however severe may be the 
 chastisement under which they are suffering. The world is 
 too enlightened, however, and men of to-day are too inde- 
 pendent in thought to be governed by such bigoted fanati- 
 cism as this, in the face of the fact that Chinese immigration 
 in itself is the parent and disseminator of all the vices and 
 all the sins known to the decalogue against which every pre- 
 cept of Christianity — religious or moral — is arrayed in merci- 
 less condemnation. 
 
 And yet, here are some of the theories taught in their 
 books by missionary writers upon the Chinese question. 
 
 The Reverend William Speer, in his book on "China and 
 the United States," says in his introduction: 
 
 "The man who waits for the consolation of Israel of the 
 latter days must praise God for the new force which his al- 
 mighty power has given to the immense work of regenera- 
 ting the continent of Asia, through the multitudes of its 
 people to be brought hither, enlightened with Christianity, 
 and returned to it again. Taken in whatsoever aspect we 
 will, the coming of the Chinese to America is excelled in 
 importance by no other event since the discovery of the New 
 World. It is one of the impulses, beyond all human con- 
 ception or management, by which God is moving the history 
 of mankind onward to its great consummation." 
 
 i]' tl: ^ ^ ^ ^ 
 
 "The knowledge of modern ages in the West, and the 
 introduction of labor-saving machines, will expel myriads 
 from China as the bees swarm and hive in the spring; and 
 any reasonable man who will consider no more than the 
 statements of this paragraph, must conclude that attempts 
 to prevent their coming to the New World are as ridiculous 
 and futile as it would be to endeavor to change the laws of Na- 
 ture, which cause the soil of the mountains to descend into 
 the valleys, or the floods of rain to force a channel to the 
 sea. The day is coming when many millions of Chinese will 
 be dispersed over the Pacific coast, the Mississippi valley, 
 the wastes of the northern portion of the continent, the 
 provinces of Mexico and Central America, the whole con-
 
 MISSIONARY WRITERS. 63 
 
 tinent of South America, where aheady there are several 
 thousands of them, and over all the island groups or island 
 continents of the Pacific Ocean, where indolent races are 
 departing, having accomplished their mission, to make room 
 for them. To find a place and use for a handful of vile 
 African slaves, who were brought here in a condition little 
 above the brutes, in the place of the great temple of civil 
 and religious freedom which the Supreme Governor of the 
 world is rearing upon this continent to be a blessing to all 
 its nations, has cost us an indescribable amount of discus- 
 sion and trouble, ending in a stupendous and calamitous 
 civil war. An hundred-fold more importent is it to under- 
 stand fully, and to treat with wisdom and justice from the 
 beginning, the race whom He is now bringing to our shores — 
 one so incomparably greater than the negro in numbers, in 
 civilization, in capacity to bestow immense benefits on our 
 land or to inflict uj^on it evils which may end in its ruin. 
 Our faith iii that God and in His word lead us to hope that 
 their coming shall be for good to us and them." 
 
 " And in all the general measures, legislative or com- 
 mercial, which we adopt in reference to this element of our 
 population, we ought to remember that lue are not acting for 
 temporary or j)€rsonal or our own ludional interest, hut that loe 
 are set hi/ divi)ie Providence in a position ivhich demands that ive 
 should he inspired hi) loftier and hroader 7no^a'es which are 
 derived from the suggestions of history, a sincere devotion 
 to the best interests of humanity and by an humble and 
 earnest desire to be but the instruments by which the 
 Superior Being shall execute His great and beneficial plans.' 
 
 Now, while this writer takes the position that in dealing 
 with this question we "are not acting for temporary or per- 
 sonal or national interests," but are simply dutifully acqui- 
 escing in the Divine will in order that the unacountable pur- 
 poses of the Supreme Being mny be fulfilled, he proceeds 
 in the very nest chapter to treat of Chinese labor and the 
 great advantages which it offers in the promotion of our 
 national interests, and offers that as an inducement why 
 Chinese immigration should be encouraged. He says:
 
 64 THE INCONSISTENCIES OF 
 
 "The wages paid for Cliiueie labor iu this country will, 
 in the first j^lace, be cheaper than any other. * -s^ -Jt ^ 
 They will, in the future, probably not command the rates 
 paid white laborers," etc. etc. 
 
 So that we have first, the admonition that we are not to 
 consider personal or national interest but only the carrying out 
 of the Divine behest, and in the next breath the selfish side of 
 our natures is appealed to, showing how profitable this labor 
 will be to us as an inducement for us to become converts to the 
 advocacy of Chinese immigration. Such is the consistency 
 and the logical method of dealing with this subject by this 
 class of sentimental and impractical writers. Such doc- 
 trines as these coming from the pen of a minister of the 
 gospel are monstrous. He is "led to hope" from the faith 
 which is iu him that Chinese immigration is the work of 
 God, but he admits in the same breath that "it may inflict 
 evils" upon the country, "which may end in its ruin." 
 And this is the kind of argumentative pabulum that is 
 given to the American people to induce them to the coun- 
 tenance and advocacy of this influx of human degradation 
 upon us. Search this ponderous volume through and with 
 the exception of the recital of the evils growing out of the 
 opium habit, there is hardly more than a bare allusion to 
 the habits and vices of the Chinese at home, as shown in 
 the extracts already given from other writers. Page after 
 page is devoted to a delineation of the social life of the 
 better classes, the higher schools of morality and all the 
 better aspects which it is possible to set down to the credit 
 of this people. A picture is drawn pleasing to the taste, 
 consoling to the thought of accepting without limit their 
 immigration to our shores, and all for the glory of God 
 and the spread of Christianity. For while the author, as 
 has been shown, is not quite sure that it may not result in 
 ruin to the country, yet, he begins his book as stated, and 
 ends with the benediction: 
 
 "The beginnings of this movement of the Chinese race
 
 MISSIONARY WRITERS. 65 
 
 are in themselves small; but wherever the members of it in 
 coming days shall be scattered, among the Christian homes 
 or fields or factories of our country, let us hope that the 
 divine design in bringing these strangers from far will be 
 kept in diligent remembrance." 
 
 Let us turn now to the work of another missionary, the 
 Kev. O. Gibson, whose utter inconsistency, not to say 
 insincerity, has been pointed out once already. In this 
 book, " The Chinese in America," many frank admissions are 
 made in regard to the vices of the Chinese, for which the 
 author is entitled to all credit; but for perversion of fact, 
 misstatement and misapplication of ordinary business rules 
 and commercial laws, the work is a monumental success. 
 Submitted in manuscript to the Kev. M. C. Briggs, the in- 
 troductory preface is written by him, and closes in these 
 words : 
 
 " The Chinese are here by the order of Providence, the 
 principles of the Declaration, the provisions of the Treaty, 
 and here they are sure to stay till better reasons for their 
 expulsion can be shown than any which have yet appeared." 
 
 Parenthetically it may be remarked that if, according to 
 the persistent doctrine "of the clergy, as here again ex- 
 pressed, the Chinese are here "by order of Providence," 
 then, even though "better reasons for their expulsion can 
 be shown than any that have yet appeared," yet reasons 
 however cogent and unanswerable are necessarily in such 
 case void and useless, if it be not blasphemous, to offer 
 them in the face of divine command. It is indeed strange 
 that one who sets it down to the credit of divine command 
 so earnestly in the first instance should be so inconsistent as 
 to utter in the same breath the possibility of there being 
 reasons to the contrary. But it furnishes another instance of 
 the illogical methods of the profession when dealing with the 
 practical realities of life quite as glaring as that which has 
 already been pointed out in the case of Mr. Speer, who be- 
 lieves it is the act of Providence, but is not quite sure that
 
 66 THE INCONSISTENCIES OF 
 
 it may not "result in ruin to the country." But to return to 
 Mr. Gibson: 
 
 "The cominf;; of so many idolaters to this Christian land," 
 says Mr. Gibson, "has bronght new and grave responsibili- 
 ties upon the Christian Church. The heathen, for whose 
 conversion to Christianity the Church has so long been 
 praying — the heathen to whom the Church has occasioually 
 sent a representative, a messenger, a missionary of the 
 blessed Gospel — one hundred and fifty thousand of those 
 very heathen, God has now, by His most wonderful provi- 
 dence, brought to these Christian shores, to these United 
 States of America. There is reason to believe that the 
 Church at large in America has not clearly appreciated the 
 situation; has not carefully measured the responsibility 
 which God has thrust upon her. While the principal atten- 
 tion has been directed to the far-away 'pagodas and zenanas 
 and decaying heathenism of India,' and she has been sending 
 her sons and daughters in force to preach the Gospel to the 
 waiting Hindoos — subjects of a Christian government — God 
 Himself, in spite of the counsels of men, has been bringing 
 the Chinese heathen, in tens and scores of thousands, and 
 planting them on this Christian soil." 
 
 And so on, ad nauseum. Such is the underlying thought 
 of the missionary class who have written upon the question 
 of Chinese immigration, and such are the doctrines that the 
 American people at large have partaken of with avidity and 
 from which they have largely based their opinions upon the 
 question of the national policy which ought to be adopted in 
 the matter. The plain and logical deduction is, that if Chi- 
 nese immigration into the United States is ordained by God; 
 if it is His will that it should be so, that the heathen may be 
 converted to Christianity, as these fervid missionaries as- 
 sert, then the opposition to it which nearly the whole people 
 of the Pacific coast set up is an unpardonable sin. Then 
 the late treaty and the Restriction Act are monumental 
 national sins; then are we, indeed, in danger of eternal dam- 
 nation. 
 
 If there is one thing next after idolatry to be abhorred 
 it is Christian bigotry. And the Chinaman bowing and
 
 MISSIONAEY WRITERS. 67 
 
 distorting his figure before some hideous idol is worthy of 
 no severer condemnation — not to say contempt — than the 
 narrow-minded Christian bigot who in this enlightened age 
 promulgates such balderdash as this; such blasphemy, in 
 fact, against the Supreme Euler of the universe who, as the 
 incarnation of love for his Christian children, would surely 
 never inflict such calamities upon them as those which follow 
 in the train of Chinese immigration, even that the seeds of 
 Christianity might be sown in the soil of Paganism. Let 
 Mr. Gibson stand up further and testify as to what has been 
 accomplished in this work of Christianizing pagans thus 
 brought by command of the Creator to our shores. Let us 
 see if the religious theory is borne out by practical results, 
 even by his own statement of the case. Meeting face to face, 
 here in this Christian land. Idolatry and Christianity have 
 wrestled with each other. Let Mr. Gibson furnish us with 
 an example of how it has fared with each in the contest, by 
 way of illustration : 
 
 " I cannot refrain from referring just here to what seems 
 to be blindness on the part of the Baptist Missionary So- 
 ciety in America. The first Baptist Church of Sau Fran- 
 cisco, a large and commodious building, one of the first, and 
 for a longtime one of the most popular Protestant churches 
 on the Pacific coast, was situated on Washington street, just 
 on the verge of Chinatown. As the Chinese population 
 increased and began to swarm on Washington street, this 
 church became less and less available for the use of an 
 English-speaking congregation, but every day it became 
 better and better adapted for a Chinese Mission-house — 
 better located for this purpose than the property that any 
 other church had been able to secure. The trustees of the 
 church and the Baptists of San Francisco saw the providen- 
 tial indications, and, while regretting the necessity of leaving 
 their temple of worship and commencing anew in some other 
 locality, they rejoiced that their house might still continue 
 to be a temple of the living God, and be used as a strong 
 fortress of the blessed Gospel to stay the tide of heathenism 
 and idolatry which was beginning to surge all around it."
 
 68 THE INCONSISTENCIES OF 
 
 Just here let us pause to note how quick the Christian 
 church became " less" and less available " for worship, how 
 urgent the "necessity of leaving their temple of worship 
 and commencing anew in some other locality" became as 
 idolatry in solid phalanx advanced upon it. Does this tend 
 to fortify the theory that the Chinese are brought here by 
 Divine command that paganism may fall before the resistless 
 force of Christian contact? Does this cowardly retreat of 
 a Christian church speak well for asserted, sincere determina- 
 tion and effort to convert the pagan ? Would Christ the 
 Bedeemer have retreated before such a host? But let us 
 hear from Mr. Gibson further: 
 
 "The property was valued at $35,000; but the trustees, 
 willing and anxious to do their part in this good work, 
 offered the property to the Baptist Missionary Society for a 
 Chinese Mission at $25,000. But the Society strangely, and 
 as it seems to us blindly, declined to accept the offer and 
 undertake the work. The heathen themselves became pur- 
 chasers, and what was lately the First Baptist Church of 
 San Francisco is now a crowded tenement house, full of all 
 manner of filthiness, shame and vice. Where but lately 
 was the altar of the living God, now smokes the incense of 
 idolatry. That sacred temple where once the voice of 
 prayer and praise to God was heard, now echoes with 
 idolatrous chants and bacchanalian songs. Instead of 
 standing firm against these incoming hosts of idolatry and 
 sin, the church of Christ has beaten an ignominious retreat, 
 has surrendered without a struggle one of her strongest 
 fortifications and retreated in disorder before the swarming 
 hosts of idolatry; a burning shame, a standing reproach to 
 Christianity in general, and to the Baptist Missionary So- 
 ciety in particular." 
 
 Score one for the theory of the religious enthusiast who 
 sees in Chinese immigration a Divine dispensation for the 
 uses and purposes of pagan reformation. 
 
 Let us resort again to the testimony of Mr. Gibson, to 
 ascertain what advance, according to his statement, Chris- 
 tianity has made upon this grand army of pagans thus as-
 
 MISSIONARY WRITERS. 69 
 
 sembled here at the Divine command. In his chapter on 
 missionary effort, he gives the following summary up to May, 
 1876, showing the 
 
 "total number op CHINESE CHRISTIANS BAPTIZED IN AMERICA." 
 
 Presbyterian Mission 80 
 
 Presbyterian Churches ... 46 
 
 Methodist Mission 44 
 
 Methodist Churches 5 
 
 Congregational Churches .... . 45 
 
 Baptist Mission, San Francisco 15 
 
 Baptist Mission, Oregon 15 
 
 Episcopalian Churches 1 
 
 Scattering, not reported 20 
 
 Total 271 
 
 But, further on in his book, in the chapter on "China- 
 man or White Man — Which ?" he says : 
 
 ' ' Now the facts are — and if Father Buchard reads the 
 papers he ought to know the facts — that as the result of 
 Protestant efforts in this direction in this country, about one 
 hundred Chinamen have been baptized and received into 
 the various churches." 
 
 Again, still further on, in the reprint of his testimony 
 before the Congressional Committee, he says: 
 
 " In California there are about three hundred Chinese 
 who have been baptized and received into the different Pro- 
 testant churches." 
 
 And yet, once more, in his testimony when asked how 
 many were converted to Christianity, by the Legislative 
 Committee in 1876, he says: 
 
 "I suppose that in this city there may be, in all, one 
 hundred. I do not know." 
 
 And these are specimens of the recklessness of statement 
 with which this book abounds, and which ought to condemn 
 it forever to the limbo of public pity for its author and pub- 
 lic disregard for its assertions. It is but proper to repeat
 
 70 THE INCONSISTENCIES OF 
 
 the remark that it is this kind of unreliable teaching, this 
 persistent recklessness of statement on the part of mission- 
 ary writers especially, that have misdirected and misled 
 public sentiment upon the Chinese question, and resulted in 
 the perpetration of the most monstrous crime against public 
 morals, against the Christian religion, against the welfare of 
 the people of the Pacific coast, and indeed of the whole na- 
 tion, that will ever be recorded in the history of our times 
 when it comes to be written. 
 
 As if to give official sanction to this narrow-minded 
 church bigotry, the clergymen composing the Puget Sound 
 Association of Congregational Churches held their annual 
 meeting at Whatcom, Washington Territory, recently, and 
 among other things adopted the following resolution : 
 
 ' ' Resolved, That this Association regards the present law 
 xidopted by the United States Congress for the exclusion of 
 Chinese from this country as anti-Christian, and wholly op- 
 posed to the principles of our free institutions." 
 
 Can Christian bigotry be guilty of more intense human 
 folly than this, in the light of the facts that have been herein 
 presented ? Men who, under the guise of ministration of tlie 
 Gospel, take such a position as this, so inimical to the wel- 
 fai"e of their own race, who manifest such an entire indiffer- 
 ence to the wrong and the demoralizing influences which 
 Chinese immigration inflicts upon the youth of their own 
 jjeople, and such an intense sympathy for the heathen horde 
 that this class of immigration throws among us, are not only 
 unworthy of their sacred calling, but are alike deserving of 
 the contempt of the real Christian world. .Nothing could 
 more forcibly illustrate the infantile capacity of the clergy, 
 as a class, to teach lessons in political and social economy to 
 the practical world; nothing can more perfectly illustrate the 
 truth of the aphorism that " the cobbler should stick to his 
 last." A just and well-directed criticism upon this resolu- 
 tion is the following from the San Francisco Evening Post, 
 with which thia branch of the subject may be dismissed:
 
 MISSIONARY WRITERS. 71 
 
 "The Puget Sound brethren are evidently afflicted with 
 that deplorable narrowness of vision which is produced by 
 the habit of looking at things too steadily from one point of 
 view. It is the prevalence of this infirmity among preachers 
 which accounts for the fact that throughout the country they 
 are, for the most part, arrayed against the interests of labor, 
 so far as the question of Chinese immigration goes. From 
 the preaclier's point of view the main business of life is to 
 make converts to Christianity. The Chinaman is a pagan, 
 and America is a Christian country; therefore, if the China- 
 man can be brought to America the chances of converting 
 him are better than if he remained in China and had the 
 gospel carried to him by the missionary. This is the clergy- 
 man's argument, and it is logical enough so far as it goes; 
 but the proposition takes in too few factors. The minister, 
 when considering the Chinese problem, apparently forgets 
 for the time being that white people, as well as Chinamen, 
 have souls. He does not reflect that if the spiritual part of 
 the coolie can be saved by bringing him here, other souls 
 may be endangered while the work of redemption is in pro- 
 gress. The Mongolian immigrant does not surrender all his 
 time to receiving Christian instruction. A considerable 
 share of his attention is, as a matter of fact, given to earn- 
 ing his living. While doing this he produces effects upon 
 the white population which are of spiritual as well as mate- 
 rial importance. Because of the low price at which he sells 
 his labor, he drives white men and women out of employ- 
 ment, and fills the places which should be open to our chil- 
 dren when they reach the working age. Idleness is thus 
 forced upon a considerable part of the population, or else a 
 style of cheap and dirty living must be accepted. So we 
 find that the Chinaman v^ho comes for the gospel brings with 
 him for our own people, by way of return favors, squalor, 
 ignorance and vice — these being the legitimate chilclren of 
 such wages as the Chinaman compels his competitors to 
 work for. As squalor, ignorance and vice are the foes of 
 religion always, it is manifest that what Christianity may 
 gain in Chinese converts is more than lost by the increase of 
 whites who become degraded below the influence of religion. 
 
 ' ' The brethren of the Puget Sound Association will 
 readily admit that the souls of fallen women are worth sav- 
 ing. But would the brethren think it wise to open the doors 
 of their houses to such women in order that the unfortu-
 
 72 CHINESE CHEAP LABOR 
 
 -n^ies miglit be surrounded by a Christian atmosphere, es- 
 pecially if the castaways displayed no special desire to be- 
 come Chistians? We think not; yet the brethrec, by the 
 resolution we have quoted, have declared that the American 
 people, in deciding that they will keep the door of the na- 
 tional family closed to those polluting Asiatics — a case pre- 
 cisely analogous — have acted in a manner ' anti-Chris- 
 tiaa and wholly opposed to the principles of our free insti- 
 tutions. ' " 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 CHINESE CHEAP LABOR FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 The favorite line of argument with the pro-Chinese theo- 
 rists is, that the industrial resources of California could not 
 be developed without the aid of "Chinese cheap labor." 
 That the Central Pacific Eailroad was built through the 
 agency of Chinese labor; that every agricultural and me- 
 chanical industry has been developed through this agency; 
 and, in fact, the whole material prosperity of the Pacific 
 coast is due alone to this "blessing in disguise" which a 
 wise Providence has conferred upon this people. 
 
 This opens up a new theory which quite upsets the Amer- 
 ican boast and the world's recognition of American energy 
 and ability to build up new and prosperous communities, 
 new States, and new cities and towns. It argues that we 
 have been all wrong on this point, and that we are a supine 
 and helpless race who have been long waiting for some such 
 divine dispensation as this to aid us in our undertakings. 
 
 To be sure, we have, in a slip-shod sort of way, managed 
 to push civilization during the past half century out into 
 what was fifty years ago a wilderness, and that we have 
 founded and built up great populous and prosperous States
 
 FOE THE DEVELOPMENT OF CALIFORNIA. / 73 
 
 in that wilderness, doubled and quadrupled our national 
 wealth, threaded the land with thousands of miles of rail- 
 roads, and in various ways managed to attain quite a respec- 
 table rank among nations ; and all without the aid of "Chinese 
 cheap labor." It was left to the modern political economists, 
 and to the modern missionary writer in particular, to point 
 out the fact that all that has gone before is a mere make- 
 shift, and that heathen help is the necessity of the hour to 
 enable us to reach the true zenith of our national glory. Let 
 us hear some of their philosophic disquisitions on this point. 
 The Reverend Mr. Speer comes forward with the following 
 assertion : 
 
 " The construction of railroads has given employment to 
 eight or ten thousand at a time. But for the opportunity to 
 perform this work by Chinese labor, it is declared by the 
 directors of the Central Pacific Railroad they would not have 
 dared to undertake it." 
 
 It is not a pleasant task to be constantly called upon to 
 disprove statements made by missionary writers upon this 
 subject; it is an unpleasant duty to place preachers of the 
 gospel in the attitude of falsifiers; and yet what is to be done 
 in view of this constant iteration and reiteration of state- 
 ments that are void of a shadow of truth, and which are 
 made merely for the purpose of misleading public opinion 
 and educating the public mind in wrong directions ? This 
 statement that the directors of the Central Pacific Railroad 
 ever declared that they would not have dared to undertake the 
 work without Chinese labor is simply not true. It is a cre- 
 ation of the mind of Mr. Speer, and has no other foundation 
 to rest upon. It is an easy matter to prove this. 
 
 In the course of the investigation of the Chinese question 
 by the Congressional Committee, some years ago, Mr. 
 Charles Crocker, one of the directors of the Central Pacific 
 Railroad, testified as follows: 
 
 Q . — Did you commence the construction of the Certral 
 Pacific with white or Chinese labor? 
 
 A. — We commenced with white labor.
 
 74 CHINESE CHEAP LABOR 
 
 Q. — How loug did jou continue it? 
 
 A. — We never discontinued it; we have always employed 
 white labor. 
 
 Q. — I mean, how long did you continue with that kind of 
 labor exclusively? 
 
 A. — We continued almost a year and a half, when we 
 found we could not get sufficient labor to progress with the 
 road as fast as was necessary, and felt driven to the necessity 
 of trying Chinese labor. I believe that all our people were 
 13rejudiced against Chinese labor, and that there was a dis- 
 position not to employ them. 
 
 All this cuts no important fissure in the real matter at 
 issue, except so far as it goes to illustrate once more the 
 recklessness of statement of a missionary writer upon the 
 subject of Chinese immigration, and conclusively demon- 
 strates that the testimony of this class of writers, upon the 
 well-settled principle oi falsus in uno falsus in omnibus, is 
 practically valueless. For what shall we say of a writer upon 
 this subject who can deliberately promulgate the proposition 
 that "it is declared by the directors of the Central Pacific Rail- 
 road they luould not have dared to undertake it bid for the oppor- 
 tunity to 'perform it with Chinese labor " in the face of this 
 testimony of Mr. Crocker's ? 
 
 Let us present a few more samples of the deep thought 
 and logical reasoning expended upon this branch of the 
 question by these wise political economists, our friends the 
 missionaries who have written upon the subject. Mr. Gib- 
 son says : 
 
 " Without the Chinese we could not manufacture any- 
 thing on the Pacific Coast and compete with importations 
 from the East." 
 
 ■5t T^- * -sfr •«■ * 
 
 " In fruit raising, for which California is wonderfully 
 adapted, up to this time Chinese labor is indispensable. 
 Probably not a single strawberry ranch in the State is carried 
 on, or could be carried on with any profit without the employ- 
 ment of Chinese labor. This is a kind of industry in which
 
 FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF CALIFORNIA. 75 
 
 the Chinese excel all competitors. Yet with this industry 
 carried on almost exclusively by " Chinese cheap labor,'' our 
 strawberries cost more by the pound than in New York, Phila- 
 delphia and Chicago." 
 
 The fallacy of the propositions here stated by Mr. Gibson 
 will be easily shown. His statement as to the relative cost 
 of strawberries in San Francisco and in eastern cities may 
 as well be denounced here, however, as utterly false, and so 
 a,bsurd in its conception, so ridiculous to the mind of every 
 Californian who knows to the contrai'y, that it suggests 
 inquiring into the question of the sanity of the man who \ 
 could utter it. \ 
 
 " The Chinese nearly, if not wholly, monopolize the ' 
 manufacture of these overalls in California. But then, until 
 the Chinese began to make them, none were made on this 
 coast, the entire supply being imported from the East." 
 * * * * -x- * 
 
 " On Washington street, the Chinamen manufacture all ' ^O 
 kinds of ladies' lice underwear. Some people object to 
 this, but if the ladies would only make their own, the 
 Chinamen would not get the job. We can hardly blame the 
 Chinese for making them. Surely it is better that the 
 Chinamen make these indispensable articles than that the 
 dear people should go without them." 
 
 Our reverend political economist is trying his hand at 
 philosophizing and satire, in addition to his other accom- 
 plishments. Again, said Mr. Gibson: 
 
 " At the rates of labor "^ * "^ which would instantly 
 prevail were the Chinese removed from our midst, not one of 
 the few manufacturing interests which have lately sprung up 
 on these shores would bj maintained a single day. 
 
 " Were it not for the competition of Chinese labor, the / 
 few woolen mills, rope factories, iron foundries, cabinet fac- ' 
 tories, shoe factories, and such like industries lately com- 
 menced, must be closed at once " 
 
 * * -^ * -jfr * 
 
 " So this Chinese immigration, by reducing the price of 
 unskilled labor to a point where capital can afford to employ 
 it, will tend to multiply our industries and enrich the State,
 
 CHINESE CHEAP LABOR 
 
 and in this way they will certainly open doors for the em- 
 ployment of thousands of white laborers who otherwise 
 could not find employment oa these shores, so that the 
 Chinese, instead of displacing or lessening the demand for 
 white laborers, really stimulate the demand and create a 
 market for more." 
 
 This is the chatter of shallow thinkers. It is profitless 
 to follow it. Is it not the essence of folly to presume for an 
 instant that the Central Pacific Railroad would not have 
 been built had it not been for Chinese cheap labor ? An 
 enterprise so liberally endowed as that was by the General 
 Government, and aided by local authorities in this JState. 
 True it is, that the enterprising men who entered upon and 
 accomplished that great work would not have made as many 
 millions as they did by reason of their employment of 
 Chinese cheap labor; but would not the profit have been 
 great enough to have furnished the incentive to prosecute 
 the work by the aid of American labor, and would not the 
 distribution of the wages, and such portion of the extra 
 profit which they made by the employment of Chinese, 
 among American laborers, have been vastly better for the 
 State, the country and for civilized human happiness than is 
 the case with the wages earned and carried back to China, 
 and this extra profit concentrated in a few hands ? Is it not 
 true in regard to every industry that has been developed 
 through the medium of Chinese cheap labor in California ? 
 Has it not resulted in enriching the few who employed their 
 labor for these purposes, sent so much earned wage money 
 out of the country instead of distributing the wages and the 
 extra profit thus made among American laborers ? Assume, 
 if we please, that many of these industries would not have 
 been developed unless this class of labor had been at hand 
 and available: is that an argument in its favor? Does 
 American prosperity rest upon this mean, selfish line of 
 policy? Is not the "greatest good to the greatest number" 
 the rule that should prevail to the exclusion of all other
 
 FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 theories ? Wherein does the market value of labor — skilled 
 and unskilled — differ in civilized communities from the mar- 
 ket value of commodities ? The laws of supply and demand 
 govern it as they govern the value of commodities. The 
 exception to the rule is found in the States of the Pacific 
 Coast, California especially, for these reasons. Labor is 
 high in this section to-day, comparatively speaking, notwith- 
 standing the presence of the Chinese. And the simple 
 reason is that American laborers will not flock to these 
 shores, high though the wages may be, because they will 
 not enter into competition with Chinese. And assume that 
 they did, would not the Chinaman, with his rat-like mode of 
 life, still " cut under," though the American laborer came 
 "like an army with banners?" And would he not, as the 
 cheaper laborer, still be employed by the capitalist until 
 the prices of labor, in order to hold their vantage ground, 
 had dropped even to the standard of labor in the Flowery 
 Kingdom itself, while the Chinaman, from his slum and his 
 burrow, still grinned defiance to his American competitor ? 
 How, then, can the American free laborer ever compete with 
 Chinese cheap labor if the horde still flows in upon us and 
 swamps him in the depths of their own degradation ? 
 
 There is another view of the effects of Chinese cheap 
 labor in the development of the agricultural industries of 
 California, which has not heretofore been dwelt upon, if it 
 has been promulgated at all. The grain or fruit growers 
 testify that they could not carry on their enterprises success- 
 fully except for Chinese labor. That is to say, the large 
 land owner or cultivator could not conduct his business at 
 a satisfactory profit without this labor. Now the cry has 
 been for years that California lacks population; but what is 
 wanted is the laboring, productive classes, with their fami- 
 lies, to occupy the uncultivated lands and to enlarge both 
 our population of producers and our consumers. But what 
 is the first difficulty met with in increasing our population 
 with this desirable material? Simply, in the first place.
 
 CHINESE CHEAP LABOE 
 
 at the land is held by large owners, and at prices too high 
 to induce this class of population to come here, so long as 
 they can obtain good lands in the intermediate Territories 
 at figures but little beyond the government price. And why 
 is land so held here, in such large tracts, and at from thirty 
 to three hundred dollars an acre, except that by reason of 
 this Chinese cheap labor available for the capitalists who 
 so hold such lands, they are made to pay a profit per acre, 
 which makes the land worth these prices to them, and at less 
 than which they naturally will not sell. Now, suppose this 
 Chinese cheap labor had not been here — had not been avail- 
 able — would not the land-owner gladly have parted with it 
 at prices sufficiently low to have induced immigration and 
 purchase by the small farmer ? and would not the State have 
 been far more largely the gainer, through this system of de- 
 velopment of her industries and her resources, than she is 
 to-day by the system which calls a thousand-acre farm, or a 
 hundred-or-so-acre vineyard, into existence to enrich a few 
 large land-owners, and thousands of Chinese who depart 
 from the country with their gains, and leave nothing but their 
 heritage of disease and vice behind them as their contribution 
 to the weKare of the country ? 
 
 What is true touching the land question in this connec- 
 tion is true touching manufactures. How many of our own 
 people are the gainers by the manufactures which are carried 
 on in Chinatown, and in California, in fact, by reason of the 
 use of Chinese cheap labor? Tou may count them upon 
 your fingers. They embrace a few rich firms who employ 
 this labor for their own profit, to the exclusion of the thou- 
 sands of white laborers to whom it would otherwise fall, and 
 hundreds of smaller capitalists who necessarily take the 
 place of employers. Take the article of overalls, for exam- 
 ple, which are manufactured in " Chinatown" in enormous 
 quantities. They are sold in the market simply at prices a 
 shade lower than the same article manufactured in the East 
 could be laid down here for, and the very laboring classes
 
 FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF CALIFOENIA. 79 
 
 of this coast who cry out most loudly and most justly against 
 Chinese labor are the men who purchase and wear them — 
 the very consumers of the article. The few rich houses for 
 whom they are manufactured reap the enormous profit thus 
 derived from Chinese labor, while the Chinaman gets away 
 with the money that should rightfully go to feed the families 
 of the white men and women into whose hands this, and all 
 other like manufactures, would inevitably have fallen in 
 due course long before this, had Chinese labor not been 
 here at hand. It results, then, in enriching the few capital- 
 ists and the Chinamen themselves, and grinds the white 
 laborer down, into a grade of poverty that must inevitably 
 grow worse and worse — if this immigration is to continue — 
 until the Chinese level in modes of life has been reached by 
 white men and women alike — until tlie predicted assimila- 
 tion shall have been accomplished by finding them reveling 
 in the same slum and sleeping in the same burrow together. 
 Such is the true picture of the development of the industries 
 and resources of California by means of Chinese cheap labor, 
 which industries, we are told by the advocates of the system, 
 could not exist here were it not for the advantages which 
 this class of labor oilers. 
 
 Thoughtful men who will reason upon this feature of 
 this absorbing subject, who will dismiss theory and religious 
 or political sentimentalism from their minds, who will rea- 
 son solely from cause to efi'ect, taking any example of the 
 relation of labor to capital that may suggest itself to their 
 minds, will arrive at no other conclusion than that these 
 frequent assertions that the resources and industries of Cali- 
 fornia could not be develoj)ed without Chinese free labor, 
 are the veriest fallacies that ever obtained lodgment in the 
 human brain; that they violate every precept of sound 
 political philosophy, and foster the perpetuation of a too 
 long practiced public wrong. No man of ordinary intelli- 
 gence who will study the question can reach any other con- 
 clusion then this, unless he be blinded by prejudice; and no
 
 80 CHINESE CHEAP LABOR 
 
 man of ordinary intelligence will ever permit himself to be 
 so blinded. 
 
 The "Address to the People of the United States," 
 issued by the California Legislative Committee of 1876, 
 covered this and kindred points so clearly and so completely 
 that an extended extract from it may well find a place here. 
 For it cannot be too often presented to the consideration of 
 the people of the whole nation, and the truths that it incul- 
 cates might well find a place in the text books of the public 
 schools of every town and hamlet of the Republic: 
 
 "In considering the Chinese question, it is necessary to 
 remember that however true economic axioms are, their ap- 
 plicability depends upon the character of the convictions 
 held by those who are to exercise final judgment regarding 
 them. Thus, it may be perfectly true, in an economic point 
 of view, that capital ought to be free to employ the cheapest 
 labor it can procure. It may also be perfectly true that 
 the employment of cheap labor stimulates manufactures and 
 quickens the creation of capital. But it does not at all 
 necessarily follow that the effects of an unlimited supply of 
 cheap labor are beneficial to the majority, and in a country 
 where the majority rule it must be ultimately impossible to 
 gain consent to economic systems which cannot be shown 
 to produce this general satisfactory result. Nor are the 
 staple arguments of the political economists proof against 
 the single fact that under a government by universal suffrage 
 it is impossible to persuade the masses into accepting a ruin- 
 ous competition with cheap labor. But in truth there are 
 two distinct theories of political economy at present in con- 
 flict, and it is easy to see that their radical differences are 
 due to the differences of political systems. The European 
 theory may be said to leave the personal equation out of 
 consideration altogether. It assumes at the outset that the 
 production of capital is the alpha and omega of industry 
 and commerce, and it takes for granted that wealth means 
 success. Cheap labor, according to this theory, is always 
 acceptable, and competition should be left free to regulate 
 wages. If the workingman cannot earn more than bread 
 and water because of the fierceness of competition, he must 
 accept his meagre fare cheerfully, and console himself with 
 the reflection that the laws of supply and demand have settled
 
 POR THE DEVELOPMENT OF CAUEORNIA. 81 
 
 his lot for him, and that complaint is useless. In countries 
 where the voice of labor is powerless, and where the usage 
 of centuries, has ac3ustomed men to this life-long struggle 
 for the bare necessaries of life, this theory is endured. But 
 the United States represent a different form of government, 
 a form of government which begins by recognizing popular 
 rights, and goes on recognizing them to the end. Here the 
 people are the government, and, as in all nations, the ma- 
 jority must work for a subsistence, the question whether the 
 majority shall work for starvation wages, or shall insist 
 upon reasonable remuneration, can only be answered in one 
 way. And thus out of this more popular form of govern- 
 ment has arisen what may be called the new political econ- 
 omy. This is the theory that takes largest account of the 
 personal equation, instead of ignoring it; which lays down 
 the proposition that the greatest happiness to the greatest 
 number is the true end and aim of all legislation and govern- 
 ment, and which holds that great aggregate wealth is a far 
 inferior desideratum to general moderate prosperity. It is 
 from tliis especially American standpoint that the Chinese 
 question must be discussed, for assuredly it will at last be 
 settled in accordance with these views. Let it be shown 
 that without the Chinaman our local industries would be 
 paralyzed; that our manufacturers could not compete with 
 Eastern rivals; that a great many undertakings involving 
 much capital would fail. All this may be granted, and yet 
 all this is insignificant when the broader aspect of the ques- 
 tion comes to be considered. For, after all, what is it that 
 we are doing here upon the Pacific Coast ? 
 
 " Are we engaged in building up a civilized empire, 
 founded upon and permeated with the myriad influences of 
 Caucasian culture ? or are we merely planted here for the 
 purpose of fighting greedily, each for his own hand, and 
 of spoiling a country for whose future we have no care ? 
 If the latter, then indeed we should welcome Chinese labor, 
 and should encourage its advent until it had driven white 
 labor out of the field. But if we have higher duties — if we 
 owe obligations to our race, to our civilization, to our kin- 
 dred blood, to all that 23roclaims our common origin and 
 testifies to the harmony and consistence of our aims — then 
 assuredly w^e must decide that the Chinaman is a factor 
 hostile to the prosperity, the progress, and the civilization 
 of the American people. And be it observed that, however 
 
 6
 
 82 CHINESE CHEAP LABOR 
 
 broad our pliilosopliy, it mustnecessarily be limited by race, 
 nationality and kindred civilization. We owe allegiance to 
 those whose blood runs in our veins; to those who boast a 
 community of ancestry, of literature, of progi'ess in all its 
 forms and phases. Europe, not Asia, appeals to us, and we 
 should be recreant to those instincts which are often the 
 safest guides if we imperiled the future of our own race by 
 subjecting them to a competition for which they are unfitted, 
 and the only effect of which could be to brutalize and de- 
 teriorate them . There are some very * advanced ' thinkers 
 who maintain that competition is the truest test of superior- 
 ity, and who even go so far as to assert that if American 
 labor cannot compete with Chinese labor the fact proves its 
 essential inferiority, and indicates the Chinese as the com- 
 ing race. Now, perhaps, if we were on the lookout for a 
 civilization, and were prepared to judge dispassionately be- 
 tween all comers, we might be persuaded by such arguments, 
 and might regard with indifference, or even approval, the 
 prospect of the Mongolianization of this whole country. 
 But as the case stands, we already possess a civilization, and 
 it is American and not Chinese. Imperfect as it may be, and 
 full of defects, it is at least our own, and it represents the 
 labors, the thoughts, the aspirations, the struggles of men 
 of our own race and blood. To it we must therefore cling, 
 and whatever possibilities of development we have must be 
 grafted upon it. For the Chinaman we have no hard feel- 
 ings, and no senseless hatred. We willingly admit that he 
 offers a tremendous temptation to capitalists, and to all 
 others who need work done at low rates. But when all is 
 said that can be said in his favor, we still fall back upon the 
 consideration that it is American and not Chinese civiliza- 
 tion that we are trying to build up, and that since Chinese 
 labor means American destitution, we must rid ourselves of 
 it. To such as think differently, we would further say: 
 Do you believe that the intelligent millions of workingmen 
 who possess votes in these United States can be persuaded 
 into abandoning what is practically the defense of their 
 means of livelihood ? The Chinese question has not as yet 
 penetrated throughout the country; but it will, and then the 
 verdict will be given. At bottom it is the poison of slavery 
 that rankles in this Chinese question, and the jDCople must 
 realize that truth also. It is not a mere question of com- 
 parative wages, but of civilization and progress."
 
 FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF CALIPORNIA. 83 
 
 "A serious objection to slavery as it existed in the Soutli- 
 ern States was that it tended to degrade white labor. The 
 very same objection exists against Chinese labor in this 
 State. The recent troubles in San Francisco are attributed 
 to a class commonl}^ known as "hoodlums"- — young men 
 who have grown up in idleness, without occupation of any 
 kind, and who, in various ways, jDrey upon society. This 
 class is peculiar to San Francisco. Many of our best think- 
 ers argue that it owes its existence to the presence of a large 
 Chinese population. For several years after the settlement 
 of this State by Americans the population was an adult pop- 
 ulation. There were no boys. The Chinese naturally fell 
 into the posi^ons occupied by and did the work that in other 
 countries was assigned to boys. As boys grew up they found 
 these places filled by Chinese, and very naturally looked 
 upon the labor they performed as servile and degrading. 
 Their pride — whether true or false is immaterial — kept them 
 from entering the lists by the side of an abhorred race. If 
 this view of the subject is correct, a fearful responsibility 
 rests at the door of the advocates of Chinese labor. The 
 Chinese are employed as agricultural laborers. The em- 
 ployment in most cases is not of individuals, but is of a 
 drove, held in some sort of dependence by a head man or 
 agent of the Chinese companies. The workmen live in sheds 
 or in straw stacks, do their own cooking, have no homes, and 
 are without interest in their work or the country. The white 
 laborer who would compete with them must not only pursue 
 the same kind of a* life, but must like them abdicate his in- 
 dividuality. The conseqviences would be lamentable even if 
 the white laborer should succeed by such means in driving 
 the Asiatic from the field. We would, in that event, have a 
 laboring class without homes, without families, and without 
 any of the restraining influences of society. 
 
 "The slave owner at the South had an interest in his labor- 
 ers, and even if the voice of humanity was silenced, yet that 
 interest made him care for them. He gave them houses to 
 live in, took care of them in sickness, and supported them 
 when old age rendered them incapable. The owner of Chi- 
 nese laborers in this State has no such interest. His inter- 
 est is co-extensive with and limited by the ability of his 
 slave to earn money. In sickness he turns him over to the 
 charity of the public. When disabled by age, he leaves 
 him to fate. It takes no prophet to foretell that if white
 
 84 CHINESE CHEAP LABOR 
 
 labor is brought down to the level of Asiatic labor the white 
 laborer will meet like treatment. 
 
 "Again, it can be truly said that slavery and its interests 
 produced at the South a large body of intelligent and able 
 statesmen, who, in the conflict between capital and labor, 
 threw into the scale the weight of their power in behalf of 
 labor. Their constituents were the proprietors of labor. 
 The representative naturally consulted the interest of his 
 constituents, and was invariably found the powerful advo- 
 cate of industrial interests. This was a favorable side of 
 slavery as it existed in the South, and to this extent, at least, 
 Southern slavery exercised a beneficial influence wholly lack- 
 ing in Chinese. 
 
 '* The slaves of the South were, as a race, kim^and faithful. 
 The Chinese, as a race, are cruel and treacherous. In this — 
 by contrast — ail the advantage was with Southern slavery. 
 
 " On the whole it is our judgment that unrestricted Chi- 
 nese immigration tends more strongly to the degradation of 
 labor, and to the subversion of our institutions, than did 
 slavery at the South. It has all of the disadvantages of 
 African slavery, and none of its compensations. 
 
 "The effect of this immigration is to prevent that of a more 
 desirable class. There, again, in the mere matter of dollars 
 and cents, the country at large is a loser. These people 
 bring no money with them, while it is assumed, on the most 
 credible evidence, that one hundred dollars at least is the 
 average amount in possession of each European immigrant. 
 A well-known social economist estimates the capital value 
 of every laborer that comes from Europe and settles in this 
 country at fifteen hundred dollars. This value rests upon 
 the fact that such laborer makes this country his home, 
 creates values, and contributes to the support of the nation. 
 The Chinese laborer, on the contrary, makes a draft upon 
 the w^ealth of the nation, takes from instead of adding to 
 its substance. Not less than one hundred and eighty million 
 dollars in gold have been abstracted from this State alone 
 by Chinese laborers, while they have contributed nothing to 
 the State or national wealth. 
 
 " Given in place of one hundred and twenty -five thousand 
 Chinese laborers the same number of male European immi- 
 grants, and the result may be stated in figures, as follows :
 
 FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF CALIFORNIA. 85 
 
 Amount of money brought into the country, $100 each $ 12,500,000 
 
 Capital value of 125,000 European male laborers, at $1,500 each. 187,500,000 
 Add gold abstracted by Chinese laborers 1 80,000,000 
 
 $380,000,000 
 
 "Thus, it is beyond question that, from a purely finan- 
 cial point of view, the United States is loser nearly four 
 hundred millions of dollars by Chinese immigration — a sum 
 which, if distributed throughout the country now, would go 
 far toward alleviating present want and misery. 
 
 "If it was true that no real objection existed to the pres- 
 ence of a lame Chinese population; if it was true that the 
 wrong and Stiry to the whites existed only in the imagina- 
 tion of the people of this country, even then we would insist 
 that this immigration be restricted. This is a republic, 
 dependent for its existence, not upon force, but upon the will 
 and consent of the people — upon their satisfaction with the 
 government. Yv'^hen that satisfaction ceases, will and con- 
 sent will be withdrawn. Therefore, it behooves the repre- 
 sentatives of the people, charged, in part, with the adminis- 
 tration of that government, to wisely consider not only real 
 but fancied causes of dissatisfaction. If it be found that the 
 presence of the Chinese element is a constant source of irri- 
 tation and annoyance to our peoj^le, that it is not here to 
 assimilate and become part of the body politic, that no good, 
 or but little, results from its presence, it does seem that the 
 mere dissatisfaction of the people with its presence should 
 be cause for grave concern on the part of the government. 
 
 "But it is said that action on our part tending to restrict 
 Chinese immigration would redound to the injury of com- 
 mercial relations with that Empire. There is not the slight- 
 est foundation in fact for any such notion. The govern- 
 ment of China is opposed to the immigration. All of the 
 witnesses agree upon this point. 
 
 * ' The people of the Eastern States of the Union may not at 
 present directly suffer from competition with these people, 
 but they cannot but be sensible that State lines constitute no 
 barrier to the movement of the Chinese; that as soon as the 
 Pacific States are filled with this population it will overflow 
 upon them. The Chinese Empire could spare a population 
 far in excess of the population of the United States, and not
 
 86 CHINESE CHEAP LABOR 
 
 feel the loss. Unless tliis influx of Chinese is prevented, all 
 the horrors of the immigration will in a few years be brought 
 home to the people of the Eastern States, While the States 
 east of the Mississippi do not directly feel the effects of 
 Chinese immigration, they are indirectly affected by it. The 
 Eastern manufacturer, for instance, of coarse boots and 
 shoes, is driven out of the California market. He finds it 
 stocked with the products of Chinese labor. The profits 
 that would accrue to the manufacturer in the East and his 
 employes have been diverted, and flow in a steady stream to 
 China. 
 
 ''Already, to the minds of many, this immigration begins 
 to assume the nature and proportions of a 4angerou8 un- 
 armed invasion of our soil. Twenty years ^ of increasing 
 Chinese immigration will occupy the entire Pacific Coast to 
 the exclusion of the white population. Many of our people 
 are confident that the whole coast is yet to become a mere 
 colony of China. All the old empires have been conquered 
 by armed invasions; but North and South America and the 
 continent of Australia have been conquered and wrested 
 from their native inhabitants by peaceable, unarmed inva- 
 sions. Nor is this fear entirely groundless as to the Pacific 
 Coast, for it is in keeping with the principles which govern 
 the changes of modern dynasties, and the advance guard is 
 already upon our shores. The immigration which is needed 
 to offset and balance that from China is xetarded by the con- 
 dition of the labor question on this coast, and we have reason 
 to expect that within ten years the Chinese will equal in 
 number the whites. In view of these facts, thousands of 
 our people are beginning to feel a settled exasperation — a 
 profound sense of dissatisfaction with the situation. Hith- 
 erto this feeling has been restrained, and the Chinese have 
 had the full protection of our laws. It may be true that at 
 rare intervals acts of violence have been committed toward 
 them; but it is also true that punishment has swiftly fol- 
 lowed. Our city Criminal Courts invariably inflict a severer 
 punishment for offenses committed upon Chinese than for 
 like offenses committed against whites. The people of this 
 State have been more than patient. We are satisfied that the 
 condition of aftairs as they exist in San Francisco would not 
 be tolerated without a resort to violence in any Eastern city. 
 It is the part of wisdom to anticipate the day when patience 
 may cease, and, by wise legislation, avert its evils. Impend-
 
 rOE THE DEVELOPMENT OF C.iLIFOENIA. 87 
 
 ing difficulties of this character should not, in this advanced 
 age, be left to the chance arbitrament of force. These are 
 questions which ought to be solved by the statesman and 
 philanthropist, and not bj the soldier." 
 
 CHAPTER Vn. 
 
 THE POINTS OF VIEW. 
 
 The American people look at the question of Chinese 
 immigration from two distinct points of view. The people 
 of the Pacific coast — -all classes alike — taught a bitter lesson 
 of trouble and public disaster by long years of practical 
 experience which the presence of this people involves, 
 stand practically as a unit, and would vote with unanimous 
 accord to put an end to Chinese immigration altogether as 
 by far the wiser and more just course to pursue in dealing 
 with the question, than to hamper it with contingent proT)0- 
 sitions looking to the preservation of commercial relations 
 with China, or any like suggestion with which its discussion 
 has heretofore been coupled. 
 
 On the other hand, the people of the Atlantic seaboard 
 regard the question purely from the standpoint of their own 
 local self-interest. They look to China as a market for their 
 manufactures and a field for American enterprise. They 
 disregard the serious, vital, social and political consequences 
 growing out of the presence of the Chinese among us, and 
 the dangers involved in an unrestricted enlargement of their 
 numbers, which must necessarily follow if their theories are 
 accepted, until the land swarms with them as the ant-hill 
 swarms with its ceuntless throng of inhabitants. Add to 
 this the religious side of the controversy, which, however 
 innocently of wrong intent, would ignore the fact that for
 
 88 POINTS OF VIEW. 
 
 every Cliinese soul saved by missionary effort among them 
 here, a hundred lives of American youth are ruined — if not 
 a hundred souls irretrievably lost — and would still insist 
 upon their coming in order that this missionary work may 
 not be interrupted, and the relative differences of point of 
 view from which the question is considered, become clearly 
 apparent. 
 
 Submitted for a verdict from fair-minded public opinion, 
 with which side ought to rest the victory ? Can it be possi- 
 ble that the practically unanimous voice of the million 
 American people of the Pacific coast whose conclusions upon 
 this great question have been arrived at after more than 
 thirty years of direct contact with this race of people — can it 
 be possible that they are incompetent to testify truthfully 
 and justly, speaking from practical knowledge, as they do, 
 and that the only class competent to pass upon the issue are 
 those whose minds are governed and controlled solely by 
 the motive of self-interest or by blind religious zeal, or by 
 both? Certainly there can be but one answer to this; for 
 the American j)eople are not yet lost to a sense of human 
 justice, nor are they yet so short-sighted as to let the love of 
 immediate greed outweigh the inevitable consequences of 
 social, industrial and political demoralization and the sure 
 degradation of the laboring classes which must follow the 
 further toleration of this unspeakable evil. 
 
 More than this, the defenders of Chinese immigration, 
 who regard the preservation and enlargement of commercial 
 intercourse with that country as the one overshadowing 
 point of primary interest that should outweigh all others, 
 cannot frame an argument in support of their position more 
 solid or substantial in its construction than "a, house of 
 cards," which a breath can demolish. For, with a race like 
 the Chinese, which all authorities agree in saying are gov- 
 erned solely by motives of self-interest .and money-making 
 to the exclusion of every other thought or sentiment, it is 
 impossible to conceive of the belief that they will will-
 
 POINTS OF VIEW. 89 
 
 inglj shut off the substantial advantages which America 
 offers as 9 market for their products, or as a profitable 
 source from which to obtain such manufactures or supplies 
 as we are capable of furnishing. Probably, the people of no 
 section of the Union would be so seriously affected by a 
 disturbance of the commercial relations of the two countries 
 as would be the people of the Pacific coast; and they, know- 
 ing the Chinese character as they do, fully realize that this 
 talk of interference in commercial relations is as frivolous 
 and as absurd as are the tales of ghosts and giants told by 
 ancient nurses to frighten into obedience babes and suck- 
 lings. 
 
 It is time that Eastern manufacturers should learn that, 
 whatever the article may be for which a market is desired, 
 from a toy to a locomotive or a steamship, their interests 
 are in far greater danger from the quick and handy methods / 
 
 of acquirement of mechanical knowledge which the Chinese 
 possess — by which they can quickly become skilled workmen 
 in any line of manufactures and then return to China to set 
 up rival manufactures there — than they are by any aid and 
 comfort which they may give to the people of the Pacific 
 coast in their efforts to suppress the immigration of this 
 people. For, while the possibility of any serious inter- 
 ference with the commercial relations of the two countries 
 by reason of the suppression of Chinese immigration is too 
 remote to deserve consideration, the certainty that China 
 will become a rival manufacturing country when her laborers 
 shall have been educated in the school of American me- 
 chanics is a proposition that cannot be denied, and points to 
 a danger compared to which this cry about "disturbance of 
 commercial relations " is literally as a mole-hill to a mountain. 
 
 No citizen of the Pacific coast denies the fact that the 
 Chinese are possessed of a natural ability to quickly become 
 skilled mechanics, or to acquire a quick knowledge of every V 
 branch of labor. All this is freely conceded. But it is as 
 if the rats that infest the wharves of San Francisco possessed
 
 \ 
 
 90 POINTS OP VIEW. 
 
 like ability to become proficient in the mechanic arts, and 
 could be emjjlojed in the same fields of labor that the Chi- 
 nese occupy, in so far as benefit or evil accrues therefrom to 
 the general welfare of the joeople. Let Eastern manufactur- 
 ers come to these shores and satisfy their minds on this 
 point. Let them see the Chinese occupied in operating 
 American shoe machinery, sewing machines and other like 
 labor-saving devices; let them see them in every branch of 
 skilled labor, and then see them as they slink away from the 
 workshops to their underground burrows or their above- 
 ground kennels, and they will realize how disastrous a 
 further spread of this evil must be upon the future well- 
 being of the countiy, and how threatening is the danger that 
 a continuation of this line of public policy will result in 
 making the Chinese Empire.^ through such a school as this, 
 the busiest line of manufacturing industry the world has ever 
 known. Compared to such a danger, of what value is this 
 frequently-expressed fear of interference with commercial 
 relations ? 
 
 Again, turning to the other class of pro-Chinese advo- 
 cates — the religious enthusiasts and the sentimentalists of 
 our country — it may be thought that the tone of comment 
 which has thus far pervaded this work, particularly as re- 
 gards missionary writers, has been too harsh and severe. 
 But when their fervid utterances have been weighed against 
 the innumerable misstatements of fact uj^on which their 
 line of pro-Chinese argument is based, it can hardly be 
 denied that harshness and severity are more than justified. 
 For what excuse can be offered in behalf of the most devout 
 Christian writer upon this subject, even though the loftiest 
 tone of Christian and moral precept pervades the doctrines 
 which he advocates, if the statements of fact by which suah 
 doctrines are supported are proved, as they have been in 
 what has gone before, to be wantonly or ignorantly false ? 
 Why, then, should this class of writers be spared when they 
 stand forth as the champions of such a course as this, and are 
 guilty of such practices as these ?
 
 POINTS OF VIEW. 91 
 
 Take, for example, in addition to the innumerable in- 
 stances of like nature that have gone before, such a state- 
 ment as this from the work of the Eev. Mr. Gibson. Speak- 
 ing of Chinese prostitution he sajs : 
 
 "But it is claimed that this Chinese evil is demoralizing 
 and ruining our boys. 
 
 ***** -J?- * 
 
 "But the material fact in the ruin of our boys is this: 
 'that in every instance they have taken their first lessons in the 
 'path of ruin in the ivhisky shops and drinking saloons of our 
 Christian civilization.' Never yet has a single California boy 
 been contaminated, either in mind or body, by a Chinese 
 courtesan until he has taken a few lessons of sinful pleasure 
 in these Christian saloons, these ante-rooms of hell." 
 
 Here there is no modification or qualification of state- 
 ment. It is not given as an expression of opinion. Without 
 a single reservation a positive assertion of fact is made 
 which cannot possibly becharacterizedby any milder expres- 
 sion than that which brands it as a wilful, wicked lie; for it 
 is in proof that hundreds of boys, who have never learned 
 the taste of liquor even, have been diseased and ruined for 
 life by Chinese courtesans; and these proofs were living, 
 crystallized, published facts when the Bev. Mr. Gibson pub- 
 lished this wretched piece of wickedness to the world. Let 
 us recall some of these proofs. Dr, H. H. Toland, founder 
 of the "Toland Medical University," than whom no man ever 
 stood higher in his profession in California, testified before 
 the Legislative Committee in 1876 as follows : 
 
 Q. — It has been stated that these Chinese houses of pros- 
 titution are open to si all boys, and that a great many have 
 been diseased. Do y.rc^ know anything about that? 
 
 A. — I know that it is so. I have seen boys eight and ten 
 years old with diseases they told me they contracted on 
 Jackson street. It is astonishing how soon they commence 
 indulging in that passion. Some of the worst cases of syph- 
 ilis I have ever seen in my life occur in children not more 
 than ten or twelve years old. They generally try to conceal 
 their condition from their parents. They come to me and I
 
 92 POINTS OF VIEW. 
 
 help screen it from their parents, and cure lihem without 
 compensation. Sometimes parents, unaware of what is the 
 matter, bring their bojs to me, and I do all I can to keep 
 the truth from them. 
 
 Q. — Are these cases of frequent occurrence? 
 
 A. — Yes, sir. You will find children from twelve to 
 fifteen that are often diseased. In consequence of neglect, 
 they finally become the worst cases we have to treat. 
 
 Police Officer Kogers testified that he had taken boys not 
 more than ten or twelve years of age out of these houses; 
 and again he says : 
 
 "I have seen small boys go into these alleys occupied by 
 Chinese women and talk with them in the most filthy and 
 disgusting manner imaginable.'' 
 
 David Supple, a policeman in San Francisco, testified as 
 follows : 
 
 Q. — Do you know anything about boys of twelve and 
 fourteen years of age visiting houses of prostitution in the 
 Chinese quarter ? 
 
 A. — ^Yes, sir, we have them fairly crippled, going about 
 the city hardly able to put one foot before the other. 
 
 Q. — Then the moral effect of the presence of this popula- 
 tion is very bad ? 
 
 A. — It is ruinous to the community. 
 
 Wong Ben, a Chinaman, testified as follows 
 
 Q. — Do you know of white boys going to Chinese houses 
 of prostitution? 
 
 A. — Yes; plenty of them. 
 
 Q. — How old boys have you seen there ? 
 
 A. — Ten or fifteen years old. Women don't care how 
 young they are as long as they get money. 
 
 Q. — Have you seen many boys twelve and fifteen years 
 old there ? 
 
 A. — Plenty of them. 
 
 And now, in view of such testimony as this, in reference 
 to boys still in the years of childhood, is it possible that this 
 sweeping declaration of the Eev. Mr. Gibson that "never 
 yet has a single California boy been contaminated in mind
 
 POINTS OF VIEW. 93 
 
 or body hj a Chinese courtesan until lie has taken a few les- 
 sons of sinful pleasure in these Christian saloons, these ante- 
 rooms of hell," can be true ? And can criticism be too harsh 
 or too severe when expended upon the Christian missionary 
 who comes to the defense of this race — whose touch is pollu- 
 tion — by such statements as these ? Would not the mission- 
 ary eflforts of Mr. Gibson and his co-laborers in the cause of 
 religion be better and more righteously expended in endeav- 
 oring to save these young boys from lives of misery aud the 
 future reward of their sins than to thus stand forward to 
 palliate and excuse the existence of Chinese prostitution 
 among us, in order that they may justify the precedence 
 which they give to the conversion of the heathen over the 
 salvation of the thousands of their own race, which these 
 same heathen are all the w^hile plunging into the depths of 
 misery ? 
 
 The plain, unvarnished truth is, that to follow the advo- 
 cacy of 8uch writers as these, aud to be guided by the senti- 
 mentalists w'ho lend them their aid by the constant parade 
 of the "common brotherhood of man," means to minister to 
 the worldly welfare of this Asiatic race, and to sacrifice the 
 welfare and happiness of our own people. Self-abnegation 
 may possibly be the highest moral precept that can be in- 
 culcated and fostered in the breast of mankind; but when 
 self-abnegation is carried to that extreme that it means the 
 sacrifice of one and a higher race that another, a barbarous 
 one, may reap a worldly benefit with the contingent possi- 
 bility of the salvation of a small fractional percentage of the 
 souls of the mass of them, it becomes the most giganiic sin 
 ever conceived of by the human mind. It ought to earn for 
 its advocates, from among the penalties prescribed in the 
 unkpown future life for earthly wrong-doing, the full maxi- 
 mum of punishment that will be awarded for the maximum of 
 human sin.
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE OPIUM HABIT. 
 
 It will doubtless be conceded that the civilized Cliristian 
 world lias no more serious and difficult social aud economic 
 problem to deal witli than that of the habit of intemper- 
 ance in the use of alcohlic liquors. Whatever may be the 
 individual opinions of men as to the wisest course to pursue 
 in dealing with this evil, there will be no difference of 
 opinion that it is an evil and a curse to mankind, whether we 
 appeal to the drunkard himself or to the ablest ajjostle of the 
 cause of temperance that ever preached or wrote upon the 
 subject. That it is the parent of more vice, crime and misery 
 than any or all other causes will not be disputed. That it 
 seems to be an ineradicable curse is a conclusion that forces 
 itself upon the wisest minds; that it may be remedied or 
 modified of its evil tendencies is the hope of all. But what 
 would be said of a proposition on the part of any foreign 
 people to come here and introduce a habit which, from its 
 very nature, must become still more baneful in its influences 
 than the use of alcohol ? Or what shall we say of a class 
 of immigration whose coming to our shores lead ; inevitably 
 to the introduction of such a habit, the use of a drug 
 vastly more destructive of morality and happiness, vastly 
 more productive of misery and wretchedness, than the con- 
 sumption of alcohol in any of its forms, and sure to inflict a 
 greater curse upon the American people for all time to come 
 than alcohol ever has or ever will do ? Put in this way, and 
 the fact once fairly demonstrated that the opium habit is 
 sure to be insidiously spread and engrafted upon the social 
 organization of the American people by contact with the 
 Chinese, and the results thus foreshadowed are sure to fol- 
 
 (94)
 
 THE OPIUM HABIT. 95 
 
 low. Ought not tliis — the question is submitted to religious 
 enthusiast missionaries and sentimentalists as well as to the 
 public at large — ought not this, independent of other cause 
 or other argument, be sufficient to put a stop at once and 
 forever to Chinese immigration ? 
 
 Let us proceed now to a careful and earnest examination 
 of this branch of the subject. Let us see what the use of 
 opium and the spread of the opium habit has done for 
 China and the Chinese, then let us see to what extent they 
 have brought this habit with them to America, and to what 
 extent it has spread by the contact among our own people. 
 In this way we shall certainly be able to understand what is 
 the length and breadth of the evil when once established 
 among a people; and by that example, and by the example 
 of how far the habit has been engrafted here, we shall be 
 able to comprehend the magnitude of the danger with which 
 we are threatened from this cause alone, not to speak of any 
 and all the others that follow in the pestilential pathway of 
 this new horde of heathen invaders. 
 
 It is not necessary here to go into a history of the use of 
 opium in China, to repeat the story of the "Opium War," or 
 criticize or comment upon the action of the British Govern- 
 ment in this latter connection. What " might have been," 
 to whom the larger share of blame must attach for the use 
 of opium in China, are questions which need not be dis- 
 cussed here. The point is, what are the dangers of the 
 opium habit — what are the dangers of its extensive introduc- 
 tion into our own country as one of the baneful results of 
 Chinese immigration ? Upon the first half of this inquiry 
 all writers agree; therefore it can be answered beyond dis- 
 pute. 
 
 The Reverend Mr. Speer, who sees so much to commend 
 in the Chinese, and so many blessings to grow out of 
 Chinese immigration to America, testifies as follows on this 
 point:
 
 96 THE OPIUM HABIT. 
 
 * ' The effects of this dreadful poison upon the human sys- 
 tem are utterly destructive to the health of the body and the 
 clear use of the faculties of the mind, to the happiness of the 
 unfortunate family of the victim, to his success in business 
 and to his usefulness to society. The face becomes pale and 
 haggard, the eyes moist and vacant, the whole expression 
 vacant and idiotic; the body wastes to a skeleton, the joints 
 are tortured with i:)ain. The sensation of gnawing in the 
 stomach when deprived of the drug is described by those 
 addicted to its use to be like the tearing of its tender coats 
 by the claws of an animal of prey, while a return to it fills 
 the brain with horrid and tormenting visions like the mania 
 of delirium tremens. I have seen strong men, when unable 
 to obtain their accustomed dose, crazy with the suffering, 
 the face crimsoned in some cases, and the perspiration 
 streaming down in a shower. Few individuals of those 
 whom it possesses are able to find a sufficient antidote. The 
 subject lingers a few years, and a dreary and unpitied death 
 ends the scene. This is the history of tens of thousands in 
 China, as well as in other countries. 
 
 "This most terrible form of intemperance affects all 
 classes of society, from the most i30werful, wealthy and 
 learned to the most wretched beggar. One sees the lowest 
 and vilest, even the impoverished and rotten lepers without 
 the walls of the cities, drunk with it. "When they cannot 
 find money to purchase the drug, they buy the dirt which 
 remains after it is refined, and abjectly scrape the bowls of 
 the pipes used by their more favored brethren and smoke 
 this refuse. Women learn the habit from their husbands 
 and brothers, and when the woful penalty of this indul- 
 gence comes upon the family they find in opium a ready and 
 familiar instrument to cut the thread of life and drop into 
 the gulf of an unknown and dark future. 
 
 ■^ * ^ -Sfr -K- * % 
 
 "The opium traffic in India and China is the darkest 
 stain upon the Christianity of the nineteenth centur3\ Its 
 calamitous effects are felt wherever the people of China emi- 
 grate, and wherever the products of China are carried, over 
 the whole world. In the arrest of it the citizens of the 
 United States are more deeply interested than any other peo- 
 ple outside of China. Opium j^uts a great stone in the path 
 of the commerce with Eastern Asia; it hinders the develop- 
 ment of departments of industry on our Pacific Coast which
 
 THE OPIUM HABIT. 97 
 
 would discover and furnish numerous useful materials and 
 manufactures to supply tliat commerce, and thus render 
 great benefits to either continent; it is planting seeds of ener- 
 ervation, crime and disease in the Chinese who are coming 
 to our shores, and creating corresponding vexation and in- 
 jury to us." 
 
 It is impossible not to award the highest measure of 
 praise to a writer who is thus frank and honest in his state- 
 ment of this branch of the Chinese question. It testifies 
 fairly to his honesty of purpose, perhaps, but it is likewise 
 testimony self-delivered which convicts the writer of the 
 grossest inconsistency, and proves how illogical and unsafe 
 is the missionary writer upon this subject who thus convicts 
 himself of wrong in the advocacy of Chinese immigration in 
 order that the Gosj-jcI of Christianity may be planted among 
 them at the expense of the introduction of the opium evil 
 upon these shores, already cursed with another kind of 
 intemperance whose evil effects no man may measure or 
 express. And when the reverend writer talks about the 
 American people "arresting the evil" by any other method 
 than by shutting out those who introduce it, he broaches a 
 line of argument worse than Quixotic; for if the American 
 people are not strong enough to wrestle with and "arrest" 
 the evil of alcoholic intemperance, what shall we say of their 
 ability to put a stop to that other^ kind of intemperance 
 which is a far stronger foe to deal with — the Opium Habit ? 
 What this class of writers have seen with their own eyes and 
 learned by their own experiences in life in China, and what 
 they will state as fairly and as frankly as the Rev. Mr. Speer 
 has told this story, is most worthy to be received and to 
 profit by. But the logic of their arguments is loose and dis- 
 jointed, and their conclusions, forced to suit their own 
 cherished desires, are dangerous, weak and unsafe. They 
 should be rejected. 
 
 Mr. Williams, in his " Middle Kingdom," furnishes this 
 picture of the evil effects of opium-smoking:
 
 98 THE OPIUM HABIT. 
 
 "A Chinese scholar thus sums up the bad effects of 
 opium, which he says is taken at first to raise the animal 
 spirits and prevent lassitude: 'It exhausts the animal 
 spirits, impedes the regular performance of business, wastes 
 the flesh and blood, dissipates every kind of property, ren- 
 ders the person ill-favored, promotes obscenity, discloses 
 secrets, violates the laws, attacks the vitals and destroys 
 life.' Under each of these heads he lucidly shows the 
 mode of the process or gives examples to uphold his asser- 
 tions : ' In comparison with arsenic, I pronounce it tenfold 
 the greater poison; one swallows arsenic because he has 
 lost his reputation and is so involved that he cannot extri- 
 cate himself. Thus driven to desperation he takes the dose 
 and is destroyed at once; but those who smoke the drug are 
 injured in many ways. It may be compared to rising the 
 wick of a lamp which, while it increases the blaze, hastens 
 the exhaustion of the oil and the extinction of the light. 
 Hence the youth who smoke will shorten their own days and 
 cut off all hopes of posterity, leaving their parents and 
 wives without any one on whom to depend. From the ro- 
 bust, who smoke, the flesh is gradually consumed and worn 
 away, and the skin hangs like a bag. Their faces become 
 cadaverous and black, and their bones naked as a billet of 
 wood. The habitual smokers dose for days over their pipes, 
 without appetite; w-hen the desire for opium comes on they 
 cannot resist its impulse. Mucus flows from their nostrils 
 and tears from their eyes; their very bodies are rotten and 
 putrid. From careless observers the sight of su^h objects 
 is enough to excite loud peals of laughter; the poor smoker 
 who has pawned every article in his possession still remains 
 idle, and when the periodical thirst comes on will even pawn 
 his wives and sell his daughters. In the province of Ngan- 
 hwui I once saw a man named Chin, who being childless 
 purchased a concubine and got her with child; afterward 
 when his money was expended and other means failed him, 
 being unable to resist the desire for the pipe, he sold her 
 in her pregnancy for several tens of dollars. This money 
 being expended he went and hung himself.'" 
 
 Mr. Williams, after thus quoting the statement furnished 
 him by his young Chinese friend, proceeds to add his own 
 testimony, thus: 
 
 " The thirst and burning sensation in the throat which
 
 THE OPIUM HABIT. 99 
 
 the wretched sufferer feels, only to be renewed by a repeti- 
 tion of the dose, proves one of the strongest links in the 
 chain which drags him to his ruin. At this stage of the 
 habit his case is almost hopeless; if the pipe be delayed too 
 long, vertigo, complete prostraliou and discharge of water 
 from the eyes ensue; if entirely withheld, coldness and ach- 
 ing pains are felt over the body, and obstinate diarrhoea 
 supervenes and death closes the scene. The disastrous 
 effects of the drug are somewhat delayed or modified by the 
 quantity of nourishiug food the person can procure; and con- 
 sequently it is among the poor, who can least afford the X3ipe 
 and still less the injury done to their energies, that the de- 
 struction of life is the greatest. The evils suffered and 
 crime committed by the desperate victims of the opium 
 pipe are dreadful r.nd multiplied; theft, arson, murder and 
 suicide are perpetrated in order to obtain it or escape its 
 effects." 
 
 The Abbe Hue says : 
 
 "With the exception of some rare smokers, who — thanks 
 to a quite exceptional org^inization ! — are able to restrain them- 
 selves within the bounds of moderation, all others advance 
 rapidly toward death, after having passed through the suc- 
 cessive stages of idleness, debauchery, poverty, the ruin of 
 their physical strength, and the complete prostration of their 
 intellectual and moral faculties. Nothing can stop a smoker 
 who has made much progress in this habit; incapable of at- 
 tending to any kind of business, insensible to every event; 
 the most hideous poverty and the sight of a family pluDged 
 into despair and misery cannot rouse him to hhe smallest 
 exertion, so comjDlete is the disgusting apathy in which he is 
 sunk." 
 
 Mr. Doolittle, in his "Social Life of the Chinese," fur- 
 nishes the following testimony upon the evils of the opium 
 habit: 
 
 "The baneful effects of opium-smoking are many and 
 various — social, moral, mental, physical and pecuniary. lu 
 the first place, opium-smoking sensibly and unfavorably af- 
 fects ones property and business relations. It is comparatively 
 a very costly vice, the expense being graduated by the cir- 
 cumstances of each case, ranging from a dollar or two to ten
 
 100 THE OPIUM HABIT. 
 
 or fifteen dollars per month, even in regard to persons not of 
 the highest and the most wealthy classes. The lowest-men- 
 tioned rate, taking into consideration the low price of labor 
 among this f)eople compared with the price of labor in West- 
 ern countries, is relatively largo and burdensome. With all 
 smokers, however, the effect of this vice on their pecuniary 
 standing is hy no means to he estima'ed hy the actual outlay in 
 money for the drug. Its seductive influence leads its victims 
 to neglect their business, and consequent!}', sooner or later, 
 loss or ruin ensues. As the habit grows, so does inattention 
 to business increase. Instances are not rare where the rich 
 have been reduced to poverty and beggary as one of the con- 
 sequences of their attachment to the oj^ium pipe. The poor 
 addicted to this vice are sometimes led to dispose of every- 
 thing saleable in the hovel where they live. Sometimes, 
 even, men sell their own children and their wives in order to 
 procure the drug, and finally end their career by becoming 
 beggars or thieves. In order to understand the expense of 
 this vice, the Western reader needs, perhaps, to be reminded 
 that the vast majority of the Chinese are generally poor, and 
 that wages are invariably low. It oftentimes and usually 
 requires as much time and toil here to earn a dime as in 
 America it requires to earn a dollar. 
 
 " In the second place, the smoking of opium injures one^s 
 health and bodily constitution. Unless taken promptly at the 
 regular time and in the necessary quantity, the victim be- 
 comes unable to control himself and to attend to his busi- 
 ness. He sneezes; he gasps; mucus runs from his nose and 
 his eyes; griping pains seize him in his bowels; his whole 
 appearance indicates restlessness and misery. If not in- 
 dulged in smoking and left undisturbed, he usually falls 
 asleep, but his sleep does not refresh and invigorate him. 
 On being aroused, he is himself again, provided lie can have 
 his opium; if not, his troubles and pains midtiply. He has 
 no appetite for ordinary food; no strength or disposition to 
 labor. Diarrhoea sets in of a dreadful and most painful de- 
 scription peculiar to opium-smokers; and if still unable to 
 procure opium the unhappy victim not uufrequently dies in 
 most excruciating agonies. Few, comparatively, recover 
 after diarrhoea has become virulent, unless they have access 
 to opium, and not always then. 
 
 * * •55- * ■3t -x- * 
 
 "Some have attempted to compare the evils of opium-
 
 THE OPIUM HAEIT. 101 
 
 smoking in China with the evils of drinking intoxicating 
 liquors at the West; but these vices are so different in some 
 of their principal effects as to render a just comparison 
 exceediigly difficult. The one is soothing and tranquil- 
 izing; the other excites and often maddens. Ardent spirits 
 are often taken to stimulate to the commission of violent and 
 bloody deeds, but opium is never smoked for such a purpose 
 nor with such an effect. Were the subject of the compara- 
 tive evils of opium-smoking and liquor-drinking, as seen in 
 China (where the use of Chinese whisky or samshu is 
 universal among all classes), to be submitted for decision to 
 intelligent Chinamen the verdict would be given A\ith 
 promptness and startling energy against opium. It would 
 be unanimous in the condemnation of opium as being the 
 13roducer of an immensely greater amount of misery, sick- 
 ness, poverty and death than Chinese liquors." 
 
 Here, then, stands the question. The opium habit is a 
 species of intemperance worse, far worse, than intemperance 
 in the use of intoxicating liquors. How bad this last habit 
 is we all know; how great a public curse it is we all fully 
 realize. And yet, through the medium of Chinese immigra- 
 tion, the introduction of a far greater public evil and public 
 curse than intemperance in the use of alcoholic liquors is as 
 sure to follow, and the evil as sure to spread throughout 
 every rank of society, as are the seasons to reign and follow 
 each other with each annual revolution of the earth around 
 the sun. The proof is conclusive on this point; for the 
 opium habit is more seductive in its nature. It lures its 
 victims on to their destruction with more irresistible influ- 
 ences than does alcohol in any of its forms; and no man, 
 when once brought within its insidious power, ever escapes 
 from its clutches. 
 
 In the use of opium there is a strange, indescribable 
 infatuation. Men resort to the alluring vice as if pre- 
 ordained to their own self-destruction. * ' They know perfectly 
 well that if they smoke regularly the bewitching pipe they 
 will certainly soon come within its power; and yet many 
 yearly voluntarily become its fresh victims. With their eyes
 
 102 THE OPIUM HABIT. 
 
 open to the inevitable consequences of the indulgence, they 
 blindly do what will enslave them for life." 
 
 Who, then, can possibly be bold enough to longer advo- 
 cate Chinese immigration into the United States when the 
 introduction of this new, colossal, overshadowing evil is the 
 sure consequence of such action ? That this conclusion is 
 not a forced one, the whole history of the opium trade and 
 the opium habit among the Chinese sufficiently proves. To- 
 day the Chinese people may be set down as a nation of 
 opium-smokers. Going back but little beyond a century, 
 the importation of opium into China amounted to but a 
 thousand chests per annum. In 1780 a small depot was 
 established by the English in Lark's Bay, south of Macao. 
 At that time the price was $550 a chest. "In 1781 the com- 
 pany freighted a vessel to Canton, but were obliged io sell 
 the lot of 1,600 chests at $200 a chest to Sinqua, one of the 
 hong merchants, who, not being able to dispose of it to 
 advantage, reshipped it to the Archipelago." The opium 
 habit had been engrafted upon the Chinese people, how- 
 ever, and opium must be had in spite of the edicts of 
 Emperors prohibiting its importation and the utmost efforts 
 of the officers of the law to enforce the order. " But it was 
 not till the present century that the demon of opium seemed 
 to awaken to the dreadful appetite for destruction, and go 
 forth to be one of the direct enemies of the human race." 
 From the small importation in 1781 of about one thousand 
 chests per annum, the trade had grown, so that in 1876 it had 
 risen to eighty thousand, while the cultivation of the poppy 
 and opium manufacture in China had also been successfully 
 established. Practically the whole nation had been brought 
 under the subjection of and slavery to the drug. 
 
 Is it to be presumed that, the evil once fairly engrafted 
 upon our people as a habit, it is to be followed by any other 
 than similar results to those which have followed it in China ? 
 Surely those who claim the Chinaman as "a man and 
 brother," endowed with the same strength of intellect and
 
 THE OPIUM HABIT. 103 
 
 capacitj that the race of the Caucasian type present, will not 
 be so inconsistent as to assume that there is sufficiently 
 greater strength of mind and will-power among us to enable 
 us to successfully defy the habit, and so avoid the rock that 
 has physically and morally wrecked the Chinese! While 
 those who deny this equality will surely not be willing, in 
 any case, to take the frightful risk which Chinese immigra- 
 tion involves in regard to the habit. 
 
 It is true that where the opium habit has gone it has 
 enslaved the people and carried untold misery in its train. 
 Are we endowed with qualities that will enable us to defy its 
 influences? In California the question has been answered 
 already. The opium habit has been brought with them by 
 the Chinese; and in "Chinatown" proper in San Francisco 
 there is probably not a building occupied by Chinese in 
 which the "opium lay-out" is not found and the vice of 
 opium-smoking indulged in. As the cancer sends out its 
 poisonous roots to vitiate and destroy the surrounding parts 
 of the human body upon which it has affixed itself, so has 
 the opium habit, as practiced by the Chinese in San Fran- 
 cisco, sent its poisonous influences out into the surrounding 
 community, and commenced its harvest among the younger 
 classes. Already the "opium joint" for the use of white 
 slaves to the habit is becoming common in San Francisco, 
 and the "opium fiend," as he is known here, may be met 
 with everywhere. Young women and young men haunt the 
 Chinese drug-stores in search of the deadly narcotic, and 
 the "opium habit "is claiming and enlarging its circle of 
 victims among our own people in all directions.
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE INTEODUCTION AND SPREAD OF LEPBOSY. 
 
 The twin evil of the opium liabit, " Leprosy," nest claims 
 attention as a legacy which the people of California have in- 
 herited from the Mongolian. It is difficult to speak or write 
 with equanimity and composure of these two horrors that 
 have thus been inflicted upon us by this class of immigra- 
 tion, when we consider the part that a large percentage of 
 the Christian clergy play in the matter. Anything more 
 wickedly devilish in its conception than the advocacy of 
 Chinese immigration in the face of the fact that it is neces- 
 sarily accompanied by these two twin evils, let alone all the 
 other horrors that follow in its train, was never conceived 
 by the brain of man . Especially is this true, severe as the 
 denunciation may seem, when we take into consideration the 
 fact that the gain involved is the possibility of a heathen soul 
 saved from damnation against the sure result, as an offset, of 
 scores of Christian men and women doomed to a life of 
 disease and misery, and the probabilitj', according to the 
 doctrine taught by these same advocates, of eternal damna- 
 tion hereafter. But the fact remains that this same advo- 
 cacy is frequently preached from the Christian pulpit in 
 spite of these known evils, and hence the disgust and the 
 too frequent apathy that intelligent men and women mani- 
 fest for Christian worship when it is larded and seasoned by 
 such detestable bigotry. 
 
 Practically, the true disease of leprosy was unknown in 
 the United States until the Chinese came among us; to-day 
 it is a fixed disease among our people, baffling, as it always 
 has baffled, medical skill — a loathsome, incurable, disgusting 
 ailment, meaning months of unspeakable misery to its vic- 
 
 (104)
 
 THE INTRODUCTION AND SPREAD OP LEPROSY. 105 
 
 tims and an inheritence of premature death for them and 
 their descendants. Following the plan heretofore adopted, 
 however, of proving every assertion made and every position 
 taken touching this question of Chinese immigration and its 
 consequences, tangible evidences upon this subject furnished 
 by reliable authorities are here presented in lieu of assertion 
 and commentary. 
 
 The late lamented Dr. Foye, for many years "Eesident 
 Physician, City and County Small-pox Hospital," furnished 
 to the Board of Supervisors of the City and County of San 
 Francisco in January, 1884, the following statement concern- 
 ing the introduction of this horrible disease by the Chinese 
 and the dangers which are likely to grow out of it: 
 
 San Francisco, January 15th, 1884. 
 
 Hon. John J. Reichenhach, Chairman cf Hospital Com- 
 miitee of Board of Supervisors — Sir: On December 12th, 
 1883, you addressed to me a series of questions upon the 
 subject of leprosy and elephantiasis,, with a request that I 
 would furnish you with such statistics and views on the 
 matter as were at my command. I herewith beg leave to 
 submit to you as exhaustive a reply as the data under my 
 control and my personal experience will permit. Your main 
 questions, twelve in number, and my answers thereto, are 
 as follows: 
 
 I. " The number of cases of leprosy and elephantiasis ■which have been 
 taken charge of and maintained at the expense of the City and County ? " 
 
 The record of the Small-pox Hospital shows that on the 
 5th day of July, 1871, Hong Tong, a Chinese leper, was 
 transferred from the City and County Alms-house to this 
 institution, w^bere he died on the 29th day of September, 
 1875, after a stay in this hospital of four years, two months 
 and twenty-four days. Since then seventy-eight cases have 
 been admitted, making a total of seventy-nine cases main- 
 tained for variable periods by the City and County during 
 the twelve years last past. 
 
 II. "The average length of time that persons afliicted with these 
 diseases have been so maintained ? " 
 
 The mean brought down to December 31, 1883, at which 
 date there were sixteen lepers in the Lazaretto, is a little
 
 103 THE INTRODUCTION AND SPREAD OF LEPROSY. 
 
 more than 430 days to each patient. To be exact, the time 
 was 430.45 days to each. 
 
 III. " The number of cases admitted by order of the Commissioner of 
 Immitjration, the name of the Commissioner and the number on each Com- 
 missioner's order ? " 
 
 But one case has been admitted by order of the Com- 
 missioner, and that by the present Commissioner's order on 
 September 17th, 1883. 
 
 IV. " The number of cases that have been received directly from vessels 
 arriving at this port ? " 
 
 But one case has been so received. 
 
 V. "The number of cases received that have been residents of this 
 city and county for any length of time, and those from other counties in the 
 State?" 
 
 On August 31st, 1876, all lepers then in the Small-pox 
 Hospital were shipped to China and the further admission 
 of this class of patients forbidden; but in the autumn of 
 1878, they had so increased in numbers in the city as to 
 become the subject of general complaint, and the order was 
 rescinded. In October, 1878, eleven cases were admitted, 
 and in the three weeks following four more were received. 
 This lot of fifteen had been residents of this city and county 
 for periods varying from two to twenty months. Since that 
 date no case has been received that had been in the city 
 more than a few weeks, usually only as many days. 
 
 VI. " The sex, race and age of the cases admitted; the character of the 
 disease and their disposition ? " 
 
 Sex— Males, 75; Females, 4. 
 
 Race — Mongolian, 76; Caucasian, 3. 
 
 Ages — Between 50 and 60 years, 2; between 40 and 50 
 years, 9; between 30 and 40 years, 31; between 20 and 30 
 years, 31; between 15 and 20 years, 6. 
 
 Character of Disease — Tubercular, 25; Anaesthetic, 31; 
 unclassified, 23. 
 
 Disposition — Shipped to China by authorities, 48; 
 shipped to China by friends, 2; died, 9; discharged, 1| 
 escaped, 2, remaining in hospital, 16. 
 
 VII. " How many deaths have occurred — age, sex and race ? "
 
 THE INTRODUCTION AND SPREAD OF LEPROSY. 
 
 107 
 
 Name. 
 
 Hong Tong.. 
 
 Ha Lin 
 
 Ah Cue 
 
 Ah Gun.... 
 Lin Duck. .. 
 Ah Goug.... 
 T. Stanton . . 
 Chas. Lacy*. 
 Ah Chung. . 
 
 Age. 
 
 .36.. 
 .18.. 
 .27.. 
 .26 . 
 22.. 
 .40.. 
 .53 . 
 .26.. 
 .22.. 
 
 Sex. 
 
 Male... 
 Female. 
 Male. . . 
 Male. . . 
 Male. . . 
 Male. . . 
 Male. . . 
 Male, . . 
 Male. . 
 
 Back. 
 
 Mongolian . . 
 Mongolian . . . 
 Mongolian. . . 
 Mongolian. . . 
 Mongolian. . . 
 Mongolian . . . 
 Caucasian . . 
 Mongolian . . 
 Mongolian . 
 
 Date OF Death. 
 
 Sept. 29, 1875. 
 .\ug. 18, 1875.. 
 July 9, 1875... 
 May 25, 1876 . 
 March 20, 1880 
 March 22, 1880 
 Nov. 4, 1881 .. 
 May 29, 1882.. 
 Feb. 28, 1883.. 
 
 VIII. " How many cases are now in the Lazaretto maintained at the 
 expense of the city and county ?" 
 
 EEMAINING IN HOSPITAL DEC. 31, 1883 — 16. 
 
 Name. 
 
 Age. 
 
 Sex. 
 
 Eace. 
 
 Lepbost. 
 
 Ah Wau 
 
 YewUngTan... 
 Ho Kup 
 
 ..24.. 
 
 ..18.. 
 . . 40 . . 
 
 Male 
 
 Male. 
 
 Mongolian 
 
 Mongolian 
 
 Mongolian 
 
 Mongolian 
 
 Anaesthetic 
 
 AnaBsthetic. 
 
 Male 
 
 Male 
 
 Ansesthetic. 
 
 Ah Jock 
 
 . 45. 
 
 Ansesthetic. 
 
 Ah Chue 
 
 ..32.. 
 38. 
 
 Male 
 
 Mongolian 
 
 Mongolian 
 
 Mongolian 
 
 Mongolian 
 
 Mongolian 
 
 Mongolian 
 
 Mongolian 
 
 White 
 
 Tuberculous 
 
 Ah Tick 
 
 Male 
 
 Male 
 
 Male 
 
 Anajsthetic. . 
 
 Ah Chung 
 
 Ah Yung 
 
 ..45.. 
 37 
 
 Anaesthetic 
 
 Tuberculous 
 
 Ah Grue 
 
 Sing Lah 
 
 ..29.. 
 . 34.. 
 
 Male 
 
 Male 
 
 Male 
 
 Tuberculous .... 
 AniBsthetic 
 
 Chonc Chue . . . 
 
 ..46. 
 ..39.. 
 ..17.. 
 .32.. 
 .33.. 
 
 Tuberculous 
 
 E . Erickson 
 
 Male 
 
 Female 
 
 Male 
 
 
 
 White 
 
 
 Ah Ling 
 
 Han Yee 
 
 Mongolian 
 
 Mongolian 
 
 Mongolian 
 
 
 Male 
 
 Tuberculous 
 
 Ah See 
 
 ..34.. 
 
 Male 
 
 Tuberculous .... 
 
 IX. " How many cases of the said diseases have recovered or been dis- 
 charged from the hospital and allowed to associate with the population of the 
 State ?" 
 
 In reply to the first part of tliis question I must answer 
 that though leprosy Avas known and recognized long before 
 the Christian era, no recoveries have ever been recorded 
 outside of biblical literature, the recoveries being those 
 mentioned in II Kings, chap. 5, and by St. Luke, chap. 5. 
 
 *Note. — Charles Lacy was an Americanized Chinaman. He was brought 
 to this State when a child, and lived in an American family, where he lost all 
 knowledge of his native longue, and was fairly educated in English. He wore 
 his hair short, assumed the manners and habits of those by whom he was 
 surrounded, and had bo sympathy with the " pagans," as he called his coun- 
 trymen.
 
 108 THE INTKODUCTION AND SPREAD OF LEPEOSY. 
 
 But one patient has ever been discharged from the hospital. 
 One Ha Toi, a Chinese female aged 31 years, was admitted 
 June 2, 187-4, and the record shows that she was "discharged 
 at her own request" July 28, 1874. Of her subsequent his- 
 tory nothing is known. 
 
 X. " Have any of the persons admitted afflicted with leprosy or elephan" 
 tiasis been discharged from the hospital or Lazaretto to any part of the city, 
 county, State or United States, except fourteen lepers August 31, 1876, and 
 seventeen lepers June 2, 1879 ?" 
 
 Yes; seventeen lepers were shipped on the " Belgic" Dec. 
 21, 1880, making a total of 48 shipped at the es23ense of the 
 City and County. 
 
 XI. " Have you or any of your predecessors ever forwarded to the 
 Secretary of State quarterly statements showing the name, age, sex and 
 birthplace of each leper ? If so, on what dates were these reports made ? 
 
 I have never made such a report, and, so far as I am 
 able to learn, none such has ever been made by any of my 
 predecessors. 
 
 XII. ' ' The total cost and expense to the City and Co anty in the care and 
 support of persons afflicted wi'.h leprosy or elephantiasis, including main- 
 teuiince, medicines, medical attendance and a reasonable amount for use of 
 buildings for hospital or Lazaretto purposes? " 
 
 The total cost of maintaining this class of unfortunates 
 for the six months ending December 31st, 1883, amounted 
 in the aggregate to $3,400i'uo, and this sum does not include 
 the rent of buildings. Seven thousand ($7,000) dollars per 
 annum for the past live years would be a fair estimate. 
 
 In concluding your letter of inquiry, you ask, among 
 other things, ' ' Is leprosy contagious ? " In the general and 
 more popular meaning of the word, it is not, perhaps. This 
 is known, however, that it is capable by some occult means 
 of reproducing itself by the association of leprosic with 
 healthy persons. The disease was unknown in the Sandwich 
 Islands prior to the year 1849, about which year it is claimed 
 to have been introduced by the Chinese. Dr. Hillebrand, 
 an. eminent authority upon the subject, saw his first leper in 
 1853, about twenty miles from Honolulu. He paid special 
 attention to this case and in 1861 the subject had the dis- 
 ease in its worst form of development, and six other persons 
 in his immediate neighhoi'hood had become affected. In 1864 the 
 same authority observed the same condition of affairs in 
 another village, the tax-gatherer of which for many years 
 had been the only known leper in the district.
 
 THE INTEODUCTION AND SPREAD OF LEPEOSY. 109 
 
 Twenty-five years after its introduction into the Islands 
 the percentage of known cases of persons affected was three 
 and one-half (3|) per thousand of the entire population, 
 while the percentage of unknown cases was estimated to be 
 in the same ratio. By "unknown cases " was meant those 
 instances, and they were many, where the disease was con- 
 cealed by the voluntary isolation of the diseased persons, or 
 the suppression of the knowledge of their affliction by the 
 friends and relatives of lepers of family and influence. 
 
 Dr. Tilbury Fox, as the result of his observations of the 
 disease, as it presented itself in the Islands, remarks: 
 
 " Here, then, the influence of ' hereditary transmission' 
 is out of the question. The disease arises in a clean nature, 
 is unnoticed at first, and spreads slowly. It so happens 
 that the hygienic state of the natives, and colony, has im- 
 proved and not deteriorated. Animal food is within the 
 reach of all. Labor is in great demand and well paid for. 
 The climate is, perhaps, the finest in the world, taxation is 
 light, and, yet, notwithstanding, leprosy spreads^ and has 
 spread from and around knoivn lepers, as from centers of con- 
 tagion. 
 
 Some writers dissent from the foregoing views, but none, 
 so far as I know, have attempted an explanation of tlie facts 
 upon which Drs. Hillebrand and Fox and other investigators 
 have based their conclusions. 
 
 The conditions and circumstances under which the 
 disease is communicated from leprosic to healthy persons, 
 are difficult to define. This difficulty arises from the fact 
 that the long period of incubation incident to the disease 
 deprives the student and investigator of reliable data on 
 which to base an intelligent answer to questions bearing 
 upon the subject. But that the peccant principle will, in 
 the near future, be found resident in the exhalations of the 
 diseased, is an inference almost irresistible. 
 
 You ask: "Can the existence of the diseases, leprosy 
 and elephantiasis, be ascertained at any stage ? " During the 
 early months of the disease an opinion as to its true nature 
 and character would be little better than conjectural; so 
 slow is its progress, particularly in the well-fed subject, 
 that two years may elapse before its true nature can be 
 determined with absolute certainty. In the poorly nourished 
 and especially where the face is the principal point of attack,
 
 110 THE INTKODUCTION AND SPREAD OF LEPROSY. 
 
 it should be recognized bj one familiar witb. the symptoms, 
 at the end of the first year of its progress. If, however, as 
 sometimes occurs, the feet and lower extremities are for 
 years the only parts affected, an advanced stage of develop- 
 ment may be reached, which only such an examination as 
 the military recruit is subject to would reveal. Three cases 
 of the latter class have been admitted to this Hospital 
 within a few months of their arrival in the country. Two 
 of them had been lepers — consciously so — for several years. 
 
 When the disease reaches that stage of development so 
 vividly described by Glanville in his "Report of Leprosy 
 in the Fourteenth Century," it would be at once recognized 
 wherever seen, and several such cases are now under my 
 charge. Glanville says the signs of the loathsome disease 
 are as follows: 
 
 "Redde whelkes and pymples on the face, out of which 
 oftene run blood and matter; the nose swelle and ben grate, 
 the virtue of smelling faileth and the brethe stynketh right 
 fowle ^ * * * * * 
 
 The infectyd are unclene, spotyd, glemy and guyttery; the 
 nostryls be stopyt, the weasand of the voys is rough and 
 the voys is horse and the here (hair) falls." 
 
 In conclusion, permit me to say that I have endeavored 
 to answer your questions as fully as circumstances would 
 permit. Should there be any propositions that I have over- 
 looked, it would be, by me, considered a personal favor to 
 have my attention called to them in the hope that my per- 
 sonal experience and knowledge of the subject may, in the 
 near future, be of benefit to the public at large. 
 Very respectfully, 
 
 John W. Foye, M. D., 
 Resident Physician, City and County Small-pox Hospital. 
 
 It is true that the progress and spread of leprosy in 
 California has not been as rapid as in the Hawaiian Islands; 
 that is probably due to climatic influences. But the fact 
 remains that it is here, and that it is spreading among the 
 people, however slowly, and that leprosy has become an 
 engrafted American disease solely by reason of Chinese 
 immigration. Its progress in the Hawaiian Islands since 
 its iniroduction there by the Chinese is a fearful warning of
 
 THE EACES IN CONFLICT. Ill 
 
 what is likely to follow here even with the best methods of 
 combatting the evil that professional science can adopt. 
 
 In Hawaii, the Island of Molokai has been set apart 
 bj the government for a Lazaretto for lepers. There every 
 man upon whom the disease has developed is not only sent 
 to remain through life, but his family must also accompany 
 him. The scenes that are enacted at Honolulu and else- 
 where when this deportation of families to their doom takes 
 place are heart-rending. Some such measure will inevit- 
 ably have to be adopted in all communities in the United 
 States where Chinese live in any considerable numbers, for 
 there this most loathsome of all diseases which flesh is heir 
 to is sure to go, until, if this evil of Chinese immigration is 
 to go on unchecked, we also shall have become a nation of 
 lepers. Is the doctrine of the common brotherhood of 
 man and the conversion of the heathen worth maintaining at 
 such a price as this ? 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE RACES IN CONELICT. 
 
 While these pages have been under preparation, two 
 events have occurred in relation to the Chinese question 
 which have aroused the indignation and excited the horror 
 of the people of the whole country. In Wyoming Territory- 
 some white miners, exasperated at the presence of a large 
 number of Chinese laborers who had come among them, per- 
 petrated a horrible massacre of many of them, burned and 
 pillaged their habitations, and drove the few who escaped 
 immediate butchery into flight from their satanic fury. 
 Scarcely had this story been told when news of a similar 
 massacre of Chinese, perpetrated again by white men in 
 Washington Territory, is promulgated. In the whole annals
 
 112 THE RACES IN CONFLICT, 
 
 of similar outbreaks in our country, there is nothing more 
 cruel and atrocious in its details and results, and nothing 
 more utterly wanton and inexcusable. Both events are 
 instances of wholesale crime that ought not to go unpun- 
 ished, and which no man can excuse or palliate. But these 
 unhappy events illustrate several important features of the 
 Chinese question which it is well to call attention to; for, 
 however much they are to be deplored, thoughtful men 
 who will examine the matter carefully will perceive in 
 them a political lesson which the American people will do 
 well to study and profit by. 
 
 First, it should be observed that the people who have 
 suffered the greatest wrong by- reason of Chinese immigra- 
 tion — ^the citizens of California, and of San Francisco in 
 particular — have exercised more than thirty years of patient 
 forbearance toward the Chinese, notwithstanding the ava- 
 lanche of evils which the race has sent down upon them- 
 Here the strong arm of the law and of humanity has at all 
 times been extended over them in protection from that 
 violence that their presence has always provoked among the 
 laboring cla&ses, who suffer most severely from their pres- 
 ence. Here there has been always manifested a broader 
 spirit of toleration and a more patient bearing than could 
 have ever taken place elsewhere under like circumstances of 
 provocation, while unceasing appeal has gone up to the 
 higher authority of the nation for relief by lawful means 
 from the curse thus sent upon them. All the while this ap- 
 peal had been unheeded until the passage of the Restriction 
 Act, and all the while other communities have denied the 
 justice of our course, and lauded the character of the 
 Chinese, against whom we have cried out so justly. But 
 when the evil is brought home to iliem, when in other com- 
 munities the Chinese laborer is brought in direct contact 
 with the American laborer he is met with the summary 
 argument of the bullet and the torch. The forbearance 
 which we have so long exercised finds neither lodgment nor
 
 THE RACES IN CONFLICT. 113 
 
 entertainment in other communities when the question is 
 forced upon them by direct contact. The injustice 
 with which we have been treated by our fellow-countrymen 
 who have refused and still refuse their aid and sympathy is 
 by these deplorable incidents made glaringly apparent. 
 
 But these massacres — horrible as they are to con- 
 template, humiliating and shameful as they are to the 
 American people — are by no means the most serious 
 side of this phase of the Chinese question. They are but 
 warnings, but mutterings of a danger that gathers like 
 the thunder-clouds in the distant horizon, soon to develop 
 into the resistless cyclone of destruction. There is an attri- 
 bute of human nature which, however deeply we may deplore 
 its existence, cannot and must not be ignored. It is the 
 blind, passionate element which incites men to band to- 
 gether at times when they are conscious of being wronged, 
 and doing deeds of desperation such as those which the 
 stories of these massacres involve. Indefensible as these 
 acts are, done under the influence of passionate fury, they 
 occur and will continue to occur as long as mankind remains 
 unregenerated. No punishment can prevent the recurrence 
 of such acts, however necessary it may be and is to mete out 
 punishment whenever these public wrongs are perpetrated. 
 And there is nothing in the whole history of our country 
 that can be cited as a surer provocative of such action on 
 the part of an exasperated multitude; and hence nothing 
 more dangerous in the whole economy of our social and 
 political organization than this contact with the Chinese ele- 
 ment thus infusing itself among us. All the outburst of 
 sentiment, all the just condemnation that may be uttered 
 will not change the constituent elements of human nature, 
 and therefore the direct anathemas that may be hurled from 
 the pulpit or the press upon those who are guilty of these 
 acts will not meet the issue or right the wrong. It is the 
 duty of the parent Government to intervene and prevent the 
 possibility of the wrong being perpetrated by prohibiting 
 
 8
 
 114 THE RACES IN CONFLICT. 
 
 the further influx of the Chinese, and thus removing the 
 cause of the wrong to a large extent, leaving the question of 
 how best to deal with those that are here— the only part of 
 the problem remaining to be solved. 
 
 The history of Chinese immigration and colonization is a 
 historv of antagonism of races that is marked with massacre 
 and bloodshed. In Manilla, in 1603, a conflict between the 
 Spanish and Chinese occurred, growing out of precisely 
 similar causes which antagonize public sentiment here, in 
 which over 23,000 Chinese were massacred. Again, in 1639, 
 in Laguna, on the same island, an insurrection among the 
 Chinese occurred in which thousands of them were again 
 butchered by the Spaniards. In 1653 the Chinese were 
 ordered to leave Manilla. They refused to comply, and 
 12,000 were again slaughtered. " It is wonderful," says De 
 Mas, " that any Chinaman should come to the Philippines 
 after the repeated slaughters of their countrymen at difi"erent 
 periods, though it is certain they have often brought down 
 the thunderbolt on their own heads." 
 
 In Batavia, similar scenes were enacted between the 
 Dutch and Chinese in the middle of the eighteenth century. 
 In 1740 occurred the great conflict between these two 
 races in which more than 12,000 Chinese were mercilessly 
 butchered. 
 
 In Australia similar conflicts have occurred, and where- 
 ever the two races have met in communal relation like 
 scenes have been re-enacted. These facts furnish neither 
 palliation nor excuse for the recent massacres in Wyoming 
 and Washington Territories; but they are facts which con- 
 stitute a lesson in themselves that cannot safely be ignored. 
 The hard-handed, hard-laboring classes, with wives and 
 children to feed, clothe and care for, do not always stop to 
 reason when they see this race occupying a field of labor 
 which they are accustomed to consider their own, and 
 which by their very birth-right is theirs, as all the evidences 
 that have gone before fully prove. And when, infuriated by
 
 THE RACES IN CONFLICT. 115 
 
 a sense of wrong, thej seek these insane methods of remedy 
 and redress, they cease for the time being to be amenable 
 to reason, however sternly it may be necessary for the wel- 
 fare of society to make them amenable to the law. For 
 this reason, wherever the Chinese race may go to occupy 
 fields of labor now occupied by men of the Caucasian race, 
 there these horrid scenes will from time to time be 
 re-enacted, in spite of precaution and public condemnation, 
 before the event, or panishment by the law afterwards. 
 Not all the proclamations ' of the civil authorities, not all 
 the anathemas of the public press, not all the terrors of the 
 enforcement of the law can prevent it everywhere, look at it 
 as we may. There has been no day in twenty years when 
 San Francisco has not stood in dread and danger of a 
 public outbreak by reason of the presence of the Chinese 
 here, which, if it did occur, would appal the world. And it 
 speaks volumes of praise for her civil authorities that they 
 have so far been able to uphold and maintain the majesty of 
 the law and the preservation of public order, with all the 
 irritating influences that have been constantly encountered 
 calculated to provoke riot and bloodshed. Why not, then, 
 recognize the fact that no two elements in nature under 
 chemical laws are more antagonistic to each other than are 
 these two races when brought in contact ? Why not cease 
 the effort to compel them to commingle when the only result 
 will be the more frequent recurrence of such scenes as 
 these massacres, which we all so fully abhor and condemn, 
 but which we cannot prevent so long as we persist in this 
 unnatural effort? 
 
 It is not a question of sentiment, it is not a political 
 theory that is at issue, which is to be maintained at every 
 hazard; it is a question of common sense and common 
 humanity. And it is as certain as the movements of the 
 planets that a question, involving as this does the material 
 welfare of the laboring classes and the moral welfare of the 
 whole American people, will one day right itself b}' a revolu-
 
 116 THE EACES IN CONFLICT. 
 
 tion that will be as resistless as the ocean tides, if the gov- 
 ernment of the United States persists in refusing to put an 
 end to the evil, and thus put an end to the possibility of 
 outbreaks and massacres that are disgraceful to the American 
 people, and humiliating to humanity itself. 
 
 In discussing this aspect of the Chinese question, it is 
 better to treat it with frankness than to disguise it with 
 sophistry. The States of the Pacific Coast are sufficiently 
 remote from the great centers of American population and 
 political power to attract but a comparatively insignificant 
 share of public attention. California, as the once glowing 
 El Dorado of the American Continent, no longer commands 
 that conspicuous position in the public mind that she once 
 occupied, however much she may have enlarged her wealth 
 and population since she became a State of the American 
 Union. Her local troubles, arising from the enormous influx 
 of Chinese that have been thrust upon her by her geograph- 
 ical position, and the peculiar conditions under which she 
 has labored, have attracted but a minor share of public atten- 
 tion in States east of the Mississij)pi, however gigantic and 
 important they have seemed, and still seem, to her own peo- 
 ple. Mankind, selfish and absorbed in their own local 
 events and individual welfare, in the mass devote but little 
 consideration to the welfare of a people remote from them, 
 except at intervals when chance or some great public calam- 
 ity or extraordinary event affecting such remote community 
 happens to bring them up for discussion. And when the 
 appeals for relief from the evils of Chinese immigration go 
 up, even with unanimous accord, from the peoj^le of Califor- 
 nia, because the subject cannot be brought directly home to 
 the whole people of the whole Union, it occasions but a rip- 
 ple upon the surface of public events, and has long ago 
 ceased to be more than a common-place topic. But, unless 
 the attention of the American people can be aroused to the 
 magnitude and importance of this tremendous question by 
 an exposition of the real issues involved in it, moralize as 
 we may, the day is not remote when that attention will be
 
 THE RACES IN CONFLICT. 117 
 
 aroused by events that will transpire here which will startle 
 the whole civilized world. The Pacific States will then at- 
 tract a degree of attention that will, by reason of their very 
 remoteness and inaccessibility, command that consideration 
 which they cannot now obtain, and make them literally 
 "masters, of the situation." 
 
 "Let us reason together." There is no axiom in human 
 morals more clearly absolute and immutable than that "self- 
 preservation is the first law of nature." There is no prin- 
 ciple in the world's economy more thoroughly well established 
 than this, and in a free republic like our own all the National, 
 State or municipal laws that ever were or ever will be en- 
 acted cannot overcome this inherent principle in our natures. 
 Is it to be presumed that when, after every possible appeal 
 has been made for national relief, the laboring classes find 
 their last hope dissipated, and themselves beaten back in 
 retreat from competition with the continually-advancing 
 hordes of Chinese cheap laborers, and the policy of the 
 National Government finally fixed in favor of further tolera- 
 tion of this indescribable evil, is it to be presumed that this 
 law of self-preservation will not then assert itself in such 
 summary methods as will be resistless and final ? We must 
 revolutionize human nature itself before we may dare to 
 dream of other results than these; for, if unfortunately it 
 should come to this, there will one day inevitably be a con- 
 flict of races here upon the American soil that, however 
 much it may startle and horrify the world, will furnish a 
 solution of this great problem proportionately as bloody in 
 its results as those which the rebellion recorded upon so 
 many sad pages of American history. 
 
 The American Kepublic possesses no more loyal and 
 patriotic people than those of California, no matter in what 
 section of the Union we may look for them. Let this issue 
 take on the dreadful aspect here foreshadowed, and they will 
 still be loyal as they are now. But should it unhappily 
 reach that stage, not all the power of the National Govern- 
 ment can soon enough be put forth to avert the dreaded
 
 118 THE RACES IN CONFLICT. 
 
 calamity, and not all the power of the National Government 
 will then be sufficient to avenge the deed. For, once the 
 issue is thus forced, once this unhappy condition of things 
 accomplished, there could be no effort at punishment that 
 would not involve the welfare and perhaps the lives of thou- 
 sands of laboring men here, whom the j)eopIe of the Pacific 
 Coast would defend and protect with their own lives if neces- 
 sary, even though in assuming this attitude they would stand 
 in open rebellion and defiance of the National Government; 
 for they would not fail to recognize the fact that upon the 
 National Government the true responsibility for the disaster 
 should justly rest, and not upon their exasperated, desperate, 
 even though unwise, immediate fellow-citizens. We may 
 as well meet the issue fairly and frankly as to evade it 
 by failure to acknowledge the true magnitude of the great 
 danger that is involved in the question. 
 
 The gulf between labor and capital is wide enough al- 
 ready to tax the wisdom of mankind in an effort to bridge it 
 over and harmonize the interests that stand in constant 
 antagonism against each other. Shall it be widened and 
 deepened more by the introduction of a species of human 
 degradation in the field of American labor that is " but little 
 better than old-fashioned slavery," and which will result in 
 making the rich richer and the present laboring classes 
 poorer? Can capital and capitalists afford to invite this 
 issue in addition to the serious problem which they are at 
 present endeavoring to solve in adjusting upon a satisfactory 
 basis the relations at present existing between capital and 
 labor? If such be the attitude of capital and capitalists, ifc 
 means eventually political revolution, by which a new kingdom 
 will be established upon the American Continent, and Amer- 
 ican labor shall be crowned as its reigning and hereditary 
 king. That will be the inevitable issue, and we may as well 
 recognize the fact as to foolishly ignore it. For if such are 
 to be the prevailing couditions, if such is to be the attitude 
 of Capital vs. Labor, it will be but the triumph of the right; 
 and the right must prevail.
 
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 PART II.
 
 Report of Special ComflTTEE. 
 
 2b the Honorable, the Board of Supervisors of the Citj/ and 
 Count)/ of San Francisco; 
 
 Gentlemen : 
 
 Your Special Committee, appointed on the second of 
 February last to investigate and report upon that section of 
 San Erancisco commonly known as "Chinatown," have 
 diligently prosecuted the labors thus assigned to them, and 
 respectfully report as follows: 
 
 Without attempting to deal with the Chinese occupancy 
 of any portions of the city outside of these limits, your Com- 
 mittee confined their investigations to the locality embraced 
 within the boundaries of California street on the south, 
 Kearny street on the east, Broadway on the north, and 
 Stockton street on the west, covering twelve blocks in all. 
 The drift of Chinese population has carried large numbers 
 into blocks west of Stockton street, but for economical 
 reasons we have considered that it was unnecessary at the 
 present time to go beyond the boundaries we have named 
 for the purposes to be covered by this report. 
 
 A map of the district embraced within these boundaries 
 accompanies this report. It represents the character of 
 occupancy of the first or street floor alone, and does not 
 show the character of occupancy of the basements and sub- 
 basements, or the floors above the street. This, of course, 
 could only be done by a series of block maps. Every floor 
 and every room in " Chinatown" has, however, been visited 
 by your Committee, or by the surveyors employed by them, 
 and the conditions of occupancy of every room are fully de- 
 scribed and set forth in the detailed report of the surveyors, 
 which will be filed with this report.
 
 4 EEPOPvT OF SPECIAL COMSHTTEE 
 
 The General Aspect of the Locality. 
 
 When your Committee commenced their investigations, 
 they made a general examination of "Chinatown," visiting 
 as often as they could, conveniently, houses, shops, and 
 places of business in all parts of that locality, with the 
 desire and intention of obtaining a correct idea of the general 
 condition of things there, and the ordinary mode of life and 
 practices of its inhabitants. Tour Committee were at that 
 time impressed with the fact that the general aspect of the 
 streets and habitations was filthy in the extreme, and so long 
 as they remained in that condition, so long would they stand 
 as a constant menace to the welfare of society as a slum- 
 bering pest, likely at any time to generate and spread disease, 
 should the city be visited by an epidemic in any virulent 
 form. Your Committee are still of the opinion that it con- 
 stitutes a continued source of danger of this character, and 
 probably always will, so long as it is inhabited by people of 
 the Mongolian race. They are glad to be able to say, how- 
 ever, that the presence and operation of the surveyors since 
 employed by them have had a most salutary effect — whether 
 lasting or not — in inducing a "general cleaning up" where 
 filth was the rule before, until a better general aspect is now 
 presented than was the case at the time when this investi- 
 gation began. 
 
 Knowing the peculiar habits of this people, it is not likely 
 that this better condition of things will continue long, now 
 that the operations of the surveyors employed by your Com- 
 mittee have been concluded, or that anything better will 
 follow than a relapse back into their more dense condition of 
 nastiness, in which they apparently delight to exist. Never- 
 theless, something has been gained in the demonstration of 
 the fact that by constant watching and close supervision the 
 residents of Chinatown can be made to adopt somewhat 
 better habits, and become less obnoxious — on this score, at 
 least — as well as a lesser source of danger to the public
 
 BOARD OF SUPERVISORS. 5 
 
 health; and, therefore, it is perhaps well to inquire now 
 whether it will not be wise to inaugurate new rules and a new 
 policy, under which they must be brought, if they are to 
 continue to remain among us. 
 
 In speaking thus of the improvement that has taken place 
 in the general appearance of " Chinatown" since your Com- 
 mittee commenced its investigations, we would not be 
 understood as saying that the condition of the locality is in 
 any sense what it should be in point of cleanliness. Our 
 effort is to point out the fact that, as compared with what it 
 was four months ago, it presents an improved aspect. The 
 difference is one of degree, however, and even in its bettered 
 aspect, in its byways, its slums, and its purlieus, its habita- 
 tions, some of its places of business and places of amuse- 
 ments, it is to-day the J&lthiest spot inhabited by men, 
 women aiid children on the American continent. 
 
 All great cities have their slums and localities where 
 filth, disease, crime and misery abound; but in the very best 
 aspect which *' Chinatown" can be made to present, it must 
 stand apart, conspicuous and beyond them all in the extreme 
 degree of all these horrible attributes, the rankest outgrowth 
 of human degradation that can be found upon this continent. 
 Here it may truly be said that human beings exist under 
 conditions (as regards their mode of life and the air they 
 breathe) scarcely one degree above those under which the 
 rats of our water-front and other vermin live, breathe and 
 have their being. And this order of things seems insepa- 
 rable from the very nature of the race, and probably must 
 be accepted and borne with — must be endured, if it cannot 
 be cured — restricted and looked after, so far as possible, 
 with unceasing vigilance, so that, whatever of benefit, " of 
 degree," even, that may be derived from such modification 
 of the evil of their presence among us, may at least be 
 attained, not daring to hope that there can be any radical 
 remedy for the great, overshadowing evil which Chinese 
 immigration has inflicted upon this people.
 
 6 BEPORT OF SPECIAL COMTMTTTEE 
 
 The Population of Chlnafowri. 
 
 No known metliod of census-taking lias ever yet sufficed 
 to furnish an approximate idea even of the numbers of our 
 Chinese population. It is believed that the system which 
 has been adopted in the conduct of this investigation will 
 result in establishing a more correct conclusion on this 
 point, so far as the twelve blocks covered by it are con- 
 cerned, than can be obtained through any other method. 
 Every building in this district has been visited, examined, 
 measured, and delineated on the map of the district herewith 
 furnished; the number of rooms which each contains, and 
 the number of bunks or sleeping accommodations given in 
 the report furnished your Committee by its surveyors, and 
 certainly with approximate accuracy, the number of men, 
 women and children of Chinese origin wJio sleep in this dis- 
 trict, is now known and is herewith given. On this basis, 
 and through this system of computation, we are enabled to 
 show what we believe is a fair return of the population of 
 the district referred to. Whatever Chinese population there 
 may be outside of this district (which is, of course, well 
 known to be quite large) must still remain a matter of specu- 
 lation and "guess-work" until such time as further measures 
 may be adopted to ascertain the fact. 
 
 Your Committee have found, both from their own and 
 individual observations and from the reports of their sur- 
 veyors, that it is almost the universal custom among the 
 Chinese to herd together as compactly as possible, both as 
 regards living and sleeping-rooms and sleeping-accommoda. 
 tions. It is almost an invariable rule that every "bunk" 
 in Chinatown (beds being almost unknown in that locality) 
 is occupied by two persons. Not only is this true, but in 
 very many instances these bunks are again occupied by 
 " relays" in the day time, so that there is no hour, night or 
 day, when there are not thousands of Chinamen sleeping 
 tinder the effects of opium, or otherwise, in the bunks which 
 we have found there.
 
 BOARD OF SUPERVISORS. 
 
 Besides these bunks, rolls of bedding, for nse in sleeping 
 on floors and various other sleeping-accommodations, are 
 found. All these bunks, rolls, etc., have been carefully 
 noted and enumerated in their reports furnished to us by the 
 surveyors; and from them we reach the following results of 
 an estimated enumeration of the population of "China- 
 town." 
 
 For convenient reference, the numbers of the blocks 
 named from time to time in this report are those by which 
 the same blocks are distinguished in the books of the 
 Assessor. The boundaries of the blocks so numbered are 
 also given: 
 
 NUMBEE 
 OF 
 
 Block. 
 
 BOTINDAET BY StBEETS. 
 
 NUMBEB 
 OP 
 
 Bunks. 
 
 87 
 
 Broadway Pacific Kearny and Dupont 
 
 163 
 
 RR 
 
 
 796 
 
 89 
 90 
 91 
 
 Jackson, 'Washington, Kearny and Dupont 
 
 Washington, Clay, Kearny and Dupont 
 
 1,446 
 
 976 
 
 1,388 
 
 92 
 
 Sacramento California, Kearny and Dupont 
 
 741 
 
 110 
 111 
 
 Broadway, Pacific, Dupont and Stockton 
 
 477 
 1,989 
 
 112 
 
 
 2,828 
 
 113 
 
 Washington Clay Dupont and Stockton 
 
 2,325 
 
 114 
 
 Clay Sacramento, Dupont and Stockton 
 
 1,287 
 
 115 
 
 Sacramento, California, Dupont and Stockton 
 
 Total number of Bunks 
 
 764 
 
 15,180 
 
 
 
 
 Not only have your Committee found that the rule is for 
 two persons to each "bunk," and relays of sleepers through 
 the day in many, if not most instances, but women and 
 children seem also to be stowed away in every available 
 nook and corner, without reference to any special accommo- 
 dation being provided for them. Taking, therefore, the total 
 number of " bunks " and multiplying that total by two, must 
 be at least a safe minimum estimate of the population in
 
 8 REPORT OF SPECIAL COMMITTEE 
 
 these twelve blocks, with every probability favoring the con- 
 clusion that an addition of perhaps twenty per cent, 
 would not more than cover the real number of Chinese 
 inhabiting that locality. 
 
 On this basis, allowing two persons to a "bunk," and 
 adding no percentage for excess from any of the foregoing 
 reasons, we have a population in Chinatown of 30,360. And 
 this, your Committee believe, is the lowest possible estimate 
 that can fairly be made. 
 
 Chinese Women and Children. 
 
 It is a less difficult problem to ascertain the number of 
 Chinese women and children in Chinatown than it is to give 
 with accuracy the male population. First, because they are 
 at present comparatively few in numbers; and, second, 
 because they can nearly always be found in the localities 
 which they inhabit. This investigation has shown, how- 
 ever, that whatever may be the domestic family relations of 
 the Chinese Empire, here the relations of the sexes are 
 chiefly so ordered as to provide for the gratification of the 
 animal proclivities alone, with whatever result may chance 
 to follow in the outcome of procreation. 
 
 There are apparently in Chinatown but few families living 
 as such, with legitimate children. In most instances the 
 wives are kept in a state of seclusion, carefully guarded and 
 watched, as though ' ' eternal vigilance " on the part of their 
 husband "is the price of their virtue." Wherever there are 
 families belonging to the better class of the Chinese, the 
 women are guarded and secluded in the most careful man- 
 ner.. Wherever the sex has been found in the pursuance of 
 this investigation under other conditions, with some few 
 exceptions, the rule seems to be that they are here in a state 
 of concubinage merely to minister to the animal passions of 
 the other sex, with such perpetuation of the race as may be 
 a resultant consequence, or else to follow the admitted calling 
 of the prostitute, generally of the lowest possible grade, with
 
 BOARD OF SUPEETISOES. 9 
 
 all the wretchedness of life and consequence which the name 
 implies. That this is not mere idle assertion, the following 
 statement of the number of women and children found in 
 Chinatown in the course of this investigation, and which 
 includes probably nearly every one living in that locality, 
 will, we trust, sufficiently demonstrate: 
 
 S:^:::::::l9 [LivlngasFammeB. 
 
 ™. ,,pj J Herded together -with apparent indiscriminate parental 
 
 vy oi^en I relations, and no family classification, so far as could 
 
 C^"^^^^'^ ^^^ ) be ascertained. 
 
 Ohifdreii^^ ^87 [ Professional prostitutes and children living together. 
 
 Chinese Prosiiiuiion. 
 
 This examination has led to the foregoing result in regard 
 to the relation of the sexes. No well-defined family relations 
 have been discovered other than as shown, while the next 
 classification seems to be a middle stratum between family 
 life and prostitution, partaking in some measure of each, if 
 such a condition of things can be possible. 
 
 The most revolting feature of all, however, is found in 
 the fact that there are so large a number of children growing 
 up as the associates, and perhaps the proteges of the pro- 
 fessional prostitutes. In one house, alone, on Sullivan's Alley, 
 your Committee found the inmates to be nineteen prosti- 
 tutes and sixteen children. In the localities habited largely 
 by prostitutes, women and children, who apparently occupy 
 this intermediate family relationship already alluded to, live 
 in adjoining apartments and intermingle freely, leading to 
 the conclusion that prostitution is a recognized and not 
 immoral calling with the race, and that it is impossible to 
 tell by a survey of their domestic customs where the family 
 relationship leaves off and prostitution begins. 
 
 It is well, perhaps, for your Committee at this point to 
 lay before you, and before the public, all that they propose 
 to say in this report upon the subject of Chinese prostitution
 
 10 BEPORT OF SPECIAL COMMITTEE 
 
 here, and its effects upon the boys growing up in this com- 
 munity, and then to dismiss this disgusting branch of the 
 subject. Fortunately, after presenting a statement of the 
 number of professional prostitutes, their mode of life, and 
 the district which they inhabit, as shown upon the accom- 
 panying map, all the other points are covered by the 
 evidence elicited by the Legislative Committee appointed to 
 investigate the Chinese Immigration question in 1877, from 
 which we quote as follows : 
 
 The Eev. Otis Gibson testified before this Committee that 
 he had resided in China ten years, and had seen and learned 
 a great deal about Chinese immigration. He said: 
 
 ''The women, as a general thing, are slaves. They are 
 ' bought or stolen in China and brought here. They have 
 ' a sort of agreement to cover up the slavery business, but 
 ' it is all a sham. The paper makes the girl say she owes 
 ' you four hundred dollars or so, passage money and outfit 
 ' from China, and has nothing to pay. I, being the girl, 
 ' the man comes up and offers to lend me the money to pay 
 ' you if I will agree to serve him, to prostitute my body at 
 ' his pleasure, wherever he shall put me, for four, five or 
 ' six years. For that promise of mine made on the paper, 
 ' he hands him the four hundred dollars, and I pay the debt 
 ' I owe you according to contract. It is also put in the 
 ' contract that if I am sick fifteen days no account shall be 
 ' taken of that, but if I am sick more than that, I shall 
 ' make up double. If I am found to be pregnant within a 
 ' month you shall return the money and take me again." 
 
 Alfred Clarke, Esq., Chief Clerk of the Police Depart- 
 ment, confirmed the testimony of Mr. Gibson as to the man- 
 ner in which these Chinese women are obtained and brought 
 here. He submitted a paper written in Chinese characters, 
 which, translated, reads as follows : 
 
 "An agreement to assist the woman Ah Ho, because, 
 coming from China to San Francisco, she became indebted to 
 her mistress for passage. Ah Ho herself asks Mr. Tee Kwan
 
 BOARD OF SUPEEYISORS. 11 
 
 to advance for lier six hundred and thirty dollars, for which 
 Ah Ho distinctly agrees to give her body to Mr. Tee for 
 service of prostitution for a term of four years. There shall 
 be no interest on the money. Ah Ho shall receive no wages. 
 At the expiration of four years Ah Ho shall be her own 
 master. Mr. Yee Kwan shall not hinder or trouble her. If 
 Ah Ho runs away before the time is out, her mistress shall 
 find her and return her, and whatever expense is incurred in 
 finding and returning her Ah Ho shall pay. On this day of 
 agreement Ah Ho, with her own hands, has received from 
 Mr Yee Kwan six hundred and thirty dollars. If Ah Ho 
 shall be sick at any time for more than ten days, she shall 
 make up by an extra month of service for every ten days' 
 sickness. Now this agreement has proof: this paper 
 received by Ah Ho is witness. 
 
 "Tung Ghee. 
 
 ' ' Twelfth year, ninth month and fourteenth day." (About 
 the middle of October, 1873.) 
 
 And, again, Mr. Clarke produced a second similar paper, 
 which, translated, reads as follows: 
 
 "AN AGREEMENT TO ASSIST A YOUNG GIRL NAMED LOI' YAU." 
 
 "Because she became indebted to her mistress for pass- 
 
 * age, food, etc., and has nothing to pay, she makes her 
 ' body over to the woman Sep Sam, to serve as a prostitute 
 
 * to make out the sum of five hundred and three dollars. 
 ' The money shall draw no interest, and Loi Yau shall serve 
 ' four and one-half years. On this day of agreement Loi 
 ' Yau receives the sum of five hundred and three dollars in 
 ' her own hands. Y/lieu the time is out Loi Yau may be 
 
 * her own master, and no man shall trouble her . If she 
 ' runs away before the time is out, and any expense is 
 ' incurred in catching her, then Loi Yau must pay the 
 ' expense. If she is sick fifteen days, or more, she shall 
 
 * make up one month for every fifteen days. If Sep Sam 
 ' shall go back to China, then Loi Yau shall serve another 
 ' party until the time is out: if in such service she should
 
 12 KEPOKT OF SPECIAL COMMITTEE 
 
 ** be sick one hundred days or more, and cannot be cured, 
 " she may return to Sep Sam's place. For a proof of this 
 " agreement this jjaper. " Loi Yau. 
 
 " Dated second, sixth month, of the present year. " 
 
 Mr. Clarke testified that prostitution is carried on here 
 under just such contracts as these, and that the last one was 
 taken from a Chinawoman who had been brought in. He 
 further testified that when one of these women escapes she 
 is followed and taken back by her owners. "If they fail 
 *' they generally have her arrested for larceny, and getposses- 
 " sion in that way. They use the processes of our Courts to 
 '* keep these women in a state of slavery. When they become 
 " sick and helpless there are instances where they have been 
 " turned out to die. The bones of the women are not re- 
 *' turned to China as are the bones of the men." 
 
 James R. Rogers testified that he had been special police 
 officer in the Chinese quarter four or five years; that the 
 prostitutes " are held as slaves, bought and sold. They are 
 " held as prostitutes, aud are obliged, by what they call their 
 " mother, the head woman or boss of the institution, to 
 " stand at the windows and doors and solicit prostitution. 
 " Most of the Chinese houses of prostitution are patronized 
 '* by whites — by j^oung men and old ones. I have taken 
 " boys of not more than ten or twelve years of age from out 
 " of these houses. The schedule of prices is such that boys 
 " can afford to go there and patronize them." 
 
 Dr. Toland testified that he was the founder of the 
 *' Toland Medical College," and a member of the Board of 
 Health. "He had seen boys eight and ten years old with 
 " diseases they told me they had contracted on Jackson 
 " street. It is astonishing how soon they commence in- 
 " dulging in that passion. Some of the worst cases of 
 " syphilis I have ever seen in my life occur in children not 
 " more than ten or twelve years old. They generall}' try to 
 " conceal their condition from the parents. They come to
 
 BOAKD OF SUPERVISORS. 13 
 
 " me, and I help to screen it from their parents, and cure 
 " them without compensation. Sometimes parents, unaware 
 " of what is the matter, bring their boys to me, and I do all 
 " I can to keep the truth from them." 
 
 Asked what effect it must have upon this community 
 if these Chinese prostitutes are allowed to remain in the 
 country, he said: " It will fill our hospitals with invalids, 
 ' ' and I think it would be a very great relief to the younger 
 " portion of the community to get rid of them." 
 
 Asked to what extent these diseases come from Chinese 
 prostitutes, Dr. Toland said: "I suppose nine-tenths. 
 " When these persons come to me I ask them where they got 
 " the disease, and they generally tell me that they have been 
 " with Chinawomen They think diseases contracted from 
 ' ' Chinawomen are harder to cure than those contracted else- 
 " where, so they tell me as a matter of self-protection. I am 
 " satisfied, from my experience, that nearly all the boys in 
 " town who have venereal disease, contracted it in Chinatown. 
 " They have no dijSiculty there, for the prices are so low they 
 " can go whenever they please." He had never heard or 
 read of any country in the world where there are so many 
 children diseased as there are in San Francisco. And, 
 further, that "it is a most frightful condition of things." 
 " Generally they are improperly treated, and syphilis or gon- 
 " orrhoearuDS on from week to week, until stricture results, 
 " and that is almost as bad as constitutional syphilis, because 
 *' it requires a long time to cure it." 
 
 Dr. J. C. Shorb testified that he was a physician and 
 surgeon, and a graduate from the University of Pennsylvania. 
 He said : 
 
 ' ' The presence of Chinese women here has made prosti- 
 *' tution excessively cheap, and it has given these boys an 
 *' opportunity to gratify themselves at very slight cost. 
 
 * ' I have had boys from twelve years up to eighteen and 
 ** nineteen — any number of them — afflicted with syphilis con-
 
 14 KEPORT OF SPECIAL COMMITTEE 
 
 *' tracted from Chinese prostitutes. The extent of the evil is 
 " very general, and I suppose my experience must be the 
 " experience of all the physicians in San Francisco in full 
 " practice." 
 
 There is a mountain of testimony of a similar nature, all 
 of which might properly be quoted here; but it would be 
 simply cumulative, and your Committee do not consider it 
 necessary to go into it further. We have shown that Chinese 
 prostitution exists among us as the basis of the most abject 
 and Satanic conception of human slavery. That it is con- 
 ducted upon the most inhuman principles. That our own 
 laws are successfully invoked to shield, protect and foster it. 
 That it is the source of the most terrible pollution of the 
 blood of the younger and rising generations among us, and 
 that it is destined to be the source of contamination and 
 hereditary diseases among those who are to come after us 
 too frightful to contemplate, and, possibly, already too 
 strongly entrenched as an evil to be successfully modified, 
 much less eradicated. 
 
 We do not desire to arouse any undue public excitement 
 or indignation on this subject; but our duty is to state the 
 facts as they exist, and yours to exercise all the cool and 
 deliberate judgment that can be brought to bear upon it, in 
 a calm and thorough search for the best remedy that can at 
 present be applied, or the wisest action that can be taken in 
 dealing with this branch of the Chinese question. 
 
 White Prostiiuiion in Chinatown. 
 
 The investigations which have been carried on by your 
 Committee have developed another disgusting and surprising 
 feature. It is in reference to white prostitution in that local- 
 ity. The map accompanying this report shows in what sec- 
 tions and to what extent of area white prostitution exists in 
 Chinatown. The number of degraded women who ply this 
 vocation there is unknown. But the point that will impress
 
 BOAED OF SUPEEVISOES. 15 
 
 itself more strongly upon the ordinary mind is that these 
 women obtain their patronage almost entirely from the 
 Chinese themselves. Their habitations seem to have been 
 taken up in the Chinese quarter solely for this purpose, and 
 their mode of life seems to be modeled after that of the Mon- 
 golian, to a larger extent than after the manners and customs 
 of the race to which they belong. 
 
 Many, if not most of them, confirmed victims to the 
 opium habit in one form or another, they present pictures of 
 pallid wretchedness hard to parallel in any community where 
 total depravity rules supreme, and their sex sinks to the 
 lowest point of human degradation. The Chinese drug and 
 opium stores at night usually contain numbers of these 
 wretched beings seeking opium or medicaments for the 
 physical diseases to which they are constantly subjected; 
 and more wan, sad, hopeless and wretched-looking faces the 
 human eye seldom encounters in the streets or slums of 
 the most populous cities of the world. 
 
 This is a feature of prostitution in Chinatown with 
 which it is difficult and perhaps impossible to deal. Your 
 Committee can only point out the conditions under which it 
 exists as one of the numerous evils which attach to and grow 
 out of the presence of the Chinese among us. It is one of 
 the many counts in the indictment against the race, and upon 
 which we hold them up for trial before the public opinion 
 of our country, from which we bespeak a just and wise ver- 
 dict. For the poor, wretched woman who enters this par- 
 ticular walk of life there need be no punishment other than 
 her own miseries; no word of reproach, but all our pity. 
 Xiet her "who enters here leave hope behind." 
 
 White Women Living With C/iinamen. 
 
 Another surprising as well as disgusting feature de- 
 veloped in this investigation is the fact that there are 
 numerous instances of white women living and cohabiting 
 with Chinamen in the relation of wives or mistresses. In
 
 16 EEPORT OF SPECIAL COMMITTEE 
 
 one instance where an example of this was found, there was 
 one white woman living among a large number of Chinese 
 women and children — the mistress of one or more of "the 
 little brown men" — who, when the place was visited by the 
 surveyors employed by your Committee, roundly berated 
 them for thus invading the citadel of their domestic rights, 
 and threatened various modes of punishment therefor. In 
 one instance a Chinaman had assumed marital relations with 
 a fair widow with several children by a Caucasian husband. 
 
 Instances of these examples of ' ' assimilation" of the two 
 races are as follows : 
 
 At No. 900 and 902 Dupont street, one white woman living 
 with a Chinaman on the third floor; at 613 Jackson street, 
 second floor; at 708 Commercial street, second story; at 708 
 Commercial street, third story; at 710 Commercial street, 
 third story; at 718 Commercial street, second story. There 
 are in each of the foregoing one white woman and one China- 
 man living together. At 740 Commercial street, second 
 story, and at 916J Stockton street, there are two white 
 women in each place living with Chinamen. 
 
 Evasions and Defiance of l]^unicipal Laws. 
 
 There is hardly a phase of life in Chinatown that does 
 not furnish a striking example of constant violation of mu- 
 nicipal laws. It may almost be said that the whole Chinese 
 community exists in open defiance of the law, and, as a mat- 
 ter susceptible of clear demonstration, they are at present, 
 and long have been, stronger than the law, (as it is admin- 
 istered), to which we of other races are sternly held amena- 
 ble. It becomes necessary for your Committee to prove the 
 affirmative of this proposition, and, once proved, it invites 
 discussion of this proposition, viz: If a race constituting 
 one-seventh, say, of the entire population of San Francisco 
 is able to successfully violate and defy the local laws to 
 which the remaining six-sevenths are held amenable, what 
 will be the effect when the ratio of the same race shall have
 
 BOABD OF SUPERYISORS. 17 
 
 increased until it becomes numerically stronger, as it assur- 
 edly will be if Chinese immigration is not finally and perma- 
 nently restricted? 
 
 Your Committee do not admit, however, that the present 
 percentage of Chinese in our midst are stronger than the law, 
 if the authorities, whose duty it is to administer the law, are 
 equal to the occasion, and are furnished the necessary means 
 and men to enforce it. As the case stands at present, the 
 facts show that there is constant violation of the law^, with- 
 out any effectual attempt to enforce its penalties, and it will 
 become the duty of this Board, when the facts are placed 
 before them, to endeavor to change the existing practice by 
 the enactment of such municipal laws as may be necessary 
 to restrict present abuses, and to see that existing ordinances 
 are enforced for the accomplishment of like purposes. To 
 assume that our local laws cannot be effectually enforced in 
 the case of the Chinese is to admit that that race, which we 
 so heartily despise, is stronger than we are, and to abandon 
 the principles for which we are contending. 
 
 Violations of Sanitary Laws in Chinatown. 
 
 In a sanitary point of view Chinatown presents a sin- 
 gular anomaly. With the habits, manners, customs and 
 whole economy of life violating every accepted rule of 
 hygiene; with open cess-pools, exhalations from water- 
 closets, sinks, urinals and sewers tainting the atmosphere 
 with noxious vapors and stifling odors; with people herded 
 and packed in damp cellars, living literally the life of ver- 
 min, badly fed and clothed, addicted to the daily use of 
 opium to the extent that many hours of each day or night are 
 passed in the delirious stupefaction of its influence, it is not 
 to be denied that, as a whole, the general health of this 
 locality compares more than favorably with other sections of 
 the city which are surrounded by far more favorable condi- 
 tions.
 
 18 EEPORT OF SPECIAL COMMITTEE 
 
 It seems impossible to account for this condition of 
 things upon any other theory than that of the constant fumi- 
 gation to which Chinatown is subjected, as has already been 
 suggested in this report. Open wood fires from cellar to 
 attic, cigars, tobacco and opium pipes, all contribute hourly 
 clouds of smoke to the fumigation process, and probably 
 prevent the generation and spread of zymotic diseases that 
 otherwise could scarcely fail to rapidly decimate the Chinese 
 population of San Francisco, and effectually adjust the Chi- 
 nese Immigration question without the aid of treaty or Con- 
 gressional intervention. These preventive influences can 
 never be a sufficient guard against cholera or any other like 
 visitation, however, and are not and cannot be sufficient to 
 justify the municipal authorities in tolerating the unclean 
 mode of life that prevails in Chinatown. This mode of life 
 must always make this locality a threatening source of pesti- 
 lential danger to the community at large whenever pestilence 
 comes in any form, borne upon the wings of the wind, or 
 stealing in "like a thief in the night," by any other of the 
 mysterious pathways which it too often thrids so silently, 
 without warning of its approach, until it is upon us with its 
 deadly influences. 
 
 Dr. A. L. Gibson, Medical Director of the United States 
 Navy, and a man who ranks high in his profession, says 
 upon this point : 
 
 " Where there are fresh air and dryness and cleanliness 
 there can be no cholera; and where there are not it will 
 come in spite of proclamations and perfunctory quarantines. 
 Fumigations anfl disinfT-ct'.ciiS which mask putrescence and 
 substitute medicinal smells for sickening stenches are as 
 ridiciuous as the noise of gongs and tom-toms, and explod- 
 ing fire-crackers and gingals, by which the Chinaman hopes 
 to frighten the devils who desolate his home and country, 
 and worse than useless from the false sense of security 
 which they give." 
 
 It is not wise nor is it the intention of your Committee to 
 excit« undue apprehension in the public mind upon this
 
 BOAED OF SUPERVISOES. 19 
 
 subject. But it is both wise and a matter of public duty 
 that the true condition of things should be known, in order 
 that unseen but possible dangers may be guarded- against so 
 far as it may be in our power to do so. With this end in 
 view we invite attention to the following facts : 
 
 The frequent custom with this people is to have the brick 
 and mortar bench where cooking is carried on, the sink, 
 always more or less filthy, and an open, filthy, bad-smelling 
 water-closet, all adjoining each other in the same room, or 
 under the same cover. Frequently a space at the end of this 
 cooking range — if we may call it so — is used as a urinal, the 
 only outlet from which is the absorption of and seepage 
 through some earth placed there for that purpose, while the 
 intermingling odors of cooking, sink, water-closet and 
 urinal, added to the fumes of opium and tobacco smoke and 
 the indescribable, unknowable, all-pervading atmosphere of 
 the Chinese quarter, make up a perfume which can neither 
 be imagined nor described. This is no exaggeration, nor is 
 it a fancy sketch. It is one of the common features of life in 
 Chinatown. 
 
 The details of the survey, which will be filed with this 
 report, will furnish all the data that will be necessary to sat- 
 isfy the most skeptical on this point; but, what is far better, 
 will be a visit to Chinatown itself and to the habitations 
 themselves, where such ocular and olfactory proofs as will 
 present themselves to the visitor will leave no more to be 
 added. 
 
 The municipal laws intended to protect the sanitary wel- 
 fare of the city, among other things, provide as follows : 
 
 ORDER 1,587. 
 [Privy-vaults, Drains, etc. .to be Connected with Street Sewers, and Traps Constructed.] 
 
 Section 4. No person shall construct or maintain, or sufler to be or re- 
 main upon his or her premises, or prtmises under his or her control, any 
 privy, or [irivy-vault, cesspool, sink or d aiu, without connecting the same by 
 means of cement, iron-stone or irun-p5pe, with the street sewer, in such a 
 manner that it shall bo eflfectuaily diained aiid puiified, if there be a si werin 
 the street on which said premises may Le situated with which the samo can 
 be connected. Every drain or branch sewer herealter constructed which
 
 20 REPORT OF SPECIAL COMMITTj<;E 
 
 shall connect with a dwelling-house or buildiug, or with any privy, privy- 
 vault or cesspool, ^shall be constructed of cement, iron-stone or iron, and be 
 provided with some apparatus or means by which such drain or branch sewer 
 may be ejBfectually flushed and cleansed; and shall also be provided with a 
 trap or apparatus which will eflfectnally prevent the escape of gases from the 
 sewer into such dwelling-house, building, privy, privy-vault or cesspool, 
 which trap or apparatus shall, in all cases, when practicable, be placed under 
 the sidewalk and be so constructed and placed that it can be readily and con- 
 veniently examined and inspected. (As amended March 30, 1882, by Order 
 No. 1,666.) 
 
 [Privy-vaults, Construction of.] 
 
 Section 5. No person shall construct, without the consent in writing of 
 the Health Officer, any privy-vault on jiremises belonging to him or tinder 
 Ms control, unless the walls and bottom of such vaixlt be of stone or brick, 
 laid in cement, and at least eight inches in thickness. 
 
 [Privies, etc., when Foul or Offensive, a Nuisance.] 
 
 Section 6. No person shall suffer or permit any premises belonging to 
 or occupied by him, or any cellar, vault, privy, pool, sewer or private drain 
 thereon or therein, to become nauseous, foul or offensive, and prejudicial to 
 public health or public comfort. 
 
 One of tlie most importaBt points developed in the whole 
 course of this investigation is the flagrant violation of the 
 sections of Order 1,587, above quoted, which is con;jtantly 
 carried on in Chinatown, for which a radical remedy should 
 be found, and for which property-owners themselves should 
 be held responsible. There is, and can be, no possible ex- 
 cuse for these violations of the law. It involves the public 
 health and public safety, and calls for immediate remedial 
 action. 
 
 The instances where the water-closets, sinks, etc., dis- 
 charge into open cesspools, and where there are other viola- 
 tions of the sections quoted, are more than numerous. 
 Some few examples may be pointed out by way of illustra- 
 tion: 719 Sacramento street, water-closet and cesspool in 
 rear; 823 Sacramento street, open cesspool in basement. In 
 , Oneida Place every second house has a sink and hopper 
 running down to open bos below and connected with sewer 
 in center of court. Sewerage in rear of court, into which 
 water-closets and sinks empty, is in center of court in box, 
 and is open in several places. 
 
 In the building on Jackson street, sometimes called 
 " The Palace Hotel," and occupied by about 400 people,
 
 BOAKD OF SUPERVISOES. 21 
 
 there are four water-closets iu tlie center of the court on 
 each of the floors, all running together beloTV in one common 
 cesspool, all open with no trap, and all in a horribly filthy 
 condition. 
 
 At 616 Dupont street, open cesspool in sub-basement 
 under air-shaft, used as a urinal and receptacle for all the 
 slops of the building. The same at 614| Dupont street. 
 
 At 646 Pacific street there is "a public water-closet in 
 the hall for the building and rear." The whole rear and 
 hall is very filthy, open sewerage running across the north 
 end, seething up through the ground, extending through the 
 hall to Pacific street. 
 
 In the basement on the east side of Bartlett Alley, in 
 what is known as the Dog Kennel, filth and its accompanying 
 stenches reign supreme. A blind woman and several dogs 
 and cats live in the kennel in a state of wretched squalor 
 that baffles description, while the rear space is occupied by 
 water-closets without traps, leading into what receptacle no 
 one knows, the whole area and surroundings being wet, 
 mouldy and rotten. The lowest grade of prostitution guards 
 the entrance to this den on either side, and the hideous 
 visages that peer through the wickets help to add to the 
 general aspect of degradation and misery that reigns below. 
 
 The basement of the next building adjoining is a twin 
 specimen in filth and methods of violation of the sanitary 
 regulations which we have quoted. 
 
 At 714 Jackson street, in the basement, occupied by seven 
 Chinese prostitutes and two children, there are no water- 
 closets, and the slops and filth generated in this under, 
 ground slum are flung into the street as an extra generous 
 contribution to the rotting garbage that daily accumulates 
 there, or disposed of in other ways unknown to your Com- 
 mittee.
 
 22 EEPOET OF SPECIAL COMMITTEE 
 
 At 727 Pacific street there is a laundry on tlie first floor. 
 The kitclien is in the court. An open hopper at the north 
 end is the common receptacle for slops and the water-closets 
 besides, and is very filthy and nauseating. 
 
 At No. 8, west side of Sullivan's Alley, there are several 
 kitchens and water-closets with open hoppers, all without 
 separating partitions, and the latter all open to the cesspools 
 or sewers into which they lead. The foul odors that they 
 exhale mingle with the Mongolian messes that simmer upon 
 the adjoining cooking device, nauseating the visitor but 
 apparently adding zest to the appetite of the Celestials who 
 eat, drink and sleep there. 
 
 At 707 Pacific street there is a room in the rear on Sul- 
 livan's Alley, with urinal, kitchen and water-closet all to- 
 gether for the building covering 711, 707 and 705 Pacific 
 street, and 1031, 1027, 1025 and 1023 Dupont street. To 
 say that it is filthy does not convey an idea of its condition. 
 To say that its condition and arrangement openly violate the 
 law is all that we need to barthen you with in this report. 
 The same arrangement and condition of things exists in the 
 upper floor of the same building. 
 
 At 808 and 812 Clay street there are repetitions of 
 kitchens, water-closets and filth, open from cesspool or 
 sewer, to the rooms in which they are located, and all sub- 
 ject to the same comment and description already given. 
 
 At 616 and 614| Dupont street there are open cesspools, 
 water-closets and sinks, and at hundreds of other localities 
 similar conditions exist. Briefly, there are filth and filthy 
 conditions everywhere, violations of the ordinance we have 
 quoted everywhere, realizations and revelations everywhere 
 of a distinct definition of the term "Chinese stink-pots," 
 that differ, perhaps, from the heretofore commonly-accepted 
 meaning of the term, but are none the less tangible as such 
 new definition — all-pervading, though we may not see, feel
 
 BOARD OF SUPERVISOES. 23 
 
 or hear them, but overwhelmingly apparent through the 
 medium of the remaining senses of taste and smell. 
 
 Some-day, when Pestilence shall fold her black wings and 
 alight among us to gorge her lust for death, there will be 
 such other tangible evidences of the dire influences that will 
 grow out of this condition of things as will appeal in un- 
 answerable anguish to our hearts as well as our senses, and 
 lead to vain regrets that we have not long ago enforced the 
 laws and corrected this terrible evil. 
 
 " The Cubic Air Ordinance." 
 
 It is not too sweeping a declaration to make to say that 
 there is scarcely a habitation in Chinatown in which the so- 
 called "Cubic Air Ordinance" is not constantly violated. 
 This constant and habitual violation of the municipal regu- 
 lation illustrates in the most forcible manner the truth of 
 the assertion which we have already made, that the habits 
 and mode of life among the Chinese here are not much 
 above " those of the rats of the water front." 
 
 It is not the desire or intention of your Committee to 
 present any extreme case selected from any particular local- 
 ity, to illustrate any feature of the peculiarities of Mongo" 
 lian life in Chinatown, but rather to convey to the Board 
 and to the public, as far as it is possible to do so, a fair 
 idea of the condition of things in that locality, and a gene- 
 ral comprehension of the mode of life of this class of our 
 population 
 
 Herewith we present some instances illustrating the ordi- 
 nary habits of the Chinese laboring classes in the matter of 
 sleeping and living accommodations. They are given as fur- 
 nishing a fair average example, so far as we have been able 
 to ascertain, of the disregard in which the so-called " Cubic 
 Air Ordinance " is held by the Chinese, and as possibly 
 illustrating the hopelessness of attempting to enforce it — 
 a point which will be discussed later:
 
 24 
 
 REPOET OF SPECIAL COMMITTEE 
 
 Stbeet. 
 
 Number. 
 
 Floob. 
 
 Number of 
 occupants 
 allowed 
 under the 
 Cubic Air 
 law. 
 
 Number of 
 
 actual 
 occupants. 
 
 Dupont 
 
 814% 
 817 
 
 Sub Basement 
 
 Basement 
 
 9 
 21 
 7 
 26 
 34 
 6 
 16 
 6 
 31 
 4 
 3 
 3 
 2 
 3 
 3 
 4 
 6 
 3 
 3 
 3 
 10 
 4 
 8 
 8 
 6 
 7 
 4 
 2 
 3 
 5 
 
 32 
 70 
 
 ,< 
 
 First Floor 
 
 Second Floor 
 
 Third Floor 
 
 Basement 
 
 46 
 
 << 
 
 60 
 
 .< 
 
 68 
 
 Sacramento 
 
 24 
 
 Bar tlett Alley 
 
 Basement 
 
 68 
 
 Oneida Place 
 
 
 First Floor. . 
 
 10 rooms, 1st floor. 
 
 First Floor 
 
 Basement. . . 
 
 14 
 94 
 
 Brooklyn Place. . . 
 Jackson 
 
 624 
 
 628 
 632 
 
 620 
 622 
 
 615 
 737 
 735 
 733 
 9 
 
 767 
 
 804 
 809 
 812 
 
 24 
 5 
 
 
 14 
 
 a 
 
 First Floor 
 
 Basement 
 
 6 
 
 
 16 
 14 
 
 « 
 
 
 20 
 
 <i 
 
 First Story 
 
 Basement 
 
 Second Story 
 
 Basement 
 
 30 
 
 (1 
 
 6 
 
 << 
 
 16 
 
 Washington 
 
 << 
 
 8 
 34 
 
 Brenham Place 
 
 Clay 
 
 Second Story 
 
 Third '■ 
 
 Fourth " 
 
 Second " 
 
 Basement 
 
 Second Story 
 
 12 
 24 
 18 
 22 
 22 
 12 
 
 « 
 
 8 
 
 <■ 
 
 20 
 
 <( 
 
 16 
 
 Tliis may be taken as a fair type of the common manner 
 of life in Chinatown among the ordinary laboring classes. 
 There are places much more densely crowded, and some not 
 as densely crowded. But this represents the prevailing 
 rule, and the other extreme (about equally divided), the ex- 
 ception.
 
 BOARD OF SDPEEVISOES. 25 
 
 The atmospliere at night in these crowded dens — many of 
 which, it will be seen, are in cellars — when the occupants 
 are in possession, is something indescribably horrible; 
 especially when vitiated by the smoke of opium and tobacco, 
 the effluvia from surrounding filth, and the exhalations from 
 the bodies of the Celestials who inhabit them. 
 
 Descend into the basement of almost any building in 
 Chinatown at night ; pick your way by the aid of the police- 
 man's candle along the dark and narrow passageway, black 
 and grimy with a quarter of a century's accumulation of 
 filth ; step with care lest you fall into a cesspool of sewage 
 abominations with which th^e subterranean depths abound. 
 Now follow your guide through a door, which he forces, into 
 a sleeping-room. The air is thick with smoke and fetid 
 with an indescribable odor of reeking vapors. The atmos- 
 phere is tangible. Tangible — if we may be licensed to so 
 use the word in this instance — to four out of the five human 
 senses. Tangible to the sight, tangible to the touch, tangi- 
 ble to the taste, and, oh, how tangible to the smell ! Tou 
 may even hear it as the opium-smoker sucks it through his 
 pipe bowl into his tainted lungs, and you breathe it yourself 
 as if it were of the substance and tenacity of tar. It is a 
 sense of a horror you have never before experienced, revolt- 
 ing to the last degree, sickening and stupefying. Through 
 this semi-opaque atmosphere you discover perhaps eight or 
 ten — never less than two or three — bunks, the greater part 
 or all of which are occupied by two persons, some in a state 
 of stupefaction from opium, some rapidly smoking them- 
 selves into that condition, and all in dirt and filth. Before 
 the door was opened for your entrance every aperture was 
 closed, and here, had they not been thus rudely disturbed, 
 they would have slept in the dense and poisonous atmos- 
 phere until morning, proof against the baneful effects of the 
 carbonic acid gas generated by this human defiance of chem- 
 ical laws, and proof against all the zymotic poisons that 
 would be fatal to a people of any other race in an hour of 
 such surroundings and such conditions.
 
 26 REPORT OP SPECIAL COMMITTEE 
 
 It is from such pest-holes as these that the Chinese cooks 
 and servants who are employed in our houses come. Cleanly 
 though they may be, in appearance, while acting in the 
 capacity of domestic servants, they are nevertheless born 
 and reared in these habits of life. The facility with which 
 they put on habits of decency when they become cooks and 
 servants simply adds other testimony to their ability to 
 adapt themselves to circumstances when it is their interest 
 to do so. But the instinct of the race remains unchanged; 
 and when the Chinese servant leaves employment in an 
 American household he joyfulh^ hastens back to his slum 
 and his burrow, to the gratefal luxury of his normal sur- 
 roundings, vice, filth and an atmosphere of horror. 
 
 Opium Resorts in Chinaiown. 
 
 The following table shows the number and location of 
 the public Opium Resorts. The ' ' opium lay-out ' ' is found in 
 nearly every sleeping-room in Chinatown, and is nearly as 
 common as the tobacco pipe; but these dens are for the 
 general accommodation of those who have no sleeping bunks 
 and conveniences for opium-smoking of their own, and who 
 therefore frequent these resorts to indulge in the habit. 
 
 The bunks are occupied night and day, and the spectacle 
 of pallid men in a condition of death-stupor, wrapped in the 
 dirty rags which constitute their bedding, may be witnessed 
 in these dens any day from 10 A. M. to 2 p. M :
 
 BOAED OF SUPERVISOES. 
 
 27 
 
 Steeet. 
 
 Sacramento 
 
 Clay 
 
 Dupont 
 
 "Waverley Place. . . 
 
 Spoflford Place... 
 
 Washington 
 
 Wtisliington 
 
 Sullivan's Alley . . . 
 Dupont. 
 
 Washington Place . 
 Cooper's Alley. . . . 
 Birtlett Alley 
 
 Jackson . 
 
 Dunscomha Alley. 
 
 Jackffou 
 
 Pacific. . 
 Dupont 
 Jackson 
 
 Number 
 
 731 
 
 809 
 
 616 
 
 23 
 
 825 
 
 836 
 
 7 
 
 918 
 
 26 
 
 E side 
 32 
 
 708 
 
 818 
 E. side 
 
 W. side 
 
 728) 
 730 [ 
 727 
 lOOlJ^ 
 626 
 632 
 
 Flooe. 
 
 Basement 
 
 Sub Basement. 
 
 Basement 
 
 First Floor 
 
 Basement . . . . . 
 First Story. . . , 
 
 Basement 
 
 First Story 
 
 Basement. . . . . 
 Bear first floor. 
 Bear Basement 
 Basement 
 
 (( 
 It 
 t( 
 
 i( 
 
 n 
 
 First Floor 
 
 Bear Basement, 
 Basement 
 
 No. of 
 Bunks 
 
 12 
 23 
 
 14 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 11 
 
 6 
 12 
 19 
 
 8 
 14 
 
 3 
 14 
 13 
 12 
 12 
 11 
 10 
 11 
 14 
 
 26 
 
 4 
 16 
 
 7 
 19 
 
 Bemabks. 
 
 Filthy. 
 
 24 feet below the street 
 line, and very filthy. 
 Filthy. 
 
 Opium refinery in rear, 
 filthy. 
 
 Filthy. 
 
 Very filthy. 
 Filthy. 
 
 The use of opium is so general among the Chinese that 
 no visitor to Chinatovs-j, night or day, can enter many sleep- 
 ing-rooms without finding men indulging in the habit. Nor 
 will the explorer travel far without finding them under every 
 stage of its influence down to the dead stupor such as would 
 seem to furnish fit subjects for the Coroner and the morgue, 
 rather than as beings to whom life is ever to return again.
 
 28 REPORT OF SPECIAL COMMITTEE 
 
 Violations of ihe Fine Ordinances. 
 
 If the prevailing rule of constant violation of the fire ordi- 
 nances in Chinatown is to be longer tolerated, for the sake 
 of consistency at least, if it were legally possible, there 
 should be an additional section added, exempting the Chi- 
 nese quarter from the operations of these ordinances, for it 
 is true that they are utterly disregarded if not defied; and 
 we have failed to discover that any determined attempt is 
 made on the part of the authorities to enforce them. Pos- 
 sibly it is not practicable to enforce them, and possibly it 
 furnishes another illustration of the presumption that the 
 Chinese are a law unto themselves, stronger than the muni- 
 cipal or statute laws, and stronger than the race which sur- 
 rounds them. Herewith we present a diagram of the first 
 floor of a building on Oneida Place. The fire-places are 
 shown as indicated, and are a fair type of the manner in 
 which they are constructed all over Chinatown. The chim- 
 ney, it will be observed, is practically an unknown conve- 
 nience. A brick bench laid in mud mortar, in a window, upon 
 a balcony, or any like place, upon which the fire for cooking 
 is built, leaving the smoke free to escape as it will, is all 
 that is necessary for cooking purposes. Sometimes this 
 plan is varied by the substitution of a tin box or vessel 
 filled with earth for the brick platform, but the uses and 
 purposes of the chimney, cooking or other stoves or ranges, 
 are apparently unknown. In no other part of the city, and 
 by no other people, are such dangerous methods pursued; 
 nor would they be long tolerated if they were. Considering 
 the combustible nature of the surroundings, it is hardly less 
 than a miracle that conflagrations are not constantly occur- 
 ring, and that fire has not long ago swept Chinatown out of 
 existence and a large section of San Francisco besides. 
 The municipal law upon this subject is plain and explicit. 
 It provides as follows :
 
 BOARD OF SUPERVISORS. 29 
 
 " No person shall kindle or maintain any fire of charcoal, 
 " wood or other combustible material, in or upon any open 
 " tin, metal can, or any earthenware vessel whatsoever, in 
 " any room, entry or passage, or in any other part of any 
 ** house in this city and county; or in any furnace or stove of 
 " any kind, unless the same be connected by means of a 
 " good sheet iron flue or pipe, with a brick or earthen pipe 
 " chimney, to conduct the smoke and fire into said brick or 
 " earthen pipe chimney." 
 
 There is not a day in the year in which this order is not 
 violated in hundreds and hundreds of instances. At the 
 same time, the point which has already been alluded to in 
 this report, viz., that the constant fumigation to which 
 Chinatown is subjected from these open wood fires, may 
 be the source of prevention of zymotic diseases, should not 
 be lost sight of. But, conceding that such is the fact, and 
 that the risk and evil of these open fires be tolerated and 
 the fumigation process be thereby preserved rather than to 
 risk the possibility of disease growing out of their suppres- 
 sion, the fact stands out none the less clear-cut and striking 
 that the very presence of these people among us compels 
 the admission of the proposition that we cannot enact laws 
 general in their application to which they can safely be sub- 
 jected. Nor can we, on the other hand, enact special laws 
 that shall apply alone to this or any other race of people, 
 nor can we by any legislative action constitutionally exempt 
 them from subjection to the general laws to which all other 
 classes and races among us are amenable. 
 
 The paradox involved, then, in these contradicting pro- 
 positions, is by the simple fact that in this, as in many other 
 things, these people when they come among us are above and 
 beyond the law, and so they must possibly remain. Stated 
 briefly, the special point now under consideration is this : 
 The law prohibits these open fires; if they are not sup- 
 pressed they will constitute a standing menace from fire, and 
 may at any moment involve the city in a disastrous confla-
 
 30 REPORT OF SPECIAL COMMITTEE 
 
 gration. If thej are suppressed, there is every probability 
 that Chinatown will become the seat of zymotic or other 
 diseases which may involve the public health of the city at 
 large and the sacrifice, possibly, of hundreds of lives an- 
 nually. It is a choice of two evils — evils that the presence 
 of this race among us forces upon us and which never can 
 be wholly avoided so long as they are among us. 
 
 In the construction of privies, apart from the violations 
 of the sanitary ordinances already referred to, the city ordi- 
 nances relating to the fire limits, etc., provide that "privies 
 or water closets of wood," shall be constructed in a particu- 
 lar manner, and shall not "project over the line of any 
 " street, lane, alley or place, and they shall not be used for 
 " any other purpose." No regard is paid to this provision 
 of the municipal laws whenever it suits the convenience of 
 occupants of buildings in Chinatown to ignore them. There 
 are many instances that might be pointed out where this 
 rule is violated. 
 
 The two Chinese theatres furnish striking examples of the 
 audacity of the race in ignoring the law, and the impunity with 
 which such violation is practiced. In both these theatres 
 almost every specified provision of the fire ordinance relating 
 to places of amusement is openly violated, even down to 
 that clause of the ordinance which provides that no portion 
 of a theatre " shall be occupied or used as a hotel, boarding 
 *' or lodging house," etc. In the case of the Washington 
 street theatre it is at once both boarding and lodging house, 
 containing bunks for 150 persons, all of whom eat and sleep 
 under its roof. 
 
 The Chinese Labor Problem. 
 
 The essentially American policy of a tariff for protection 
 to home industry is not alone on trial as against the opposing 
 doctrine of Free Trade. Protection against the "pauper 
 labor of Europe " as a system of public policy may be advo- 
 cated, upheld and practiced as we will, but it is clear that
 
 BOAED OF SUPEEVISORS. 31 
 
 the doctrine is absolutely nullified, and the laws that are 
 enacted to support it are successfully and eSectually evaded 
 by the importation, not of the products of pauper labor, but 
 of pauper labor itself, of a far lower grade than that of 
 Europe, viz., the Asiatic. 
 
 The political party which claims to be the party of pro- 
 tection to home industry by means of a high tariff necessarily 
 stultifies itself if it fails to set itself against the greater of 
 these dangers, the importation of i^siatic pauper labor, as 
 well as against the free importation of the products of Euro- 
 pean pauper labor. For it is clear that Asiatic labor here 
 upon our own soil, which can exist here at a less cost for 
 living than can even the pauper labor of Europe exist upon 
 European soil, not only possesses a dominant advantage 
 over home labor, but also over the "pauper labor of 
 Europe " itself, about which we declaim so earnestly. If 
 this " Asiatic pauper labor," ivierated here upon our own 
 soil, can produce here any artioia of manufacture cheaper 
 than the same article can be produced in Europe, the advan- 
 tage is not alone the difference in the cheapness of the 
 product, but in the tariff which is imposed on the article 
 thus manufactured in Europe and Imported here. Therefore 
 the Asiatic laborer residing here literally commands the sit- 
 uation. The result of such a com [petition is indisputable. 
 Either the American laborer must come down to a level '^:Ab. 
 the imported ''little brown man '' in habits of life and. de- 
 sires, or he must become a helpless pauper himself. 
 
 This is not the gospel of the ••' Sand Lot ;'' it is the gos- 
 pel of political truth, upon whicii all parties should agree 
 who have the welfare of soci' y at heart, and to whom 
 humanity itself ought not to plead in vain. 
 
 Cool and dispassionate consideration of this great over- 
 shadowing question is novr the necessity of the hour, unin- 
 fluenced by the senseless jargon of " The Chinese must go," 
 or any other shibboleth of the demagogue. Planted here 
 in this young, but already great metropolis, is a Mongolian
 
 32 BEPORT OF SPECIAL COMMITTEE 
 
 population forming about one-eighth of the entire com- 
 munity, and probably one-fourth of the laboring classes, 
 equal to the task of competition in any line of skilled or 
 unskilled manufacture. Their habits and mode of life ren- 
 der the cost of support less than one-fifth of that of the 
 ordinary American laborer, who exercises what is commonly 
 recognized as the strictest rules of economy and thrift. This 
 first combing of the wave of Chinese labor is to-day in more 
 than successful competition with the home workman here in 
 the production of every article of clothing, cigars, and other 
 like necessities and luxuries of life, to the extent that, prac- 
 tically, the occupation of the skilled home laborer is gone, 
 indeed, even at this early stage of the contact. 
 
 This statement of the case has been presented heretofore 
 in various forms, but it has too often been howled in insen- 
 sate and unreasoning clamor from the " Sand Lot" instead of 
 being proved by the medium of crystalized fact and the in- 
 exorable logic of demonstrated truth. 
 
 It is within the province and scope of this report to sup- 
 ply this ' ' missing link " through the facts which have been 
 collated in this investigation, and about which there can 
 surely be no dispute, if human evidence is of value at all in 
 the search for truth, hidden where it may be. 
 
 Your Committee, then, apart from theorizing, invite the 
 attention of the Board and of the American people to their 
 exhibit of facts relating to this subject of Chinese labor here 
 in San Francisco alone, and the inevitable result which must 
 sooner or later be reached all over the land as the Chinese 
 tide advances and sweeps competition to the winds. 
 
 It need not be said that the discussion of this phase of 
 the question is useless now because of the treaty and the 
 legislation which is supposed to prohibit Chinese immigra- 
 tion; for the fact is but too apj)arent to every resident of San 
 Francisco that Chinese immigration is still flowing in in 
 appalling numbers, and the treaty and the prohibitory legis- 
 lation scarcely modifies the strength of the tide, much less
 
 BOARD OF SUPERVISORS. 33 
 
 prohibits. Therefore it is more than in order at this time to 
 analyze and discuss the effect of Chinese pauper lalbor upon 
 the welfare of the American laborer and the American 
 people. 
 
 Among the tabular statements forming an appendix to 
 this report will be found one marked ' ' Exhibit A, " giving a 
 list of the manufacturing establishments in Chinatown and 
 the various lines of manufactured goods which are produced 
 there. This exhibit forms in itself but a minor factor in the 
 problem, since the great bodv of Chinese laborers in skilled 
 and unskilled manufacture is employed outside of the limits 
 of Chinatown, and, indeed, outside of the limits of the City 
 and County of San Francisco. But what is taking place 
 here will but too painfully illustrate the appalling character 
 of the danger which this Asiatic invasion typifies. The les- 
 son which that invasion ought to teach, through such ex- 
 hibits as these, can only be nullified by the preaching of 
 these blind, fanatical theories which have heretofore made 
 an idol of " the little brown man," but which are none the 
 less a wicked abomination to the Christian mind than are the 
 grotesque and hideous idols which form the objects of wor- 
 ship of " the little brown man" himself. 
 
 It appears from this Exhibit that there are employed in 
 Chinatown to-day not less than 2,326 Chinese workmen 
 engaged in the manufacture of clothing of various descrip- 
 tions, boots and shoes, leather, cigars, etc., all of which is 
 produced for consumption here in competition with the 
 American workmen engaged in the same line of manufacture. 
 Most of this labor is carried on through the use of the best 
 modern machinery, in the operation of which the Chinese 
 workman becomes an adept in a short space of time. Ma- 
 chinery for the manufacture of boots and shoes in the large 
 establishments operated by Chinese labor supplies a large 
 share of the demand for the whole Pacific Coast. The Hop 
 Kee Company, on Dupont street, an establishment employ-
 
 34 REPORT OF SPECIAL COMMITTEE 
 
 ing at some seasons of the year three hundred men, finds a 
 market for its goods as far east as Salt Lake City at present, 
 and will at uo distant day invade the country east of the 
 Mississippi, giving manufacturers there an opportunity to 
 become practically acquainted with the effects of " Chinese 
 cheap labor" and the results which follow in its train. 
 
 In the manufacture of clothing, ladies' underwear, shirts, 
 etc., 1,245 sewing machines are kept actively at work, 
 all operated by male laborers with a skill that is equal to the 
 best efforts of the American woman, as well as the American 
 man, in this direction, and all run with such quick-handed, 
 untiring energy, that it suggests one of the most curious 
 physiological problems of the day to understand how a peo- 
 ple, nurtured and fed as they are, can possess the vitality 
 and physical force necessary to the results which they 
 achieve in this direction. 
 
 Most of this labor is carried on by "piece-work" and to 
 fill orders for large "down-town commercial houses" en- 
 gaged in the sale of the class of goods thus produced. The 
 heavy, strong-stitched jean overalls whicli find so large a 
 market on this coast, are made by the Chinese workmen at the 
 rate of about fifty-five cents per dozen pairs. The work thus 
 produced — at a price which would reduce the American 
 worker, male or female, to a lower level than the ' ' woman, 
 weary and wan" whose misery Hood depicted so graphically 
 in " The Song of the Shirt" — the Chinaman thrives upon, and 
 is prosperous and happy. But it is a prosperity and a hap- 
 piness that is based upon a mode of life that a homeless cur 
 upon the streets might not envy, upon which the American 
 laborer could not exist until a succession of generations had 
 so brutalized and blunted his race proclivities that he had 
 degenerated into a condition worse than barbarism and 
 become a curse to civilization, instead of what he is to-day, 
 the vital strength of the nation.
 
 BOARD OF SUPERVISORS. 35 
 
 Gambling in Chinatown. 
 
 "We come now to the consideration of a phase of life in 
 Chinatown which, for manifest reasons, your Committee 
 would gladly avoid referring to if it were not in their plain 
 line of duty to do otherwise. 
 
 These reasons are, that in any fair presentation of the 
 matter of gambling and the gambling dens in Chinatown a 
 serious responsibility must be brought home to the Police 
 Department, or the owners of the property where these 
 dens are situated must accept the responsibility themselves. 
 If the responsibility for the existing condition of things 
 does not rest in one of these quarters, then it must be set 
 down to the debit of a weak, inefficient public policy that 
 has long prevailed in San Francisco, by which laws for the 
 protection of the public health and public morals have 
 either not been enforced or are yet not sufficient in them- 
 selves in the form of their enactment. In either case it 
 is an unpleasant task for your Committee to attempt to fix 
 the responsibility; but it is their duty to state the facts, and, 
 so far as possible, to suggest the remedy for what seems to 
 be a great public evil. 
 
 Here, again, we are met with the most positive evidences 
 that have yet been produced, that the Chinese population 
 among us openly defy the State and Municipal laws. These 
 laws are strong enough, as has been conclusively proved, to 
 shut up gambling-houses run by white men, and to make the 
 occupation of the gambler completely amenable to the 
 majesty of the law. It is not so in Chinatown. The 
 appendix to this report, "Exhibit B," furnishes a list of 
 " iron-clad," barricaded gambling dens in Chinatown 
 which are veritable citadels and strongholds built to defy 
 assault and to baffle police interference. 
 
 This list comprises about 150 places in all, the approach to 
 which is through a series of plank and iron doors, iii every 
 instance with giated windows, cunningly devised trap-doors 
 for escapes, and in many instances iron-clad walls or parti-
 
 36 REPORT OF SPECIAL COMMITTEE 
 
 tions. Many of these doors bear the marks and indentations 
 of the sledges of the police who have assailed them from 
 time to time, which attack has usually been successfully 
 resisted, however, long enough to enable every evidence of the 
 gambling games carried on within to be destroyed, before 
 the assailants were admitted. The convenient water-closet, 
 or kitchen fire, always adjacent to and forming part of these 
 dens, furnish ready means to destroy the tan-markers or 
 lottery devices, and innocent Celestials, sitting "childlike 
 and bland," apparently in wonder why they have been dis- 
 turbed and against whom no charge can be successfully 
 maintained in the Courts, are all that is found within, when 
 entrance has once been gained. Such is the statement of 
 the officers of the Police Department, and such statement 
 seems to be generally borne out by the facts. 
 
 On the other hand, considering how numerous the gam- 
 bling dens are, considering that many of them open direct 
 upon the street, it would seem that there must be negligence 
 somewhere to enable the business to be carried on so suc- 
 cessfully, in view of the fact that the gambling houses kept 
 by men of our own race have been so energetically and 
 effectually dealt with. 
 
 But this proposition is again met and answered, and an- 
 swered with much force, by the statement that the number 
 of men in the police force, and the means with which the 
 department is provided, are not sufficient to enable China- 
 town to be effectually patrolled and the gambling houses 
 thoroughly watched and raided. Further, that, so long as 
 property-holders will permit these barricaded gambling hells 
 to be constructed, so long as they will permit their houses to 
 be thus converted into fortresses for the purpose of defying 
 the law, and, further, so long as the municipal authorities 
 will permit property-holders thus to allow these Chinese 
 tenants to misuse their property to the public injury and 
 for the purpose of violating the law, so long the evil must 
 exist, and nothing less than a police force large enough to
 
 BOABD OF SUPERVISOKS. 37 
 
 constitute a constant army of occupation must be kept in 
 Chinatown, with battering-rams and dynamite, if necessary, 
 to enable them to open and raid these dens of vice. And to 
 this, it seems to your Committee, there is no answer. It brings 
 home the blame for this condition of things to the municipal 
 authority itself, which, by a proper display of its own 
 power, at whatever cost it may be involved, can and must, 
 sooner or later, try conclusions with Chinatown and the 
 Chinese, and make them amenable to the law in everything. 
 
 " The Heathen Chinee." 
 
 " The little brown man," as he is designated by one of 
 the most prominent members of the United States Senate, 
 and a representative of a State that is commonly assumed 
 to stand in the fore-front of human progress, is considered 
 by many Christians as a most fitting subject for Missionary 
 work and conversion to Christianity. It is possibly no legiti- 
 mate part of the work assigned to your Committee to exam- 
 ine and report upon this branch of the subject, and possibly 
 it is their duty to do so. From our point of view it seems 
 but proper to us that the people throughout our country 
 should have as full a knowledge as possible of what thirty- 
 five years of constant attrition of Christianity and Idolatry 
 has resulted in, as exemplified in the history of the Chi- 
 nese in San Francisco. It is proper that the world should 
 be informed as to whether Christianity advances or retreats 
 before Chinese Idolatry when brought into immediate con- 
 tact with each other. ; whether the Christian religion is to 
 be the gainer or the loser ; whether the human souls that 
 are to be lost or saved are to change in their relations of 
 ratio to each other, according to the doctrines of Christian- 
 ity; whether it is or is not worth while to permit them to 
 continue to come among us in the beneficent hope that " the 
 true faith " may be more widely promulgated and souls be 
 saved that must otherwise be eternally lost.
 
 38 EEPORT OF SPECIAL COMMITTEE 
 
 For true missionary work your Committee have the most 
 unbounded respect and sympathy. For efforts in this direc- 
 tion that the stern experience of the past thirty-five years 
 have demonstrated by cold practical results to be more than 
 sterile and barren, and for those who have wasted their 
 labor in the field, your Committee can entertain no other 
 sentiment than that of charitable pity. For those who, in 
 spite of every proof of its utter uselessuess, continue to be 
 the advocates of Chinese immigration with this "hope of 
 conversion" doctrine as one of the main reasons and justi- 
 fication of their action, we have nothing but contempt and 
 disgust. 
 
 So far in San Francisco " the Heathen Chinee " has, in 
 the slang parlance of the day, "got in his work" with 
 the same irresistible force as that with which Boston's other 
 "slogging" champion has always displayed in his ring 
 encounters. And Senator Hoar, and his followers, who 
 would fain open wide our gates to the "little brown man," 
 that he may be converted to Christianity and share in the 
 blessings of American citizenship, may possibly find food 
 for new reflection by a careful study of some of the naked 
 facts which your Committee have been enabled to present 
 upon this branch of the subject. In this view of the matter, 
 then, your Committee consider it their duty to invite public 
 attention to the following facts : 
 
 The proofs, as developed by this investigation and which 
 are so plain as to be beyond question, are these : The Chi- 
 nese brought here with them and have successfully main- 
 tained and perpetuated the grossest habits of bestiality 
 practiced by the human race. The twin vices of gambling 
 in its most defiant form, and the opium habit, they have not 
 only firmly planted here for their own delectation and the 
 gratification of the grosser passions, but they have suc- 
 ceeded in so spreading these vitiating evils as to have added 
 thousands of proselytes to the practice of these vices from'" 
 our own blood and race. The lowest possible form of^prob-
 
 BOAED OF SUPERVISOKS. 39 
 
 titution — ^partaking of both slavery and prostitution — they 
 have planted and fostered to a lusty growth among us, and 
 have innoculated our youth not only with the virus of immor- 
 ality in its most hideous form but have, through the same 
 sources, physically poisoned the blood of thousands by the 
 innoculation with diseases the most frightful that flesh is 
 heir to, and furnishing posterity with a line of scrofulous 
 and leprous victims that might better never have been born 
 than to curse themselves and mankind at large with their con- 
 tagious presence. They have successfully overridden and de- 
 fied the laws of morality in every form, and the statutory laws 
 of the State and municipality. They have driven the American 
 laborer to the wall and taken the bread from the mouths of 
 thousands of deserving families, while all that missionary 
 work has done among them, all that contact with Christian- 
 ity has accomplished in the line of conversion to "the true 
 faith," is as imperceptible and as slow in its results as is the 
 influence of the smallest comet that ever blazed into view 
 in planetary space upon the great orbs that traverse their 
 appointed pathways within the solar system to which they 
 belong. Let us see if this is not the fact. 
 
 First, as is shown upon the map accompanying this 
 report, the "Joss House" is, proportioned to population, 
 even more common in Chinatown than are the edifices 
 of the Christian church in other portions of the city. Idols 
 of the most hideous form and feature squat upon their 
 altars, from which license, in the belief of the Chinaman, 
 sufficient to justify crime or vice of any degree may be had 
 for the asking. Idols that typify, not the precepts of 
 morality taught by Confucius, carved and created by the 
 mechanical fancy of the most skillful Mongolian artist into 
 every conceivable distortion of feature and limb, more fre- 
 quently represent and give license to the practice of a vice, 
 than a virtue to be inculcated and lived up to. Even the 
 ' ' Goddess of Prostitution ' ' sits enthroned upon her altar in 
 more than one Joss House in San Francisco, and licenses
 
 40 REPORT OF SPECIAL COMMITTEE 
 
 her votaries to the practice of nameless indulgences and 
 the most bestial gratification of their sensuous lusts. Let 
 the sceptic who views this statement as an exaggeration or 
 misrepresentation of fact visit the Joss Houses of San Fran- 
 cisco and he will no longer doubt; for it is the truth. 
 
 While the Chinese have thus planted their idolatry 
 among us with all its attendant vices, while they have under- 
 mined the morals and the physical health of our youth, and 
 defied our laws, what has Christianity to show, through the 
 aid of its Missionaries or otherwise, in its confiict with 
 Asiatic heathenism, whether it be in the advance of Chris- 
 tian morals or the Christian religion? 
 
 In morals, nothing! And no one can possibly so perveit 
 the truth as to maintain otherwise. In religious teachings 
 let the evidence of the Missionaries themselves speak for 
 itself. 
 
 The Eev. Otis Gibson, who testified before the Legisla- 
 tive Committee upon the occasion heretofore referred to, 
 said that he had been a Missionary of the Methodist Episco- 
 pal Church in China ten years. That he had long been 
 doing missionary work here among the Chinese. That from 
 information obtained from the books of the Six Companies 
 he thought there were about 150,000 Chinamen in California. 
 
 Asked, "How many of these Chinamen have become 
 " Christians — Eoman Catholics as well as Protestants ?" 
 
 He answered, "I could not give you statistics of that 
 " exactly. I don't know what the statistics of the Eomau 
 ** Catholic Church are. They have very few proselytes." 
 
 Q. — ''What do you suppose your converts amount to? 
 Can you approximate how many ?" 
 
 A. — " I suppose that in this city there may be in all one 
 hundred." 
 
 Again, he was asked by Mr. Eggers : "I would like to 
 have you give us your experience as a Missionary with these 
 people ?" 
 
 A. — " Our success with this people has been slow. They
 
 BOAED OP SUPEEYISOKS. * 41 
 
 begin hj going to school, and we gradually teacli tliem to 
 have a disgust for idolatry. That is the first point reached. 
 During my labors / Jiave baptized thirty-Jive or thirty-six per- 
 sons. " 
 
 Q. — "In how many years?" 
 
 A. — "Since 1871, properly speaking." 
 
 This was in 1878, so that the net product of Mr. Gibson's 
 labors in seven years was thirty-five or thirty-six Mongolian 
 souls saved by baptism — provided that it proved that the 
 religion with which they were thus dyed was of fast colors 
 and did not subsequently wash out, by a new baptism of 
 their own election. 
 
 Rev. A. W. Loomis testified that in seventeen years of 
 missionary work in San Francisco his school had "received 
 eighty members; deducting twenty who have been dismissed, 
 and we have sixty-three." 
 
 Let us hear what others testify to upon this question: 
 
 Wong Ben, an intelligent Chinese interpreter, testified 
 before the Legislative Committee as follows : 
 
 Q. — " Do you know any Christian Chinamen?" 
 
 ^ li Yes." 
 
 Q*.—" How many ?" 
 
 A. — " Ten or fifteen. Some believe little. Some just go 
 to school to learn to read ; that is all. Some believe every- 
 thing." 
 
 Lee Kan, interpreter for the Bank of California, testified 
 as follows : 
 
 Q. — " Do you know any Chinese Christians ?" 
 
 A.—" Yes, sir." 
 
 Q. — " Are you one ?" 
 
 A— "No, sir." 
 
 Q. — " Are these men real Christians or are they only 
 pretending to be ?" 
 
 A.— "I cannot tell." 
 
 Q. — " As a rule, are they not such persons as would be- 
 come Christians for good salaries and good positions ? " 
 
 A. — " I guess so." 
 
 Q. — " Do you hear any of them say that Sunday-school 
 is a good place to learn English ?"
 
 42 KEPORT OF SPECIAL COMMITTEE 
 
 A.— "Yes, sir." 
 
 Q. — " Did it strike you that they were more anxious to 
 learn English than to get religious teaching ?" 
 A.—" Yes, sir." 
 
 Now, post the ledger and ascertain how the account 
 stands. Thirty-five or thirty-six souls saved by the missionary 
 work of Mr. Gibson, eighty by Mr. Loomis, making one 
 hundred and fifteen in all, deducting nothing for backsliders, 
 in a maximum period of seventeen years, that being the term 
 of the administration of Mr. Loomis! Against this, thou- 
 sands of young men debauched and diseased for life by 
 reason of their presence among us; innumerable young men 
 and young women confirmed in the opium habit from the 
 same source; the laboring classes deprived of Avork and im- 
 poverished, their children graduated in the school of 
 " Hoodlumism;" the laws set aside and defied; a filthy and 
 disgusting mode of life set up by a clannish population in 
 the fairest and best portion of the city, and made a constant 
 jnenace to the welfare of the community by reason of the 
 danger from fire and disease that will some day spring from 
 that locality. All this to offset the salvation of a few score 
 of souls of beings whose miserable lives and souls ought not 
 in the aggregate to bear a feather's weight against the deep 
 damnation of the curse they have inflicted upon our race, 
 and the ruin and everlasting misery they have brought upon 
 thousands — if the Christian religion be " the true faith " by 
 which human souls are to be saved. 
 
 All this, while their Joss Houses are still illuminated 
 by the dim lamps that rest upon their altars and the 
 oil of which is never burned out. The smoke of their in- 
 cense still wends its way upward, the Joss sticks of fate still 
 invite the superstition of the fatalist, and Chinese idolatry 
 remains, not alone unshaken and full of vigoi-, but, in the 
 contest thus far with the Christian religion upon these 
 shores, it has beaten down the barriers interposed against it, 
 and laughed to scorn the labors of the Missionary.
 
 BOAKD OF SUPERVISOES. 43 
 
 So far, it is the victor, in full possession of the field. So 
 far, Christianity has beaten against it with as little effect and 
 as little purpose as the waves of the Pacific with their sweep 
 of thousands of miles to give them force accomplish, 
 when they thunder and break against the rocky and jutting 
 head-lands of oar own Golden Gate. 
 
 There never was a more wicked and shameful exhibition 
 of detestable, narrow-minded bigotry than that which seeks 
 to justify Chinese immigration by linking it with a scheme 
 for the salvation of souls. The beasts of the field, the 
 vagrant dogs that the Pound-master gathers upon the streets 
 to put to death, by drowning, are vastly better worthy of our 
 commiseration than the whole Mongolian race when they 
 they seek to overrun our country and blast American wel- 
 fare and progress with their miserable, contaminating pres- 
 ence. 
 
 Let the would-be religious enthusiasts of the tribe who 
 would feed the cannibal with texts from the Bible as a cure 
 for his propensity to dine off of human flesh, and scatter 
 tracts in Borrioboolagha as food for the starving, and who 
 believe in the power of Christian contact to wrestle with 
 Chinese idolatry, come here and study this question as your 
 Committee have studied it, and they will return cured of the 
 mind malady with which they are now afflicted, or be en- 
 titled to life support and care in any idiot asylum in the 
 land. So much for the "salvation" side of the Chinese 
 question. 
 
 The Chinese as Murderers. 
 
 The spectacle of (.he past few weeks, of police officers 
 stationed at night at each end of the alleys leading slum- 
 ward in Chinatown, searching the persons of the Chinese 
 who enter and depart therefrom for the purpose of discover- 
 ing concealed weapons, is edifying. It has grown out of a 
 murder which was not long ago committed near one of these 
 alleys, and as it was the work of the assassin's deadly knife,
 
 44 EEPOET OF SPECIAL COMMITTEE 
 
 and has so far baffled all effort at discovery, the police 
 authorities, in the most praiseworthy manner, are endeavor- 
 ing to prevent a similar recurrence aud possibly discover 
 some clue to the murderous Mongol now in hiding. 
 
 This brings before your Committee the subject of 
 " lanpunished crime " in Chinatown, upon which it is proper 
 that such facts as have come to our knowledge should be laid 
 before you. 
 
 Not only does the cunning and utter unscrupulousness of 
 Chinamen enable them to evade our laws, but the evi- 
 dence is conclusive that they have well organized tribunals 
 of their own which punish offenders against themselves when 
 it is their interest to punish, but which never punish those 
 •who violate the laws of the city or the State . 
 
 It has been said of them, with great force and truth, that 
 they ' ' are not only not amenable to law, but they are gov- 
 erned by secret tribunals unrecognized and unauthorized 
 by law. The records of these tribunals have been dis- 
 covered, and are found to be antagonistic to our legal 
 system." 
 
 "These tribunals are formed by the several Chinese 
 companies or guilds, and are recognized as legitimate author- 
 ities by the Chinese population. They levy taxes, com- 
 mand masses of men, intimidate interpreters and witnesses, 
 enforce perjury, regulate trade, punish the refractory, 
 remove witnesses beyond the reach of our courts, control 
 liberty of action, and prevent the return of Chinese to 
 their home in China without their consent. In short, they 
 exercise a despotic sway over one-seventh of the popula- 
 tion of the State of California. 
 
 " They invoke the processes of law only to punish the 
 independent action of their subjects, and it is claimed that 
 they exercise the death penalty upon those who refuse 
 obedience to their decrees. 
 
 " We are disposed to acquit these companies and secret 
 tribunals of the charge of deliberate intent to supersede
 
 BOARD OF SUPERVISOES. 45 
 
 the authority of the State, The system is inherent and 
 part of the fibre of the Chinese mind, and exists because 
 the Chinese are thoroughly and permanently alien to us in 
 language and interests. It is nevertheless a fact that 
 these companies or tribunals do nullify and supersede the 
 State and National authorities. And the fact remains that 
 they constitute a foreign government within the boundaries 
 of the Eepublic." 
 
 Such were the conclusions arrived at by the Legislative 
 Committee in 1876. And they fairly justified their conclu- 
 sions by the proofs which they elicited in the course of their 
 investigations. We cannot better illustrate this than to 
 quote from them at length. They say : 
 
 " That we have not overstated the facts, we beg to refer 
 briefly to some of the testimony of reputable witnesses, 
 given under the sanction of an oath, before this Com- 
 mittee. 
 
 " James R. Eogers, a San Francisco officer of intelli- 
 gence and experience, testifies as follows, (see volume of 
 testimony herewith transmitted, p. 61): 
 
 A, — " I do not know of my own knowledge that such a tri- 
 bunal exists (secret Chinese tribunal). I only know that 
 when a Chinaman swears differently from what they want 
 him to his life is in danger. They sometimes use our 
 Courts to enforce their orders, just as policy may direct. 
 They have no regard for our laws, and obey them, so far 
 as they do, only through fear. 
 
 " D. J. Murphy, District Attorney of the City and 
 County of San Francisco, and one of the ablest and most 
 experienced criminal lawyers in the State [now one of our 
 Criminal Court Judges], testifies as follows, (Evidence, pp. 
 82 and 83): 
 
 Q. — "In your official capacity, have you been brought 
 into contact with Chinese ? " 
 
 A. — " Yes, sir ; ] have looked on my docket for two years, 
 and I find that of seven hundred cases that I examined be- 
 fore the Grand Jury one hundred and twenty were Chi- 
 nese, principally burglaries, grand larcenies, and murders 
 — chiefly burglary. They are very adroit and expert
 
 46 REPORT OF SPECIAL COMMITTEE 
 
 thieves. I have not had time to examine for the last two 
 and a half years, but the proportion has largely increased 
 during that time." 
 
 Q. — " Do you find any difficulty in the administration 
 of justice where they are concerned ? " 
 
 A. — "Yes, sir. In capital cases, particularly, we are met 
 with perjury. I have no doubt but that they act under 
 the direction of superiors, and swear as ordered. In 
 many cases witnesses are spirited away, or alibis are 
 proven. They can produce so many witnesses as to cre- 
 ate a doubt in the minds of jurymen, and thus escape jus- 
 tice. In cases where I have four or five witnesses for the 
 prosecution they will bring in ten or fifteen on the part 
 of the defense. They seem to think that numbers must 
 succeed, and it very frequently so happens. It frequently 
 occurs that before the Grand Jury, or on preliminary 
 examination, witnesses swear so as to convict, but on the 
 trial they turn square around and swear the other way. I 
 have heard it said that they have secret tribunals where 
 they settle all these things, but I know nothing of that. 
 It is my impression that something of the kind exists, and 
 I think they sometimes use our Courts to enforce their 
 decrees. I have had to appeal to Executive clemency for 
 pardon for Chinamen sent to the State Prison by false 
 swearing, under circumstances which led me to believe 
 them to have been the victims of some organization of 
 that kind." 
 
 Q. — " Innocent men can be convicted?" 
 
 A. — " Yes ; and I have no doubt innocent men are con- 
 victed through the medium of perjury and 'jobs' fixed 
 up on them. I have had doubts, during the last three 
 months, in cases of magnitude, involving long terms of 
 imprisonment. " 
 
 Q. — " Among reputable lawyers of this city, who have 
 had experience with Chinese testimony in the Courts, what 
 value has that testimony, standing by itself '? " 
 
 A. — " By itself, and without being corroborated by ex- 
 trinsic facts or white testimony, it is very unreliable." 
 
 Mr. Ellis, Chief of Police of the City of San Fran- 
 cisco, and who has been attached to the Police force of 
 that city for twenty years, testifies as follows, (Evidence, 
 
 E. 112) : ** That it is generally believed that the Chinese 
 ave a court where differences are settled ; and that if, in
 
 BOARD OP SUPERVISORS. 47 
 
 secret, it determines to convict or acquit a Chinaman (on 
 trial before our Courts) tliat judgment is carried out. In 
 a great many cases I believe they have convicted innocent 
 men upon perjured evidence." 
 
 Mr. Charles T. Jones, who for several years past has 
 been the able and efficient District Attorney of Sacra- 
 mento County (the county in which is located our State 
 Capitol), testifies as follows, (Evidence, pp. 124 and 125) : 
 
 A. — " During my term of office I have had considerable to 
 do with Chinese criminals, and always have great difficulty in 
 convicting them of any crime. I remember well the case of 
 Ah Quong, spoken of a few moments ago by Ah Dan. At 
 the time I was defending three parties charged with kidnap- 
 ping, and I had Ah Quong as interpreter, knowing him to be 
 honest and capable. The circumstances of the case were 
 these: A Chinaman wanted to marry a woman then in a 
 house of prostitution. She desired to marry him, and he 
 went with two of his friends to the house. She went with 
 them. They drove out of toVn to get married, when the 
 Chinaman who owned her heard of it and started some 
 officers after her. She was arrested and surrendered to 
 these Chinamen, with instructions to bring her into Court 
 next day. I had this man to interpret for me, being well 
 satisfied that she would swear that she was not being kid- 
 napped. The nest day the owners brought into Court a 
 woman whom the defendants informed me was not the one at 
 all, but another. The attorneys for the other side insisted 
 that it was, believing the statements of their Chinamen to 
 that effect. The case was postponed for two or three days, 
 when it was shown that the woman offered was not the one 
 taken away. This interpreter told me they would kill him 
 as sure as these defendants were not convicted. We went 
 out of the Court-room, and he told me he was afraid to go 
 on I street. I told him not to go then, but I did not think 
 they would trouble him. HaK an hour afterwards he was 
 brought back, shot in the back, and a hatchet having been 
 used on him mutilated him terribly. This was in broad 
 daylight, about eleven o'clock in the morning, on Third and 
 I streets, one of the most public places in the City of Sac- 
 ramento. There were hundreds of Chinese around there at 
 the time; but it was difficult, in the prosecution of the case, 
 to get any Chinese testimony at all. It happened that there 
 were a few white men passing at the time, and we were
 
 48 BEPORT OF SPEOIAIj COMMITTEE 
 
 enabled to identify two men, and tliey were convicted and 
 sent to the State Prison for life, after three trials. They 
 attempted to prove an alibi, and after swearing a large lot 
 of Chinamen they said they had twenty more. The Chinese 
 use the Courts to gain possession of women. Sometimes it 
 happens that where a man is married to a woman they get 
 out a warrant for his arrest, and before he can get bail they 
 have stolen the woman and carried her off to some distant 
 place. I have had Chinamen come to me to find out how 
 many witnesses I had in cases. If they found out, they 
 would get sufficient testimony to override me. Before I was 
 District Attorney I have had Chinese come to me to defend 
 them, and ask me how many witnesses I wanted, and what 
 was necessary to prove in order to acquit. 
 
 Q. — "Do you often find that upon preliminary examina- 
 tions and before the Grand Jury there is enough testimony 
 to warrant a conviction, but on the trial these same wit- 
 nesses swear to an exactly opposite state of facts ?" 
 
 A. — " Very frequently. " « 
 
 Q.— " To what do you attribute that?" 
 
 A. — "I attribute that to the fact that they had tried the 
 case in Chinese Courts, where it had been finally settled. I 
 have records in my office of a Chinese tribunal of that kind, 
 where they tried offenders according to their own rules, 
 meted out what punishment they thought proper, etc. These 
 records were captured in a room on I street, between Fourth 
 and Fifth. I had them translated by an interpreter from 
 San Francisco, and used them on the trial of the robbery 
 cases. The records recite that the members enter into a 
 solemn compact not to enter into partnership with a for- 
 eigner; that a certain man did so, and the company offers so 
 many round dollars to the man who will kill him. They 
 promise to furnish a man to assist the murderer, and they also 
 promise, if he is arrested, they will employ able counsel to 
 defend him. If convicted, he should receive, I think, three 
 dollars for every day he would be confined, and in case he 
 died, certain money would be sent to his relatives. These 
 records appeared in evidence and were admitted; also, a 
 poster that was taken from a house, offering a reward for the 
 killing of this man. This poster was placed on a house in a 
 public street. Being written in Chinese, of course they 
 alone knew its contents, and informed us of them.
 
 BOAED OF SDPERVISOES. 49 
 
 Mat. Karcher, for many years past Chief of Police for the 
 City of Sacramento, testifies as follows. (Evidence, pp. 128 
 and 129) : 
 
 Q. — "Do you know anything about their putting up 
 offers of rewards upon walls and street corners, written in 
 Chinese, for the murder or assassination of given China- 
 men ?" 
 
 A. — "Yes. Of course I could not read Chinese, but I 
 secured some of these posters, and had an interpreter from 
 San Francisco come up here and interpret them. They 
 were rewards for the murder of some Chinamen who did 
 something contrarj' to their laws. They have their own 
 tribunals, where they try Chinamen, and their own laws to 
 govern them. In this way the administration of justice is 
 often defeated entirelj^, or, at least, to a very great extent. I 
 know this, because I was present at a meeting of one of their 
 tribunals about seven years ago. There was some thirty or 
 forty Chinamen there, one appearing to act as Judge. 
 Finally, the fellow on trial was convicted and had to pay so 
 much money, as a fine for the commission of the offense with 
 with which he was charged. Generally, their punishments 
 are in the nature of fines; but sometimes they sentence the 
 defendant to death. In cases in the Police Court we have 
 often found it difficult to make interpreters act. They would 
 tell us that they would be killed if they sjDoke the truth; that 
 their tribunals would sentence them to death, and pay assas- 
 sins to dispatch them. About two years and a half or three 
 years ago Ah Quong was killed. During the trial, at which 
 he was interpreter, there were a great many Chinamen. I 
 stationed officers at the doors, and then caused each one to 
 be searched as he came out of the room, the interpreter hav- 
 ing told me that he feared they would murder him. Upon 
 these Chinamen I found all sorts of weapons — hatchets, pis- 
 tols, bowie-knives, Chinese swords, and many others. There 
 were forty-five weapons in all, I think, concealed about 
 their persons in all kinds of ways. The interpreter testified 
 in that case, and half an hour after leaving the Court-room 
 he was brought back, shot, and cut with hatchets. He was 
 terribly mutilated, and lived only a few moments after being 
 brought to the station-house. The murderers were arrested, 
 but attempted to prove an alibi, and had a host of Chinese 
 witnesses present for that purpose. Although there were 
 some hundreds of Chinese present at the time of the mui'der, 
 
 12
 
 50 REPORT OF SPECIAL COMMITTEE 
 
 the prosecution was forced to rely upon the evidence of a 
 few white men who chanced to see the deed committed. We 
 were opposed at every turn by the Chinamen and the 
 Chinese companies. As a general thing it is utterly impos- 
 sible to enforce the laws with any certainty against those 
 people, while they will themselves use our laws to persecute 
 innocent men who have gained their enmity. They seem to 
 have no idea concerning the moral obligation of an oath, and 
 care not for our form of swearing." 
 
 Mr. Ellis, Chief of Police for San Francisco, testified as 
 follows. (Evidence, p. 112) : 
 
 Q. — " What are the difficulties in the way of enforcing 
 laws in cases where the Chinese are concerned ?" 
 
 A. — "The Chinese will swear to anything, according to 
 orders. Their testimony is so unreliable that they cannot be 
 believed." 
 
 Q. — " What is the greatest difficulty in the way of sup- 
 pressing prostitution and gambling ?" 
 
 A. — "To suppress these vices would require a police 
 force so great that the city could not stand the expense. It 
 is difficult to administer justice, because we do not under- 
 stand their language, and thus all combine to defeat the 
 laws." 
 
 Q. — "What is their custom of settling cases among 
 themselves, and then refusing to furnish testimony ?" 
 
 A. — " It is generally believed to be true that the Chinese 
 have a Court of Arbitration where they settle differences." 
 
 Q. — " After this settlement is made, is it possible to ob- 
 tain testimony from the Chinese?" 
 
 A. — " If in secret they determine to convict a Chinaman, 
 or to acquit him, that judgment is carried out. In a great 
 many cases I believe they have convicted innocent men 
 through perjured evidence." 
 
 Mr. Davis Louderback, for several years past Judge of 
 the Police Court of San Francisco, testifies as follows. (Evi- 
 dence, p. 93) : 
 
 Q. — " What do you know about the habits, customs, and 
 social and moral status of the Chinese population of this 
 city?" 
 
 A. — "I think they are a very immoral, mean, menda- 
 cious, dishonest, thieving people, as a general thing ."
 
 BOAED OF SUPERVISORS 51 
 
 Q. — "What aj-e the difficulties in the way of the admin- 
 istration of justice where they are concerned?" 
 
 A. — " As witnesses, their veracity is of the lowest degree. 
 They do not appear to realize the sanctity of an oath, and it 
 is difficult to enforce the laws where they are concerned, for 
 that reason. They are very apt, in all cases and under all 
 circumstances, to resort to perjury and the subornation of 
 perjury. They also use our criminal law to revenge them- 
 selves upon their enemies, and malicious prosecutions are 
 frequent." 
 
 An Chung testified : 
 
 Q. — "What do the Chinamen do with anybody who tes- 
 tifies in Court against the women ?" 
 
 A. — Ah Geo, Wong Woon, and Ah Fook put up money 
 to kill him." 
 
 Q. — "Do you know whether any paper is ever put up 
 offering money to kill Chinamen ?" 
 
 A. — " Yes. I saw them." 
 
 Q. — " Have they threatened to kill you if you testify ?" 
 
 A. — " Yes. I am a little scared." 
 
 Q.— " What are you afraid of ?" 
 
 A. — "Afraid shoot me." 
 
 Q. — " Do you know of anybody being killed?" 
 
 A.— "Yes." 
 
 Q.—" What for ?" 
 
 A. — " One boy he testify against women, and they kill 
 him with a knife." 
 
 Ah Gow sworn. 
 
 Mr. Haymond — " Can you speak English V" 
 
 A.— "Yes, sir." 
 
 Q 
 
 A 
 
 Q 
 
 A 
 
 Q 
 
 A 
 
 Q 
 
 A 
 
 Q 
 
 A 
 
 Q 
 
 A. 
 
 " How long have you been in San Francisco?" 
 — " One year." 
 — " How long in California?" 
 — " Three years." 
 — " Where have you lived ?" 
 —" At Half-moon Bay." 
 — * 'What did you work at ?" 
 — " Making cigars." 
 —" For white people ?" 
 — "No; for a Chinaman — Ah Wah." 
 — "To what company do you belong?" 
 — " Ning-yeung."
 
 62 REPORT OF SPECIAL COMMITTEE 
 
 Q. — "Do you know anything about threats being made 
 against Chinamen for testifying in the American Courts ?" 
 
 A. — "Ah Geo, Bi Chee, and Wong Woon say they 
 shoot me." 
 
 Q.—" What for ?" 
 
 A. — "They say I pick out prostitutes in Court." 
 
 Q. — " Are you a witness now ?" 
 
 A.— "Yes, sir." 
 
 Q. — " Do they threaten to shoot you if you tell ihe 
 truth?" 
 
 A.— " Tes, sir." 
 
 Q. — "Do you know anything aboui notices being posted 
 up offering rewards for killing men ?" 
 
 A. — " Yes. I have seen thera." 
 
 Ah Dan sworn. 
 
 3Ir. Haymond — "How long have you been in California?" 
 
 A. — "Almost ten years." 
 
 Q. — " From what part of China did you come ?" 
 
 A.~" Back of Canton." 
 
 Q. — " How old are you now?" 
 
 A. — " f believe I am twenty-eight." 
 
 Q. — " What have you been doing since you came to Cali- 
 fornia ?" 
 
 A. — "Cooking in kitchens and working in restaurants." 
 
 Q. — "Have you been living with Americans most of the 
 time?" 
 
 A.— "Tes, sir." 
 
 Q. — "Have you ever been interpreter in the Police 
 Court?" 
 
 A.— "Yes, sir." 
 
 Q. — "Have you any fears about testifying here and 
 telling all you know ? Are you afraid ?" 
 
 A. — "I ain't much afraid. I came up here to swear, and 
 I must tell all I know." 
 
 Q. — " Have ever any threats been made against you for 
 testifying in the Police Court, or for interpreting truly ?" 
 
 A. — "Yes, sir; I am afraid because Chinamen got too 
 much to gas about. Because one got convicted he think it 
 all a put up job by me. In Sacramento City two interpreters 
 killed." 
 
 Q. — " You say there were two interpreters killed in Sac- 
 ramento ?"
 
 BOAKD OF SUPERVISORS. 53 
 
 A. — "Yes, sir; one was Ah Quong, and one Ah Oow." 
 
 Q.—" How long ago ?" 
 
 A. — "I wasn't in California the first oner; Ah Quong, 
 two years ago." 
 
 Q.— " What was he killed for?" 
 
 A. — "Because he interpreted in Court. Chinamen 
 thought he ought to have American man get Chinaman clear. 
 They thought he had power to do it; but he couldn't do it, 
 and they killed him." 
 
 Q. — "If you are interpreting in Court, and you don't get 
 a man clear, will they kill you ?" 
 
 A. — " No, sir; I am not afraid when I do what is right." 
 
 Q. — " Have they threatened to kill you when you did not 
 get Chinamen clear?" 
 
 A. — "No; not yet. Sometimes they get talking on the 
 street about gambling-houses on I street, and Chinamen 
 blame me for stopping them." 
 
 Q. — " What do they threaten to do — threaten to kill 
 
 you?" 
 
 A. — "Talking about killing me." 
 
 Q. — " Do you know District Attorney Jones ?" 
 
 A. — "Yes, sir." 
 
 Q. — "Did you tell him last week that some of them 
 threatened to kill you ?" 
 
 A. — " Yes, sir; some of them. A man came to me a few 
 days ago and told me they were going to kill a Police Court 
 interpreter, advising me to leave the city, because he said 
 somebody would come and kill me; some men had put up 
 rewards, and some men whom I did not know were coming 
 from San Francisco to kill me. I was before the Grand 
 Jury and explained the game of " tan," and for this they put 
 up a reward, and I am to be killed by three men from San 
 Francisco I don't know. The reward offered for my life is 
 five or six hundred dollars. I have heard of rewards of this 
 kind being put here and elsewhere. I have not seen any 
 here, but have in San Francisco. They are in Chinese, and 
 posted up, saying that these men will make agreement, if 
 some man kill another, to pay the murderer so much money. 
 These agreements for murder are red papers written in 
 Chinese, and say they will give so much money on condition 
 you kill so-and-so, naming the person. If the murderer is 
 arrested, they will get good counsel to defend him. If he is 
 sent to prison, they will pay him so much money to recom-
 
 64: EEPORT OF SPECIAL COMMITTEE 
 
 pense liim, and if he is hung they will send so much money 
 to his relatives in China." 
 
 Q. — "Did you go to officer Jackson and ask him not to 
 subpoena you, if he could help it, in the Hung Hi case ?" 
 
 A. — "Yes. I said to him, 'I don't know about the case. 
 If you put me on the stand, and it don't go as they want it, 
 they will blame me.' " 
 
 Q. — "Didn't you tell him. you were afraid they would 
 kill you?" 
 
 A.—" I did tell him so." 
 
 Q. — " You were afraid ?" 
 
 A. — "Yes, sir. I told Charley O'Neil some put up 
 money to kill me. He told me not to fear — to keep a look- 
 out for myself. In case I testify here to all I know, I'm 
 afraid they will kill me." 
 
 Lem Schaum, a Christian Chinaman, educated and 
 speaking English well, testified before the Committee as 
 follows: 
 
 Q. — " Do you know anything about notices of rewards 
 being posted up in Chinese quarters in Ran Francisco or 
 here for the punishment of certain men — a notice of this 
 kind : ' Five hundred dollars or six hundred dollars will be 
 given for the assassination or murder of some Chinaman ?' " 
 
 A. — "I do. That is a Chinese custom. When mem- 
 bers of a company do anything against the rules of that 
 company they are punished. Suppose one member of a 
 company comes to me and says, 'Go and steal a woman 
 from a Chinaman,' and I do so for him. Because I favor 
 him, his enemies prove I stole the woman, and put up a 
 reward of five hundred or one thousand dollars to have me 
 killed. That is the way they do." 
 
 Q. — " Do they post their reward up publicly?" 
 
 A. — "1 think not. I think they do that in secret." 
 
 Q. — "Has it been your experience that these secret 
 judgments were carried into execution ?" 
 
 A. — "They pop it to you every time." 
 
 Q. — "Almost every time a judgment is entered that a man 
 shall die, and they offer so much money to have him killed, 
 he is killed ?" 
 
 A.— "Exactly." 
 
 Q. — "They take every advantage?" 
 
 A.— "Yes, sir."
 
 BOARD OF SUPERVISORS. 65 
 
 Q. — "That is regarded as a death sentence?" 
 
 A. — " Yes, sir. The man knows he has to die, but gets 
 cmt of the way if he can." 
 
 Q. — "That makes it difficult for any Chinaman, if he is 
 so disposed, to protect women ?" 
 
 A.— "Tes, sir." 
 
 Q, — " If a Chinaman takes a woman to the Mission, that 
 sort of a reward will be offered ?" 
 
 A. — "Yes, sir; most likely." 
 
 Q. — " Do you know of their custom of settling cases that 
 get into the courts? For instance, a Chinaman is arrested 
 for kidnapping one of these women. Do you know anything 
 about their settling that among themselves and keeping the 
 testimony away from the courts ?" 
 
 A.—" I believe they do that." 
 
 Q. — "They have some sort of a tribunal in which they 
 settle this thing for themselves ?" 
 
 A. — " Yes, sir." 
 
 Q, — "Have they a tribunal which punishes offences 
 against their customs ?" 
 
 A. — "Yes, sir. For instance, suppose I should march 
 myself out and kill a Chinaman. I am brought before the 
 Company and made to pay a fine. They take the money 
 and send it back to the family of the killed party to support 
 his mother." 
 
 Q. — "If you kill a member of the See Yup Company, the 
 See Yup Company will determine, through this tribunal, 
 that you shall pay so much money ?" 
 
 A.— "Yes, sir." 
 
 Q. — " Suppose you pay that money?" 
 
 A.—" Then I will be all right." 
 
 Q. — " They would not try to punish you by law?" 
 
 A.— "No, sir." 
 
 Q. — " Suppose you refuse to pay the money ?" 
 
 A. — " I must go through the American courts." 
 
 Q. — " And they will convict you?" 
 
 A.~" Exactly." 
 
 Q. — "If you do pay the money they will protect you 
 against the American laws ?" 
 
 A. — " They let the whole matter drop." 
 
 Q. — "And keep witnesses out of the way ?" 
 
 A.— "Yes, sir." 
 
 Q. — " Is it impossible, then, to administer justice, under
 
 56 EEPORT OF SPECIAL COMMITTEE 
 
 our laws, to this Chinese population ?" 
 A. — "Exactly; it is impossible." 
 
 Charles P, O'Neil, twenty years a policeman in Sacra- 
 mento, testified upon the same occasion as follows : 
 
 Q. — " Do you know anything about the murder of the 
 first interpreter ?" 
 
 A. — "Yes, sir. He belonged to the Ning Teung Com- 
 pany, which broke off from the See Yup Company. He was 
 considered as a pretty bad sort of man, for he was going 
 after some Chinamen pretty lively. He was in the habit of 
 assisting to make convictions, trumping up false charges, 
 etc." 
 
 Q. — " How do you know they were false?" 
 
 A. — " They proved to be so afterwards." 
 
 Q. — " How was he removed?" 
 
 A. — " They sent to China for a man to come here and 
 kill him. Letters were sent to this Chinaman at Folsom, 
 where he was living, and also telegraphic dispatches, warn- 
 ing him that he was to be murdered. He immediately came 
 to Sacramento City and went into a gambling house. He 
 was sitting down, leaning over the table, and this man that 
 was to kill him was standing opposite. This fellow walked 
 behind the interpreter and shot him. As he fell he shot 
 him a second time and then walked into the street. This 
 was about six o'clock in the evening. He walked about 
 forty steps up the street. He then crossed the street and 
 walked about one hundred and fifty feet further. Then he 
 threw his pistol in a doorway and went probably seventy- 
 five feet further, and jumped down into a yard and disap- 
 peared. He went to China and was there pretty near y a 
 year, when he came back and died in San Francisco, just 
 about the time we discovered his whereabouts. Before he 
 did this kiting he had gone to China. He was then sent for 
 by the com panics and came back. He was in this State 
 only three or four days when he killed his man." 
 
 Q. — " What reason had they for wanting this man mur- 
 dered ?" 
 
 A. — "There was a white man murdered in Amador 
 County by some Chinese in his employ. He was a Mr. 
 Griswold, " a wealthy ditch owner. The Chinese fled to 
 Marysville. Ah Gow, the interpreter, was living there then, 
 and he went to white men and said : ' The murderers of Mr. 
 Griswold are in a wash-house across the street. Arrest
 
 BOAED OF SUPEEYISOES. 57 
 
 them and -we will make the reward.' The men were arrested, 
 taken to Amador County and hung. That was why Ah Gow 
 was killed." 
 
 Q. — " Do you know what company brought this man 
 out?" 
 
 A. — "No, sir. I only learned that from the Chinese a 
 year after the murderer left. The head of one of the com- 
 panies in San Francisco was arrested for conspiracy and 
 brought to Sacramento. On the preliminary examination 
 he was discharged. He was a very old man, and was the 
 man who presided at the meeting at which the reward was 
 offered for the murder." 
 
 Q.—" When was this?" 
 
 A. — " Twelve years or more ago. Professional fighters 
 are in the constant employ of the companies. These fighters 
 committed several murders here some time ago, but we could 
 not catch them. Several were arrested, but nothing could 
 be proved. The Chinese told me they had settled the thing 
 in their own tribunals, and that ended it." 
 
 F. L. Gordon testified that he had for some years been 
 publishing a Chinese newspaper. He knew of cases where 
 men had been hired to kill others. 
 
 ' ' The first was Ah Suey, a member of the Wang-Tung- 
 Sing Society. He did something contrary to their rules in 
 regard to the collection of money. I was in Ah Suey's 
 house the very day he was killed. He knew there was a re- 
 ward offered for his death and he had not gone out for some 
 days. He told me he was going to collect some money and 
 would go to China in a sailing vessel. I told him I heard 
 there was a reward offered for his death and he had better 
 look out. During the day he went into Washington alley 
 thirty or forty feet, when he was shot in the back and 
 instantly killed." 
 
 Q.— " Who offered the reward?" 
 
 A. — "I heard that the society offered it. I think the 
 amount offered was eight hundred dollars." 
 
 Q. — "Have you seen rewards of that kind posted up ?" 
 
 A. — "Yes, sir ; they are written on red paper." 
 
 Q. — " Mention some other cases." 
 
 A. — " A Chinaman on Jackson street was sent for by 
 Chinamen, to whom he had loaned money, and was told that 
 if he would go to a certain room on Jackson street they 
 would pay him. Two men waited for him there and they 
 killed him."
 
 68 BEPORT OF SPECIAL COMMITTEE 
 
 Q. — ""Was there any evidence of a reward having been 
 offered for his death ?" 
 
 A. — "I heard it spoken of in this way before it hap- 
 pened : That there would be money paid for his death. I 
 was in a house two days before the killing and there heard 
 the matter spoken of. I am perfectly satisfied that Lis death 
 was the result of a reward." 
 
 In all these evidences of unpunished crime perpetrated 
 by the Chinese in Caliiornia, in these evidences of a pre- 
 vailing system of murder encouraged and sanctioned by 
 their companies, tribunals or societies, we are, of course, 
 but repeating what has been told before and with which the 
 public have heretofore been made familiar. Grouped in this 
 manner and in this connection, more concisely stated than 
 when scattered through a volume of reports of investigations 
 which cover a wide variety of questions, it is equally as 
 valuable as any new testimony of a similar character would 
 be for our present purposes. These purposes are to con- 
 vince the Board and the people of the nation that 
 these people are born and reared in savagery as 
 well as vice, and that there is no grade of crime 
 that they cannot and will not perpetrate for hire, our laws 
 and our officers of the law being meanwhile, in most in- 
 stances, powerless to prevent or to bring them to punish- 
 ment. In itself alone it is good and sufficient reason why 
 they should be shut out from coming to and living upon 
 American soil. Add it to the long list of other equally 
 forcible reasons, it leaves the pro-Chinese advocate without 
 a shadow of argument to longer continue the controversy in- 
 volved in the Chinese immigration question . 
 
 The Chinese Children and the Public Schools. 
 
 We have shown that there are 722 children of Chinese 
 parentage in Chinatown. Most if not all of these were 
 born here, and are to all intents and purposes "native 
 Americans." Though "native " they are not " to the manner
 
 BOARD OF SUPERVISOES. 59 
 
 born," because in every attribute of juvenile life they are 
 Mongolian, as much so as if born in the province of Canton. 
 The very exclusiveness and clannishness of the Chinese has 
 so far preserved these children from contact with the Cau- 
 casian race, and not one word of English, or any other lan- 
 guage than Chinese, can they articulate. In the drift of 
 life it is quite possible that some of these later on may be 
 brought in their younger years sufficiently in contact with 
 the English-speaking Christian world to imbibe some of its 
 habits and acquire some knowledge of the language. 
 
 But what results will follow ? Will assimilation begin, 
 and race mixture begin, with a mingling of Caucasian and 
 Mongolian blood, and a new addition be thus made to the 
 strain of American blood mixture to add one more thread to 
 the intricacy of the present race problem that is to be 
 worked out on our shores ? To follow this inquiry and to 
 indulge in speculation on this point forms no part of our 
 duty at the present moment, however interesting and im- 
 portant it may be in the broad consideration of the Chinese 
 question. 
 
 The point is, what shall we do with these Chinese chil- 
 dren born upon our soil, though partaking in no respect of 
 the proclivities and habits of any other known race except 
 those of their own progenitors ? And this opens the ques- 
 tion that has often been agitated as to their admission to the 
 public schools, and their right, under the law, to share the 
 benefits to be derived from the public school fund. We 
 have shown that there is no distinct line of demarcation — 
 here at least — between domestic life and prostitution. We 
 have shown that the p.duted harlots of the slums and alleys, 
 the women who are bought and sold to the slavery of prostitu- 
 tion, are surrounded by children in some instances, and 
 intermingle freely with the border class of family life where 
 other children abound. We have shown that to all outward 
 intents and purposes prostitution such as this, and with 
 these surroundings, is a recognized feature of the economy
 
 60 EEPOKT OF SPECIAL COMMITTEE 
 
 of Mongolian life, in San Francisco at least. What, then, 
 shall be said if the doors of our schoolhouses are to be 
 opened to admit children reared in such an atmosphere ? 
 What, indeed, shall be said of the proposition to educate 
 them separate and apart from children of other races, and 
 how can we with consistency deny them this right? Speak- 
 ing no language but the Chinese, born and nurtured in filth 
 and degradation, it is scarcely probable that any serious 
 attempt could be made to mingle them with the other chil- 
 dren of our public schools without kindling a blaze of revo- 
 lution in our midst. And again, by what right, constitu- 
 tional or statutory, can we set apart separate schools and a 
 separate fund for their education or maintenance ? And yet 
 something must be done with them, some action must be 
 taken to rid them of their race proclivities and habits if we 
 would protect posterity from unlimited evil consequences. 
 Here there may well be a field for true missionary work and 
 a problem that will tax the wisdom and patience of mankind 
 to solve. If the immigration of the race were effectually 
 stopped the riddle would be less intricate to deal with. But 
 if it is to continue, even under the conditions of misnamed 
 ' ' restriction ' ' which at present exist, how to deal with this 
 constantly increasing number of Mongolian children, born 
 and nurtured in such conditions of immorality and degra- 
 dation, becomes indeed a more serious problem than any 
 which the American people have ever yet been called upon 
 to solve, not excepting the abrogation of Airican slavery and 
 the horrors which attended its achievement. 
 
 If these children could be separated from their parents 
 and scattered among our own people, away from the popu- 
 lous centers, the question involved would be perhaps easy of 
 adjustment. The laws of nature and of men prohibit this, 
 while the laws of morality, and the law of self-protection, 
 must compel our own people to sternly prohibit them from 
 mingling with our children in the public schools, or as com- 
 panions and playmates. What, then, we again ask, is to be
 
 BOARD OF SUPERVISOES. 61 
 
 done with the Chinese children, born upon our soil, and that 
 are yet to be born, in a ratio co-equal in its increase with the 
 increase of immigration ? To this inquiry there seems to be 
 but one answer. Chinese immigration must stop! — abso- 
 lutely stop ! ! For it is beyond the ingenuity of men to deal 
 fairly with this phase of the question, except by a reversal of 
 the laws of nature. And a violent separation of children from 
 parents as fast as they are born, and delivering them over to 
 our own race for education and a new order of life is a pro- 
 position not to be thought of. So, then, while the conclu- 
 sions which your Committee have arrived at as to the best 
 method of dealing with the Chinese here among us, and 
 those which are to come after, as a local remedy for the 
 evils which their presence now inflict upon us, are in their 
 judgment wise and practical, the real remedy is the eventual 
 stoppage of Chinese immigration, by such absolute, autocratic 
 Congressional legislation as shall make it physically impos- 
 sible for the Chinamen to land upon our shores, except, per- 
 haps, in a commercial capacity alone, or as a student seeking 
 the advantages of our educational institutions. Such legisla- 
 tion, perhaps, cannot be secured until the Eastern mind is 
 educated on the Chinese question as have been the minds of 
 the people upon this coast. And the best way to accomplish 
 that end is to so deal with the Chinese here by local laws, 
 made to be enforced, so as to drive them from our midst to 
 mingle with Eastern communities, and to educate them by 
 contact with their presence, as they have educated us through 
 the same process, up to a realizing sense of the frightfully- 
 disastrous results growing out of their presence among them. 
 Until such results as these can be reached — be it at an early 
 or a late day — what we shall do with the Chinese children is 
 a question that may well rest in abeyance. Meanwhile, 
 guard well the doors of our public schools, that they do not 
 enter. For, however hard and stern such a doctrine may 
 sound, it is but the enforcement of the law of self-preserva- 
 tion, the inculcation of the doctrine of true humanity, and an
 
 62 REPORT OF SPECIAL COMMITTEE 
 
 integral part of the enforcement of the iron rule of right by 
 which we hope presently to prove that we can justly and 
 practically- defend ourselves from this invasion of Mongolian 
 barbarism. 
 
 The Chinese as Tax-Payers. 
 
 We have searched diligently, so far, to find some good 
 that the community at large derives from the presence of the 
 Chinese among us. We do not have to go far to ascertain 
 the fact that, as a cheap laborer he is a source of profit to a 
 few manufacturers; but when we try to ascertain how much 
 or in what direction he contributes to the material or moral 
 welfare of the community, the search is in vain, the results 
 nil. 
 
 "But surely," the world will ask, " you have more than 
 thirty thousand Chinese in San Francisco; they must con- 
 tribute a reasonable share toward the support of the govern- 
 ment and the public institutions of the city as tax-payers?" 
 Let us see how this is. And here again the evidence is at 
 hand in the respect of the Legislative Committee already 
 quoted from. They say: 
 
 Mr. Badlam, Assessor of San Francisco, testifies, (Evi- 
 dence, p. 82): "The population of San Francisco is about 
 two hundred and fifty thousand; of that about thirty thou- 
 sand are Chinese. The Chinese pay about one three-thou- 
 sandths part of the taxes. 
 
 "The committee addressed circular letters to each County 
 Assessor in the State, and from returns received, the assessed 
 value of all property real and personal assessed to Chinese 
 in this State does not exceed one million five hundred thou- 
 sand dollars. The rate of State tax is sixty-four cents on 
 each cue hundred dollars in value, and if the whole tax was 
 paid, the revenue derived by the State from the property tax 
 laid upon property held by Chinese would not exceed nine 
 thousand six hundred dollars. 
 
 " The assessed value of all the property in the State is, 
 in round numbers, six hundred million.
 
 BOAED OP SUPERVISOES. 63 
 
 " The total populatioD of the State is about seven hun- 
 dred and fifty thousand, and the Chinese population is more 
 than one-sixth of the whole . 
 
 " The Chinese population, amounting to at least one- 
 sixth of the whole population, pays less than one four-hun- 
 dreth part of the revenue required to support the State 
 Government. 
 
 " The State appropriates ten thousand dollars per month 
 for the support of the State Prison, the earnings of the pris- 
 oners falling that much short of maintaining the prison. It 
 will be seen that the net cost to the State for each prisoner 
 is about thirty cents per day; and this without taking into 
 consideration the cost of prison buildings 
 
 "The net cost to the State of keeping one hundred and 
 ninety-eight Chinese prisoners in the State Prison is not less 
 than twenty-one thousand sis hundred dollars per annum, a 
 sum twelve thousand dollars in excess of the whole amount 
 of the property tax collected from the Chinese population of 
 the State." 
 
 So much for the Chinaman as a tax-payer. Where, then, 
 may we look to find a single good derived from his presence 
 among us ? It is a question your Committee cannot answer, 
 and one that will stagger the ingenuity of the warmest 
 admirers and defenders of the race, when they enter upon 
 the labor of inquiry in this direction. 
 
 Relations and Responsibilities of Property-Owners. 
 
 Chinatown occupies that portion of San Francisco which, 
 geographically and topographically, is by far the fairest and 
 naturally the most valuable section of the city. It was the 
 section which naturally attracted the attention of the early 
 pioneers, and there they located their offices and their 
 homes. The advance guard of the Mongolian army saw that 
 the location was good, and they advanced upon and cap- 
 tured it. Its capture was but a work of form, for civilization 
 retreats instinctively from contact with the race with the 
 same feeling of horror that the fair and innocent maiden 
 would exhibit in shrinking from the proffered embrace of an 
 unclean leper.
 
 64 EEPORT OF SPECIAL COMMITTEE 
 
 Under such circumstances the property-owner had no 
 alternative but to accept the Mongolian for a tenant and 
 make the best of the situation. Up to this point the prop- 
 erty-owner in Chinatown is beyond criticism. And when 
 property-owners on the outskirts of Chinatown continue to 
 yield possession to the race, as tenants, as the Chinese can- 
 cer eats its way westward, to them no blame can attach, for 
 it is that or a sacrifice of their property as a source of in- 
 come. The blame for this condition of things lies with 
 Chinese immigration in itself, for which the nation, and not 
 the property-holder in San Francisco, is on trial. 
 
 But, as we proceed further with the consideration of this 
 branch of the subject, the property-owner frequently ap- 
 pears in a less creditable position. He has had no special 
 reason to regret the occupation of his premises by Chinese 
 in so far as the rate of revenue derived therefrom is con- 
 cerned, for that revenue, if your Committee are credibly 
 informed, has been materially larger than could have been 
 obtained from any other class of tenants. When, therefore, 
 he permits his premises to be transformed into barricaded 
 gambling dens, opium joints, kennels of prostitution and 
 sinks of vice of the lowest possible description; when he per. 
 mits cess-pools, bad connections with the sewers, or open 
 sewage to exist upon his property, he becomes particeps 
 criminis in this great wrong against civilization, and should 
 be held strictly accountable for his share in the transaction. 
 The property-owner in Chinatown must be made to feel his 
 responsibility in this matter before Chinatown can ever be 
 brought to a level with common public decency. 
 
 Even to-day, while this is being written, the owner of the 
 property at No. 806 Dupont street is erecting and com- 
 pleting a brick building across which, upon the first floor, 
 25 feet from the front wall, a plank partition is built, three 
 inches in thickness, to which boiler iron three-eighths of an 
 inch thick is bolted across the entire face of the partition, 
 while the door is constructed in like manner with all the
 
 BOARD OF SUPERVISORS. 65 
 
 adjuncts necessary to enable it to resist attack and siege. 
 Its uses and purposes are, of course, to make secure, in open 
 defiance of the law, the gambling den that is to be run 
 within. 
 
 As long as the municipality of San Francisco tolerates 
 such abuses and such violations of the law, so long must we 
 hold our peace when the world points the finger of adverse 
 criticism, and asks : ' ' Why do you not put your own house 
 in order in the matter of dealing with Chinese before you 
 ask the aid of the nation to suppress these wrongs ? " 
 
 How long would property-owners in any other part of the 
 city be able to convert their buildings into such citadels of 
 public defiance for the accommodation and defense of the 
 faro dealer or gambler of any class ? How long would pub- 
 lic opinion or the public authorities permit such a state of 
 things to continue? And yet it has, for thirty jea,rs and 
 more, been carried on with open impunity in Chinatown, 
 and the example of the iron-clad fortification which we have 
 here referred to is but one of the many. For this the pro- 
 perty-owner certainly ought to be held responsible and 
 made amenable to the law. 
 
 Thus, with its filth, its odors, its vices and the general 
 repulsive character of its people, Chinatown stands to-day a 
 barrier against the advancement of the city northward and 
 westward. It is the moral purgatory through which all must 
 pass who inhabit, visit, labor in or own property in those 
 sections of the city, out of which they do not pass, however 
 cleansed by the contact, but nauseated and disgusted, and 
 perchance defiled by Mongolian filth or disease. We must 
 look to the property-owner for his full share of responsi- 
 bility for this condition of things and his fair contribution 
 toward its modification and preventionr 
 
 13
 
 66 EEPOET OF SPECIAL COJVOIITTEE 
 
 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS. 
 
 We harve thus presented for your consideration and for 
 the consideration of the public the salient features of the 
 mode of life, effect upon home labor, habits, industries, 
 vices and contempt of local laws of Chinese in Chinatown. 
 It clearly appears that the present and prospective condition 
 of things calls for a more energetic and better-defined line 
 of policy than San Francisco has heretofore displayed, and 
 the adoption and enforcement of such measures as will bring 
 this people under the same control as that which is now ex- 
 ercised over other citizens generally. 
 
 We cannot shut our eyes to the fact that the Treaty and 
 the Restriction Act constitute no effectual barrier as yet 
 against Chinese immigration. The tide may not be flowing 
 in upon us as rapidly nor with the same volume as before, 
 but "the cry is still they come," and the problem of Chinese 
 immigration is not yet solved. Moreover, it is far better to 
 face the fact that through British Columbia on the north 
 and Mexico on the south the march of the Mongolian 
 cannot be effectually stayed, except by such Congressional 
 legislation and such an expenditure of public moneys as 
 shall render such a result physically impossible of accom- 
 plishment; and we must meet the issue as it is presented 
 and settle the question of how best to deal with the Chinaman 
 when once he is among us, how best protect ourselves from 
 the baneful effects of his presence. 
 
 The right of protecting ourselves, the right of holding 
 the Chinese to the same responsibilities under the laws that 
 other citizens are held, cannot be disputed. The fact that
 
 BOAED OF SUPERVISOES. 67 
 
 the race is one that cannot readily throw off its habits and 
 customs, the fact that these habits and customs are so wide- 
 ly at variance with our own, makes the enforcement of our 
 laws and compulsory obedience to our laws necessarily ob- 
 noxious and revolting to the Chinese; and the more rigidly 
 this enforcement is insisted upon and carried out the less 
 endurable will existence be to them here, the less attractive 
 will life be to them in California. Fewer will come and 
 fewer will remain. The very race proclivities which we thus 
 abhor may be converted into a better safeguard against 
 Chinese immigration than any law of Congress or any treaty, 
 if these race proclivities which are sure to run counter to 
 our laws and our system of morals are held sternly in check. 
 
 at whatever cost to the State or to the city. 
 
 Compel the Chinamen, by municipal laws which are not 
 only enacted but enforced, to live like our own race; prevent 
 them from burrowing and crowding together like vermin; 
 enforce cleanliness in mode of life; breakup opium dens and 
 gambling hells; restrict the number of inhabitants in any 
 given block in the city; enforce upon this people, so far as 
 may be possible by every legitimate method that can 
 be devised, a cost of living that shall approach as nearly as 
 possible that of the ordinary white laborer. Take away 
 from the Chinaman by such m thods as these the largest 
 possible part of the profits of his earnings as they accrue 
 now from his present mode of life, and thus exhaust every 
 effort to bring him to the level of the at present fearfully- 
 handicapped American laborer, and California, or San 
 Francisco, at least, will soon cease to be attractive as a place 
 of abode, and a less profitable field of labor for the China- 
 man than it is at present. Scatter them by such a policy as
 
 / 
 
 68 EEPORT OP SPECIAL COMMITTEE 
 
 this to other States, and let other States take home to them- 
 selves the full measure of the extent of the curse of Chinese 
 immigration, when they shall have felt the evil as we feel it 
 here. Well-devised, well-considered and firmly-enforced 
 municipal laws that will bring about such results as these 
 will accomplish more in one year than declamations from 
 the "Sand Lot" and bursts of public indignation can accom- 
 plish in a century. 
 
 This Chinese question is large enough to deserve cool 
 and dispassionate handling, and to call for the highest pos- 
 sible degree of statesmanship in dealing with it. 
 
 So great an authority as Baron Alexander Von Hubner, 
 formerly the Austrian Embassador to France, who for years 
 past has been traveling around the world, and who is the 
 author of several learned works, recently delivered a dis- 
 course at the Oriental Museum in Vienna, of which the fol- 
 lowing extracts appeared in the columns of the Vienna 
 press : 
 
 " Whoever speaks of the important changes on the face 
 " of the globe must not allow China to pass unremarked. 
 ** The war of England and France against the Celestial Em- 
 " pire was an historical fact of world-wide importance, not 
 *' because of the military successes achieved — the most 
 *' famous of which was the plunder and destruction of the 
 " imperial Summer Palace at Pekin — but because the allies 
 *' cast down the walls through which 400,000,000 of inhabit- 
 *' ants were hermetically losed in from the outside world. 
 *' With the intention of opening China to Europeans, the 
 *' globe has been thrown open to the Chinese. Who travels 
 * ' now-a-days through the interior of the Flowery Kingdom? 
 ** No one, with the exception of the Missionaries, whose
 
 BOAED OF SUPEKVISORS, 69 
 
 " presence was already tolerated there, and in addition to 
 " these there are a few explorers. But the Chinese are 
 " streaming over the greater part of the globe and are also 
 " forming colonies, albeit after their own fashion. Highly 
 " gifted, although inferior to the Caucasian in the highest 
 " spheres of mental activity ; endowed with untiring indus- 
 ' ' try ; temperate to the utmost abstemiousness ; frugal ; a 
 " born merchant of probity ever true to his word ; a first- 
 " class cultivator, especially in gardening ; distinguished in 
 " every kind of handicraft, the son of the Middle Kingdom 
 " slowly, surely and unremarked is supplanting the Euro- , 
 " peans wherever they are brought together. I am speaking 
 " of them only as I have found them. In 1871 the entire 
 " English trade with China, amounting then as now to <£42,- 
 " 000,000 sterling, was transacted through English firms- 
 " The four great houses, of which one was American, were 
 " in Shanghai, while the smaller ones were distributed 
 " among the treaty ports. Added to these were the middle- 
 " men, as the sale of English imports in the interior of the 
 " empire was effected through native merchants. In addi- 
 ** tion to this the firm of Russell & Co. owned twenty 
 " steamers that kept up the commercial intercourse between 
 " the treaty ports, extending to the Yangtse river. Now-a- 
 " days, with the exception of some great influential English 
 " firms, all the same trade, together with the Eussell steam- 
 ** ers, has passed into the hands of Chinese merchants or of 
 " Chinese corporations. In Macao, since nearly 400 years 
 " in possession of the Portuguese, are to be seen raagnifi- 
 " cent palaces, some of which date from the sixteenth cen- 
 " tury ; they are situated in the finest part of the city, 
 ** where the Chinese were not in the habit of building; and
 
 70 REPORT OP SPECIAL COMMITTEE 
 
 " yet the greater number of these palaces have passed by 
 " purchase into the hands of rich Chinese and are now 
 " inhabited by them. 
 
 " On my first visit to Singapore, in 1871, the population 
 " consisted of 100 white families, of 20,000 Malays and a 
 " few thousand Chinese. On my return there in the begin- 
 * ' ning of 1884 the population was divided, according to the 
 " official census, into 100 white families, 20,000 Malays and 
 " 86,000 Chinese. A new Chinese town had gprung up, 
 " with magnificent stores, beautiful residences and pagodas. 
 ' ' I imagined that I was transported to Canton. The coun- 
 ' ' try lying to the south point of Indo-China, which a few 
 " years ago was almost uninhabited, is now filling up with 
 " Chinese. The number of the sons of the Flowery King- 
 *' dom who emigrated to that point and to Singapore 
 " amounted to 100,000 in 1882, to 150,000 in 1883, and last 
 ** year an important increase to these numbers was ex- 
 *' pected. 
 
 " The Draconian laws, through which efforts have been 
 ** made in California and Australia to get rid of this incon- 
 " venient opposition, are well known. These laws, that 
 " stand in glaring contradiction to the philanthropic princi- 
 ** pies of equality and fraternity among all races, despite of 
 " all efforts to maintain their efficiency, remain a dead-letter. 
 ** I never met more Chinese in San Francisco than I did last 
 *' summer, and in Australia the Chinese element is ever 
 " increasing in importance. To a man who will do the same 
 " work for half price all doors are open. Even in the South 
 " Sea Islands the influence of Chinese labor is already felt. 
 " The important trade of the Gilbert Islauds is in the hands 
 "of a great Chinese firm. On the Sandwich Islands the
 
 BOAED OF SUPEEVISOES. 71 
 
 *' sons of the Middle Kingdom are spreading every year. 
 " The North Americans, until now the rulers of that island 
 " under the native kings of Hawaii, are already feeling the 
 " earth shake under their feet, as in vain they resist these 
 ** inroads. All these things have I seen with my own eyes, 
 " excepting in Chile and Peru, countries that I didn'ot visit. 
 " From official documents, however, I extract the fact that 
 " since 1860, 200,000 Chinese have landed there — an enor- 
 *' mous number, considering the small European population 
 ** in those countries. 
 
 "Europe, with her 300,000,000; China, with her 400,- 
 ** 000,000, represent, with the exception of India, the two 
 ** most overpopulated parts of the world. Both send their 
 *' sons to foreign climes. They consist of two mighty 
 '* streams, of which one is white and the other yellow. In 
 *' tlie annals of history there is no mention of the migration 
 ** of such immense masses of people. A series of questions 
 " now arises. How will the status of the old continent be 
 *' affected by the emigration of so many of its sons ? Now, 
 " suffering from a plethora, after such a severe bleeding, 
 " will Europe remain in a full, healthy condition, or, similar 
 *' to Spain, will she lapse into a state of anemia ? Who can 
 " tell? What fate is in store for the young, rising, aspiring 
 " Powers of Central Asia that are neither kingdoms nor 
 " republics, and what will be the reactionary effect on the 
 " mother country and on Europe ? We do not know. What 
 " will be the result of the meeting of these white and yel- 
 " low streams? Will they flow peacefully on parallel lines 
 " in their respective channels, or will their commingling 
 " lead to chaotic events? We cannot tell. Will Christian 
 " society and Christian civilization in their present form dis-
 
 72 BEPORT or SPECIAL COMMITTEE 
 
 " appear, or will they emerge victorious from the conflict, 
 " carrying their living, fruitful, everlasting principles to all 
 " the corners of the earth? We cannot know. These are 
 " the unsolved problems, the secrets of the future, hidden 
 " within the womb of time. What we now distinguish is 
 *• only the first clangor of the overture of the great drama 
 " of the coming times. The curtain is not yet rung up, as 
 " the plot is only to be "worked out in the twentieth 
 " century." 
 
 Such is the broad, statesmanlike view of the Chinese 
 question. It forcibly illustrates how impossible it is, and 
 always will be, to deal with it from the demagogue's stand- 
 point, and how important it is that we should devise and 
 adopt a wiser and more efficient line of policy than that 
 which we have pursued thus far. 
 
 The crystalized facts shown in this report prove beyond 
 question that we have not dealt sternly and vigorously 
 enough with this question in the regulation of our own 
 a£fairs; and the proof is, that by our own inertness in dealing 
 with the practical side of the matter in the enactment and 
 enforcement of proper laws for our protection, vv^e have per- 
 mitted the Chinese to become our masters, instead of assert- 
 ing and maintaining the mastery ourselves. Let us look at 
 this question now in all its enlarged proportions, and rely 
 upon our own self-help to deal with it in such a manner that 
 the effects of our policy shall be felt and its wisdom demon- 
 strated. 
 
 Municipal laws that are made to be enforced, and that 
 are enforced — that shall prohibit any greater number of peo- 
 ple from living on the space covered by one block, for exam- 
 ple, than now live on such space, taking if you please the most
 
 BOAED OF SUPERVISOES. 73 
 
 densely inhabited block outside of Chinatown for a standard 
 as the limit of the rule ; that shall embody the Cubic Air law as 
 it at present stands; that shall compel the use of chimneys and 
 proper cooking facilities; that shall enforce cleanliness at the 
 cost of the occupants; that shall restrict prostitution; that 
 shall suppress and put out of existence barricaded gambling 
 dens; that shall prevent under the most stringent penalties 
 the violation of fire and sanitary laws of every description; 
 that shall, as a sanitary measure, prevent the exhumation of 
 the remains of deceased persons, except under a much 
 heavier tax than at present imposed ; that shall prevent over- 
 crowding in their theaters — will correct as far as possible many 
 of the abuses that grow out of the presence of this people, and 
 can hardly fail to drive them from among us. Hold, if 
 necessary, the property-owner responsible for the over- 
 crowding or other unlawful use of his property, and make 
 the penalty imposed for violation of such laws a lien upon 
 the property itself, and San Francisco will soon cease to be 
 a paradise or even an attractive place of habitation for the 
 Mongolian. 
 
 Recent decisions of the Supreme Court, notably in the 
 Chinese Laundry cases, have shown conclusively that suffi- 
 cient authority and power is vested in the Board of Super- 
 visors to accomplish these results, and it rests with the 
 Board to say how it shall best be exercised. 
 
 True it is that the wretched ' ' dollar limit " policy again 
 arrays itself before us when any questions in this connection 
 involving increased public expenditures is presented. But 
 it should not be permitted to militate against a discussion of 
 the proposed new line of policy and the adoption of such a 
 line of action as will bring about its earliest possible realiza-
 
 74 EEPORT OF SPECIAL COMMITTEE 
 
 tion and enforcement, wlietlier it is to take effect now or at 
 such later period of time as a more enlarged sense of public 
 duty in making future tax levies sliall render practicable. 
 Nor should it be lost sight of that in making new laws, im- 
 posing and collecting new penalties, an enlarged source of 
 revenue can and must be created, which will go far toward 
 covering all the expense involved in the movement. But the 
 adoption and enforcement of the line of policy that has been 
 suggested will be cheap at any cost, and ought not to be 
 objected to on that score. Kept in the worn and narrow rut 
 of public parsimony, San Francisco can never shake off this 
 Mongolian vampire that is now sapping her vitals any more 
 than she can protect the public health and administer to the 
 public necessities generally in the care of schools, streets, 
 etc. With the adoption of more liberal ideas and the exac- 
 tion of a strict performance of duty on the part of her public 
 officers and representatives, there will be no further need of, 
 nor occupation, for the demagogue; much less will narrow- 
 minded and mean-spirited public journalism be able to 
 shape, control and mislead public opinion as it Las done in 
 the past. 
 
 When the nation was confronted with open rebellion on 
 the part of the citizens of an immense area of its territory, 
 and human slavery stood in the fore-front of the battle, as it 
 had been the prime cause of the attempt to destroy the 
 Government; when the question was narrowed down to a 
 struggle between free labor and slave labor, and one or the 
 other must be throttled to the death, the people did not stop 
 to count the cost but stood determinedly for the right at any 
 price, and the right prevailed
 
 BOAED OP SUPEEYISOBS. 75 
 
 In its degree there is a struggle between free labor and 
 that whicli is far worse than negro slavery in its effects upon 
 free labor — Chinese coolieism — here in our midst to-day; 
 and the heoroic treatment, cost what it may, is the only 
 thing that can stamp it out. Tou cannot, and would not if 
 you could, force American free labor down to the level of 
 Chinese labor. You can so impose restrictions upon the 
 Chinese, under general regulations, which all other races 
 will willingly submit to — that shall take away from them much 
 of the vantage ground which they now occupy in their cheap, 
 crowded mode of life and the indulgence in their vices, and 
 thereby you will force Chinese labor up to a nearer level, 
 in cost, with that of free labor, than that which now pre- 
 vails. Can it be doubtful, then, how the struggle would 
 progress under such a change of conditions? 
 
 Meanwhile, let us relax no ejffort to secure from Congress 
 such additional legislation as may be necessary to eventually 
 and effectually prohibit and put a stop to Chinese immigra- 
 tion. No step can possibly be taken by the people of San 
 Francisco, represented in her municipal authorities, that 
 will more effectually promote this purpose than to deal 
 rigidly with these Asiatic people among us, and so drive them 
 to other States, to be their own educators against their fur- 
 ther coming. For no method and no policy will sooner 
 relieve our working classes from the disadvantages and 
 hardships which their };iesence here now involves, and no 
 method and no policy will sooner or more effectually educate 
 the Eastern mind up to the danger which they are courting 
 in favoring this class of immigration than direct contact with 
 their presence, and direct and bitter experience such as we 
 have been subjected to and are struggling to reverse.
 
 76 REPORT OF SPECLIL COMMITTEE 
 
 Your Committee will at an early day submit an ordinance 
 for the consideration of the Board, which it is believed 
 will best carry into effect the conclusions and suggestions 
 hereinbefore set forth. 
 
 All of which is respectfully submitted. 
 
 W. B. FAEWELL, 
 JOHN E. KUNKLER. 
 
 Note. — Mr. Pond being absent from the State, his name is not attached 
 to this report. Having had his entire co-operation up to the date of his 
 departure, we do not doubt that he would heartily join with us were he 
 present. 
 
 W. B. FAEWELL, 
 JOHN E. KUNKLEK.
 
 
 APPENDIX,
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 Manufactures in Chinatown. 
 
 EXHIBIT "A." 
 
 
 
 
 CO 5P 
 
 ^ 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 
 
 S ^ 
 
 
 ►d 
 
 
 
 
 
 < a 
 
 (ST- 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 T? 
 
 H 
 
 
 
 Street 
 
 AND NUMBEE 
 
 
 2 
 
 g 
 e 
 
 o 
 
 a 
 
 << 
 
 Kekakks. 
 
 Brenham Place,9 . . . 
 
 1st Story 
 
 10 
 
 5 
 
 
 Shirt Manufactiiring; south front. 
 
 Dupont, 
 
 607 
 
 
 
 25 
 
 40 
 
 Cigar Factory. One man makes 200 cigars 
 iu a day. They pay at the late of 50 
 cents to 65 cents per hundred. 
 
 " 
 
 " 
 
 2a story 
 
 6 
 
 3 
 
 40 
 
 Packiug. 
 
 " 
 
 6C9 
 
 1st Story 
 
 
 31 
 
 4U 
 
 Shoe Factory. 
 
 " 
 
 611 
 
 " 
 
 .. ..3 
 
 15 
 
 
 Cigar Factory. 
 
 « 
 
 6U 
 
 2d Story 
 
 9 
 
 8 
 
 GU 
 
 Tailor and Overall Factory. 
 
 " 
 
 617 
 
 1st Storj 
 
 3 
 
 3UU 
 
 
 Hop Kee & Co., Shoe Factory 
 
 " 
 
 618 
 
 2d Story 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 TaUor. 
 
 " 
 
 " 
 
 1st Story 
 
 
 4 
 
 6 
 
 Cigar Factory. 
 
 " 
 
 " 
 
 Upper Is 
 
 t Story. 
 
 2 
 
 
 " " 
 
 " 
 
 " 
 
 2d Story 
 
 20 
 
 20 
 
 
 full. 
 
 " 
 
 701 
 
 3d " 
 
 33 
 
 18 
 
 40 
 
 -Shirt Factory; 26 bunks in same room. 
 
 " 
 
 " 
 
 2d " 
 
 
 2t 
 
 35 
 
 Overall Factory; brand, Standard Coats. 
 
 ''. 
 
 707 
 
 3d " 
 Attic. . 
 
 15 
 
 14 
 
 13 
 
 60 
 
 " " " Boss of the Koad. 
 
 
 715 
 
 1st Story 
 
 
 40 
 
 
 Cigar Factory. Pay men 50 cents per hun- 
 dred; pay strippers $1 5 per month. They 
 use basement of Waverly Place. 
 
 " 
 
 715;!^.... 
 
 " 
 
 
 
 
 Tailors. 
 
 « 
 
 716 
 
 2d " . 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 
 " rear is gambling room. 
 
 <• 
 
 813 
 
 " 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 
 << 
 
 " 
 
 816 
 
 1st Story 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 
 n « << « 
 
 " 
 
 822 
 
 1st Story 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 
 Clothing 
 
 " 
 
 824 
 
 " 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 " rear is gambling room. 
 
 .< 
 
 828 
 
 2d Story. 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 3 
 
 
 " 
 
 " 
 
 841 
 
 Upper Is 
 
 t Story. 1 
 
 2 
 
 
 " 
 
 " 
 
 904 
 
 1st Story 
 
 
 6 
 
 
 " 
 
 .. 
 
 912 
 
 B 
 
 1st Story 
 
 4 
 
 ly 
 
 7 
 
 30 
 
 „ 
 
 " 
 
 916 
 
 " 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 
 Overall Factory. 
 
 
 
 2d Story. 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 " " Pay men $10 to $16 per 
 month and board. A man can make 1 
 doz. overalls in a day. It costs 25 cts. 
 per day for board. 
 
 Waverly Place, 10.. | 
 
 1st Story 
 
 
 9 
 
 
 Clothing. 
 
 ' 
 
 13.. 
 
 B 
 
 
 
 
 Cigar 1* actory. See 715 Dupont street. 
 Clothing. 
 
 
 22.. 
 
 1st Story 
 
 
 ,3 

 
 80 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 MANUFACTURES IN CHINATOWN— Continued. 
 
 EXHIBIT " A." 
 
 Street Airo Number 
 
 Waverly Place, 18. . 
 " 23.. 
 
 36J^ 
 116 
 125, 
 127. 
 35 
 
 Dupont, 81?. 
 
 813 }g., 
 819.... 
 843.... 
 
 845.. 
 919.. 
 1002. 
 1006. 
 1.012. 
 
 ioh'. 
 
 1017. 
 1013. 
 
 1023. 
 1032. 
 1034. 
 
 Stockton, 710. 
 
 712. 
 804. 
 
 816. 
 912. 
 
 914. 
 916. 
 
 9163^. 
 
 1st Story. 
 
 Upper 1st btory, 
 1st Story 
 
 2d Story.. 
 1st Story. 
 
 B. 
 
 1st Story. 
 
 2d Story.. 
 
 1st Story. 
 
 2d Story. . 
 
 3d Story . . 
 
 4tli Story'. 
 
 1st Story. 
 2d Story . . 
 3d Story. . 
 1st Story. 
 2d Story.., 
 
 B 
 
 1st Story. 
 
 Sub-B. 
 B 
 
 1st Story. 
 
 2d Story.'. 
 1st Story. 
 
 Rear B.. 
 Front B. 
 B 
 
 1st Story. 
 
 Remaeks. 
 
 Tin Shop. 
 Shoe Factory. 
 Tailor. 
 
 Clothing. 
 
 Tailor. 
 
 Overall Factory, Pay men from 75 cents to 
 
 85 cents per day. A man can make from 
 
 1 to 1 J<S doz. pairs in a day. 
 
 Clothing. 
 Tailor. 
 
 Tin Shop. 
 
 Candle Fact 
 Clothing. 
 
 Overall Factory. 
 Clothing. 
 
 Shirt Factory. 
 
 Tannery. See Brooklyn Place. 
 
 Shirt Factory. 
 
 " " 1 woman working. 
 
 Shoe 
 
 Shirt " 
 Ladies' Underwear, 
 
 Shirt Factory. 
 
 Tannery. 
 
 Cigar-box Factory; made from old boxes. 
 
 Tannery, included in 916. 
 
 Ladies' Underwear. 
 
 Sh03 Factory; full.
 
 :boaed op supervisors. 
 
 81 
 
 MANUFACTURES IN CHINATOWN— Continukd 
 EXHIBIT "A." 
 
 Street AND Ndmbee 
 
 Stockton, 918. 
 920. 
 
 922. 
 
 924. 
 
 2d Story. 
 B 
 
 1st Story. 
 1st Story, 
 d Story.. 
 
 1004. 
 1006. 
 
 1012. 
 1014 
 1016. 
 
 1018 J^ 
 1018. . 
 
 2d Story 
 
 3ii Story.. 
 
 Ist Story 
 
 3d Story 
 
 1st Story 
 
 Upper 1st Story, 
 Rear B 
 
 1018 3<S.. 
 
 " 1018, 10183^ 
 
 1020.... 
 
 1022.'.'.".' 
 102t.... 
 
 llOi.... 
 
 1104, 1106 
 
 1106.... 
 
 1114.... 
 
 112o!!!! 
 
 Sacramento, 708. . . 
 
 1st Story. 
 2d Story.. 
 
 1st Story. 
 
 1st Story. 
 
 2d Story.. 
 3d Story.. 
 
 1st Story. 
 2d Story.. 
 3d Story.. 
 
 4th Story. 
 
 B ' 
 
 1st Story. 
 
 2d Story.. 
 1st Story. 
 B 
 
 1st Story. 
 
 2d Story!. 
 3d Story.. 
 Iht Story. 
 
 Shoe Factory; full. 
 
 Tailors. 
 
 Shirt Factory. 
 
 Cigar Factory. 
 
 Clothing. One woman -working. The men get 
 from 25 cents to $1 per day. Can make 
 2 pairs pants in a day. The proprietor 
 gets 16 per dozen. 
 
 Overall Factory. 
 
 Room connected with 847 Washington street. 
 
 Overall Factory. 
 
 Ladies' Underwear. These last two build- 
 ings have been torn down since notes 
 were taken. 
 
 Clothing. 
 
 Shoe Factory. 
 Cigar " 
 Tailors 1 
 
 wlors J 
 
 Clothing 
 Tailors. 
 
 Entrance from Church Court. 
 
 Tailors — work for Bennett Bros.; a white 
 man working with and teaching China- 
 men how to work. The men get $1 25 
 per coat, and can make one coat per day 
 (probably correct.) 
 
 Ladies' Underwear. 
 
 Overall Factory. 
 
 Tailor 
 
 Tailor — making for Jackson Bros, k Co. 
 Portland, Oregon. 
 
 Shirt Factory. Men get SI 25 per day. 
 
 Overall Factory; brand. Boss of the Boad, 
 
 Clothing. 
 
 Ladies' Underwear. 
 
 Cigars. 
 
 Ladies' Underwear. 
 
 Shirt Factory. 
 Clothing. 
 Shoe Factory.
 
 82 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 MANUFACTURES IN CHINATOWN— Continued. 
 
 EXHIBIT '-A." 
 
 
 
 CO 
 
 rr. 
 
 ^ 
 
 n 
 
 
 % 
 
 
 o 
 
 i>, 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 B 
 
 B 
 
 
 
 Stbeet and 
 
 NUMBEE 
 
 
 g 
 
 SO 
 
 o 
 
 5' 
 
 a 
 
 «< 
 
 Remabks 
 
 Sacramento 
 
 708 ... 
 
 2d Story. 
 
 ,j 
 
 35 
 
 
 Shoe Factory. 
 
 ;; 
 
 729... 
 
 Ist Story 
 
 Rear ].st story.. 
 1st Story 
 
 
 4 
 42 
 4 
 
 100 
 
 Cigar 
 
 
 
 3d story 
 
 56 
 
 45 
 
 60 
 
 Overall Factory. Brands: Our Farmer's 
 Friend, for E. T. Allen, S. F.; The Club; 
 Crown of California; rioneers, for A. B. 
 Elfelt t Co.; Caballero, for A. B. Elfelt 
 & Co. Tlie men receiva from 00 cts. to 
 70 cts., and the proprietor $1 10 per doz. 
 
 " 
 
 ::••■ 
 
 4tli Story 
 
 8 
 
 3 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 7 
 
 4 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 
 Overall Factory. Brand: Wagner's Success, 
 for Chas. Wagner, Laramie, Wy. T. 
 
 Overall Factory. Brand: Eldorado. 
 
 " " " for Chas. 
 Wagner, Laramie, Wy. T. 
 
 Overall Factory. Brand: Wagner's Success, 
 for Chas. Wayner, Laramie, Wy. T. 
 
 I 
 
 731... 
 
 2d Story 
 
 3d Story 
 
 5 
 14 
 43 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 10 
 39 
 
 3 
 
 60 
 
 Overall Factory; 5 long cutting tables. 
 " " 11 bun s in room. 
 
 it 
 
 737.. 
 751... 
 
 B 
 
 20 
 
 2 
 23 
 
 
 Trunk ' ' 
 
 ■ « 
 
 3d Story 
 
 Shirt " 26 bunks in room. It was a 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 tailor shop with 21 sewing machines 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 when previous notes were taken. 
 
 " 
 
 805... 
 
 1st Story 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 
 Tailors. 
 
 " 
 
 812 .. 
 
 " 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 
 Clothing. 
 
 « 
 
 819... 
 
 2d Story.".!!'.'.'.'. 
 
 
 3 
 
 25 
 
 j Cigar Factory. 
 
 If 
 
 820... 
 821... 
 
 B 
 
 
 3 
 
 18 
 
 25 
 
 
 " 
 
 1st Story 
 
 Cigar 
 
 Commercial 
 
 707 }$. 
 
 3d Storv 
 
 12 
 
 11 
 
 
 Shirt Factory. 
 
 " 
 
 707.. 
 
 4th Story 
 
 
 2 
 
 20 
 
 Tinware; under roof. 
 
 " 
 
 712.. 
 
 1st Story 
 
 
 
 
 Cigar Factory; office and dining-room. 
 
 ** 
 
 •• 
 
 2d Story 
 
 
 20 
 
 60 
 
 pay 50 cts. and 75 cts. per 
 hundred. 
 
 ■ • 
 
 745 
 
 B 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 Jewelry Manufacturing. 
 
 " 
 
 
 B . 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 
 Shirt Factory. 
 
 " 
 
 746.. 
 
 Ist Story 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 
 Overall " 
 
 Clay, 723.. 
 
 
 ** 
 
 
 7 
 
 
 Broom " 
 
 735 
 
 u 
 
 9 
 
 9 
 
 
 Shirt " pay $1 25 per dozen. 
 
 " 737 
 
 2d Story 
 
 1st Story 
 
 4 
 
 3 
 
 30 
 
 " " pay $1 50 to $2 per dozen. 
 
 " 739 
 
 Cigar " pay 70 cts. per hundred; a 
 man can make $1 50 per day. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 •' 743.. 
 
 
 <c 
 
 f, 
 
 ''O 
 
 
 Shoe Factory; lull. 
 
 " 760 
 
 .< 
 
 
 7 
 
 
 Tin Shop. 
 
 825 
 
 I> 
 
 fi 
 
 .•i 
 
 
 
 826 
 
 << 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 Cigar Factory; pay 50 cts. to 65 cts. per 100. 
 
 
 Upper Ist Story. 
 
 2d Story 
 
 1st Story 
 
 2d Story 
 
 
 09 
 
 
 
 831 
 
 3 
 
 7 
 
 
 Shirt " 
 
 835 
 
 9 
 
 ? 
 
 
 
 ■• 838 
 
 5 
 3.- 
 
 4 
 40 
 
 60 
 
 Tailors. 
 
 839 
 
 Overall " 
 
 840 
 
 1st Story 
 
 6 
 
 20 
 
 
 Shoe 
 

 
 BOARD OF SUPERVISORS. 
 
 83 
 
 MANUFACTURES IN CHINATOWN— Continued. 
 
 EXHIBIT "A." 
 
 
 
 
 JO so 
 
 ^ 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 
 
 § ^ 
 
 
 •S 
 
 
 
 
 
 < a 
 
 K 
 
 
 
 Stbeet and Ndmbek 
 
 
 O 
 
 a 
 
 a 
 
 ^ 
 
 Kemakks. 
 
 Clay, 
 
 843 
 
 1st Stor 
 
 y 6 
 
 6 
 
 
 Ladles' Underwear. 
 
 
 815 
 
 Upper Is 
 
 3 
 
 t Story. 8 
 
 3 
 
 7 
 
 
 U (1 
 
 .< 
 
 
 " 
 
 " 
 
 847 
 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 
 " " 
 
 Washington, 733 . . 
 
 1st Storj 
 
 
 
 
 Underwear, (removed.) 
 
 " 
 
 737.. 
 
 " 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 
 Clothing. 
 
 " 
 
 738.. 
 
 " 
 
 27 
 
 
 
 " 
 
 " 
 
 " .. 
 
 2d Story 
 
 7 
 
 7 
 
 
 Shirt Factory. 
 
 " 
 
 " . 
 
 3d Story 
 
 4 
 
 3 
 
 
 Clothing. 
 
 " 
 
 754 M 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 Tinwiire. 
 
 i< 
 
 806.. 
 
 2d Story 
 
 
 
 
 Vacant. 
 
 " 
 
 811.. 
 
 1st Storj 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 
 Clothing. 
 
 '• 
 
 819}^ 
 
 2d Story 
 
 7 
 
 28 
 
 50 
 
 Shoe Factory. 
 
 " 
 
 823.. 
 
 
 9 
 
 lb 
 
 
 Tailors. Pay $15 per doz. A man can make- 
 one coat in a day for wholesale merchants. 
 
 " 
 
 ":: 
 
 3d Story 
 
 4 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 9 
 
 
 Tailors. 
 
 II 
 
 „ ■■ 
 
 " 
 
 2 
 4 
 
 
 for M. Hyman & Co. 
 
 " 
 
 " . . 
 
 " 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 
 pay $3 per doz. for making vests. 
 
 ft 
 
 826.. 
 
 2d Story 
 
 13 
 
 11 
 
 
 Shirt Factory. 
 
 « 
 
 828.. 
 
 B 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 Cigar 
 
 >< 
 
 827.. 
 
 B 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 " " changedtobarber and lodging 
 two weeks after notes were taken. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ft 
 
 " . . 
 
 Ist Story 
 
 
 '21 
 
 40 
 
 Cigar Factory. 
 
 " 
 
 " . . 
 
 2d Story 
 
 25 
 
 12 
 
 
 Overall " 
 
 ft 
 
 832.. 
 
 " 
 
 5 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 Tailors. California clothing. 
 
 f< 
 
 834.. 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 
 " 
 
 " 
 
 836.. 
 
 1st Story 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 Clothing and Jewelry. 
 
 " 
 
 840.. 
 
 
 
 33 
 
 40 
 
 Cigar Factory. 
 
 K 
 
 841.. 
 843.. 
 
 B 
 
 
 (j 
 3 
 
 30 
 
 >« a 
 
 It 
 
 B 
 
 
 Cigar-box Factory; making from old boxes. 
 Tailors. 
 
 " 
 
 847.. 
 
 2d Story 
 
 9 
 
 10 
 
 
 Jackson, 614 
 
 1st Story 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 CandUs. 
 
 " 
 
 617.. . 
 
 " 
 
 1 
 
 10 
 
 
 Boot-maker. 
 
 " 
 
 621 
 
 «' 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 Tin Shop. 
 
 " 
 
 " 
 
 2d Story 
 
 30 
 
 30 
 
 
 Overall and Shirt Factory. 
 
 " 
 
 " 
 
 3d Story 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 Tannery. 
 
 n 
 
 706 
 
 B 
 
 i(\. Storv 
 4th Storj 
 
 
 4 
 6 
 4 
 
 
 Clothing. 
 
 " 
 
 709 
 
 B 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 
 " 
 
 " 
 
 714 
 
 1st Story 
 
 
 6 
 
 
 Jewelry. 
 
 " 
 
 716 
 
 " 
 
 
 6 
 
 
 " 
 
 " 
 
 722 
 
 3d Story 
 
 
 3 
 2 
 
 
 Shirt Factory. 
 Clothing. 
 
 <. 
 
 728 
 
 Rear 2d 
 id Story 
 
 Story.. 30 
 26 
 
 30 
 25 
 
 
 « 
 
 " 
 
 730 
 
 2d Story 
 
 
 30 
 
 
 Cigars. 
 
 " 
 
 73.i 
 
 B 
 
 
 10 
 
 30 
 
 " 
 
 <• 
 
 735 
 
 1st Story 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 
 Shirt Factory. 
 
 " 
 
 736.. 
 
 
 6 
 
 7 
 
 
 Clothing.
 
 84 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 MANUFACTURES IN CHINATOWN— Concludkd. 
 EXHIBIT "A." 
 
 Street and Number 
 
 Jackson, 
 
 737, 739. 
 738 
 
 739 }$. 
 
 740 ■.'.'. 
 
 742.. 
 840 . . 
 
 Pacific, 645 
 
 631.... 
 
 627... 
 
 635.... 
 
 705.... 
 
 707.... 
 
 711.... 
 
 715... 
 
 719 
 
 727 
 
 729,729^.. 
 
 743 
 
 837 
 
 "Washington Place 15 
 " 17 
 Church Court, 8 . . 
 Spofford Place, 4 . . 
 
 " 63.. 
 
 " 63.. 
 
 Stout's Alley, 9 
 
 Brooklyn Place 
 
 1st Story, 
 
 2d Story. 
 
 B 
 
 B 
 
 B 
 
 1st Story. 
 
 1st Story. 
 
 2d Story .. 
 
 3d Story . . . 
 Ist Story 
 
 2d Story . . . 
 3d Story. . 
 2d Story . . . 
 
 1st Story . 
 
 2d Story . 
 3d Story.. 
 2d Story . 
 1st Story. 
 
 3d Story . 
 1st Story 
 2d Story . 
 1st story. 
 2d Story . 
 
 o 
 
 Cigar Factory. 
 Clothii/g. 
 
 Shirt-makers. 
 
 Shoe Factory. 
 
 Clothing. 
 
 Clothing. 
 Cigars. 
 
 Ladies' Underwear. 
 
 Clothing. 
 
 Cigars. 
 
 Clothing. 
 
 Cigarettes (store) . 
 Ladies' Underwear. 
 Clothing. 
 
 Overalls. 
 Clothing. 
 Shirt Factory. 
 
 Overalls and Shirt Factory. 
 
 Tannery; occupies basement of 710 Stockton 
 
 street. 
 
 RECAPITULATION . 
 
 Cigar makers 427 
 
 Boot and shoe makers 599 
 
 Clothing makers , 9''4 
 
 Underwear makers • .... 255 
 
 Miscellaneous '^1 
 
 Total number of employees 2,326 
 
 Total number of sewing machines 1,245
 
 Barricaded Gambling Dens in Chinatown. 
 
 KXHIBIT "B." 
 
 Stkeet. 
 
 Number. 
 
 Remarks. 
 
 Dupont 
 
 710 
 
 7U% 
 71G 
 
 716% 
 720 
 722 
 SOO 
 
 802 
 
 803 
 806 
 
 809 
 811 
 
 812 
 
 813 
 
 816 
 818 
 
 823 
 
 825 
 824 
 
 824 
 
 Upper first floor, entrance side of stairs through 
 
 three 3-ineh doors plated with iron, to a room 
 
 25'x20' back of 710; from last room to rear of 
 
 708, 15'xl6'; last room leading to escape on 
 
 roof. 
 Kear, first stoi*y; one table; entrance through 
 
 two 3- inch plank doors. 
 Rear, first story; entrance through a 2-inch 
 
 plank and iron door. 
 Rear, first story; 2-inch plank and iron do6r, 
 
 kitchen and water closet. 
 First stoi-y, eatrance through three doors plated 
 
 with 3^-inch iron; also room in second story. 
 Rear, first story; entrance through 3-inch doors 
 
 plated with iron. 
 Rear, first story, two iron doors behind a 
 
 counter; outlet to second story through an 
 
 iron door to front room about 16 feet deep, 
 
 opening into hull through two iron doors. 
 Rear, first story; one 3-inch door plated with 
 
 iron; entrance to second story thi'ough trap 
 
 door plated with iron. 
 Rear, first story; trap door to basement; one 
 
 3-inch plank and iron door. 
 Rear, fij-st story; two 3-inch doors plated with 
 
 iron; water-closet and kitchen; escape over 
 
 kitchen. 
 Rear, first story ; entrance from store ; two heavy 
 
 doors. 
 Rear, first story; two small, and three 3-inch 
 
 plated iron doors. 
 Rear, first st'iry; trap-door goes to cellar. 
 Rear, first stury; two iron doors; kitchen and 
 
 water-closet in rear. 
 Rear, first story; two 3-inch doors. 
 Rear, first story; entrance through two 3-inch 
 plank doors. 
 North front, second story, one room; heavy 
 
 iron door. 
 Rear, first story; one iron door. 
 Rear, first story; entrance through two 3-inch 
 
 plank doors. 
 Upper first story; connects with second story 
 
 by means of heavy iron trap-door and heavy 
 
 plated doors. 
 
 
 Dupont 
 
 
 
 Dupont 
 
 Dupont 
 
 Dupont 
 
 Dupont 
 
 Dupont 
 
 Dupont 
 
 Dupont 
 
 Dnpont 
 
 Dupont 
 
 Dupont 
 
 Dupont 
 
 Dupont 
 
 Dupont 
 
 Dupont 
 
 Dupont
 
 86 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 BARRICADED GAMBLING DENS IN CHINATOWN— Continued. 
 EXHIBIT " B." 
 
 Stbeet. 
 
 Dupont. 
 Dupont. 
 
 Dupont. 
 
 NUMBEB. 
 
 828 
 837 
 
 Dupont. 
 Dupont . 
 
 Dupont. 
 Dupont. 
 Dupont. 
 
 Dupont. 
 
 Dupont. 
 Dupont. 
 
 Dupont. 
 Dupont. 
 
 Dupont. 
 
 Kkmarkb. 
 
 837 
 838 
 
 843 
 845 
 847 
 
 906 
 
 912 
 920 
 
 928 
 930 
 
 905 
 
 903 
 
 Rear, first story; entrance through two 3 -inch 
 plank doors. 
 
 First story, front, rear of Chung Wing & Co.'s 
 dry goods store. One heavy iron door, rear 
 first story; entrance through two iron doors, 
 with 3-inch plank; entrance from street and 
 store, kitchen from rear by stairs to second 
 story, about 16'xlt;' through heavy iron trap 
 door; iron partition between store and gam- 
 bling-room. 
 
 One gumbli:)g-room, second story, with pawn 
 shop; one heavy plank door. 
 
 First story, entrance through two 3-inch plank 
 doors; entrance to second story through a 
 trap-door; door from room on second floor is 
 of 3-inch plank, plated with iron. 
 
 Rear, first story; one heavy door, front and 
 rear; kitchen and water-closet in rear; outlet 
 over kitchen to 847. 
 
 Rear, first story; one heavy iron door; also 
 escape to meet store 847; kitchen and water- 
 closet in rear. 
 
 Second story; one heavy iron door on north 
 front; south front, tin-shop; trap-door from 
 843; gambling front of stairs to third story; 
 one heavy iron door. 
 
 Rear, first story; 3-inch plank door; escape on 
 second story to Dupont and Washington 
 streets. 
 
 Third story; old gambling-rooms; 3 doors; front 
 and rear doors. 
 
 Front, second story; two iron doors infront and 
 one iron door in rear; front top of stairs, one 
 iron door in rear; trap-door over water-shed. 
 
 Second story; gambling and pawn-broker. 
 
 Rear, first story; entrance through store; 3-inch 
 plank and iron door; rear, two 3-inch plank 
 and iron doors; rear, two iron doors. 
 
 Rear, first story; entrance to gambling-room 
 through store of Quoug On & Co. by two 3- 
 inch plank and iron doors; escape by plank 
 and iron door to basement, and by trap-door 
 to rear of first story; second story, four lot- 
 tery games. 
 
 Rear, first story; entrance through drug store 
 of Yee Shoe Hong & Co. by three 3 inch plank 
 and iron doors; escape; plank and iron trap-
 
 BOARD OF SUPERVISORS. 
 
 87 
 
 BARRICADED GAMBLINQ DENS IN CHINATOWN— Continued. 
 
 EXHIBIT "B." 
 
 Stbeet. 
 
 Dupont . 
 
 Dnpont . 
 Dupont. 
 
 Dupont . 
 
 Dupont. 
 
 Dupont . 
 Dupont . 
 
 Dupont. 
 
 Dupont. 
 
 Number. 
 
 911 
 
 909 
 921 
 
 919 
 
 915 
 937 
 933 
 
 927 
 939 
 
 Bemabes. 
 
 door to basement, also through plank and iron 
 trap- door to second story; also, escape from 
 second story to Washington street. 
 
 Rear, first story; entrance through tailor shop 
 by two 3-inch plank and iron doors; escape 
 to second story. Second story, five gambling- 
 rooms; entrance through plank and iron door 
 at head of stairs; iron partition in hall; two 
 plank and iron doors to gambling-room; plank 
 and iron doors at foot of second flight of 
 stairs. In rear, plank and iron door opening 
 in roof; plank and iron door in rear; third 
 story for escape to 911. 
 
 First story, rear; entrance to gambling-room 
 through two 3-inch plank and iron doors. 
 
 Rear, first story; entrance to gambling-room 
 from store of Sam Shee No & Co. through 
 one 3-inch plank and iron door; escape to 
 upper first story. 
 
 Rear, first story; entrance to gambling- rooms 
 through store of You Kee by one 3-inch plank 
 and iron door; escape m rear through 3-inch 
 plank and iron door. Second story, two 
 gambling-rooms, plank and iron door to each. 
 
 Rear, first story; entrance to gambling-rooms 
 through one 3-inch plank and iron door, front 
 and rear; escape through trap-door to second 
 and third stories. 
 
 First story; entrance to gambUng-rooms through 
 one small door and three 3-inch plank and 
 iron doors; also, entrance through sliding 
 doors to store north. 
 
 Rear, first story ; entrance through drug store ; 
 one 3-inch plank and iron door; also en- 
 trance or escape from rear basement through 
 one 3-inch plank and iron trap-door; trap- 
 door escape above to upper stories. 
 
 Front, first story; entrance through store by 
 three 3-inch plank and iron doors; exit to 
 rear gambling-room in second story through 
 three 3-inch plank and iron doors, with 
 escapes to St. Louis Alley to second floor of 
 restaurant; total number of iron doors ou the 
 two, seven. 
 
 Second story; entrance to gambling-rooms 
 throufjh one 3-inch plank and iron door; 
 escapa from gambling-room, also rear escape
 
 APPENDIX. 
 BARRICADED GAMBLING DENS IN CHINATO WT?— CoNximJED. 
 
 EXHIBIT "B." 
 
 Strf.f.t. 
 
 Dupont. 
 
 NUMBKB. 
 
 Eejiaeks. 
 
 Dnpont . 
 Dupont . 
 
 Stockton 
 Jackson. 
 
 Jackson. 
 
 Jackson. 
 
 Jackson. 
 
 Jackson 
 
 Jackson 
 Pacific . , 
 
 Pacific . 
 
 1002 
 
 1025 
 1112 
 
 1222 
 626 
 
 632 
 
 636 
 640% 
 
 640 
 
 650 
 741 
 
 727% 
 
 to St. Louis Alley through one 3-inch plank 
 and iron door. 
 
 Second story; gambling-rooms front of stairs to 
 Bartlett Alley, and between north and south 
 halls; one plank and iion door in front; at 
 kitchen and north hall, wooden b irs to win- 
 dow; trap-doordownto gambling-room below; 
 covered above and below. 
 
 Rear, first story; lottery gambling-room; en- 
 trance from store through a 3-inch plank and 
 iron door. 
 
 Rear, first story — Lottery gambling-room. This 
 ro(.>m is 14 feet deep; entrance from cigar 
 store through a 3-iuch plank and iron door; 
 rear one a 3-inch plank and iron door also. 
 
 Front bj.sement — Entrance thi'ough two 2-inch 
 plank doors; room 14 feet deep. 
 
 Second story; entrance through one 3-inch 
 plank and iron door; entrance also from rear 
 court through plank and iron door. 
 
 First story; entrance through small 2-inch 
 plank door; also from hall, one 3-in:h plank 
 and iron door in rear; escape into court; iron 
 bars to stairs from below; heavy trap-door; a 
 plank and iron door at foot of stairs; door to 
 rear room; from this, up ladder to court. 
 
 First story; entrance through two 2-inch plank 
 doors; rear kitchen; escape from kitchen to 
 basement. Second story in front of stairs; 
 one 3-inch jjlank and iron door at top of 
 stairs ; trap-door to front. 
 
 Rear, first story ; entrance through store by two 
 3-inch plank doors. Second story, west front 
 lottery game; one heavy wood door to hall; 
 rear, gambling-room; entrance through one 
 plank and iron door in front hall; heavy door 
 at foot of stairs. 
 
 Rear, first story; entrance through store; two 
 3-inch plank and iron doors; trap-door to 
 gambling-room above covered with paper. 
 
 First story, one plank and iron door. 
 
 First story, rear; gambling-room; 2-inch plank 
 door from rear balcony; a 2-inch plank door 
 from kitchen of 741 Pacific street; windows 
 from front room to wood yard east; also win- 
 dow to bed-room cf 741 Pacific street. 
 
 First story; entrance through 729, through a 3-
 
 BOARD OF SUPERVISORS. 
 
 89 
 
 BAEEICADED GAMBLING DENS IN CHINATOWN— Continued. 
 
 EXHIBIT " B." 
 
 Stheet. 
 
 Pacific . 
 
 Jackson . 
 
 
 
 625 
 
 Jackson 
 
 623 
 
 Jackson 
 
 627 
 
 Jackson 
 
 711 
 
 St. Louis 
 Jackson . 
 
 Alley.... 
 
 709 
 
 Jackson . 
 Jackson. 
 Jackson . 
 
 Jackson . 
 Jackson . 
 
 NUMBEB. 
 
 ■29 
 
 721 
 
 715 
 
 715-719 
 
 713 
 
 Bemabks. 
 
 inch plank and iron door, and a plank door 
 in rear to Sullivan's Alley. 
 
 Second story, entrance through trap-door from 
 727, laundry, rear 729, near Sullivan's Alley; 
 lottery and gambling-room; entrance through 
 a 2-inch plank door; exit through a plank door 
 four inches thick to stairs south of building; 
 entrance from balcony, east side. 
 
 First story; entrance through two heavy plank 
 and iron doors. 
 
 First story; gambling-room; entrance through 
 three plank and iron doors; iron partition. 
 
 First story; front entrance through three doors — 
 two plank and one iron — in rear to lodging- 
 room. 
 
 Rear, first story; entrance to gambling-rooms 
 through one 3-inch plank door. 
 
 North side, second story; gambling-room; es- 
 cape on roof. 
 
 Kear, first story; entrance to gambling-room 
 through one 3-inch plank and iron door. 
 Building runs to St. Louis Alley; no opening 
 in the alley. Escape up ladder to second 
 story through trap, fitting closely to kitchen, 
 and up stairs to rear upper second story 
 lodging; rear of lodging light door on roof. 
 
 Second story; entrance through a plank and iron 
 door over 721; gambling-room and lottery; 
 from hall, one plank and iron door. 
 
 First story; entrance to gambling-room through 
 pawn-broker's, west side, through two 3-inch 
 plank and iron doors. 
 
 Secondstory; entrance to gambling-roomthrough 
 one 3-inch plank and iron door top of stairs. 
 Second story, west side entrance to gambling- 
 room through plank and iron door to Stuart's 
 Alley. 
 
 First story; entrance to gambling-rooms through 
 Ling Ching & Co.'s general merchandise store 
 by one 3-inch plank door; escape to St. Louis 
 Alley through a 1-inch plank and iron door. 
 
 North side, corner of Dupont. First story — 
 Four gambling-rooms off of main ball; hall 
 west of main hall; entrance through one 3-inch 
 plank and iron door to two games; entrance 
 from last hall through one 3-inch plank nnd 
 iron door; lodging for gambling- rooms through
 
 90 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 BARRICADED GAMBLING DENS IN CHINATOWN— Continued. 
 
 EXHIBIT " B." 
 
 Street. 
 
 Jackson . 
 
 Washington. 
 Washington. 
 
 Washington. 
 
 Number. 
 
 800 
 800 
 
 Bemabks. 
 
 a door of wainscoting, which slides up and 
 down; this door is not easily observed. Second 
 story — Gambling-room; entrance through one 
 3-inch plank and iron door; hall west side of 
 stairs; entrance through one4-iach plank and 
 iron door; iron in center of door. Third 
 story — Entrance from last hall through one 
 3-inch plank and iron door; lodging rear of 
 gambling-rooms; court of building and kitchen 
 east eud; door from lodging-room through a 
 3-ineh plauk and iron door at south end of 
 court; one3-iuch plank and iron door to hall; 
 a 3-inch plank and iron door north from hall 
 to stairs, leading up to each floor; hall west 
 of main hall through one 3-inch plank and 
 iron door, also one plank and iron door south 
 of store; a plank door west to lodging-room, 
 a'-id one 3-inch plank and iron door to gam- 
 bliug-room. Fourth story — Gambling-room; 
 entrance as shown from last hall; also light 
 door to lodging-room from this room; kitchen 
 cover<-d in court, with opening in roof; also 
 one plauk and iron door, fastened up, to 
 kitchen of fifth gambling-room; from this 
 kitchen to rear or last hall of third gambling- 
 room; opium store in front of fourth gam- 
 bling-rooms (front first story) through one 
 3-inch plank and iron door to hall of gambling- 
 room; also stairs up to upper first story. 
 Fifth story — Gambling-rooui ; the entrance is 
 through two 3-inch plank and iron doors and 
 iron partition; to kitchen, one plank and iron 
 door, from kitchen down to third and foiarth 
 gambling-rooms, also to hall. 
 
 Second story, corner of Dupont. One plank 
 and iron door at top of stairs, and one from 
 hall to gambling-rooms. 
 
 Rear corner from Washington and Dupont. Chi- 
 nese drug store, with entrance door of heavy 
 plank, with two bars and braces, and through 
 this store to back hall ; escape to 903 Dupont 
 street through trap-door down stairs to back 
 part of store. 
 
 First i^tory. Quong Sam Wo & Co., general 
 merchandise, and jewelry in front; adjoining 
 this is a private office; next to this an opium 
 counter; then come lodgings and kitchen in
 
 BOARD OF SUPERVISORS. 
 
 91 
 
 BARRICADED GAMBLING DENS IN CHINATOWN— Continued. 
 EXHIBIT "B." 
 
 Street. 
 
 Washington. 
 Washington. 
 
 Number. 
 
 816 
 
 Washington. 
 Washington. 
 
 816 
 
 816 
 
 Washington. 
 
 Washinfrton. 
 
 Washington 
 
 Washington Place 
 
 820 
 
 822 
 
 826 
 26 
 
 Kemabks 
 
 rear, with a heavy iDLmk, braced door to 
 kitchen of gambling-room west. 
 First stoi-y, gambling-room; b. hind same store, 
 through plauk and iron door; escape through 
 same kitchen as 808. 
 Entrance to Grand Theater. Gambling-rooms 
 on east side of hall last mentioned; entrance 
 to hall through a plank and iron door; en- 
 trance from hall to rooms through a plauk and 
 iron door, with three plank and iron doors to 
 rooms used for gambling; kitchen in rear, 
 with escape through a plank and iron door 
 under stage. 
 Gambling-rooms on west side of same h;.ll 
 (Theater entrance), with kitchen and water- 
 closet extending under a stage through a plank 
 and iron door. 
 Below the stage of the Grand Theater is a 
 kitchen for the gambling-rooms. The rest of 
 the space is divided into two rows of rooms 
 from east to west, with passage in rear from 
 one end to the other; also a passage through 
 room under stage, making a passage clear 
 through, with center passage from east nearly 
 through. All the rooms are connected with 
 each other. These rooms have been used for 
 gambling-rooms, and have several openings to 
 see through into audience-room. There is a 
 heavy plank and iron door leading from the 
 audience-room to these rooms. The gambling- 
 rooms under the audience-room have exit to 
 these rooms through plank and iron doors, 
 and from west and under dressing-room 
 through plank and iron doors to stairs. At 
 top of stairs into dressing-room is a heavy 
 trap-door. 
 
 .'ront, first story; gambling-rooms through hall 
 to rear of stairs and hardware store, through 
 (hree plank and iron doors; kitchen and water- 
 closet in rear; escape through two trap-doors 
 to second story. 
 
 First story; gambling-room rear of pawn-shop; 
 exit from middle room and rear of stairs to 
 second story. 
 
 Second story; front east corner gambling-room. 
 
 Rear, first story; two gambling-rooms; en- 
 trance through store through 3-inch plank and
 
 92 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 BARRICADED GAMBLING DENS IN CHINATOWN— Continukd. 
 EXHIBIT "B," 
 
 SrBKET. 
 
 NUMBEK. 
 
 Remarks. 
 
 Washington Place. 
 
 Washington Place . 
 
 Stout's Alley 
 
 Stout's Alley 
 
 33 
 
 iron door; kitchen and water-closet in rear. 
 
 First story, north side of building, outside door; 
 ten feet to next door of 3-iuoh wood and iron; 
 up three steps, ten feet to door of 3-inch 
 wood and iron ; three turns to gambling room; 
 two games; exit through iron door to stage of 
 Jackson-street Theater; also exit from rear 
 hall through iron door to basement. Second 
 story — Entrance- to stairs through 2-inch 
 plank door. Third story — Gambling-room, 
 south side of building be'-iide stairs; small 
 door of plank and iron First story — Entrance 
 north side of building through two 3-inch 
 plank and iron doors to rear of last room; 
 exit up to second story. First story — En- 
 trance through two planked and iron doors to 
 rear; entrance to second story through iron 
 trap-door; entrance from gambling-room to 
 Jackson-street Theater, one iron door. First 
 story — Entrance through 2 plank and iron 
 doors. Second story — Rear door; plank and 
 iron door from rear of stairs. First story — 
 Gambling-room being fitted up; two heavy 
 jDlank and iron doors. 
 
 Stairs to second story of 631 and 633 Jackson 
 street; three rooms for lottery-drawing; one 
 heavy plank and iron door in front of stairs 
 rear of kitchen; over lottery drawing-room 
 one heavy pLmk and iron door. Second 
 story — Lottery game; one door, heavy plank 
 and iron; lottery game, one door, heavy plank 
 and iron; this covers eisfhty feet from Jackson 
 street; one heavy plank and iron door at head 
 of stairs. 
 
 West side, first story, second building from 
 Jackson street. One 4-inch plank door and one 
 3-inch plank door; escape from the fir.-,t floor 
 up to second floor through trap-door to room; 
 entrance to hall through a plank and iron 
 door. 
 
 Third building from Jackson street, same side. 
 First story— Gambling-room; two plank and 
 iron doors; iron partitions in hall; escape up 
 through trap-door to upper, first and second 
 stories through plank and iron doors to hall, 
 thence to street on roof; also entrance to 
 north gambling-room.
 
 BOAllD OF SUPERVISORS. 
 
 93 
 
 BARRICADED GAMBLING DENS IN CHINATOWN— Continued. 
 EXHIBIT "B." 
 
 Stbeet. 
 
 Remarks. 
 
 Stout's Alley- 
 
 Stout's Alley 
 Stout's Alley 
 
 Stout's Alley . 
 
 Stout's Alley . 
 Stout's Alley . 
 
 Stout's Alley. 
 
 Stout's Alley . 
 
 Stout's Alley . 
 Stout's Alley . 
 
 Stout's Alley . 
 
 13 
 
 Fourth building from Jackson street, same side. 
 First story — Iron partition; entrance through 
 two plank and iron doors, to rear of first 
 story; small room through another heavy 
 plank and iron door; water-closet on the side 
 throiigh heavy plank and iron door; escape to 
 roof over kitchen. 
 
 Fourth building from Jackson street. First 
 story— Lottery through small cigar store. 
 
 Upper first story — Gambling-room; entrance 
 through light door; cue 4-inch plank door and 
 one 3-inch plank door. 
 
 Fifth building from Jackson street, west side. 
 First story — Gambliug-room; the entrance is 
 through one 2-iuch plank door and one 3-inch 
 plank door; to rear, kitchen and water-closet 
 though cue 3 inch plank door. 
 
 First story — Entrance through hall 30 feet deep, 
 through two plank and iron doors; no escape. 
 
 First story— Entrance through two plank and 
 iron doois; escape to second floor through a 
 plank and irou door, and one light door to 
 hall; second floor covers escape through first 
 story south. 
 
 Second story — Entrance to gambling-room 
 through plank and iron door in middle of 
 stairs, and one plank and iron door at top of 
 stairs; also connection with second floor 
 south. 
 
 First story — Entrance to gambling-room through 
 two plank and iron doors in front; one plank 
 and one iron door between gambling-room to 
 water-closet in rear. 
 
 First story — En trance to gambling-room through 
 t vo plank and iron doors in front only. 
 
 East side, first building north of "Washington. 
 First story — Entrance to gambling-rooms 
 through two plank and iron doors; kitchen 
 and water-closet throiagh trap-door; escape, 
 a plank and iron door to gambling-room 
 north; escape also from upper first story; also 
 through plank and iron door to hall, to Wash- 
 ington street, to third story and roof. 
 
 Next building north. First story — Entrance 
 to gambling-room through two 3-inch plank 
 doors; one plank and irou door to gambling- 
 room south; upper first story and second
 
 94 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 BARRICADED GAMBLING DENS IN CHINATOWN— Continued. 
 
 EXHIBIT "B." 
 
 SXBEET. 
 
 Stout's Alley. 
 Stout's Alley. 
 
 Stout's Alley 
 
 Stout's Alley. 
 Stout's Alley 
 
 Stout's Alley . 
 
 Stout's Alley 
 Stout's Alley . 
 Stout's Alley. 
 
 Ndmbeb. 
 
 4 
 6 
 
 12 
 
 Clay. 
 Clay. 
 
 Washington. 
 
 28 
 
 723-729 
 
 849 
 
 Remasss . 
 
 story escape through plank and iron trap- 
 doors. 
 Rear, first story — Entrance, two plank and 
 
 wooden doors. 
 Rear, first story — Entrance to gambling -rooms 
 
 through two plank and iron doors; in rear, 
 
 one plank and iron door. 
 Rear, first story — Gambling-rooms in rear; 
 
 escape from upper first floor; also one from 
 
 first floor. 
 First story —Entrance to gambUng-room through 
 
 3-inch plank and iron doors. 
 First stoi-y— Entrance to gambling-room through 
 
 one 2-inch plank door, and two 3-inch pUnk 
 
 and iron doors; three rooms plank and iron 
 
 doors. 
 First story — Entrance through one 2-inch plan 
 
 door and two 3-inch plank and iron doors a-; 
 
 above; escape through plank aud iron door 
 
 into hall ; also escape to roof from second story . 
 First story — Gambling-rooms connected with 
 
 restaurant; entrance through two 3-inch plank 
 
 and iron doors. 
 First story — The entrance to gambling-room is 
 
 through three 3-inch plank and iron doors; 
 
 escape to second story. 
 First story — The entrance to gambling-rooms is 
 
 through two 3inch plank and iron doors; from 
 
 first to second story, 2-inch plank door. 
 
 Second story — Another gambling-room, wilh 
 
 plank andiron doors connecting with Jackson 
 
 street, and plank and iron door escape to rear 
 
 basement. 
 Second floor — Entrance through 3-inch heavy 
 
 plank and iron door from street, also from 
 
 Dupont street. 
 Second story, room on southeast corner — One 
 
 gambling table; one 3-inch plank door. Room 
 
 next north, one table; one 3-inch plank door; 
 
 entrance from north room; windows grated. 
 
 Third room, a pawn-shop; fourth room, a 
 
 pawn-shop, and one gambling-table. These 
 
 rooms in front have heavy plank doors to 
 
 hall, and barred windows. 
 Rear, first story — Entrance through cigar store; 
 
 water-closet in rear; trap-door in water-closet 
 
 for escape.
 
 BOARD OF SUPEEVISOES. 
 
 95 
 
 BAERICADED GAMBLING DENS IN CHINATOWN— Concluded. 
 EXHIBIT "B." 
 
 Stb 
 
 Number. 
 
 Remarks. 
 
 Commercial 
 
 Waverley Place . . . 
 
 Waverley Place . . . 
 Bartlett Alley 
 
 7U% 
 36% 
 
 37 
 
 Second story — Pawnbroker; entrance through 
 2%-inch plank door, plated with 34-Lnch iron 
 to gambling-deu. 
 
 First story — Entrance rear of 114/^ through an 
 8-inch plank and iron door, and one 3-inch 
 plank and iron door; kitchen and water- 
 closet in rear; escape through window in 
 W. C. 
 
 Front, first story — Entrance through one 2-inch 
 plauk and iron door; rear door, 2-iach plank 
 and iron. 
 
 West side, first story — One 3-inch plank and 
 iron door, and one 3-inch plank door; escape 
 through a plank and iron door to passage at 
 640% Jackson street, up to restaurant over 
 fence, thence to Bartlett Alley.
 
 Chinatown in Sacramento. 
 
 A SURVEY of "Chinatown" in Sacramento would show, on 
 a smaller scale, a condition of things precisely similar to that 
 developed in the foregoing Heport of the Special Committee 
 of the Board of Supervisors of San Francisco. The same 
 remark will apply to every town of importance in California 
 or in any part of the world where the Chinese have colonized; 
 for one "Chinatown" is as another "Chinatown" wherever 
 it may be found, the world over. In the absence of an actual 
 survey of and report upon "Chinato^oi" in Sacramento, 
 some extracts from the testimony elicited before the Legis- 
 lative Committee in 1876 in regard to the condition of things 
 there will be of value as corroborative evidence of all that 
 has gone before. Important extracts from this testimony 
 touching specific features of Chinese life in this locality have 
 already been given, and the further testimony in Reference to 
 general facts need only be added to complete the picture. 
 
 Charles P. O'Neil, a policeman of twenty years' standing, 
 testified as follows : 
 
 Q. — Are there any Chinese women here? 
 
 A. — Yes, sir; there are a couple of hundred, the most of 
 them beiug prostitutes. 
 
 Q. — How many Chinese families are there in this city — 
 men with their wives and children ? 
 
 A. — There are not a great many. It is a very unusual 
 thing for Chinamen to bring their families here from China; 
 so much so that I never heard of such a case. In conversa- 
 tion with me, they always speak as if opposed to such a 
 thing. 
 
 Q. — Do you know how these women are held — whether 
 they are owned by anybody, or whether anybody claims to 
 own them ? 
 
 (97) 
 
 15
 
 98 CHINATOWN IN SACRAMENTO. 
 
 A. — Only from hearsay. I have heard them (the China- 
 men) frequently say that they bought them. On one occa- 
 sion I was called into a Chinese house, and there saw four 
 hundred and fifty dollars pass between a woman and a man. 
 They wanted me to be a witness to the fact, and I witnessed 
 it. Sometime afterwards the woman told me that her boss 
 had sold her for four hundred and fifty dollars. That was 
 the contract I witnessed, but it being in Chinese I did not 
 understand it at the time. The woman soon after committed 
 suicide. She did not like this man to whom she had been 
 sold, and committed suicide by drowning. From my ex- 
 perience as an officer, I know that these women are kept 
 under close surveillance. 
 
 Q. — Is it possible for them to escape, or is there any rea- 
 sonable probability that any of them could escape from that 
 servitude ? 
 
 A. — No; not without they are protected by the white peo- 
 ple. I have known them to attempt to escape, and have 
 known them to have been sent for and brought back. To 
 do this they use different means, principally money. They 
 use, also, the machinery of the American Courts to enforce 
 these contracts, it being customary to have these v/omen ar- 
 rested for larceny or some crime in order to get the more 
 secure possession of them. 
 
 :•: * :!= ♦ :j: :i: 
 
 Q. — What proportion of the Chinese on I street do you 
 suppose belong to the criminal classes — that is, engaged in 
 prostitution, living off the fruits of prostitution, gambling, 
 living off the fruits of gambling, petty larcenies, etc. ? 
 
 A. — On I street there are from one hundred and fifty to 
 two hundred of what we call " highbinders" living off' the 
 houses of prostitution, and they are mixed up with the gam- 
 blers. You might call them hoodlums. They band together 
 and make raids on the gambling houses and on the women, 
 and make them give them money. They live in that way; 
 always ready for a fight at any moment among themselves, 
 and against anybody that may oppose them. They go to- 
 gether in gangs, and will number about two hundred. With 
 the women this criminal class will number at least four hun- 
 dred, or one-fifth of the entire Chinese population of the 
 city. The petty thieves, shop-lifters, etc., range with these 
 highbinders, and go along picking articles from doorways,
 
 CHINATOWN IN SACRAMENTO. 99 
 
 etc. On J street one will probably go inside to buy some- 
 thing, when a confederate or two will walk off witli a pair of 
 pants or boots or anything that can be carried off. 
 
 :;: * * :':: :i: I'fi 
 
 Q. — Do you know of any cases of leprosy in this city? 
 
 A. — There is one knocking around town somewhere — a 
 man. I haven't seen him lately; he was around Fifth street. 
 There was another here but he died, and this old felJoAv 
 came here, I think, from Stockton. There are some Chinese 
 in our hospital, but I do not know how many. 
 
 Q. — Have they any respect for our oath? 
 
 A. — None, sir. From my judgment, after twenty years 
 experience as an officer, 1 can say that they will swear which- 
 ever way their interests run; or will swear for any pecuniary 
 gain — that is, the most of them. Of course there are some 
 who are honest and straightforward, but they are exceptions. 
 As a population the Chinese are largely criminal, when we 
 consider perjury in the list. They are ready to do anything 
 for their own interest and immediate advancement. 
 
 Q. — Through the exertions of yourself and some other 
 officers you^Drevented boys from going to these quarters ? 
 
 A. — Yes, sir. 
 
 Q. — Were these women always ready and willing to 
 solicit these bo3's to enter their houses? 
 
 A. — Yes, sir; whenever they would come along. 
 
 Q. — Stop at the window and knock for little boys passing? 
 
 A. — Stand at the door or window and say, "Come iu; 
 come in." I never saw small boys there; never any boys 
 less than thirteen or fourteen years old. 
 
 Q. — Don't you think boys of that age too small for that 
 offense ? 
 
 A. — Not iu California. They might be back East. I 
 have found such boys in these houses and driven them out. 
 I have also known cases where young girls, dressed up as 
 boys, went to these places — out of curiosity, perhaps. 
 
 Q. — Do you know any Christian Chinamen ? 
 
 A. — I knew one. 
 
 Q. — How long since ? 
 
 A. — Several years ago, in San Francisco. 
 
 Q. — Have you ever known of any Christians here ? 
 
 A. — No, sir; nor do I believe that there ever was one 
 made in California.
 
 100 CHINATOWN IN SACRAMENTO. 
 
 Q. — Do you know of any Cliiuese mission ]iere r 
 
 A.— Oil, yes. 
 
 Q.-— Who runs that mission — white people? 
 
 A, — Yes, sir; a great many 3"0ung ladies go there to in- 
 struct the Chinese. They instruct men only — men and boys. 
 
 Q. — Do these young ladies ever attempt to teach the 
 women anything ? 
 
 A. — No, sir. Go to the churches every Sunday evening 
 and you can see them teaching the Chinamen. 
 
 Q. — What are they teaching them ? 
 
 A. — The Bible and all those good things. 
 
 Q. — What ejBfect does that teaching have on them ? 
 
 A. — It makes confirmed scoundrels of them. 
 
 Q. — Do you know anything about any opium dens ? 
 
 A. — Most of their houses are so. They have places to 
 smoke opium in almost every house. There are three or 
 four places w^here white women went to smoke, but I have 
 not seen any of them since last fall. 
 
 Q. — How are the Chinese, as a race, given to the vice of 
 opium-smoking? 
 
 A. — About as much as American people to taking their 
 regular "tod." 
 
 Q. — You say that this Christianity they are taught makes 
 confirmed scoundrels of them ? 
 
 A. — There are very few Chinamen I have seen (of course 
 there are some exceptions) that become " Christians," and 
 learn to talk good English, who do not become rascals. 
 They go to these schools solely to learn English. I have 
 heard Chinamen frequently say that they went to these 
 places simply to "catchee English." I have asked them 
 why they went, and that is the reason they have always 
 given me. They laugh at the idea of being converted to 
 Christianity. On one Sunday there was a Chinese mission- 
 ary down on I street, singing hymns, and directly opposite 
 the Chinese were having their religious festival, commonly 
 called '•' driving the devil out." There was an old Chinaman 
 there, Billy Holung, who has been around here for twenty 
 years, and turning to him I asked what the Christian per- 
 formance was. He said it was a Christian church. I asked 
 him what he was talking about, and he said: " He is talk- 
 ing about Jesus Christ; he is damn fool; he never see Jesus 
 Christ." There is a mission here, too. I do not know how 
 many members it has. There are Chinamen, who claim to
 
 CHINATOWN IN SACEAMENTO. 101 
 
 be converted, who preach, every Sunday on Third and I 
 streets. There are about fifteen or twenty of them, I think. 
 A. Ciiinaman leads it. I have not seen a white man there 
 more than once since they went there. I do not believe in 
 Chinese religious sincerity, so far as Christianity is con- 
 cerned. 
 
 Q. — Do the Chinese come here to stay? 
 
 A.— No, sir. 
 
 Q. — How long do they remain ? 
 
 A. — They stay until they gather so much money, and 
 then they leave for China. There are some here who have 
 made two, three and four trips to their own country. 
 
 Q. — What is considered a fortune among the Chinese? 
 
 A. — Between two hundred dollars and three hundred 
 dollars is considered a pretty good stake by the working 
 classes. 
 
 Q. — Are they satisfied to go back when they get that ? 
 
 A. — Yes. 
 
 Charles T. Jones, District Attorney of Sacramento, tes- 
 tified : 
 
 Q. — Can you rely upon the oaths of Chinamen? 
 
 A. — No, sir; not at all. Whenever their interests are in 
 the least concerned, they will swear whichever way they 
 may deem most advantageous, irrespective of truth, justice 
 or honesty. 
 
 Q. — Have you ever known a Christian Chinaman ? 
 
 A. — I have known Chinamen who pretended to be Chris- 
 tians, and I have heard them preach and pray. I think this 
 Chinese Christianity is all a mere pretense. I would not 
 trust a Christian Chinaman any quicker than I would any 
 other; but I would be a little more suspicious in that case, 
 because they become sharper. 
 
 Q. — Why do they go to the Christian Sunday Schools? 
 
 A. — They go to learn English. I have had. Chinamen^ 
 who pretended to be very devout Christians, tell me thab 
 the only reason they went to Sunday School and Church was 
 to learn English without any expense to themselves. 
 
 Q. — Suppose a Chinaman should assist the officers in 
 bringing Chinese criminals to justice — would that be a dan- 
 gerous thing for him ? 
 
 A. — I think it would, I am satisfied that they have their 
 own tribunals, where they try all these cases.
 
 102 CHINATOWN IN SACRAMENTO. 
 
 Q. — What cliance liave these women, who are held iu 
 prostitution, to escape ? 
 
 A. — They have a ver}" small chance. 
 
 Q. — In case of escape, do they ever resort to the Courts, 
 to retain possession of the women ? 
 
 A. — Yes, sir. 
 
 Q. — Do you think the presence of Chinese in California 
 tends to the advancement of Christian civilization ? 
 
 A. — I do not. 
 
 Q. — About Avhat proportion of the Chinese here belong 
 to the criminal classes ? 
 
 A. — A large jDortion do, while I believe that every China- 
 man will steal when he gets a chance. I believe the Chinese 
 merchants here, in a manner, control the petty thieves, re- 
 ceive their stolen goods, and get them out of trouble when 
 arrested. 
 
 Q. — Do you think it possible to entirely break up these 
 houses of prostitution and gambling in this city ? 
 
 A. — It would be very difficult. The Chinese resort to 
 perjury in all cases, and many white men find it impossible 
 to identify Chinamen. 
 
 James Duffy testified : 
 
 3Ir. Haymond — How long have you resided in the City 
 of Sacramento ? 
 
 A.— Since 1852. 
 
 Q. — Do you know anything about the Chinese quarter? 
 
 A. — Yes, sir. 
 
 Q. — Do you know anything about the condition of their 
 houses, as to cleanliness? 
 
 A. — They are horribly dirty. I have never been in a 
 Chinese house yet that wasn't more like a water-closet than a 
 house. 
 
 Q. — You are an expressman ? 
 
 A. — Yes, sir. 
 
 Q. — How are the streets kept? 
 
 A. — I street is very dirty. They throw a great many 
 slops into the street and into the back yards, and between 
 them all there is a terrible mess. 
 
 Q. — Do they livo as white people do ? 
 
 A. — No, sir. You and your wife could not live where 
 thirty of them live.
 
 CHINATOWN IN SACRAMENTO. 103 
 
 Q. — Do you know anytliing of boys visiting bouses of 
 prostitution ? 
 
 A. — I have seen small boys visit their houses of prosti- 
 tution. In one instance I saw a woman entice a boy of 
 about eleven years of age into her house. I got a police- 
 man, George Harvey, and had both parties arrested. The 
 woman, I think, deposited ten dollars for her appearance, 
 but forfeited it next morning. 
 
 3Ir. Donovan — Do you know of white people being dis- 
 charged to give place to Chinamen ? 
 
 A. — I have heard white ladies say so. They said they 
 would prefer white help, if they would work for the same 
 price as Chinamen. 
 
 Q. — Do you know of any boys being diseased by having 
 visited the Chinese quarter ? 
 
 A. — No more than I have heard. 
 
 Q. — What is the common report? 
 
 A. — That no one goes there except he gets diseased. 
 
 Q. — What is the common report as to truth-telling 
 among the Chinese ? 
 
 A. — A Chinaman will tell a lie for ten cents and swear to 
 it. 
 
 Q. — What is their character for honesty — are they gen- 
 erally considered honest, or thieves ? 
 
 A. — There might be one in the city perhaps that would not 
 steal, but you would have to look pretty hard to find him. 
 I don't think there is a Chinaman in this city that would not 
 steal. They are all thieves, liars and perjurers. 
 
 James Coffey, a policeman, testified : 
 
 Mr. Haymond — How long have you lived in California ? 
 A. — Twenty- one years. 
 
 Q. — What have you been engaged in during that time ? 
 A. — Driving stage most of the time. For the last two 
 years I have been on the police force in Sacramento. 
 
 Q. — In what part of the State were you driving stage ? 
 
 A. — All over. 
 
 Q. — In the mining section ? 
 
 A. — Yes, sir. 
 
 Q. — Where they employed Chinese ? 
 
 A. — A few.
 
 104 CHINATOWN IN SACRAMENTO. 
 
 Q. — What was the condition of the Chinese quarters in 
 the various mining towns ? 
 
 A. — Very poor. 
 
 Q. — How do they live? 
 
 A. — Most generally in tents, in those days. 
 
 Q. — In communities by themselves ? 
 
 A. — Yes, sir. 
 
 Q. — Since jon have been on the police force here have 
 you had occasion to visit the Chinese quarters ? 
 
 A. — Very often. 
 
 Q. — In what condition are their houses, and how do they 
 live ? 
 
 A. — They are in very poor condition, and the Chinamen 
 live more like hogs than men. A great many are living in 
 basements below the streets, except a few women who live 
 on the first floors. 
 
 Q. — Do you know anything about young boys visiting 
 Chinese houses of prostitution ? 
 
 A. — I have seen several. 
 
 Q. — Of what ages ? 
 
 A. — Twelve, fourteen, and sixteen years old. 
 
 Matt Kaechee, Chief of Police, testified : 
 
 Q. — Do you know who own or claim to own the China- 
 women who are prostitutes here ? 
 
 A. — Merchants here who pretend to be respectable — Chi- 
 nese merchants, I mean. 
 
 Q. — Are they buying and selling these women ? 
 
 A. — That is my opinion, from my experience. 
 
 Q. — How are they treated? 
 
 A. — Where one is young and good-looking, and makes 
 plenty of money, she is well treated. Those who are unable 
 to make much are treated very badly. 
 
 Q. — How young are the youngest that you know of as 
 being held ? 
 
 A. — I have seen them as young as fifteen years. 
 
 Q, — What chance have they to escape from this life, if 
 they desire ? 
 
 A. — They have very little chance. 
 
 Q. — How is that ? 
 
 A. — Because the Chinese will swear to almost anything, 
 and if one is taken away by another she is simply run off to 
 another locality to be sold into slavery again. Sometimes
 
 CHINATOWN IN SACRAMENTO. 105 
 
 the farce of marrying is gone througli with in order to get 
 the woman, who may be beyond their reach. As soon as 
 the newly-made husband gets possession of his bride he 
 turns her over to her former owners. 
 
 Q. — Do you know of cases where they have had Chinamen 
 arrested and convicted of crime simply because they have 
 interfered with them ? 
 
 A. — Yes,, sir. The arresting officer and the District At- 
 torney have to be very careful lest they be made the instru- 
 ments of sending innocent men to State Prison. Sometimes 
 where several men are arrested, one will be offered v/hom we 
 may convict if we will let the others go. Several men were 
 arrested here some time ago for robbing Harper's shoe-store. 
 These fellows put up a man who admitted that he was guilty, 
 but I did not believe he had anything to do with it. These 
 Chinese leaders offered to furnish me with all the evidence 
 I wanted if I would have a nolle pros, entered in the other 
 cases. 
 
 ^ ^ ^ i^ m ^ 
 
 Q. — What is the character, as to truth and veracity, of 
 these Christianized Chinamen? 
 
 A. — I wouldn't take their word for anything. 
 
 Q. — Would they perjure themselves as readily as do the 
 unchristianized ? 
 
 A. — I believe so. 
 
 Q. — What effect does this Christian teaching have upon 
 the Chinese ? 
 
 A. — It makes them keener and more conscienceless — 
 worse in every way. They learn the English language, and 
 the smarter they get the worse they get, and the more expert 
 in thieving. I know Chinamen who have been here for a 
 long time, and I cannot see that they have been improved by 
 their contact with the whites. On the contrary, they have 
 learned all of our rascality and none of our virtues. I don't 
 think it is natural for a Chinaman to learn anything good. 
 I have known one Chinaman a good many years. He was 
 considered by a good many people, and is now, what they 
 call a "way vip" Chinaman — one of the better class. His 
 name is Ah BeaUo 
 
 Q. — Is he a Christian ? 
 
 A. — He pretends to be. He is rather smart ; has learned 
 telegraphy, etc.
 
 106 CHINATOWN IN SACRAMENTO. 
 
 Q. — He is the fellow who tries to bribe j)ublic officers, 
 is he? 
 
 A. — Yes, sir. 
 
 Q. — He is a "way up" fellow aucl a good Cliristian? 
 
 A. — Yes, sir. At one time I thought he was a pretty 
 good Chinaman, but now I don't think there is a worse Chi- 
 naman on I street or on the Pacific Coast, because he has 
 learned so much. The more they learn the worse they be- 
 come. 
 
 Q. — What has been the effect in this city of the employ- 
 ment of Chinese ? Has it displaced white labor to any great 
 extent in the lighter avocations. 
 
 A. — Yes, sir; to a great extent. 
 
 Q. — Do you think that they drive servant girls from their 
 places, deprive them of an opportunity of making an honest 
 living ? 
 
 A. — Yes, sir. 
 
 Q. — And has that fact added to the ranks of prostitution ? 
 
 A. — Yes, sir. 
 
 Q. — Do yoLi know of any such cases? 
 
 A. — Yes, sir. I recall two very distinctly, where white 
 girls have been driven to prostitution by being thus driven 
 from their emjjloyments. 
 
 Q. — They first come into contact with these Chinamen in 
 the honest walks of life, and are then displaced by them. 
 JNext they meet them in the lower walks, and still the advan- 
 tage is against tliem ? 
 
 A. — Yes, sir. That condition of affairs exists to an 
 alarming extent. 
 
 Q. — Then, instead of the presence of the Chinese tend- 
 ing to the advancement of Christian civilization, it has a 
 directly opposite effect? 
 
 A. — Y^es, sir. 
 
 Q. — It is claimed by the Chinese missionaries in this 
 State that from sixty to one hundred have become Christian- 
 ized. Taking that to be true, how many white people have 
 been ruined by their presence here during the last twenty- 
 five years ? 
 
 A. — The percentage asrainst them is very great. Many 
 more whites have been ruined in this city alone than have 
 been converted in the whole State. I do not think that 
 Chinese become converted to Christianity at all. I don't 
 think it is possible.
 
 CHINATOWN IN SACRAMENTO. 107 
 
 Q. — In San Francisco at an early day, and in Sacramento, 
 there were few boys fourteen, fifteen and sixteen years of 
 age in the country? 
 
 A. — Yes, sir. 
 
 Q — And the places occupied by boys in other countries 
 were filled by the Chinese ? 
 
 A. — Yes, sir. 
 
 Q. — So that the result was, that when the boys came 
 along in the natural growth of the country there was no 
 work for them to do ? 
 
 A. — That is correct. 
 
 Q. — We have an element in San Francisco, and a small 
 element here, known as hoodlums. Might not the growth of 
 that element be justly attributed to the presence of this peo- 
 ple in our midst ? 
 
 A. — I think nine-tenths of it may. In other countries 
 boys find employment in this light work, but here it is done 
 by the Chinese. Boys of tender age have been found in 
 Chinese houses of prostitution frequently. 
 
 Q. — Would those boys be liable to visit the houses of 
 white prostitutes ? 
 
 A. — They would not be so liable. 
 
 Q.— Why is that ? 
 
 A. — The prices are higher, and boys of that age will not 
 take the liberties with white women that they do in China- 
 town. In addition to that it can be said on behalf of the 
 white women that they would not allow boys of ten, eleven, 
 or fourteen years of age to enter their houses. No such 
 cases have ever been reported to the police, while the in- 
 stances where Chinese women have enticed these youths 
 have been very frequent. Some three years ago two boys, 
 one thirteen and the other fifteen, were taken from a Chinese 
 house of prostitution and brought to the Station-house. 
 One belonged here and the other to San Francisco. I met 
 the San Francisco boy nbout a mouth afterwards, and found 
 him suffering from a loathsome disease, which he said he 
 contracted in that house. 
 
 Q. — Do you know vrhat they do with their sick when they 
 become helpless and unable to make more money ? 
 
 A. — Put them in some outhouse, or on the sidewalk, to 
 die. 
 
 Q. — Without food or bedding ? 
 
 A. — Generally. I have found men and women, bcuh, in
 
 108 CHINATOWN IN SACRAMENTO. 
 
 that condition. I have found them by accident while hunt- 
 ing for other things — stolen goods, criminals, etc. 
 
 Q. — You found women wHhout food or drink, and with- 
 out covering ? 
 
 A. — Yes, sir. 
 
 Q. — And death would have come from disease, or starva- 
 tion, or both? 
 
 A. — Yes, sir. 
 
 Q. — Is that the common way of disposing of these wo- 
 men when they become useless ? 
 
 A. — Yes, sir; if not the only way. 
 
 Q. — They are less cared for than are useless domestic 
 animals by the white race ? 
 
 A. — A great deal less. 
 
 Q. — What is the general effect of the presence of this 
 race upon the morals of this country ? 
 
 A.— Bad. 
 
 Q. — Is this population a criminal one? 
 
 A . — Principally. 
 
 Q. — Do you know of any good that comes from their 
 presence? 
 
 A. — I have never heard of any, nor can I think of any. 
 
 Q. — Leaving San Francisco out of consideration, have 
 you ever known so many people, in any city, crowded to- 
 gether in the same space that they are crowded here ? 
 
 A. — No, sir. 
 
 Q. — Have you ever known as vicious a population con- 
 centrated in any other city ? 
 
 A. — .No, sir. 
 
 Q . — Do you know of any cases of leprosy here ? 
 
 A. — I know of one case of leprosy here. The leper is a 
 loathsome-looking object, and no one will dare to touch him. 
 They will not receive him at the hospital, and there is no 
 place at the Station-house for him. He could go into any 
 store in this city and take whatever he pleased. 
 
 Q. — Would it be possible to close up houses of gambling 
 and prostitution entirely in the Chinese quarters ? 
 
 A. — I think it would be an utter impossibility. To do it 
 would require a police force large enough to have a man sta- 
 tioned on I street every fifty or one hundred feet. More 
 policemen would be required for the Chinese quarter than 
 for all the rest of the city. Taking into consideration the
 
 CHINATOWN IN SACRAMENTO. 109 
 
 present state of taxation, the extra expense would be more 
 than we could stand. 
 
 Q. — The Chinese are about one-tenth the population of 
 the city ? 
 
 A. — Yes, sir. 
 
 Q. — Do they pay one-hundredth part of the tax? 
 
 A. — No, sir; I don't think they pay one-thousandth part. 
 
 Q. — Do they own any real estate? 
 
 A. — I do not know of any case, I have heard that one 
 Chinaman owned a piece of land, but I do not know any- 
 thing about it. 
 
 Q. — Would the house in which they live be habitable for 
 any other class of people ? 
 
 A. — No, sir. A few recently-erected might be cleansed, 
 but most of them would have to be torn down and rebuilt. 
 
 Q. — Tell us how they regard our laws and ordinances re- 
 lating to health and fire; how they live; whether they buy 
 things here or from Chinese merchants; whom they have 
 displaced, and what would be the effect of sending large 
 numbers of them East ? 
 
 A. — They totally disregard the fire and health ordi- 
 nances. They build fires in their rooms on the floor, under 
 the sidewalks and on the sidewalks. The danger of the 
 destruction of the city by fire is very great, especially when 
 a north wand is blowing. The Chinese live together, fifteen 
 or twenty in a small room, and do their cooking there and 
 sleep there. This enables them to live upon probably ten 
 cents a day, or seventy cents a week, while a white laborer 
 would be under an expense, at the very least, of twelve dol- 
 lars a week. The Chinese use Chinese clothing, live upon 
 Chinese rice, and deal with Chinese merchants. The 
 Chinese washerman has taken the place of the white washer- 
 woman. He has usurped the place of the white girl in 
 families. He has driven white laborers from the factories, 
 the fields, and the ordinary work of laborers. He has 
 invaded a large portion of our manufacturing institutions, 
 displacing white labor, male and female. He has been 
 enabled to do this from the fact that he works for less than 
 is necessary to support the most economical of white 
 laborers. It has been stated in Eastern papers that the 
 Chinese on this coast are abused, and that they are not pro- 
 tected by the laws. That is not so. It is because the laws 
 have been well enforced in California that the people have
 
 110 CHINATOWN IN SACRAMENTO. 
 
 stood this thing so long as they have. If we should send a 
 population of this kind to any large city in the United 
 States, and the workingmen should understand the character 
 of the Chinese as we understand it, they would rise up and 
 jjrevent their settling among them. 
 
 Lem Schaum, a Chinaman who cams to California a boy 
 of fifteen, testified: 
 
 Q. — Do you know how these bad women are brought 
 here ? 
 
 A. — They are stolen and bought in China, and brought 
 here, the same as we buy and sell stock. 
 
 Q. — Their condition is a very horrible one, then ? 
 
 A. — Yes, sir. 
 
 Q. — Do you know how they are treated? 
 
 A. — Yes, sir. The parties who own them generally treat 
 them pretty roughly. If they don't go ahead and make 
 money the owners will give them a good thrashiiig. 
 
 O. C. Jackson testified: 
 
 Mr. Hmjmond — How long have you been in Calilornia ? 
 
 A. — Since eighteen hundred and sixty-three. 
 
 Q, — How long have you resided in Sacramento ? 
 
 A. — Since eighteen hundred and sixty-three. 
 
 Q. — What is your present occupation? 
 
 A. — Regular police ofiicer in the city of Sacramento. 
 
 Q. — How long have you been connected with the force ? 
 
 A. — I have been an officer since eighteen hundred and 
 sixty-nine, but not on the regular force all the time. 
 
 Q. — Are you familiar with the Chinese quarters of this 
 city? 
 
 A. — Yes, sir. 
 
 Q. — What is their condition as regards cleanliness? 
 
 A. — It would be simply ridiculous to compare it with the 
 white part of the city. It is filthy in the extreme. 
 
 Q. — How do they live ? Do many live in the same house? 
 
 A. — They are packed in, three tiers deep. I have visited 
 Chinatown hundreds of times in search of Chinese thieves, 
 •and have seen them stowed away head and feet together, in 
 cellars and under sidewalks, and all their surroundings of 
 the most filthy character.
 
 CHINATOWN IN SACRAMENTO. Ill 
 
 Q. — Do yon know how tliese Chinese prostitutes are 
 held — whether in slavery or not ? 
 
 A. — I think thoy are held in slavery. They are all 
 bought and sold the same as horses and cows, bringing 
 prices according to age and beauty. 
 
 Q. — Do you know how they are treated? 
 
 A. — As slaves, and punished as the owners may choose. 
 
 Q. — What sort of punishments are inflicted? 
 
 A. — I do not know, only from hearsay. 
 
 Q. — What chance have these women to escape if they 
 should so desire? 
 
 A. — Very little chance. Where they do get away they 
 are generally caught and brought back to the owners again. 
 
 Q. — Do they resort to the processes of our Courts in 
 order to recover women who have escaped ? 
 
 A. — Yes, sir; in a great many cases to my knowledge. 
 They will swear out a warrant for her arrest for grand lar- 
 ceny or some felony. Sometimes it is sworn out against the 
 man who has her, and sometimes against both. As soon as 
 they get possession of the woman, they trifle with the cases 
 until they fall through. It is almost impossible for a woman 
 to escape. 
 
 Q. — Do you know what is done with these women when 
 they become sick, heljDless and incurably diseased ? 
 
 A. — Where they see that they will be of no further use to 
 make money, they turn them out on the sidewalk to die . I 
 have seen men and women also turned out to die in this 
 manner. I have found dead men while searching for 
 stolen property, and have had the Coroner attend to them. 
 The Chinese nre very superstitious in regfird to sickness and 
 death, and will have nothing to do with their unfortunate 
 fellow-countrymen. A great many die in out-of-the-way 
 places, abandoned by the Chinese, without food or drink. 
 
 Q. — Do you know whether Chinese prostitutes have been 
 in the habit of soliciting young boys of tender age ? 
 
 A. — I do not remember any cases of late occurrence. 
 Since the present Chief of Police went into office there has 
 been little of that business, as he has kept the places shut 
 up. Previous to that these women were in the habit of 
 soliciting openly. I have seen in these houses boys of ten, 
 thirteen, fourteen and fifteen years of age. 
 
 Q. — Have you ever heard of boys of that age visiting 
 white houses of prostitution ?
 
 112 CHINATOWN IN SACRAMENTO. 
 
 A. — No, sir; I never knew of any such case. 
 
 Q. — Do you believe the wliite women would allow it? 
 
 A. — No, sir. 
 
 Q. — This is frequent in the Chinese quarter ? 
 
 A. — It has been. 
 
 Q. — How is their testimony received in Court ? 
 
 A. — I would not believe a Chinaman under oath, for 
 they will swear whichever way interest or prejudice directs. 
 They are in the habit of compromising felonies and offenses. 
 They have their own secret tribunals, where they try men 
 for offenses. I was present at one of their meetings a short 
 time ago, and they questioned me very closely regarding cer- 
 tain Chinamen whom they accused of furnishing evidence. 
 This week, in the County Court, we had a trial of a China- 
 man whom I arrested for stealing from the Congregational 
 church school-room. He was caught in the room by the 
 Chinaman who keeps it in order, and held until I got there 
 and took him into custody. There were three Chinamen 
 there when he was arrested and searched, besides Mrs. 
 Shane, the teacher. Two of these Chinamen begged the 
 white witnesses on several occasions not to go to Court and 
 testify, else they would be killed by order of their country- 
 men. In the Police Court they were not needed, and were 
 not called. Two or three nights before the trial came on in 
 the County Court, this Chinaman, Fon Fon, came to my res- 
 idence very much excited, and wanted me to go down town 
 with him. I asked him what for, and he said the Ky-che- 
 lung was holding a meeting, and he wanted me to go iDcfore 
 it. He said they were meeting to make him pay one dollar 
 a day for every day this man had been in jail, or else hire a 
 lawyer to get him out, saying that if the man was convicted 
 and he did not pay this money he would be killed. He also 
 said that he had not dared go down I street since the man's 
 arrest. I went to the meeting of the Ky-che-lung and was 
 questioned very closely. To see what they were up to I 
 evaded their questions, and finally told them this man had 
 nothing to do with the matter. This was what they were 
 after, and one told me he did not believe me. On the trial 
 the two other Chinese had disappeared, and an attachment 
 had to be sent for Fon Fon. On the stand he perjured him- 
 self, declaring he knew nothing of things that occurred there 
 the day of arrest. He was very much scared and doubtless 
 acted under orders. The Chinese told me the whole matter
 
 CHINATOWN IN SACRAMENTO. 113 
 
 had been settled. The great number of offenses committed 
 bj Chinese among themselves are settled long before they 
 come to issue iu our Courts. They use threats and intimi- 
 dation among themselves, but never towards the whites. 
 
 Q. — Do you know anything about the murder of Ah 
 Quong ? 
 
 A. — Yes, sir. That was as Mr. Jones stated. 
 
 Q. — Do you know anything about the posting up of offers 
 of rewards for assassinations ? 
 
 A. — I have had them, but of course could not read them. 
 I have had them translated. They offer so much for the 
 murder of a particular individual, and agree to protect the 
 murderer. 
 
 Q. — Do you know any Christian Chinamen ? 
 
 A. — No, sir. 
 
 Q. — Do you know whether the employment of Chinamen 
 in this city, iu the place of white girls, has led to the prosti- 
 tution of the whites in any degree ? 
 
 A. — I cannot say. My opinion is that the presence of 
 the Chinese tends to degrade the working classes, but I 
 can't say that I know of any instances where white girls have 
 been driven to prostitution because of the Chinese. 
 
 Q. — How much a day can Chinese laborers of the lower 
 classes support themselves upon ? 
 
 A. — They can live on ten cents a day. White men can- 
 not board themselves for less than fifty cents a day. The 
 Chinese evade all the tax they can. A poll-tax receipt is 
 passed around from one to the other, and they swear them- 
 selves clear of paying whenever they can. 
 
 A. — Do they import much of their food and clothing 
 from China? 
 
 A. — Yes, sir. They spend very little money with Amer- 
 icans. They come here, stay until they get some money 
 together, and then go home again. While they are here 
 they are sending money home all the time. 
 
 Q. — From what you have seen, do you think the presence 
 of the Chinese here tends to the advancement of Christian 
 civilization ? 
 
 A. — It has the reverse effect. It is also degrading* to 
 white labor; insteM of learning good, they are learning-: 
 vice. They are becoming educated only in thievery, anci 
 perjury, and everything bad.
 
 114 CHINATOWN IN SACllAMENTO. 
 
 Q. — la the administration of justice, do the officers meet 
 with any assistance at the hands of the more respectable 
 portion of the Chinese ? 
 
 A. — They stand in the way of the administration of the 
 law, from the head men down to the lo i\'est thieves. They 
 are a nation of thieves, the lowest being under the direction 
 and management of the more intelligent, who know the laws, 
 hire lawyers, procure testimony, and act as receivers of 
 stolen goods. When you are on I street, searching for infor- 
 mation, you can't find a man but what will answer to all 
 your questions, "no sabe." Sometimes theyi^ut up jobs on 
 their fellow-countrymen, and convict them of crime, whether 
 guilty or not. They have no respect for our laws, and con- 
 sider them only of use in so far as they can use them to 
 work their own personal ends. They settle everything in 
 their own councils, and as the thing goes there so it goes 
 elsewhere. 
 
 Q. — What is the great difficulty in the administration of 
 the law ? 
 
 A. — Our ignorance of their language ; and unless white 
 witnesses are very familiar with Chinese faces, they have 
 great trouble in identifying them. Officers have no difficulty 
 on that score, but otliers do.
 
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