JANUARY 10. -- Went through Chinatown, which is situated on Sacramento Street, above Kearney, Dupont Street between Sacramento and Washington Streets, and Jackson Street between Dupont and Kearney. This district is occupied exclusively by Celestial shopkeepers -- the "Heathen Chinees." There are two Chinese theatres, one on each side of Jackson Street. The plays sometimes require several weeks for presentation, and frequently include the events of a dynasty of several hundred years. The stage is devoid of scenery, except for a few scrolls that are hung against the wall; the orchestra is at the back of the stage and the musicians keep up a constant din of gongs during most of the performance. The actors are all men, who enter and leave through doorways on either side of the orchestra, which are hung with red curtains, and the costumes of the performers are kept in enormous trunks on either side of the stage. Beside these trunks stand small tables and a few chairs -- these are the only stage properties and are shifted by a Chinaman in full sight of the audience. During the performance, if an actor dies or is killed, he lies still for a few moments so that the spectators may realize he is dead -- then he springs up and runs off the stage. By long practice the male actors have acquired the power of counterfeiting women's voices. But more interesting to me than the play itself are the remarkable acrobatic feats which seem to be an important part of the performance.
The chief Chinese temple, or Joss House, is on Clay Street, opposite Portsmouth Square. There is a Chinaman always on duty to see that no one injures the furniture or ornaments of the Temple, but he remains invisible until it is necessary for him to come forward and politely usher an offender down the two long flights of stairs to the street. The Temple contains some magnificent specimens of Chinese carved work, overlaid with gold, and banners of fine silk embroidered with figures of dragons and gods. Beautiful bronze vessels stand on tables in front of the main altar, from which arises a fragrant cloud of incense to propitiate the god who sits in state on the richly carved altar.
The streets in this quarter are all very interesting, and for a few blocks one is in a veritable Chinese city. There is a great deal of unjustifiable prejudice against the better class of Chinese in this country, but this is largely fostered by ignorant working men who fear their competition. The Chinese are good workmen, and, at least in California, work for the same price as others. Those who employ them tell me that they are faithful, courteous, honest, neat and capable as servants, and never forget to show gratitude for kindness received. One never sees a drunken or disorderly Chinaman; they never become criminals or even beggars, but go quietly about their business, leaving their neighbors strictly alone. They have certain vices among them, but are surely less vicious and less dangerous to the public morals than many other classes of immigrants who are freely admitted to this country.
But in Chinatown vice is made very profitable, and the curiosity of visitors is stimulated by anti-Chinese agitation and newspaper articles describing the traffic in women and the opium dens, and most of them want to see these places in action. Our guide and interpreter, R. Williams, "late manager of the Grand Chinese Theater," according to his card, advertises that he is "the only guide that can give you a satisfactory investigation of Chinatown," but there are, of course, many others. That prostitution flourishes among the Chinese is not strange, as it is contrary to their ethics to bring their wives away from their native land. These virtuous women are left at home to look after the old people and the children; but it is doubtful if the Chinese are more vicious than other men of the same social class away from their homes. Certainly the American and European visitors to their quarters do what they can to make these vices profitable for the Chinaman.
Public attention during the past week has been directed to the case of the Chinese women who arrived in this city from Hongkong on the British ship "Anjer Head," and whom the Federal officials prohibited from landing on account of their questionable character. This prohibition caused considerable wailing and venting of imprecations upon the Fanqui mandarins from the old hags whose business it is to minister to the depraved pleasures of the resident Chinese . Though the business of importing women from Canton and Hongkong for immoral purposes has been carried on for nearly a score of years, it is only recently that any official action has been taken to prevent it, and the task so far has proved by no means easy or successful.
The Dens of Chinatown . -- The dens in which these unfortunates are kept in almost a state of captivity are situated in two or three of the connecting alleyways in the blocks bounded by Washington and Jackson streets. During the day the only signs of life are a few children playing in the filthy gutters, or an old woman or two discussing events with some of their countrymen who are connected with the houses as employees or proprietors. At night the scene changes; coal oil lamps shed an ill-smelling, sickly light through the tiny windows and doors, which are invariably protected by wire screens or iron bars. Each door is furnished with a sliding wicket a foot square, from which coign of vantage protrudes the face of a gaudily painted damsel, whose rouged cheeks, blackened eyebrows, stiffly greased hair and vermilion lips present a curious contrast to the dingy boarding of the house and the hovel-like aspect of her surroundings. When the coast is clear of Caucasians the "cruiser on watch," as the women whose turn at the wicket it is are termed, displays her charms with shocking immodesty for the benefit of passing Mongolian Don Juans.
White Patronage . -- Let, however, the festive hoodlum or chance visitor to Chinatown come in sight and the wickets are closed and the Caucasian pedestrian is hailed from behind the wire screens with the vilest epithets known to the Chinese or English tongues. The intruder out of sight, the virago disappears and the seductive and bewitching damsel reappears. The ordinance making it a penal offence to visit any of the Chinese houses of ill fame has the effect of diminishing the number of white visitors, hence the lack of desire on the part of women to conciliate them. Two or three houses, however, exist that are almost exclusively patronized by a low order of Caucasians.
The California Supply . -- The principal source from which the demand for Chinese women in California is supplied is Hongkong, where the women are under police surveillance. There they all live in a district known as "Tai Ping Shan" (Exceeding Peace Hill). Many of them have graduated from the singing classes, their early life having been spent on the flower boats, while others are the cast-off mistresses of Europeans. These women are bought in some cases from themselves, the purchaser paying a stipulated amount for their possession for a period of years, or life, as the case may be. In case of their accumulating sufficient money under kind owners to purchase themselves, they at once get married and almost invariably open a brothel on their own account, and in their turn become the owners of other women. When girls are bought in China they are escorted to this country by one or two of a number of men or women who make this brief guardianship a regular business.
Bargain and Sale . -- The slave owner seldom makes his own purchases in this country, but secures the services of a "chung jen," or go-between, who conducts all the negotiations, pays over the purchase money, and delivers the human merchandise. Should the "chung jen" find a satisfactory "article," he reports the price, which is seldom below $1,000, to the would-be purchaser, who pays the commission instead of the seller, as is generally the case in American commission transactions. These transactions are carried on in utter defiance of the law, not alone in China , but in this State, little secret being made of the matter. The earnings of the women are sometimes divided, a percentage going to the slave herself, but such instances are rare, the slaveholder generally extracting every dime, through the aid of the old housekeepers, who also act as jailers and cashiers. That the plying of this nefarious traffic is a disgrace to the country's boasted civilization and enlightened laws will scarcely be disputed, and its exposure should attract the attention of the officials whose duty it is to punish such outrages upon common decency and the laws of morality.
At this time I was reviewing books for the "Western Medical Lancet;" among others I wrote a review of a book entitled "The Opium Habit and Alcoholism," by Dr. Fred Heman Hubbard, from which review I extract the following, describing opium smoking very much as I saw it in Chinatown at that time:
A pipe having a large, straight stem is used, the bowl being small at the bottom and coming to a point so that it can be screwed into the stem. The bowl gradually enlarges as it approaches the top, being similar in shape to an old-fashioned clay pipe; a spirit lamp stands by the couch used by the devotee. The stem is taken into the mouth and a reclining position assumed; an attendant then places a small amount of gum opium on the end of a wire and quickly exposes it to the blaze of the lamp, twirling it dexterously in the meantime to warm it on all sides. This lump is then forced to the bottom of the bowl and the wire withdrawn, leaving a small airhole through to the stem. The flame of the spirit lamp is now allowed to touch the opium; at the same time the smoker takes a long pull, inhaling the blue smoke into the lungs and expelling it through the nostrils, receiving its full effects. One or two inhalations narcotize the new beginner, causing him to experience strange sensations of delight. The memory is excessively stimulated -- past events float before the mind's eye, exaggerated and changed, presenting varied forms beautiful as they are strange. Erotic thoughts are wonderfully intensified, unallayed by any desire to gratify the grosser sensual passions.
Worldly anxieties and cares are effectually banished. Sleep of a peculiar type soon follows, simulating coma vigil ; but although sleeping, the smoker is conscious of pleasing sensations that exalt the finer sensibilities.
In those days Chinese immigration into this country was not restricted, and feeling among Californians ran very high. In the "San Francisco Examiner" of March 5, 1882, there was a full page of description, in the most grandiloquent terms of patriotism, of a great mass meeting held in Platt's Hall, San Francisco, in favor of the bill then before Congress, for the exclusion of the Chinese . The Governor announced the day as a legal holiday. Some of the captions of this journalistic account are as follows: "A Unit. The People Speak as with One Voice. California Calls to her Sister States. She Demands Relief from the Chinese Curse. A Grand and Dignified Appeal. San Francisco's Monster Meetings Yesterday. Platt's Hall Jammed by an Enthusiastic Audience. Twenty-five Thousand People Gathered in the Street. An Army of Able Advocates in Argumentative Array Against the Further Allowance of Asiatic Invasion." The opening paragraphs of this description are examples of a type of self-confident journalism which is now a thing of the past. I cannot resist the temptation to quote a little of it:
Yesterday must forever stand as marking in the history of California the occurrence of an event that cannot find a parallel in the history of the world. Nothing in Grecian or Roman history, or the history of any other nation, furnishes an incident at all comparable to the magnificently spontaneous outburst of feeling and exhibition of moral grandeur, of the principles of law and order that characterized the meeting held yesterday to vent the completely unanimous feelings of a people of a sovereign state, in regard to the question of restricting Chinese immigration into this country. Besides such a cry swelling from a million throats, the humanitarian platitudes of the distinguished Senator Hoar seem as puerile as the command of Canute that the incoming waves of the ocean recede. The spectacle of a people who have for thirty years watched their countrymen closing shop after shop; the debauchment of the morals of the young; the absorption of every branch of labor, and consequent misery and wretchedness to themselves, quietly assembling and petitioning a distant power, bound to them only by chains of sentiments of loyalty (!) is grand and remarkable in the extreme. Bread riots of themselves form a large part of the histories of active, aggressive nations. Nations unused to self-government have revolutionized administrations for lesser causes than those which led to the meetings yesterday. A brave, manly and vigorous race, quietly submitting to the rulings of an inexperienced, unsympathetic majority (!), must command the respect and admiration of the world, and be a lasting monument to the depth of the American idea of government.
The meetings held yesterday to urge Congress to pass the Chinese bill were called by the leaders in this city of the Democratic and Republican party organizations, and the day was made more impressive by the proclamation of the Governor declaring it a legal holiday. Montgomery Street, from California to Sutter, the immediate scene of the public meetings, was crowded with over 15,000 people.
Platt's Hall, where the principal orations were delivered, was filled in every nook and cranney. The utmost enthusiasm, coupled with order and good nature, prevailed. On the surrounding stands, erected on the corners of Bush and Montgomery, Pine and Montgomery, and in front of the Russ House, thousands congregated and listened patiently from two until nearly six o'clock to those who had been selected to voice their feelings. Thanks to the Committee of Arrangements, everything passed smoothly, all the speakers were heard, the invited guests cared for, and not one hitch or casualty marked the day's proceedings.
One cannot help wondering whether the "exhibition of moral grandeur and of the principles of law and order" would have continued to pass smoothly "with not one hitch or casualty" had the Heathen Chinee had an opportunity to speak for himself, or had any one dared say a word in his favor. The strength of the speakers' pleas lay in the strong feeling against Chinese cheap labor, but most of them did not hesitate to make use of the racial hatred already established to strengthen their plea that "free American labor may not be overwhelmed and degraded by contract slavery and coolie competition." Philip A. Roach, vice-chairman of the meeting, reviewed the history of the Chinese situation in California, saying that when the subject had been referred to the people there had been a vote of 154,000 for the bill and only 883 against it. He added:
Today all along the coast, including Oregon and Nevada, an earnest protest will go up against further Mongolian immigration and further influx of cheap labor. We have agreed to place Chinese steamships on a par with other foreign craft, and as they can build ships cheaper than we can, they will in time not only control the Pacific coast, but also the Pacific Ocean, unless some speedy restriction can be placed upon their operations. We have agreed to compensate the Chinese government for putting a restriction upon Chinese immigration by restricting and failing to encourage their dreaded opium traffic. Neither East, West, North nor South wants them, and especially do we find that in all the votes upon this question not a single southern Senator ever voted to encourage or allow this traffic. . . .
This fear, not only of Chinese labor, but of the Chinese in world competition, seems to have been even greater than the same fear shown by Californians in more recent years of the Japanese. Mr. William T. Coleman paid rather a high tribute to the Chinese , physically, mentally and politically (!), but added that, socially and privately, they were so differently constituted that it would be impossible for them ever to become any part of us or to affiliate with our interests. He said:
"They take on our citizenship and use it for a time for their own benefit, and throw it off when they are done with it, as they would an old garment." He said that he feared the Chinese , not with a personal fear, but he feared them for the body politic. The greatest danger that was to come had not yet been commented upon. "China is but twenty days from here. They are now in possession of a navy almost equal to that of the United States, and they are building more, and the death of a single important Chinaman in this country or an important American in China might thrust us into a state of war, and in that event they could land upon our shores 2,000,000 of their hordes, and that could be reinforced by 10,000,000 more, and that would not make even a slight vacuum in their population. Why, they have 400,000,000 to draw upon, and our whole country has only 50,000,000! Another point -- if such an event should ever occur, they would find allies in every town and hamlet in our country, and especially in our State -- aye, in almost every family, as they are becoming familiar with our secret life (!), and in the event of such a spectacle as suggested would all flock as one man to form a coalition and join in the work of destruction."
This speaker did not explain why such a warlike nation should submit to being deprived by our country of equal rights with other nations.
I am not attempting to give a history of the race question in California, but merely trying to show the state of mind of the very excellent people among whom I lived at that time. In course of time the Chinese were excluded from California, and the country relieved from the competition of these expert, patient laborers. Whether they really undersold other laborers is in my mind an open question. I have by me a very interesting plea for the Chinamen written a few years later by Mrs. L. L. Baldwin, who for eighteen years had been a missionary in China , entitled "Must the Chinese Go?" which throws quite a different light on the situation. One after another she takes up, analyzes and denies the charges made against Chinamen in America. In regard to the charge, "the Chinese cheapen labor and throw others out of employ," she writes:
The cry not so many years ago in California was against the exorbitant prices demanded for labor. A few had command of the labor market, making many lucrative industries impossible by their high demands. Today it is against the cheap labor of the Chinese , but this argument is reserved for strangers who are ignorant of western prices.
There is absolutely no such thing as cheap labor on the Pacific coast. An untrained Chinaman commands from $3 to $5 a week, and board, in kitchen employ; Chinese cooks, from $20 to $40 a month and board. These prices are somewhat higher than the cost of domestic labor in the East. Domestic servants are paid from $8 to $16 a month with board. Is this cheap labor?.
The Chinaman takes the place of no one who will do the work as well as he; but when unfaithfulness, dishonesty and utter disregard of the employer's interests are superseded by faithfulness, honesty and a recognition of duty to give a fair return in work for wages received, who will complain of such a change?
Mrs. Baldwin hits at the crux of the situation in another part of her argument. She says:
The Chinese laborer belongs to none of the labor unions of this land; worse still, he is of the exceptional class that does not patronize the rum shops. Think of the host of enemies they at once array against them in this last respect, and of the mighty money power in the hands of these foes. Again, they have no vote, and so are worse than worthless to the average politician. Lastly, and fatally for the native American, the immigrant from across the Atlantic desires and intends to command the labor market here; not only to rule in our homes, but in every other department of industry into which he enters; to fix prices of labor, to strike for more, to do or not to do, without fear of competition. An efficient competitor is his only obstacle, and that he has in the patient, faithful, sober Chinaman.
This Atlantic immigrant now holds the balance of power at the polls, and says to the politician, "My competitor, who stands in the way of my inalienable right to rule must go;" and down goes the politician on his knees before the balance of power. There are a few noble exceptions of statesmen who do not bite the dust in this manner. Such are Senators Hoar, Dawes, Hawley and Platt, who have stood nobly for ancient principles and the right, and such there are, too, on the Pacific coast, grand men and women who have held on to justice and right amid an overwhelming and demoralizing public opinion.
Doubtless there was and is much reason on both sides of this question. No one at the great mass meeting in San Francisco seems to have attempted to explain why that great city allowed such dens of vice to exist in Chinatown, and permitted the vicious side of life in the Chinese quarter to be exploited and advertised, as it was in that day, making it a point of special interest to the curious visitor. And I am wondering if matters are much better in the present day. This actual "menace" appears not to have been crushed out nor even controlled, in spite of the unanimous public opinion which, many years ago, abolished the competition of Chinese labor in this Country.
Mrs. Baldwin in her brochure above mentioned quotes a letter written later to U. S. Grant, when he was President, signed by seven leading Chinamen in this country. This letter is tolerant and reasonable, especially as coming from men of a race who had every right to consider themselves persecuted. The letter reads as follows:
A MEMORIAL FROM REPRESENTATIVE CHINAMEN IN AMERICA To His Excellency U. S. GRANT, President of the United States of America .
Sir: -- In the absence of any consular representative, we, the undersigned, in the name and in behalf of the Chinese people now in America, would most respectfully present for your consideration the following statements regarding the subject of Chinese immigration to this country:
First .
-- We understand that it has always been the settled policy of your honorable government to welcome immigration to your shores, from all countries, without let or hinderance. The Chinese are not the only people who have crossed the ocean to seek a residence in this land.
Second .
-- The treaty of amity and peace between the United States and China makes special mention of the rights and privileges of Americans in China , and also of the rights and privileges of Chinese in America.
Third .
-- American steamers, subsidized by your honorable government, have visited the ports of China , and invited our people to come to this country to find employment and improve their condition.
Fourth .
-- Our people in this country, for the most part, have been peaceable, law-abiding and industrious. They performed the largest part of the unskilled labor in the construction of the Central Pacific Railroad, and also of other railroads on this coast. They have found useful employment in all the manufacturing. establishments of this coast, in agricultural pursuits, and in family service. While benefiting themselves with the honest reward of their daily toil, they have given satisfaction to their employees, and have left all the results of their industry to enrich the State. They have not displaced white laborers from these positions, but have simply multiplied industries.
Fifth .
- The Chinese have neither attempted nor desired to interfere with the established order of things in this country, either of politics or religion. They have opened no whiskey saloons for the purpose of dealing out poison, and degrading their fellow men. They have promptly paid their duties, their taxes, their rents and their debts.
Sixth .
-- It has often occurred, about the time of the State and general elections, that political agitators have stirred up the mind of the people in hostility to the Chinese ; but formerly the hostility has subsided after the elections were over.
Seventh .
-- At the present tIme an intense excitement and bitter hostility against the Chinese in this land, and against further Chinese immigration, has been created in the minds of the people, led on by his Honor the Mayor of San Francisco and his associates in office, and approved by his Excellency the Governor of the State and other great men of the State. These great men gathered some twenty thousand of the people of this city together on the evening of April 5, and adopted an address and resolutions against Chinese immigration. They have since appointed three men (one of whom we understand to be the author of the address and resolutions) to carry that address and those resolutions to your Excellency, and to present further objections, if possible, against the immigration of the Chinese to this country.
Eighth .
-- In this address, numerous charges are made against our people, some of which are highly colored and sensational, and others, having no foundation in fact, are only calculated to mislead honest minds, and create an unjust prejudice against us. We wish most respectfully to call your attention, and through you the attention of Congress, to some of the statements of that remarkable paper, and ask a careful comparison of the statements there made with the facts in the case.
) It is charged against us, that not one virtuous Chinawoman has been brought to this country, and that here we have no wives and children.
The fact is, that already a few hundred Chinese families have been brought here. These are all chaste, pure, keepers at home, not known on the public street. There are also among us a few hundred, perhaps a thousand, Chinese children born in America. The reason why so few of our families are brought to this country is because it is contrary to the custom and against the inclination of virtuous Chinese women to go so far from home, and because the frequent outbursts of popular indignation against our people have not encouraged us to bring our families with us against their will.
Quite a number of Chinese prostitutes have been brought to this country by unprincipled men, but these at first were brought from China at the instigation and for the gratification of white men. And even at the present time it is commonly reported that a part of the proceeds of this villainous traffic goes to enrich a certain class of men belonging to this honorable nation, a class, too, who are under solemn obligation to suppress the whole vile business, and who certainly have it in their power to suppress it if they so desired. A few years ago our Chinese merchants tried to send these prostitutes back to China , and succeeded in getting a large number on board the steamer; but a certain lawyer of your honorable nation (said to be the author and bearer of these resolutions against our people), in the employ of unprincipled Chinamen, procured a writ of habeas corpus , and brought all those women on shore again, and the courts decided that they had a right to stay in the country if they so desired. These women are still here; and the only remedy for this evil, and also for the evil of gambling, so far as we can see, lies in an honest and impartial administration of municipal government in all its details, even including the police department. If officers would refuse bribes, these unprincipled men could no longer purchase immunity from the punishment of their crimes.
) It is charged against us that we have purchased no real estate. The general tone of public sentiment has not been such as to encourage us to invest in real estate, and yet our people have purchased and now own over eight hundred thousand dollars worth of real estate in San Francisco alone.
) It is charged against us that we eat rice, fish and vegetables. It is true that our diet is slightly different from the people of this honorable country; our tastes in these matters are not exactly alike, and cannot be forced. But is that a sin on our part of sufficient gravity to be brought before the President and Congress of the United States?
) It is charged that the Chinese are no benefit to this country. Are the railroads built by Chinese labor no benefit to this country? Do not the results of the daily toil of one hundred thousand men increase the riches of this country? Are the manufacturing establishments largely worked by Chinese labor no benefit to this country? Is it no benefit to this country that the Chinese annually pay over two million dollars duties at the custom-house of San Francisco? Is not the two hundred thousand dollars annual poll tax paid by the Chinese any benefit? And are not the hundreds of thousands of dollars taxes on personal property and the foreign miners' tax annually paid to the revenues of this country any benefit?
) It is charged against us that the Six Companies have secretly established judicial tribunals, jails and prisons, and secretly exercise judicial authority over our people. This charge has no foundation in fact. These Six Companies were organized for the purpose of mutual protection and care of our people coming to and going from this country. The Six Companies do not claim nor do they exercise any judicial authority whatever, but are the same as any tradesmen's or protective and benevolent societies. Neither do these companies import either men or women into this country.
) It is charged that all Chinese laboring men are slaves. This is not true in a single instance . Chinamen labor for food. They pursue all kinds of industries for a livelihood. Is it so, then, that every man laboring for his livelihood is a slave? If these men are slaves, then all men laboring for wages are slaves.
) It is charged that the Chinese commerce brings no benefit to American bankers and importers. But the fact is, that an immense trade is carried on between China and the United States by American merchants, and all the carrying business of both countries, whether by steamer or sailing vessels, or by railroad, is done by Americans. No China ships are engaged in the carrying traffic between the two countries. Is it a sin to be charged against us, that the Chinese merchants are able to conduct their mercantile business on their own capital? And is not the exchange of millions of dollars annually by the Chinese of this city any benefit to the banks?
) We respectfully ask a careful consideration of all the foregoing statements. The Chinese are not the only people, nor do they bring the only evils, that now afflict this country. And since the Chinese people are now here, under the most solemn treaty rights, we hope to be protected according to the terms of this treaty. But if the Chinese are considered detrimental to the best interests of this country, and if our presence here is offensive to the American people, let there be a modification of existing treaty relations between China and the United States, either prohibiting or limiting further Chinese immigration, and, if desirable, requiring also the gradual retirement of the Chinese people now here from this country. Such an arrangement, though not without embarrassments to both parties, we believe would not be altogether unacceptable to the Chinese government, and doubtless it would be very acceptable to a certain class of people in this honorable country.
With sentiments of profound respect,
LEE MING How, President, Sam Yeep Company . LEE CHEE KWAN, President, Yung Wo Company . LAW YEE CHUNG, President, Kong Chow Company . CHAN LEUNG Kox, President, Wing Lung Company . LEE CHEONG CHIP, President, Hop Wu Company . CHANG KONG CHEW, President, Yan Wo Company . LEE TONG HAY, President, Chinese Y. M. C. A.
The last cargo of Chinese Coolies was brought to San Francisco in the steamer "Arabic" some years later. There were 1,200 of them.