Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1867-08-31
TssE CooI.IE SYSTEM.
Horrors of COoIfe Labor-HOw Chi
nese are stolen Away and Sold Int
Lffe-lOnG slavery. ,--fts4 4 49,,


nese are stolen Away and Sold Into
Life-long Slavery. .yq arit5sl y.en
lSap Francisco Cor. Of the Chicago Tribune.l
a The genuine Coolie system is as follows:
Hulks are hired by contractors for Coolies,
and anchored in the harbors of the various
ports in China, Shanghai, Canton, or Foo
chow, and gambling dens with music, lewd
women and "all modern improvements" to
attract custom. Boats are then employed
to carry men on board free of charge, and
the most extraordinary stories are circula-
ted among the lower classes on shore, OF
fabulous sums won at the tables. The poor
devils go out of curiosity, having no money
10 bet, and are soon watching the game
with an intensity Of interest which no
Caucasian can feel. Gambling is the poor
Chinaman's vice, his besetting sin. ~
~-Why don't yeu bet ?' asks a capper of
the casbless fellow, as he stands by the ia
ble absorbed in the game. ass -
II would, but have no moneyP is the
answer. ~ 3r IL
II will lend you enough to make you
rich If You win, on condition that you go
Coolie' for me if yon lose, but you know
you could not do thatl' says the tempter.
John is only too glad to accept the offer,
and in q moment more he has in his posses
sion Sc or $S in copper cash; more by tar
than he ever had before in his life all put
together, and is playing as recklessly as if
| he had millions more at his commend. He
| loses it all in few minutes or hours, and
| the tempter gives him drink or two and
Whit of opium. Then says, Come now,
! you must pay the penalty like man..
NOV, how long am / to go?" -Four years,
and pay the passage m oney." John signs
the documents which consign him to a
slavery more pitlable than that of Uncle
Toms, and with sigh or two, for home
| friends, and loved ones whom he will see no
more on earth, walks on board the Cooiie
ship, which always carries the Italian, Por-
ttaguese or Peruvian flag, though built in
| the United States, and purchased by the
"Conspd1,ia Mardtimd del Peru, "in San Fran
Cisco, with full knowledge by the sellers of
THE infamous purposes to which she is to
be put. Crowded on board the coolie ship,
\ with q thousand or more like unfOr-
Inmates, he is transported across the
ocean. If a rising is attempted by
the poor betrayed victims, few volleys of
musketry discharged down the hatchway
does the work of .quelling the mutiny''
tetfectually. The poor creatures are not al
lowed to come on deck at all in body, so
/ that the officers and crew have them al
ways at their mercy. Before being landed
in Peru. his clothing is taken from MIN,
save, perhaps, a single loose blouse and
| pair of thin cotton trOwsers, on some pre-
! text, or by main force, and he is sent to the
dspot on shore with hardly rags to cover
his nakedness. He Is sold to sugar plant
er or to the guano Contractors. and goes
q to1work like slave, as he actually is. The
store of the contractor is ready to furnish
him goods, at 500 per cent. profit, and
charges it against his wages of 81 per
month. John buys the goods apd, uses
them or CANDLES them away with his
hapless fellows, and SO gets in debt
band all hope of ever escaping from the
tclutches of the task master is gone. If. by
lchance, he is more saving and industrious
lthan his fellows, and does not run in debt,
does not commit suicide, or break down
-lunder the toll in an unhealthy climate, be-
fore his term of slavery expires, he goes
! to his purchaser, when his time is about
up, and says: Il think it is about time
was released. have been here four years!'
-Four years, my fine fellOwl You have
been here only four months Go back to
q your work at once or it will be worse fol
you!" If he does not go back promptly,
he is whipped and sent back perhaps iu
irons. From that moment hope dies with
in him and there is no release except in
death. The first coole slvve sent to the Chin
! Echas or a French colony has get to return tc
China. A few. of them returning would
spoil the whole Business.
n know that this will look like high
colered picture, but it is not so, as can cas-
4 lily be proved, and yet the business is ear
]: ried on without protest from the powers
i who united in denouncing the African
slave trade as piracy. l know one shiI
/ which has been in the port of San Fran
els, o four times in as manly years, under {
differentname each time. and has loaded a
least q dozen cargOes OF Coolies, clearing
asihigh as a 100000 a year to her owners
: the infamous .'Cop,pdniu Martina del Peru.
The members of this company, by the by
are all English and Italian; to the honor o
Spanish Americans be it said, there are. N
Peruvians among them. though the com