Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1885-07-22
4 STARTLING REPORT.

& SNAhTL4RG REPORT.
The committee appointed by the local
legislature OF San Francisco to survey the
Chinese quarter and investigate The true
condition of the locality in that city, has
Just reported. The disclosures made are
startling. In horrors they far exceed
anything that has been written or revealed
Of the filth and degradation Of China
town The committee say:
Al great cities have their slums and localities
where lJh, disease Grin and misery abound {;
but IN the very best aspect which Chinatown
Can be made to present, it must stand apart,
conspicuous ana beyond them all in the ex-
IRENE degree of I'll these horrible attributes. the
rankesi oGtgrewth Of human degradation that
cas- hc found upon this continent Here it may
truly be said that human beings exist under
conditions (as regards their mode Of life and the
afr they Eleathe} scarcely one degree above
those under which the rats of our Waterfront
and other vermiu live. breathe and have their
being And this order of Things seems insep-
arabic from the very nature ofthe race. and
probably must be accepted and borne with
must be endured, If il cannot be cuTed-re-
STTlcteu and looked after 50 far as possible with
uncea sing vigilance, 50 that whatever OF benefit
of degree, even. that may lie deriEed from
sUch modification OF the evil Of their presence
among Us. may at least be attained. not daring
to hope that there can he any radical remedy
fol- the great. oyeTShadowiug evil which Chinese
immigration has inflicted upon this people.
The committee found that within the
small area of twelve blocks about eighteen
acres sleeping accommodations are pro-
vided for and occupied in the Chinese
quarter by 30360 human beings. This
disclosure of the budding together of per
sons exceeds the most cxtravagant est
mate heretofore made, and reveals the
danger 10 which the city would be subject
in case it is visited ny contagious disease
such as cholera or yellow fever In the
quarter the committee found five hundred
and sixty-seven PROFESSIONAL prostitutes
housed, and that these creatures are
held in AFFECT slavery. The committee say
On this head
lychave shown that Chinese prostitution ex-
isis among as the basis Of the most abiect and
satanic conception OF human slavery That it
i conducted upon the most nhuman principles.
That Our own laws are successfully invoked to
shield, project aud foster il. That il is the
source OF the most terrible pollution of the
MOOD al the younger and rising generations
source Of contamination ana hereditary diseases
among those who are TO come after us TOO fright
tui To contemplate, and possibly already too
strongly intrenChed as an evil 20 bc success
tuily modified. much less Cradicntcd.
Our sentimental friends 1T the East are
slow % believe that slavery exists in this
republic, and of character beside which
African bondage as known quarter Of a
century ago st the South was Of angelic
purity. That they should be willing to
perpetuate this form of slavery is to be &C
counted for only upon the basis Of Eastern
ignorance Of the read facts. The RECORD
UNION has recently shown by testimony OF
an irrefutabie character that a vast system
Of slavery pervades China, and is continued
and maintained wherever the Chinamau
goes. We now have it from an official re-
port by committee, of which very cool
clear-headed business man is chairman
thar one form Of this servitude exists ii
San Francisco, and that we are unable
to freak it down, despite the boast
that this is land of freedom, and that No
slave breathes ,he air Of the republic
Upon the labor question the committee
shells no new light. al ii saws has beer
over and again proven. But these proof
have little effect upon orr Eastern breth
ren. So broad is their charity that the,
can sec only the industry and frugalitv o
the Chinaman and the cheapness of hi.
labor. The East ignores wholly the fac
that cheap labor based upon a chear
civilization, antagonistic at every point t,
the American system, is the very wors
enemy of that system, and If sufficient,
enlarged must work its destruction. TIL,
committee found 1926 Chinese employed
in manufactures, and competing directly
with American workmen, and at a wag,
upon which the American cannot suppl,
himself with food, to say nothing of
home. the rearing of a family and the en-
iovment Ct the common necessaries ant
conyeniencies that make American home
the sheet-anchor OF American hope as
nation. Tie committee found one Chimes,