Arizona weekly citizen., 1891-07-25
%E[A
SYRIAN cHATrEla
Drfental serfs Who Are Really Ia Bond
I'll lr..l. L.. L.

Oriental. Serfs Who Are Really IA Bond
age to Padrones In This Country.
The Syrian men, women and childran
who patrol the public thoroughfares of.
this city laden with religious embfems
and trinkets Of semi-barbarous design
are, with few exceptions, the victims of a
social condition which can be hard de-
fined from slavery.
They are the human chattels Of class
Of importers Of foreign birth who have
their agents and established headquar-
ters in every city of prominence on the
Pacific coast as well as in eastern CEN
ters.
These human chattels, who claim to
be Turks to advance the novelty Of their
personality in the eyes Of the purchasing
public, are the scum of Syria, Armenia,
Greece and Italy.
There are several thousand Of these
serfs employed by their money making
fellow countrymen in the United States.
Hundreds are annually added to the
number already employed. Ignorant Of
their legal rights and but poorly versed
In the language Of the country they
tamely submit 10 their exacting master,
receiving only their food, lodging and
scanty clothing.
These serfs sell themselves to their
masters, hoping that in a new country
they will better their condition and be
st least relieved of the pangs of hunger
which beset them in their native lands.
Pledged to work either for life or for
years for those who provide them with
transportation to the new land of prom
ise, they are sent on their arrival in the
United States to the cities where their
l&bors will prove the most remunerative.
They have lately encroached upon
what to them is virgin feld-the Pa
cifc coast-and numbers are frequently
being sent hither to thoroughly cover
every profitable point.
There have been as many as forty or
fifty Of these human chattels-men,
women and yOuths-engaged in making
street sales in this city, but they have
decreased until only twelve or fifteen
cover the trade of San Francisco. Seattle,
Tacoma and Washington generally in
clude fifteen or twenty in their bounda-
ries. Los Angeles is favored with the
presence of ten or twelve, while Oregon
which, according to their statements,
Is proving to be the more remuneratiye
6eld-has from thirty to fifty of these
serfs catering to the demands of their !
peculiar line of trade. The state of Ne |
vada harbors ten or fifteen, while the |
progress Of Utah is marked by having |
twenty or thirty.
Their residence at any place is not |
permanent, but, like the nanadic Arab |
Of the desert, these slaves silently fold
their tents and steal away at the viii Of |
their masters, which varies with the va
riations Of the trade. One Of the places |
In this city where nomadic serfs receive |
their supplies and render their accounts |
is in Minns street. 1t is supply depot,
and is conducted under the name OF |
Joseph Sharbel & Co. There, in q room |
crowded with Syrians Of both sexes, Of |
all sizes and ages, is large stock of !
trinkets and religious articles stored in |
pasteboard boxes of various sizes dis |
played ON shelves which run about the |
room.
. lounge, and the lack of other furnish
ings is made compulsory by the space !
taken up by the immense stock which is |
doled out to be sold by the stSet peddlers
in this city and neighboring towns. Jo-
seph Sharbel himself is bronzed and |
brswny Syrian, much past the years of
middle life. Heis the padrone who directs
the actions and labors of the dozen of |
composite nationalities Of both sexes and |
various ages who were gathered in the |
room. He was rather reticent when |
questioned by a reporter, and while |
claiming to be unacquainted with others
engaged in the same line of business he ]
displayed knowledge regarding the 10
cation Of branch agencies and number
Of his countrymen and women engaged
in the trade that was remarkable. Some
Of the supply depots in this city remit
regularly from $1,000 to s., 900 week to
the east and Europe as payments for
shipments and invoices of goods.
Francisco Chronicle.