Waterbury evening Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1887-1895, 1891-03-20
a sMuooLER.s PARADISE


How Cinnamon Gain Access to the United
States.
Looking at the map one may see that
the northwest corner of the state of
Washington is torn off, and the space
that is left is filed with water, dotted
with an archipelago. The island of
Vancouver fits partially into the gaping
corner as if it had been torn out by
some gigantic CONFUSION. The tatters
and debris of the rent form the archi-
pelago. Our national interest conferred
in that corner long ago when that por-
ton of the boundary was in dispute, and
the tension of a war feeling was only
relieved when foreign arbitrator set
tied the boundary, and gave us the
island of San Juan, the most important
In the group. The city Of Victoria,
writes Julian Ralph in Harper's Maya
zine, confines nearly all the population
on that corner Of Vancouver island; the
city of Vancouver is the main settle
ment on the British Columbia shore,
and on our borders are such little place.
as Whatcom, New Dangeness, and Port
Angeles, in the state of Washington.
Port Townsend, ON Puget sound, is the
principal American town near by, and
the headquarters of the scanty force of
customs officials who are supposed to
guard against the smuggling, and who
are entitled to the presumption that
they are doing their best In this direc-
ton. Victoria has only twenty thou
sand population, Vancouver fewer still,
and the islands only here and there a
house. Deer abound upon these islands,
which are heavily timbered, and the
waterways between them feel the keels
of but few vessels-of none at all, ex-
cept the smallest craft, outside the main
channels. 1t would be hard to imagine
a more difficult region to police, or a
fairer field for smugglers. Old London
itself has scarcely greater tangle of
crooked and confusing thoroughfares
than this archipelago possesses, and
these waterways are SO narrow and
sheltered that mere oarsmen can safely
and easily travel many of them. 1t is a
smuggler's paradise.
Those who transport the Cinnamon
are all white men. The resident Chi
nese act as their confederates and as
the agents of the struggled men, but do
no part of the actual smuggling, that is
to say, the boating. The great SNUG.
Cling is of opium. The introduction of
the Chinese themselves is of small &C.
count, SO far as the defiance of our laws
is concerned, as compared with the in
PRODUCTION Of opium. Yet that extern
sive business also is carried on by white
men. The Chinese can not pass to and
fro as white men can, therefore they
leave the traffic to the whites.
These white men are of the class one
would expect to find in such business.
A government employee in Victoria told
me that would "be surprised to know
what important and respectable per-
sons were connected with the snug
Cling" but as he gave me no further
enlightenment, and as I failed to OBJ
tain any proof that any number of So
called respectable men profited directly
by the business, did not and do not
believe that there are many such. Those
who do the smuggling of the Chinese
are unprincipled and reckless charac-
tiers. They make their bargains with
those Chinese whose business it is to
arrange for the carriage of their coun-
trymen into our country. The boats
employed are small sail-boats, and quite
as small steam-launches. When the
owner of one of these boats has secured
a sufficient number of Chinese to make
the venture profitable if it succeeds, the
Journey is made at night, without COM
pliance with the law which requires
vessels sailing after dark to display
lights at their sides. At times the con-
trabands are landed near Whatcom. at
times near Port Angeles or New Dunge-
ness. San Juan island, within our
border, is only twelve miles from Vic
toria, and has q few Chinese resident
upon it. At times Cinnamon are car
ried there. Once there they can cross
to the mainland with more freedom,
and with possibility of obtaining testi-
mony to the effect that they are and
have long been domiciled on American
soil. The smugglers charge twenty dol
lars to twenty-five dollars for landing
each Chinaman on our coast; twenty
dollars is the ordinary and usual
charge. Wherever the Cinnamon are
landed they find either men of their
own nationality to secrete them, or
white men awaiting their arrival, and
ready to take them to some Chinese
quarters. Once on land the danger of
arrest is greatly lessened, and after a
newly-smuggled Chinaman has made his
way to one of the larger towns or cities
near the coast, his fear Of detention by
our government vanishes entirely.