Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1893-07-28
ORGANIZED CHINESE.

ORGANIZED CHINESE.
OPINION OF ONE WHO HAS MADE
THE SUBJECT A STUDY.
How the six Companies Openly Dc
flies the Governmcnt-Their Power
aud Wealth-Their Letterie>-The
COOiie System.
y San Francisco writer says one OF
the most interesting men in the
United States at the present time is
the Hon. John c. Quinn, the United
States Collector of Internal Revenue
for the District of California. lie is
the man who has been making the
fight in California for the restriction
of Chinese immigration, and who, had
Secretary Carlisle not withdrawn the
provision that the Chinese must reg
lister themselves by photograph, would
by this time have practically stopped
the immense amount OF smuggling
which is continually going on by the
organized Chinese of America. Mr..
Quinn says:
"The people east OF the Rocky
mountains do not understand the
Chinese question as it exists here
This is the battle-ground of the races
of the Occident and Orient, and San
Francisco is the head of the Chinese
OF America. 1t is here that their
rulers live and it is here that they
look for law and punishment. They
have no respect for American laws,
and they do as their Chinese rulers
dictate. Right here in San Francisco,
the Chinese own property which is
worth more than $75,0O0,O00 and of
the ready cash in circulation on the
Pacific coast they control at least 49,
100000. They furnish more than one
third OF all the labor we use, and they
have so woven themselves through our
industries that We are almost depend
ent upon them. When the Geary act
compelling the Chinese to register
themselves was passed it was my duty
to enforce the provisions of the bill.
I saw that we had to keep the Chinese
that were COW here, for time at least,
and at the same time keep out the
hundreds of thousands of coolies who
were trying to get in. As soon as the
act was published, a cry went up from
the sand lots, or the hOodium element,
that the Chinese must so. At the
same time word came from the vine
yards and Embarrassing district of Cali
fornia that the wholesale deportation
OF them would ruin all such industries
The result was the problem how to
keep out the coolies and keep in the
present laborers.
"The six Companies constitutes the
most wonderful organization l have
ever heard of. 1t rules the destinies
of every Chinese in America with an
open hand. 1t has defied for years
and is now openly defying the United
States government. During this
present trouble it raised 1925 600 in
contributions of 81 each from the
Chinese in less than thirty days, and
this money was asked for and given
with the understanding that it was to
be used to defeat the operations
of the Geary law. You can't find the
records of the companies, and no one
but their presidents and secretaries
know where they are. Their books
are kept i'll cipher which can be read
only by themselves, and all their work
is done in secret. The Chinese in
America, you know, came from six Diff
ferent districts of China. They are in
reality six different people, have no
more points in common than the diff
ferent Indian tribes. am told that
the Six Companies were organized at
first to carry Oh the business between
the different tribes OF Chinese in this
country, to settle their disputes with
out recourse to the courts, punish the
offenders, take care of the sick, and
above all, send the bones of the Chinese
who died in America back to China.
This they do to-day, but they have
grown from q small organization to IL
great power and great wealth. They
have the power of life and death over
the Cinnamon here. Were l to tell
you that the Six Companies have
sentenced not one but twenty men. to
death and that the sentence in every
case ha been executed, would tell
you only what such men as c. b. Har-
ton, = newspaper reporter who has
made work among the Chinese u
specially for ten years, has time and
again published over his own signature.
"They are recognized by the Chinese
government as the real power Of that
empire in this country. The Chinese
COnsul-General is an ex-Ofiicer, mem
Der of their executive committee and
counsels with their presidents. These
companies have for years taken charge
OF the moneys of the Chinese ON the
Pacific slope from Alaska to Guatemala
and OF the United States, and they
have constantly on deposit an enor-
nous amount of money here. Their
deposits in the banks OF San Francisco
often run as high as three millions of
gold coin, and within the last forty
years they have shipped out of this
country to China the enormous sum
of $225,O0O.OOO in gold. The money
was made up of the savings of Chinese
laborers and the profits OF the Chin csc
merchants, and if to-day the Chinese
were sent out of this country they
would carry with them more than $780,
OOOOOO of money. My figures for
these sums are from the banking