The herald., 1893-08-14
JOHN Is HERE YET.
A DECREASE ONLY WHERE MINING
HAS DIMIsHED.
The Chinese Population OF San Fran
cisco as Large ss Ever-Need
OF the Enforcsment Of
the Geary Act.


Ever since the Geary act was de
clared constitutional by the United
States supreme court and was practi
cally annulled by President Cleveland
an effort has been made in certain quar-.
tars to show that the Chinese popula
ton OF San Francisco has dwindled
away. The object of these statements
must be evident to everybody.
The desire undoubtedly is to divert
atten ton from the Geary act and allow
1t to lapse by making people believe
that there is no further danger OF Chi
nose immigration, and that those who
are in the country at present are leaving
for Chin and other countries go rapidly
and in such large numbers that the
question will soon practically settle it.
self.
The Chinese consul is quoted as au-
thority for the staten ent that there are
now less than $1,000 Cinnamon in San
Francisco, and some of the papers of the
city have taken up this story and en-
larged upon it until one almost expects
to find during q walk through Chinatown
that its limits have shrunk to where
they were 20 years ago. Other state
ments have been made that vacant stores
were to be met with on every hand in
Chinatown; that the merchants there
were bankrupt; the laboring classes on
the verge Of starvation; the theaters
closed, and everything generally going
to the "demnition bow-wows."
During the past week q careful survey
was made of the Chinese quarter of the
city, and from all appearances the state
ments regarding the rapid dimunition OF
the Chinese population are not warrant
ed by the facts.
II the population of Chinatown has
fallen of, one would naturally expect to
find that the limits of that section OF the
city were contracting, but such is far
from being the case.
At present Chinatown is not as popu-
lous % it was last winter, but that is be-
cause the greater portion of the coolies
are out laboring in the orchards and
grain fields of the interior and in the
Alaska fisheries. As the rainy season
approaches they will come back again
in their usual numbers. OF course the
stsgnation that prevails in business
circles throughout the country affects
the Chinese population the same as it
does the whites, and the hard times in
Chinatown are easily accounted for.
While there are some vacant stores
there, they are not in greater proportion
to the population thad they are in other
portions of the city, and vacant houses
are not numerous.
rne outgoing coolies on the Chinese
ssmships are few, and the Cinnamon
t,,t are landed here and who are snug
l.l over the border from British Col
ii nbla and Mexico fully equal those who
enve. Oh the last trip of the Oceanic
about 100 Chinese departed, and this
Was looked upon az an unusually large
crowd.
Oae reason that can be given for the
'aw vacant stores in Chinatown is that
are years several of the old one-story
odrn rookeries have been pulled
Al and replaced with substantial
ia buildings four or FIVE stories high.
as increased floor room has nearly all
n occupied. Take q trip through
lnatown today and it will be found
Il 10 no instance where the Chinese
We once gained foothold have they
nquiehed it.
Al the figures which are obtainable
70 chow that there has been no ma
tArial diminution in the number of Chi
nese for the past 10 or IL years. The
deaths in San Francisco for the fiscal
wear lust ended were Ala, against 479 in
lSSO-8I. This alone shows that the
Chinese population is practically as large
now as it was then. Going back from
1880, the number of deaths diminish,
that there are more
NTH than fr
that year.
These conclusions are borne out by the
figures of the federal census, which
showed that California had 72,472 Chi
neee in 1890 and S5. 1872 in 1880. This ia
q loss of only 1900 in the whole state in
10 years.
They have increased during these 10
years in Oregon, Washington, Utah, New
Mexico, Colorado, Montana, Texas. Mis-
sissippi, Alabama, Kansas, Nebraska,
the Dakotas, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota,
Wisconsin, and every state east OF the
Mississippi river. The entire loss in
Chinese population in the United States
was only 2,010 between 1880 and 1890.
But the significant fact is that the
states which alone show loss are min
ing states, and that the loss is greatest
in those where mining on small scale
has declined most. The total loss for
the decade in California, Nevada and
Idaho is 6615, and it is we'll known that
in these states the Chinese have either
been forced out of business by the shut
ting down of mines, or have abandoned
the claims which they have worked out
It may be considered a settled fact
that the only diminution in the Chinese
population has been among those en-
ployed in the mines. There has been
and is now q steady increase in the mum
ber OF Chinese in all other callings.
The census figures prove this.-[San
Francisco Bulletin.
How Is This?
Something unique even in these days
of mammoth premium offers. ia the