The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1893-04-08
The Man-Dealers' Rebellion.

The rebellion of the Man-dealers
is coming to head, says the San
Francisco Bulletin. The Man-deal-
ers hire Coolies in China for along
term of service and labor abroad.
They contract to give them small
sum during the years of their serf-
dom, but large one as things 60
in China. For the fulfillment of
these contracts they take mortgages
on the families which the Coolies
leave behind. These contracts the
laws of China recognize. In sthe
event of a failure to carry out his
agreement on the part of the Coolie,
the family held in pawn in China
is sold into slavery. These poems
are shipped to the Six Companies
in San Francisco. They allow them
to hire themselves out individually,
or they supply them in large gangs
when needed. The latter have to
return regularly the part of their
earnings agreed upon.
The Six Companies, with a dis
play of unconscious humor, CAN
themselves benevolent societies.
None of their so-called benefciaries
can escape them here, because they
cannot get out of the United States
without their permission. This
statement will sound odd ia this
free country, bat it is nevertheless
the fact. The combinations used
to enforce their writs of ne eAeat by
an arrangement with the Pacific
Mail, under which no Chinaman
could obtain passage home with
out a permit from this imperium
in imperio. An effort was made to
break up this nefarious business by
the passage of an Act by our Legis-
lature making it misdemeanor to
refuse to sell tickets on proper ap-
plication, but the practice is be-
lieved to be still in operation. Ii
nothing else the escaping Coolie is
hauled offthe steamer on trumped-
up charged of felony just as it is
about to sail.
This Infamous Coolie traffic is
carried on in this country under
various disguises, for the law for
bids this kind of slavery. But it is
kept up with Brazil, Cuba and Peru
openly, because there is no legal
impediment. The treaties of China
with these communities establish
the fact. The Six Companies or
the agents of the Man-dealers now
propose to resist law of Congress
designed primarily to break up this
nefarious business. Notwithstand-
ing the Restriction Acts which
have been in operation for the last
ten years, the Chinese have more
than doubled their number in the
United States, making no allow
ance for losses by death. This
queer developement, admitted by
the Chinese themselves, shows how
extensively the Six Companies
have been prosecuting their illicit
traffic in men.
The Geary law, which is now the
object of their antagonism, was de-
signed to wipe out this blotch on
our civilization. By requiring reg
istration on the part of the Chinese
now resident, that law will accord
to them full protection while in
the United States. But at the same
time it will bear heavily on the
lucrative human commerce of the
Six Companies. They have, there
fore, not hesitated at exciting sort
of rebellion. They have advised
their dupes not to register, and SO
far they have been pretty generally
obeyed. They have powers of CO.
ercion which so far are imperfectly
understood by our people. But
they reach to murder on slight oc-
casions. It is a singular circum.
stance that our first great rebellion
grew out of slavery, and that a sec
ond should find it's roots in peon-
ism. More singular sill, the par
ties fthe East who we're most stren-
uous in their efforts to extirpate
slavery, rally around the moro re-
stricted form, called peonism, with
an earnestness that would be ludi-
crous if the question were not SO
grave.
That their is no doubt among
the Man-dealers of the true nature
of their present movement is proved
clearly enough by statements made
in their behalf. Mr.. King, the Chi
nese Consul at this port, has re-
ferred to the Sandwich Islands
question as one of such internation-
al Importance that the United
States will hesitate about exaspera-
ting China while that complication
remains unsettled. This is not only
Chinese all over, but it exhibits the
fact that these interlopers are not
at all deceived in relation to the
power which they propose to an
[tagonize-that is to say, the United
States. The Chinese have enjoyed
full liberty in this country-ten
times more liberty than Chinese al
low Americans in their country.
Their return for this hospitality has
l.