The herald., 1893-05-21
THE SIX COMPANIES.
The Chinese Trust which Controls Al
Emierants.

The Chinese Trust which Controls All
Emigrsnts.
The Six Companies about which 80
much talk is going on just now on &C.
count of the agitation OF the Chinese
question, is an organization that very
few people know anothing about.
They have a vague idea that the or
ganizatioH is powerful one. ruling as it
does the immigrants from the fowery
kingdom with rod OF iron, which die.
tates their business policy, sits in judg-
ment upon those who dare to disobey
its ordes. collects dues from them year
after year, and which virtually holds
thousands of them in bondage.
1t is almost certain that not more than
one man in hundred can tell anything
accurate about this gigantic corporation,
and has practically no knowledge of the
powers it exercises among the Chinese in
this country. s4
The six companies have been talked
about great deal since the passage of
the exclusion act, many people have
wondered how it was that the Chinese
yielded such unquestioning obedience
to its orders and allowed it to act as
their representative in all dealings with
o yorument. Tne matter may ap-
rer when it is known that the
MES holds mortgage on the
H. 80 per cent of all the Chinese
in the United States and Canada, and
do not allow them to return to their
homes until this mortgage is paid with
interest. The six companies represent
six divisions of the province of Can
ton, China, and their svowed aim is to
care for the Cinnamon coming from
these districts, so that upon arrival
here each immigrant may be associated
with people who speak bis dialect and
come from his locality. They loan the
immigrants money, give advice. act az
bankers, care for the sick, furnish them
with lawyers when they are accused of
crime, and swear to protect them in ev-
cry way. Their strongest claim, how
ever, rpon the regard of their country
men is by their guaranteeing to return
to China the body, dead or alive, of
every Chinaman who sails for these
shores. They used to keep this prom
ise to the letter. but now they only send
home the bodies of those whose fami-
lies request it.
The Six companies started in small
way in 1850. They began through the
operations of the American agents of
dOnE Kong nrm.
Their first work was hiring men in
China to meet the demand for labor in
California. As the business grew other
Chinese firms went into it, and finally
the agents of all these firms united for
seli-protection and in order to keep the
business among themselves. There
were six of these agencies and they
styled themselves the Six companies.
Eighty per cent of the Cinnamon in
the United States and Canada are
brought here at the expense of the
companies, which get them work or loan
them money to start them in ,busi-
ness. In return for all this they are
bound by contracts to pay back all the
money expended for them, and by an
agreement which the companies have
with the steamship lines, no Chinaman
is allowed to return to his native land
unless he can show certificate to the
effect that he is free from all indebted
ness to the companies. Every China
man pays 21a per cent of his earnings
to the company having him in charge,
and If he is taken sick he is taken care
of at the expense of the company, while,
if he dies, they bury him, and if his
parents require it ship his bones back
to China.