Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-06-10

join In strike and thew refused. So the
Americans massacred them, shooting them
down with Winchester rifles and leaving the
wounded to die lingering deaths where they
ien- NO punishment was inflicted on the per-
petrators Of the crime.
TREATMENT OF THE CHINESE.
Quite recently the United States recognized
Corea, a Chinese dependency. as q sover-
eign nation. So the hermit kingdom
otherwise known as the land OF the morn
morning calm, Is now represented at Washing
ton by q legation Of diplomats with seven-story
hats. This bit Of international policy is COM
pared by John Russell Young to a supposititious
arrangement by Great Britain with the state of
Maine for Maine embassy in London and an
English embassy at Augusta. When the famous
Chinese exclusion bill came up for discussion
In the House of Representatives only fifteen
minutes could be spared for argument about it.
because free wool was up for consideration, and
ON that snap judgment the measure became a
law.
When the mission of Sir Frederic Bruce ar
rived Mt the mouth Of the Peiho river in 1859,
escorted by a British fleet, the minister was in
formed that he could not pass that way. At
his request the squadron made an attempt to
break through. which resulted in a repulse.
During the fighting seamen from an American
vessel. with the approval of their commander.
helped to work the guns on board the British
flagship. With a strong nation such an act
would have amounted to a casus belli.
Twice the United States with good cause has
made beligerant demonstrations against China.
In 1854 We landed a force at Shanghai to act
with other foreigners against native troops who
were threatening the foreign settlement. Two
years later an attack was made by Commander
A. II. Foote on the barrier forts in the Canton
river after they had fired upon him. As IA rule,
however, we have preferred to make use OF
advantages gained by English guns. After the
destruction of Canton Americans collected pay
from China for all property Of theirs lost or
destroyed, down to slippers and meerschaum
pipes One individual put in a claim for
$4,000 for loss of his peace Of mind"
The tailed immigrants come to the United
States from the British port of Hong Kong.
China could not prevent them if she would.
The fare Is cheap-as low as S12-and the poor
est person can emigrate by borrowing the nee
essary money. on which big interest is charged.
laborer in China gets ten to sixteen cents a
day. In California the same man can earn five
dollars a week for farm work or 1925 in the
mills. More than half of the workmen in the
cotton and tobacco factories of San Francisco
are Chinese. They do not spend more than
one dollar a month for lodging. Their diet Is
on rs low q plane. The average cost OF food
and shelter is about five dollars a month. This
leaves a good margin for saving, though many
squander their spare earnings on gambling and
sent back to their native country in gold dust
alone quarter Of q million dollars annually.
THE LOWEST CLASS COME HERE
The Chinese who come to this country, being
Of the lowest class, are not attractive in their
habits The Chinatown Of San Francisco is
pest hole of the worst description In twelve
blocks are crowded in indescribable filth 80. 900
men and 400 women. OF the latter about sixty
legitimate wives and $50 professional prosti-
tutes; the rest are either concubines or women
OF doubtful character. In this oriental quar-
ter there are $50 gambling dives, thirty-fve
dens OF white prostitution, generally patronized
by Chinese, and sixty-nine dens of Chinese
prostitution, generally patronized by whites.
1t ID said that the Chinese prostitutes are regu-
larly bought and sold for terms of years, and
that organized bodies of villains exist, as the
Ye Tung Society. for the purpose of capturing
and restoring runaway prostitutes to their own
ers. The buildings in Chinatown are owned by
white people. who get twice the usual percent
age OF income from their real estate. The
lessees double their Investments annually by
crowding hundreds of people into a dwelling
Of ordinary size, where hunks in tiers
made to serve the purpose of beds.
III all distractions to the Chinese were re-
moved it has been said that California could
underbid the world in all sorts of manufactures.
Wages would come down to $40 a month. and
the operatives would never strike. With
INDUSTRIOUS CulUauleu suDSlltuteu snItleSS
negro laborers. the cotton and sugar fields of
the south would yield fortunes. In the
factories Of New England the Chinese would
supplant the white workers, as they nave done
on the Pacific coast to great extent. This
system would bring great wealth into the
country, but the consequence would be in many
respects most undesirable. Society would
come to be divided into two great classes. one
of which would include manufacturers and rich
owners Of land, together with the professional
people sustained by them, while the other
class would comprise Chinese laborers and
wretched whites. the latter doomed to hopeless
destitution. In short, the gulf between the
very rich and the very poor would be widened
enormously. Such. at all events, is the view
expressed by a recent writer this subject
from politico-economic standpoint.
China is no longer the feeble nation she was
Q few years ago. Prof. w. A.. p Martin of the
Imperial College says: "a European force
which should attempt to capture Peking-a
thing easily effected by the Anglo-French al
lance in 1S60-would have to reckon with
naval force stronger than that Of the United
States at present. Surprising that it should
overcome the ships, it would encounter chain
of forts commanding every vulnerable point Of
the coast line and fitted with easements, re-
volving turrets and all the most approved ap-
phances for defense. 1t would find the shallow
waters and inlets sown with torpedoes, some
exploding by percussion and others by the
electric spark discharged from a distant bat
terry. On land the way would be further
blocked by an army Of zoe. 900 men more or less
drilled in European discipline"
Eight years ago, when France attempted to
wrest Tonquin from China, a war followed in
which the sggressor, after occupying several
islands and threatening the mainland, was COM
PEELED to withdraw under most humiiating cir
cumstances. not getting penny Of the indem-