The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-06-22
Wise Says De Young Assisted
in Landing Midwinter Fair
OrientaIS.
THE COLLECTOR TALKS OUT
Some Side Lights on the Immortal
ton Of Coolies for the Chi
neSe Village.

| lector OF the Port John ii. Wise Yesterday
The remark was brought forth during a
| discussion of an article in the Chronicle in
which the Collector was accused of having
assisted in the landing of the Chinese
who peopled the Monaghan village at the
Midwinter Fair.
Continuing, Mr.. Wise said an. H. de
Young is Special Collector of Customs,
appointed by myself. His commission
does not expire until next September,
think, and while he is a member of my
staff l can assign him to any duty / see fit.
Were he here would send him out to dig
| up these Chinese the Chronicle is talking
about, and then we would see who is most
anxious to have the men sent back"
In regard to the charges made Collector
Wise prepared the following statement:
Facts in relation to landing Chinese admitted
| under an act OF Congress allowing them to
| come to the United States to participate in the
| Midwinter Fair at Sam Francisco:
| few weeks prior to the arrival of the first
lot OF Chinese who came to participate in the
| Mldwlnter Fair | was requested by the man.
| agement, of which NJ. H. de Young was the
| director-general, to call at their rooms in the
| Mills building. / was then asked what OBJ
| staeles if any would interpose to their landing.
| told the managers that was clearly OF the
| opinion from what 1 had learned with refer
| ence to those Cinnamon who had gone to
Ch1caeo to participate in the Worlds Fair that
| it would be necessary to have a good substan-
| t1al bond executed by responsible white citi-
| Zens who would guarantee that our i'm porta-
ton would return when the time expired, and
| that It would be necessary also for me to take
| their photographs.
The management informed me that they
| could not or would not give the bond, and
| furthermore, that they did not believe | had
| any right under the law to demand one. l re-
| piled that intended to demand the bond
anyway, and would also require the photo
! graphs of the Chinese in triplicate.
| They stated that their agreement with the
| Chinese merchants was of such a character
that unless allowed them to land they would
| be very much embarrassed.
| 1t seems that the Cinnamon had agreed to
expend q certain amount of money at the fair
| on condition that the management--of which
| Mr.. de Young the director-general-wou
secure the landing of the Chinese which they
intended to import to assist them at the fair.
| I ascertained also that the Chinese mer-
chants and, 1 was informed, q number of
white people, were interested in the landing;
| that they were to get $500 for each Chinaman
| who landed, and that if they did not secure
| their landing they would have to return the
Cinnamon and pay their passage back, with
out receiving dollar for services which they
| had rendered.
This was the basis of the interest which the
| ing of the Cinnamon.
The directory of the Midwinter Fair very
soon after l left the Mills building communi-
Gated the substance of what l stated to the
| Treasury Department and procured an opinion
| from the law officer of the Government that
| had no right to demand bond, and | was so
| informed by the Treasury Department.
| They then tried to defeat my procuring the
| photographs, and on the day upon which the
| first steamer arrived received telegram from
| the department at Washington informing me
| that could not force these men to have their
! photographs taken, IS it was contrary to law
| l determined to take the photographs any,
way, and | then had an interview with Mr..
| Riordau and some of the leading Cinnamon
| who were interested in bringing those people
har no nf Jyhi ah hot fhox-x
drew their objections to my taking the photo
graphs.
subsequently saw Mr.. de Young, who spoke
! OF the photographs, and L pleasantly told him
! that he had beaten me on the judgment but
that had beaten him on the execution.
l identified all the Cinnamon by the photos
| before turned them over to the management.
| l then examined the law very carefully and
| had my officers watch out for them during the
| time they were at the fair. Later discovered
| that they had put joker Ill the law, which
| provided that these men could all remain in
| San Francisco twelve months after the closing
| of the fair.
| did not then. and do not now have any
| more power over those Cinnamon than any
| other good citizen of San Francisco who is
| anxious TO see those people returned to their
native country.
| haven't recently looked into the record to
see when the time is up, but am under the
| impression that there is yet little while be-
! fore these people must go back.
If 1t had not been for the great interest VIII ich
| Mr.. de Young took in the landing of these
which would have secured the return of these
| people to China.
| was informed, also, by the Cinnamon at the
| fair, that they had to paw q large per cent of
| their earnings to the management, and this is
another reason why the management was so
! very anxious to have these people represented
| at the Midwinter Fair.
| / discovered very soon, perhaps within a
couple of weeks, that great many OF the Chi
nnmen were not at the fair and l quietly ex-
amined the law and municated with the
public authorities to ascertain what could do
about sending these people back, but the law
was so very clear that there was no possible
chance to interfere with them until their time
| expired, but If the Chronicle will exercise as
much vigilance in trying to locate these Chi
| namen as they have to write this article |
have no doubt when the time expires will be
able to send back a large percentage OF them.
had great deal of trouble to agree with
Mr.. de Young as to the number that should be
permitted to land. He claimed that there
should be 400 or 500 of them, at least and
finally compromised upon 256 and had it not
been Tor the great 2, care which | exercised in
ity have had 800 of those people to get rid of
now.
wanted to confine their number to seventy
five when they first began to arrive, but the
fair management said that that was utterly
impracticable and at variance with the agree
ments which they had with the Cinnamon. /
understood from them that they had written
contracts with the Cinnamon, and it would be
good literature in all probability If those docu-
ments could be published.
l did however secure from the Cinnamon
themselves, or rather from their organization,
bond that a certain number of them should
go back-thirty. did not want to land that
batch and they gave me their company's bond
for that purpose and that bond / have here
still, and when the time comes / propose to
find out what has become of at least those
thirty would be very much gratifed if the
Chronicle would let me know where any one
of those fellows can be found, and as | have
their photographs, which they seem to dwell
upon good deal, will be able to identity
them and can send them all back without hay
ing false afdavits to show that those fellows
have right to stay here.
find, since making the above statement, that
the Midwinter Fair closed on the 30th day of
June, 1894, and as this is only the 21st day of
June, 1895, there is at least nine days left be-
fore l can take any action toward sending those
Cinnamon back.
will repeat what have already stated, that
If it had not been for the interference of the
directory of the Midwinter Fair would have
had bonds which would have enabled RE to
have sent every Chinaman back who landed
for that purpose, without any question what
ever, and If any of them bad remained after
the time was up the management of the Mid
winter Fair would have been responsible to
the people of this State.
Other Charges Against Davis.