The San Francisco call., 1896-04-19
Cody Women Imported Regu-
larly by Perjury for
immortality.
THEIR PRICE HAS ADVANCED.
Because II Costs More to Guild the
Corrupt Path Through Which
They Enter the Country.

The interview with Miss CulbertSOn and
Miss D. NJ. Cameron, of the Presbyterian
Chinese Mission, published in last Tues
days CALL concerning the importation of
and traffic in Chinese woman slaves for an
immoral purpose has been made the SUBJ
ject of much comment among people of
the opinion that California should not be
made the dumping-ground for Asiatic
serfs and criminals.
The fact that even under the rigid exclu-
sion laws now in vogue this traffic is being
continued, and that the gates of the Gus
tom house have been thrown wide open
TO the admission of disreputable Chinese
women, has occasioned surprise among
that portion of the public not conversant
with the chameleon qualities of the law
and the chameleon-iik manner in which
the law is coIored to suit the requirements
OF the occasion.
Rev. DR.. +. ]. Masters, superintendent
of the Methodist Chinese Mission at GIG
Washington street. knows as much about
the influence of gold in bringing about
those changeable hues as any other man
in this State. He has been connected
with the mission for many years and Is 8
Chinese scholar of more than ordinary
tainments. The opinion of such a man,
one who has intently studied this problem
for years and years, is certainly entitled
to much weight. Hence, remark which
he made to CALL reporter yesterday to
the effect that it is easier for lewd woman
to pass through the Custom-hous than it
Is for merchants wife must be regarded
as of grave significance.
Why should it be easier for the immoral
al vi cal M ha IN,
her face, in her manner of dressing her
hair and in her conversation, and which
may be suspected in her unbound feet, to
and upon the shores of California than it
should be for the small-footed and LADY,
like wife of the honest merchant who
stands inside the Golden Gate to receive
herr
Mr.. Masters explanation was simple.
A strict compliance with the letter of the
law Disseminated in favor of the unworthy
and against the worthy. When Timothy
Guy Phelps was Collector of the Port he
followed out the letter of the law strictly.
The cody woman backed with a money
value and by powerful ring of slave
owners and immigration brokers had all
the forms of the law strictly complied
with. The necessary papers were all in
order and straight upon their faces. The
forgeries were cleverly executed, the per-
jured witnesses, white and Chinese, were
handy, the story which the woman was to
tell to the effect that she was born in San
Francisco and that So-and-So, who lived
here-and-there, was her husband, had
been carefully committed to memory.
and in the whole of the proceed.
ings not one flaw was to be found. So
that the officials had no alternative but
to let her enter with grin upon her face
No pains of this kind were taken with
the respectable woman coming here be-
cause she had a right to return to this
country. She had not coolie brokers at
her back, no Interpreters on friendly terms
with the brokers' ring. no money value
whatever. Upon the appearance of the
least flaw in her papers or the least irreg-
ularity in the proceedings under which
she essayed to land she was turned back
to China to make the attempt again when
ever her husband could send the passage
money and have papers prepared that
would stand the test of official scenting.
Mr.. Phelps could not be blamed for
this. He was carrying out the law as he
understood it and he treated all corners
alike.
'But," added Mr.. Masters, 'if were the
Collector and woman came to me with
bound feet and told me that she was the
wife of a merchant l would admit her
without any further evidence
Mr.. Masters explained his strange dec
laration as follows: In China a bound
foot woman is lady. Bound feet" or
little feet" as they are known to Cauca-
slams, are not mark of caste, as is gener-
ally believed. They are rather a marx of
virtue and responsibility. There is one of
these "bound-foot" women in almost every
Chinese family, high or low, rich or poor.
The mother says, 81 wild make this child
'bound-foot' and she shall be a lady. >,
The child's feet are contracted, she is kept
at home with her mother day and night.
and because of her fashionable deformitv
she cannot do any menisl work, but must
be waited upon as real lady. When she
arrives of age she is married to some man
who can afford to have a lady for wife
and to hire servants to wait upon her.
On the other hand, it must not be taken
for granted that because a woman has
large or unbound feet she belongs, neces.
sarily, to the immoral class. All that
may be said OF her is that she may be one
of that class, while no "little foot" woman
belongs to that class at all.
Mr.. Masters experience had been. he
: said, that the general run of United States
District Attorneys at this port were very
vigiiant for year or two and then lapsed
again into original sin, as he quantity
put it.
''It is like beating the air to try and do
anything with them,' he continued. ..I
have had much to contend with also from
official mpathy in behalf of the cause of
the slave brokers. have had LAWYERS and
court officers argue with me that this kind
of immigration was necessary evil, and
that without them there would be great
danger TO our homes from those wild
beasts from the ORIENT
The courts did not exercise wise dis
elimination on the side of morality. 1t
had often occurred, in the course of his
his ten years experience, after having res
cued one of these miserable slaves.
that "some shyster lawyer would