The herald., 1896-03-08
1t is Felt in the Restaurant
Business in this City
MASS MEETING LAST NIGHT
The Cooks Ask The Public to Come
to Their Assistance
Seventeen Places Already Controlled by jap
snese and Chinese, and They are
Reaching out After More


5. to protest against the patronizing of
cheap Japanese restaurants. The effect
of this new element of competition is be-
coming felt by all the. restaurants of the
city, and it is spreading at such a rate that
it threatens to practically monopolize the
cheaper restaurant business Of the city.
This being the case the Cook union called
the meeting for last evening.
1t was the intention to have a street pa
rade before the meeting, but at the last
moment the music failed to materialize,
and this feature was abandoned.
There were probably 1900 people in the
pavilion when the meeting was called to
order by c. E. FsSe, who briefly outlined
the purposes for which the gathering had
assembled, and introduced the first
speaker of the evening, Rev. Will A.
Knighten.
Mr.. Knighteu was received with applause
as he stepped to the front of the platform
The speaker said that he was present to
enter his protest against the employment
of Asiatic labor when white men could be
60. to do the work. He called attention to
the growing competition from this scource,
saying that he had been told that there
were now seventeen restaurants under the
control OF The Japanese and the ChIuese,
and further, that he had been told that the
Asiatcs wees trying to capture the larger
places. Tae Japanese restaurants, he
said, must be supported by the working
men or they could not exist. 1t was the
duty of American citizens TO stand by each
other. and take care Of their own kind.
and thereby show that our citizenship
amounts to something. Mr.. Knighten
said that it had been the rule for portion
OF the press to ridicule the workingmen
when they met together TO consider mat
tors affecting their interests, but he was
willing to stand this. He called on those
present to pledge themselves not to patron
ize Asiatc labor to the detriment of the
white man.
Assistant District Attorney Williams was
next speaker. Mr.. Williams said that he
was in full sympathy with the object of the
meeting. This meeting. he said, was not n
political meeting. but meeting of citizens
to consider the best means of protecting
our people. Gen. Will ams referred to the
inroads of the Japanese and Chinese in the
restaurant business of the city. saying that
seventeen places were now under their
control, and that they were reaching out
after more. The speaker said that under
ordinary circumstances he would be very
10th to recognize the boycott, as he could
not bring himself to the opinion that it was
an American principle. In the present
case. however, he thought that, as self
preservation is the first law of nature, and
It was absolute necessity. it should
be- .o.,eS resorted sS; TO- Gen. ,;, Williams dc.
toward the Japanese and Chinese
saying that it was not necessary. The thing
| to do was for white men to stop patroniz.
! ing the Japanese and they would be COM
PEELED to close their doors. The speaker
said that the same element was going into
| har rhnr h,Ioip
checked, hundreds of men would be thrown
out of employment. He called upon the
workingmen to organize for their best in
terests. He did not believe the press was
against the workingmen. They should
stand together and keep within their legal
rights, and they would command respect.
1t was slander against the honest work.
! ingman to say that he is against the gov
ernment. He is as a rule a law-abiding
citizen and hearty supporter of the gov
ernment which exists for all.
Prof. W. G. Bowman followed in So.
speaker was of the opinion that all the
troubles which afIiict the laboring man is
competition, which, instead of being the
life of trade was the death of trade. The
professor then went into an elaborate ex-
PLANTATION of what he meant by the word
foreigner. and, after denouncing the gov
ernment for what he called the judicial
policy of permitting the Asiatics to enter
the country, and deprecating the fact that
the present state of affairs existed, said
that all he ceuld see to do was for the
white man to fight for his right. He had
been elbowed aside by these aliens, and
he must do the best he can in the scramble
for existence. 1t was not the fault of the
Japanese that they were in this country,
he said, and he thought that the govern.
ment which was responsible should come
| in for criticism.
10 c. Hartman, a recent arrival from
San francisco. was the last speaker. Mr..
Hartman, is an out-and-out Socialist, and
his speech was distinctly on Socialistic
lines. The speaker was of the opinion
that the factory system was the underly-
ing trouble, and that we were now reap.
ing the effects of its introduction into
Japan and China. He did not think that
boycotting the Chinese and Japanese 1es-
taurants would remedy matters. The
only solution was international trades
unionism.
The chairman announced that two sets
of resolutions had been presented, but
owing to the lateness of the hour he would
not read them, as he was satisfied that
the spirit OF the meeting was in sympathy
with the objects set forth in the call. The
following was the resolution:
Whereas, The gradual inroads of the
| Japanese and Chinese upon the field of
/! labor in our city has assumed threaten
as proprietors of restaurants, baker shops
and in the laundry business, and,
| Whereas, This class of competition is
neither desirable to the business man, the
employer OF labor or the employe; there
| fore be it
Resolved. That we solemnIy pledge our
selves to abstain from patronizing these
| people and furthermore we sincerely
| promise to use our influence to dissuade
others from doing the same.
The following resolution was handed in,
| on which no action was taken:
! Whereas, The Trades council of this
city and county has called this meeting to
protest against the patronizing of five-cent
barber shops and japanese restaurants
therefore be it
Resolved, That we, as committee of
the International Educational Labor asso-
citation, deprecate any mode of action
which has tendency to arouse political,
religious, national or race prejudice among
the laboring classes. We deem this rea.
! sonable conclusion, for the following rea-
! sons: First, that all men are born free and
| equal, and have certain inalienable rights,
among which are life, liberty and the pur-
| suit OF happiness. Second, that a mode of
action which becomes impracticable as it
! approaches universally is necessarily
| wrong.
Furthermore, as regards cheap restau-
rants, barber shops, etc., we recognize such
as the natural result of the competitive
system, for he who fights must acknowI.
| edge that to the victor belongs the sDoils.
| trade must be regarded as legitimate. As
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