The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1897-12-23
SINFUL All SIN.
Another scheme by Which China m II
Swindle the Government.

A pertinent illustration of the willy
nature of the Mongolian mind came to
light the other day, when the repre-
sentatives of three Chinese firms called
upon Appraiser Dare and complained
that they had been made victims of a
| confidence game to the extent of about
$4,000 by coolies who had taken adj
vantage of one Of the provisions of the
exclusion act.
BY law every subject of China in the
United States is required to have n
certificate Of registration. Without
such certificate a Chinaman found MAX
| ing his livelihood as laborer must be
deported to China. In case of the loss
CT such certificate he may procure Il
duplicate from the collector of internal
revenue upon proving the loss. Copies
of the original certificates. with the
! photographs of the holders, are kept on
file in the collectors office, and the
duplicates applied for are made from
| those copies.
| This circumstance was taken ad
vantage of by the cunning coolies to
gold-brick some of their own mer-
chants. Among the victims are the
! firms of Sam Kee & Co., Now Tuck &
| Co. and Iee Sack & Co. The firms men
toned have been doing a heavy busi-
ness III contracting to supply coolies
to work in the salmon canneries in
Alaska. About year ago it became
common practice for many of these
coolies to obtain from the Chinese firms
advances ranging from 500 to $3.50
each on their wages. The loans were
secured by the borrowers surrendering
to their creditors their registration GER
tifcates, to be redeemed by the pay
ment Of the debt at the close of the sal
mon packing season. The employers
in Alaska are notified by the creditors
Of the existence of the debt and it's col
lection thereby becomes easy.
J. occurred, however, to some shrewd
Mongols that il would be a profitable
stroke Of enterprise to avoid the pay
lncnt of their obligations and at the
same time to regain their registration
certificates. The first step was to take
employment at some cannery other
than the one with which the merchants
had made contracts. After working
during the season they drew their
wages and returned to this city.
The next step was to call upon the
collector of internal revenue and sub
NIT the perjured testimony of confed
crates to the effect that the registration
certificates had been destroyed in a
fire or in a shiEwreck or had been lost.
Upon this showing duplicate certfi-
Gates We're obtained, and the creditors
were left with the original certificates
on their hands as drug in the market.
Chief Deputy Steppacher, of the in
ternal revenue collectors Office, OBJ.
served recently that applications for
duplicate certificates had increased to
al alarming extent, and he requested
the last batch of applicants to wait for
a few days. Measures have been taken
to detect the remaining swindlers by
furnishing the collector with list OF
the namesof persons who have hypothe
Gated their certificates. Such of them
as have already succeeded in obtaining
duplicate certificates will be arrested
and vigorously prosecuted for perjury.
The exclusion act by this time has
been riddled with holes. 1t is an act
which not only does not exclude, but
which enables cody, by hiding his
certificate or mailing it ahead of him
to China, to pay a. visit to his native
country at the expense of the United
States government, to return at his own
sweet will to Mexico, to cross the border
with his certificate in his pocket.
The three firms named are not the
only sufferers by this confidence game.
About half a dozen other Chinese firms
in this city have also been victimized.-
San Francisco Call.