Evening star., 1897-03-20

is when two highbinder societies clash in
levying blackmail that trouble comes The
recent murder of Little Pete the head
Of the Sam Yup Society. is a good iliustra-
ticn of the lawlessness of these Chinese
bravos. Little Pete had become too
powerful to suit the See fups. and they
ordered his death. A reward was offered
for his head, and two men shot him down
like a dog as he was sitting In BARRIERS
chair.
There is no question that Pete's friends.
as well as his enemies. know who did the
shooting but they viii not tell the police.
They prefer to have blood for blood. for
the vendetta is as well recognized in China
town as 1t Is in Sicily. 1t is this establish
r.ent of an Independent power. hostile to
our laws. that makes the Chinese danger
Gus. Their contempt for our court methods
is boundless they think every judge can
be bribed, and they refuse to recognize the
sanctity Of an oath or the right of the law
|. to force them to give testimony. Nearly
every highbinder murder in Chinatown Is
witnessed by score OF Chinese. but not
enc of them will give any information to
the police. They cannot be punished for
contempt, as imprisonment has no terrors
for them. They feel no shame when cast
into Jail. and they suffer no money loss. as
their society pays their regular wages.
Thus they are as Independent of our laws
as though they still lived in China
Though the japanese in California differ
radically from the Chinese in many traits
though they conform readily on the sur
face to our civilization. yet the best OBJ
servers declare that they are as great a
menace tc our institutions as the Chinese
ever were. The first to come over from
Japan We're students bright. clever. adven-
tIrous fellows. who entered many of the
colleges, and showed great proficiency IL
mathematics and the sciences. Then came
a poorer grade of students, young men
who fancied that knowledge of English
would help them to better positions in their
own country. These had little money. and
to maintain themselves they engaged in
jtyhf hnt hn1 q g nm a N
that they be given several hours day for
their studies. AS they We're polite and
fairly Industrious these students were en-
ployed as walters or kitchen helpers in pri-
vate families Their success encourag ged
others. and after these came the farmers
and coolies who now do large part of
the fruit-pickng in California.
Coming of the Japanese.
The Japanese who are now coming into
California at the rate of several hundred
every month are mainly common laborers
who have saved little money. They go
into the hop-fields, the berry ranches. and
the sugar beet farms They monopolize
in many counties the picking of fruit
They adopt the same system as the Chi
nese in furnishing help to the fruit grow
erS.
In San Francisco and in all the large
towns OF California are japanese employ
ment agencies. The manager will in a
fruit pickers to work for a stipulated time
at low wages. All these hands board them
selves. or, if the ranchman agrees to board
them he is only required to furnish rice
and live hogs. The Japs will to the
rest. They will bunk in any outbuiding,
or. If these are lacking, they will camp in
tents. They give no trouble to the ranch
mans family, and hence they are in de-
mand- They cannot do as much work as a
white man; they are not even equal to a
Chinese; but in state where it is SO diff
cult to get sober and Industrious farm
laborers they are welcomed
The japanese are much more quiet and
law-ab.ding than the Chinese. They MAIN
tain no associations for blackmail. nor is
crime more common among them than
among the whites. They are quick to adopt
our customs, and they learn English with
astonishing ease. though they seldom
speak or write it grammatically. The edu-
Gated class is not menace to free la
Dor. but the coming in of the coolie class,
IL not restricted by legislation, will be
sure to bring grave trouble.