The San Francisco call., 1899-04-30
SLAVE TRADERS
ARE SAD AND
LABOR REJOICES
Sensation Caused by
The Call Expose.
CHINESE LAWYERS ARE IDLE
SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY
IS DULY PRAISED.
The Reform Inaugurated Shows That
the Government Is in Real
Earnest in Enforcing
the Law.
CHINESE LAWYERS ARE IDLE
SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY
IS DULY PRAISED.

The article published exclusively in The
Cali yesterday concerning the failure Of
the efforts of the Pacific Mail Steamship
Company TO secure the reinstatement of
Ben h Meredith as head of the Chinese
Bureau was the talk of the town 1t had
always been suspected and even felt that
there had been a strong influence con-
nected with the turning loose of Fong
Suey Wan, and il had been pretty well
understood that Meredith had been ap-
pointed chief of the bureau and had been
retained as such by the political influence
OF the Pacific Mail steamship Company
and of the Southern Pacific Company. on
no other hypothesis could be explained
the tacit approval of the peculiar manner
in which the bureau had been conducted
and the energy with which its deposed
chief had been supported.
But the public did not expect that the
conspiracy on the part of the steamship
company TO flood this country with cheap
cOohe labor would be so completely
proved as 1t was by the admission Of the
chief lobbyist of the Southern Pacific
Company TO The Call correspondent at
Washington, when he said that his peo-
pie had instructed him to secure the rein
statement or Mereqlth ana that ne nau
reported to them that the task was inn
possible because the Secretary of the
Treasury had informed him that Meredith
had been proved to be 10 blame for the
escape of the procuress.
The statement made to G. =. Huntington
by K. Z. SchweTin that the dismissal Of
Meredith had been "a body blow" 10 the
cOOlie transportation business OF the
steamship company let the political cat
out OF the bag and threw a flood of light
upon many things that had happened in
the bureau and that had been thought to
be merely mysterious. 1t explained as
plainly as a picture without words why
1000 Chinese immigrants had been admit
ted during the past two years, as against
q
lectOr Wises administration. 1t explained
also why the flood since the 1st of last
January has dribbled into an almost in
significant stream, and why attorneys
who had all the business they could do in
the way of getting Chinese immigrants
into the country had deserted the APP
praiserS building since the confidential
friend of the SchWerin-HuntingtOn COM
bine transferred his activity TO some other
sphere of usefulness.
1t proved that The Call was right when
it contended that the cooIe importers
were allowed TOO many opportunities by
the loose methods prevailing in the man
agement OF the bureau, and IT placed upon
the shoulders of the apOlogiStS of the bu-
reau the onus of explaining that their
advocacy of. that system had been
prompted by desire to see 1.-The eXclu-
sion law carried into effect Men who
were suspected Of crooked work and who
kept the carpet warm with the frequency
Of their comings and goings TO and from
the SanCtum Of the bureau chief fed the
place and vanished from the gaze Of the
public and the press like rats scamperng
from a sinking ship 1t was silent but
no less eloquent admission that when the
appOintee of the Schwerin- Huntington
cOolie-importing tong was not there TO
see that everything went on well ii was
useless for the coolie brokers to attempt
TO continue business at the Old stand.
Especially among labor circles was The
Calls expose hailed with delight, for most
grateful to the laborng men and women
of California was the news that a check
had been put upon the tide of yellow COM
sincere In its determination TO fulfill most
stringently in the letter and the spirit the
exclusion laws which were passed by Con-
gress and signed by the President, not a.
a joke or burlesque but as a grave and
important fact Much satisfaction was
the Treasury had determined to conduct
the bureau affairs from Washington and
thus raise the department from the unde-
Sirable plane of pothouSe politics into an
important, dignfied and respectable arm
Of the executive power of the Govern
ment of the bureau chief in the hands of
the Collector OF the Port had been given
a fair trial for many years, and nothing
but scandal and confusion had resulted
from It. 1t was felt that while Mr. Hunt
ington and Mr. SchWern might be able
to exert, a powerful influence on Col
lector of the Port that influence would
not be nearly so strong If directed against
an official so high as Is the Secretary of
the Treasury.
The Call has been congratulated on all
sides outside Of Chinatown upon the ear
nest and gallant fight ii has been waging
for the past year for a reform in the
management Of the bureau. That reform
has been inaugurated, and already its
good effects have become apparent.