The San Francisco call., 1899-04-29
The Dismissal Of the Chief of the Chinese Bureau Of This City Reveals
Gigantic Plot Of the Steamship Company to Flood
the Country With Coolies.

attention was called to the matter he
said that the permit was proper, the
four persons being no doubt the white
lawyer, the Chinese client, the Chinese
interpreter and a white photographer
On the very next day Mr. Jackson is
sued an order proclaiming that no per-
mits should be recognized, except such
as bore the signature of Meredith, thus
nullifying the order issued by Mr.. Spear
and leaving the management of the de-
tained Chinese in the hands of Mere
dith When the Collector was asked
why he had practically revoked the or
der issued by Mr.. Spear he replied that
he, the Collector, was the person des-
ignated by law to handle the Chinese,
and that Spear had no authority in the
premises. Yet it is the fact that Mr..
Spear always has had custody of the
Chinese at the Mail dock by virtue of
his official position and still exercises
the function of jailer.
1t is understood that under the new
method of conducting the bureau, a
Chinese interpreter in the service of the
Government will be present at every in
terview with Chinese immigrant seek
ing to land and that highbinders and
coolie brokers V be no longer al
lowed to ply their nefariOus avocation
under the noses of the Federal officials.
Mr.. Spear who is responsible for the
safe keeping of the Chinese prisoners
at the Mail dock, will be allowed to take
such measures as he may deem neces-
sary to insure their detention until le-
gally landed.
Much good will be accomplished by
the new mode of enforcing the eXclu-
sion act. The head of the bureau will
no longer be the creature of the Collec-
tor, and will be therefore more inde-
pendent in the performance of his du-
ties. He will be directly responsible to
the Secretary of the Treasury for what
ever mistakes he may make, and there
will be no collectors and ex-collectors
to intercede for him and furnish Ger
tificates of character to save him from
the departmental wrath. He must
stand upon his own feet, and his char
acter must speak, not through hear
say certificates, but through his official
acts The trouble with Meredith has
don't dovetail with his official mistakes
which, unfortunately for him, if they
were mistakes. were on the wrong side.
They were invariably on the side of the
Pacific Mail Steamship Company and
the slave dealers and against the in
terests of the exclusion act and the
Government. No merchant will keep a
clerk who makes mistakes in giving
change against his employer or who
doles out good coins for counterfeit.
Again, if, after Mr.. Jackson shall
have retired from office to rest upon
such laurels as he may have won
bad man, working in the interest of the
Pacific Mail Steamship Company,
should receive the appointment as Col
lector of the Port, the head of the Chi
nese Bureau will be an eye of the Gov
ernment glaring upon him. If he al
lows a Chinaman to enter without be-
ing entitled to the privilege, the China
man will be arrested and the act of the
Collector will be reviewed by the bu
reau and the court. Thus there will
be an effectual check upon the COllec-
tor: and on the other hand, if the Pa
cific Mail Steamship Company shall
foist into the bureau another Meredith,
the Collector may act as a check upon
the chief, and may take such measures
as may be calculated to expose and
punish fraud or criminal mistakes.
Consistently with their past record of
mendacity and low cunning, Meredith
and his hackers have made use of mis-
representation and prevarication in
their unsuccessful and shameless effort
IL IL. L,
sition as chief of the Chinese Bureau.
They have circulated a report that he
was dismissed, not because of any neg
lect of duty, but because he used in
sulting language to a reporter of The
Call and to DR.. Gardiner. They argued
both orally and on paper from the Of
flee of the Pacific Mail Steamship Com
pany) that his offense arose from great
provocation and that, after all, all that
he was guilty of was giving way to his
temper. He was not dismissed because
Fong Suey Wan escaped, they said, and
the assertion that her escape was the
cause of his dismissal they declared to
be an oral slander and a printed libel.
A letter written by Collector Jackson
and exhibited by Meredith's friends is
so worded as to befog the subject. The
circulation of such false statements is
not calculated to do the Pacific Mail
Steamship Company any good, for the
Secretary of the Treasury knows why
Meredith was let go. In order to set
the matter right, it is necessary to re-
capitulate briefly the nature of the in
vestigation which resulted in the re-
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
entertained during their visit to this city