The San Francisco call., 1899-04-29

explained that Meredith had been
found guilty of negligence and collusion
in allowing Fong Suey Wan to escape
when she should have been held as
procuress and therefore Howell en-
phatically declined to take any further
action in the case"
BY our people do you refer to
Southern Pacific officers?" inquired The
Call correspondent.
Yes" replied Mr.. Chambers. Il
wrote them that nothing could be done
for Meredith.
The Treasury Department expects J.
R Dunn to arrive in San Francisco in
a day or two to take charge of the
Chinese Bureau. vacated by Meredith
Collector Jackson will not have super
vision over it as reported some time
ago.
The foregoing dispatch is doubly sig
niticant. 1t shows that the Southern
Pacific Company and the Pacific Mail
allied powers of corruption, are en-
gagged in using their tremendous power
to defeat the purpose of the exclusion
act and to flood the country with coolie
labOrers. The dispatch shows also that
Collector Jackson will have nothing to
do with the administration of a depart
ment that has been frequently sullied
by scandal and mismanageme since
its establishment The history of Mere
dith's regime in the Chinese Bureau
may indicate in a measure why C.
P Huntington and r. P. Schwerin were
so anxious to have him retained in of
flee.
The final turning down Of Meredith
and his hackers, the Pacific Mail
Steamship Company, Collector Jackson
and other of kindred sentiment by the
Secretary of the Treasury, will be hail
ed with delight by all the friends of la
Dor in the United States, particularly
on the Pacific Coast During the period
of two years in which the affairs of the
Chinese Bureau were managed" by
Meredith and Jackson the number of
Chinese immigrants. including those
returning to this State, jumped to a
figure more than double that under
Wise's administration, even when Dick
Williams stood at the gates and made a
fortune for himself and his pals out of
the business of being a member of the
Chinese Bureau.
1t is noteworthy that about the first
official act of Customs Collector Jack
son on assuming his office was the an
uouncement to the members of the
press that he had confirmed Mr.. Wises
appointment of B. E Meredith as chief
of the Chinese Bureau, and it is equally
noteworthy that during the two years
of Mr.. Jacksons administration of the
Chinese Bureau Mr.. Schwerin and the
other officials and friends of the Pacific
Mail Steamship Company felicitated
themselves when they read in the daily
papers that the number of Chinese i'm
migrants arriving and settling in Cali
fornia had increased from 100 annu-
ally, which was the number under the
Wise administration, to $500 annually
under the Jackson Meredith admins
tration. 1t is a fact equally noteworthy
that since the Secretary of the Treas
ury kicked Meredith out of office, the
business of the Chinese brokers has
fallen away to a minimum.
Certain lawyers who almost made
the bureau their home when Mr. Mere
dith was there have disappeared from
the Appraisers building and are look
ing for Caucasian clients. Certain at
taches of other offices in the same
building who were wont to go into the
vault and examine papers in Chinese
cases every day are now conspicuous
by the rarity of their presence The
lodgings maintained by the steamship
company in the Mail dock for
housing Chinese immigrants await
ing landing are no longer
overcrowded, and the abuse of
keeping those unfortunate creatures
six months on the dock before being
granted a hearing has been stopped
But it is noteworthy, also, that the
abuse was not abated by any initiatory
step taken by Jackson or his friend
Meredith. It was done at the sugges-
tion of Special Agents Linck and
Smith, who when they arrived here
and looked into the matter of the gross
mismanagement of the Chinese Bureau,
made such representations as to bring
about a general and speedy clearing up
of the Mongolian debris.
The laborers of California owe
debt of gratitude to the firmness and
of the Secretary Of the
Treasury, who refused to be influenced
by a great corporation and who was
too shrewd to be misled by the lies told
both here and in Washington in Mere
diths behalf to waver for an instant
in adopting heroic measures to protect
the people of the United States from
this flood Of yellow paupers coming in
through the Golden Gate at the rate of |
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES III