Daily Kennebec journal., 1900-07-21
7 NEW YORK CHINAMEN.
Y
r-v--p
Interesting Facts About Their Life and
Their Secret Societies.

inner one of these, by far the most
conservative, estranged and difficult TO
penetrate understandingly. is that trian-
gular blotch in the great City's very
heart bounded by the riffs of Pell and
Mott streets and Chatham Square. If a
stone barrier the breadth and height of I
the walls of Shanghai were built about
this district, and the only entrance to
this inner world were a needles eye,
so far as concerns the welfare and con
tent of the average Chinamau within.
such a cutting off from the world would
be kindness rather than hlr.lship. So
complete is the Celestiafs little world.
ana so all in all to one another are Chi
namen in their own haunts, that they can
do without the rest of the contiguous
motley of foreign colonies, the govern
ment. its constitution. its laws, and its
franchises. lnsular as a caddisworm,
the Chnaman has enclosed himself in
stone CELL out of which he moves rarely
who would be utterly lost two blocks
away from their district, and who, al
though residents of that quarter for yea
know nothing and care nothing for the
white world, save that which they gather
from occasional glimpsCs through plate
glass to and from Evergreen Cemetery,
where the bodies of many departed Ce-
lestials lie till such time as their bones
are gathered up to be transported back
to the FlOWery Kingdom and to be min
gled with the dust of the fathers.
The drab monotony of Chinatown con-
trasts the crushing confusion of the en-
closing colonies, with this difference: the
inactivity is only apparent. OF the types
seen in the open, in flowing dyloW OF
many coiors, alone or shutting along IN
idle converse. none seems ever occupie,
in mind, body or estate. Wearing that
vague aspect of their own inperturhd bic
Joss, they may break into mirthl.ss
grin which at once disarns the audac-
ious inquirer into Oriental ways and
means, and which hides behind the va
cant sluggishnesS of the grOunG-n1g 'he
sagacity Of the weasel. behind all this
tranquil seeming. these burrow builders
labor on with patient SteadineSs. Stuical,
s.,,r,. i've indifferent. Two ssSiu1S alone
ever stir Lhrt Crk ntiC hnSnw- iha same
gas tHe piGir IA the tDrfurr y include
whatever trade u profession lhc EhIJa-
man follows, and which. for III his shoH
of stock interests, is but a lcSaliZ ID gam
ing board, with all the principles ana per
lis of a well-laid hazard ana the shrewd
Vaccinations by which the sameste~ en-
compaSses the unwary. Chauce and Its
passions are essential to the Chinamln's
nature His very Joss is no more than
god Of luck. He brings the ethics of Toss
penny destiny into the simplest as we'll
as the most momentouS affairs Of his
daily life John is not productive he
ing. The Chinese manufactures III New
York are meagre and futile. Business
is embodied in the fantan game Cf BY
and Sell, with no laudable spirit Of ere
alton anywhere evident, He will neither
produce nor invest in that which brings
about production; he leaves that TO the
barbarians of the surrounding district
the toilng. shaving COntinentalist. the
sweat-shopper, the Yankee. He is the
gambler. the midde-man. today a loser
tomorrow "A winner able TO pull up stakes
within an hour and depart as mysterious
ly as he came with the pipe to solace him
with the illusions of success in losses or
to lift him into the higher ATTITUDES of
utopian content after his gains.
This isolation. this completeness. this
remote spirit of the Chinaman in the
country of his adoption has only intensi-
fled his natural ciannishness, magnified
his illusions of superiority. In China
there are never allowed to meet together
more than fourteen people in closed-dOor
conference, for fear of a plot to over
throw an iniquitous despotiSm; but here
the inheritant passion for secrecy and
seclusion has developed actual establish
mentS of social, financial. and mutual
benefit nature. There are societies within
societies, from the Lee. the Chin, ana
other Companies" or lodges, to the clan
orders-the Hauk-yip. GOng-ghou, See
zip. Nuing- iunS and the Som-fup-the
members being descendants for many
hundreds and perhaps even thousands of
years from various districts ol the prov
inCe Of which Canton is the capital: for in
New York the Cantonese prevail, as in
other places-Boston. Denver, San Fran
clsco-Qther Cinnamon, speaking quite an
other dialect, hail from Shanghai, PekinS
or other great capitals. In these societies
the natural greSaripuSness of the Celcs-
tial finds ample indulgence. Each thinks
his own society the greatest ON earth, It's
rites the most profound, its constituents
the descendants Of the most ancient Tar
tar-fghting mandarins. its benefits the
surest in life and the safest afterward.
The rivalry between them is such that
on the occasion Of a public demonstration
such occurs near the last of January,
the Chinese New Year. ard Variously at
other times when, perhaps, funeral
takes place every effort is made to prove
the superiority of one society over the
others; and many is the lodge Golfer that
has been emptied and even put in pawn
in this desire for display and to wear
the aspect Of unlimited prosperity to their
compatrios They are the greatest "bluf-
fcrs" in the world.
There are five or six "Companics' in
Chinatown, and they are all powerful.
Indeed, if Chinaman were to- arrive in
New York and refuse to affiliate with
some one Of them. the chances Of his sue
ceeding in any business enterprise would
be reduced to the minimum. Tue Lee
Company, for instance, Is composed OF
no less than fourteen thousand members
here and in various parts ut the world.
What its numbers are in China viii never
be known, bur of its wild spread Influence,
its activity. its enormous wealth and sol
idity, there Is an abundance NJ evidence.
The Lee Company is in reality secret
society. a financial corporation, a temple
OF worship. Il benefit organization in ad-
Versity. and burial insurance after
death: "A pawn shop. bank. and court ot
justice. If any one of its members wishes
to go into business he may find financial
help-at usurious rates of interest. The
meeting rooms are III reality sort OF
temple-lodGc with the shrine where the
ruby lamps, lighted at the great temple
alters of Canton, never grow dim Masses
of carved wood. oVcrIaid with gold leaf,
varicga atoms of crimson and green, mag
nificent embroiderieS. and carved teak
wood furniture give this upper chamber
in the very heart Of the metropolis as
Oriental an aspect as the rcmotcSt tenn
pie of kwangtunE. Here twice 4 week
the members meet in secret council to
talk over the affairs Of the Company.
the members OF which are bound together
by more than frFte'nal ties. The oath Is
..tEcu tu h.r ui Htnc, ,hstC ln:su'
be sand 10 lie lJ..-dns ulIIty oI inleIe-
which somewhat jUstites the proud aSser-
tion that they are an cousins. In tur-
ther proof of this position, the name Lee
OF Chin or Sing. whatever company II
may be. is interpolated into the name,
and Wo-Sah becomes Wo-Lee-Sah. or
Wo-C hin sab, the family surname being
invariably that of the mother.
The resident Chinaman takes no inter
est in affairs outside his quarter. He asks
only to be let alone. Ii he has Il dis
pute regarding money matters or some
thing less serious with another China
man. the difference never reaches the
Mclean" court of law. 1t is settled at
the next council of the Company, IL
the two belong to the same organization,
or by the heads of the two companies in
question, if the conflict involve opposing
concerns.
The good effects of these societies are
many, although directly against Amerl-
can interests in a way, since they tend To
make the Chinaman more lnSuldr ana
conservative, more of a cave-dweller and
g,+.-. flfaN IN q