The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1900-07-09
Six CHINESE COMPANIES.
ry,s CONCERN CONTROLS THE CHI
NESE OF AMERICA.

tim was the Mutual Protection
a. and From the United States.
,,,. Present Scope and Work of
.,c Organization Corruption
crept Into the Company, Funds
,,a-c Used for Personal Benefit
.d some of the Officials Abscond-
.d-The Salaries of the Officers
no uich-A close Watch Is kept
those in Debt.
From the Baltimore American
ro- weeks San Francisco has been
.orqht up over the bubonic plague. Ten
'-A,namen died from some unknown dis
80 The state board of health says it
..s the plague; the city board of health
saws II was not
A. first little attention was paid to these
..,sni Sous deaths. Cinnamon can't be ex-
nec,ed 10 make their exit by the ordinary
,,es But as the number of deaths in
.reascd. examinations were made. An or
asr was issued for the incubation of every
human being in Chinatown. In terror,
robn few to the courts, and the courts de-
c,ared the order Illegal.
The authorities were aroused. Precau-
tions must be taken. So Chinatown was
ouarantined. A rope was stretched around
the Chinese quarter and line of police
men. No one could pass in or out with
out permit
Glad to have escaped that unknown hor-
nor incubation, John submitted right
meek,v to inspection and fumigation; that
&c the John that remained. But many
hundreds of him, with a bundle on his
shoulder, had filed out of Chinatown the
night before the quarantine was establish
ed
The Chinese feel that they have been
treated outrageously. But John gets little
sympathy on the Western coast. He is not
loved there. He has become TOO numer-
Gus.
In the present struggle one hears much
Of the Chinese Six Companies. Ii was
they who took the question of incubation
to the courts; it was they VINO contested
the right of quarantine; it was they who
brought the matter to the attention of
Wa Ting Fang, miniser at Washington.
The Chinese Six Companies
The name is puzzling, battling, truly
Chinese Few people. even in the West
know who or what the Six Companies are.
During the trout1ous TINS of the cary
'70s when anti-Chinese feeling was boiling
over says a Western exchange the Six
Companies were accused of carrying on a
syst,m of slavery which bound every Chi
Ne immierant 10 thCm in a manner be.
yond he power of the courts to control.
1t was charged that they had established
d cial Tribunals, jails ana prisons, and
cretiy exercised judicial authority over
cha ges were made the ground for VIC
Int p resolution, which led TO riots fierce
and bloody.
In a memorial address d 20 President
Grant by the Six Companies, thes
C argos were refuted aud no evidence
ha~ be n produced 10 show that Chinese
labcre1s in this coun5ry are slaves. New
eriheless, the idea had taken such hrm
10 N he men who were ekng every
neats prohibit further immigration
ana SO pen were their accusations TIA,
even now there is a general impression
that the companies have every Chnaman
in absolute bondage. 1t is known that
there have been and are many Chinese
laborers brought here under contract; but
it is firmly de MED that the Six Com
ranies have anything TO d. wi h this traf-
hc
HiEhbinder TOngs.
Again. in the minds of many the Six
Companies are no more nor less than
Highlander tongs. Others believe them
to he the ruliOg ROVER in Chinese COM
marcial affairs.
Al the pres mt time the last idea is not
far from true. but the original purpose of
the- o. organization was The mutual prot c.
ton of Chine sc in their journeys to ana
from America, and the sending home Tor
burial in ancestral tombs Of the bones
of thosa who died here.
In AL matters of moment the Six Com
ranias act officially for The Chinese peo-
pie and il is declared by Chinese who
ought to know and who might asona5iy
b. txrected to tell the truth, that above
all else their miss on is that of mutual
benevolent society.
To understand the necessity of such
society one must take a look al the China
man at home and see what influence mas
been at work. In China, the most import
ant political and social institution Is the
clan organization, which is more or less
a result. or possibly a cause, of ancestor
worship. Family trees, in China, are
deep rooted and many branched. Almost
any Chinaman's genealogical record dates
back twenty-five, thirty or or fifty gener-
ations; even twenty-five or more centuries
are not too much for some to claim.
The descendants of a common ancestor
form a clan They cluster together in
village or district. calling one another
cousins, but not allowed TO intermarry on
penalty of death.
Among the people of a clan every man
over 20 years of age is an elder, regardless
of his station. Only those of the younger
men who have passed government exam
nations are worthy to be classed with
those who have the virtue of age. These
latter are known as kong ming or
titled scholars" Together with the eld-
ers they constitute the officers of the
clan, and in addition TO these one man is
annually elected secretary and treasurer
II Is the business of these officers to de-
eide all affairs of importance for the clan
III matters of especial interest. boys who
have attained their ma1oTity-1S years-are
allowed voice.
At an annual meeting the ancestral
iahds are rented out 10 the highest bidder
NOSE nearby TO members of the clan;
thosea a distance to outsiders. Quarterly
'ne officers meet to collect the rents. These
rents and incomes from ancestral property
are Kept in the clan treasury for the pay
meht Of taxes and general expenses of the
'ian' such as lawsuits, public buildings,
roads, celebrations of births and deaths
should member of the clan fail to pay
MS rent for length of time the officers
ueIhand the sum from the head of the de-
"iquents immediate family.
All quarrels, disputes and unsettled
oeots within the clan are settled according
gaI Of hn LODI col