Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-05-27
Chinese Consul at Frisco Has Many
Important Duties.
APPEALED TO BY COUNfRYMEN
Nearly All Their Difficulties Settled
by Law of China.
VISIT TO A JOSS HOU S E
Special From a Staff Correspondent.

in Columbian University for a short period.
He is tall, fine-looking Chinaman, with
the hardest job in the diplomatic service in
the world. Nearly all the troubles of Chi
natown are finally aired before him. He Is
the adjudicator of endless disputes-com-
mercial domestic and otherwise. His judg
ment is accepted in nine out Of ten cases.
Beyond him Is the Chinese minister and
then the Emperor of China, to whom an
appeal is occasionally made. Comparative
ly few Of the troubles of Chinatown are
settled in the courts Of California The Of
ficials of the Six Companies and the Chinese
consul general are the real courts of the
Chinese here Chinaman will secretly
defy American laws and customs. but he
will not dare defy the customs and laws
laid down for him by the high officials of
the Six Companies and Of the Chinese gov
eminent.
respondents who are with the President IT
dinner at a Chinese restaurant, and took
them to a number of interesting places in
Chinatown, the finest Chinese theater in
cluded Mr. Vow has done much to bring
about better feeling for the Chinese and
really believes he has succeeded. He says
that ignorance of Chinese character Is re-
SpOnSible for a great deal of the general
sentiment that a Chinaman is a bad person
to have around. He hopes the time will
come when the prejudice against the peo-
pie of his country will be eradicated
DeplOred Bomb Sensation.
He greatly deplored a story published
here by a sensational paper that dynamite
was found in the cellar of a Chinese thea
ter which the President was expected to
visit. He said that just such stories were
responsible for the Ill feeling to Cinnamon
AS a matter of fact, he said the President
had not been invited to visit the theater,
and would not have gone in any event.
Next. no dynamite had been found there.
Yet in many minds the Chinese would be
held responsible for attempt upon the
life of the President. Mr.. Vow declared that
the N--inamen throughout the country held
the President in great respect and admired
him to an extent seldom felt for others of
another race.
There are six Chinese joss houses in San
Francisco. These are the churches of the
Chinese and it is the wooden joss that the
Chinaman worships. A Joss house is mag
niticently furnished, the investments in sill
yer and fine woods amounting to thousands
of dollars. Services are held at intervals
as in Christian churches, and the ceremo-
MES are odd and interesting. In front of
the joss Is always horse for him to take
a ride If he cares to go away at night. and
cups of tea are close by in case he becomes
thirsty. If he gets hungry he has roast
pig, chicken and other dainties 1t is in
their gambling operations that the Chinese
have the greatest superstition as to the
powers of the joss. Before attempting to
pay INC iolltly entering upon extensive
gambling schemes the Chinaman invaria-
bly, consuits the joss by throwing two
pieces OF wood, much like an American
throws dice. These two pieces of wood re-
semble the halves of crooked sweet no.
tato cut In two lengthwise. After his pray
ers to the joss the Chinaman takes these
two pieces Of wood, throws them up In the
air as If they were dice and finds his for
tune, or rather the directions of the loss.
by the way they fall They can fall in
only three ways, meaning good fortune,
bad fortune and medium success If the
pieces show bad fortune the Chinaman will
do nothing and start in no business until
the joss again directs him how to proceed
II his luck Is good he will venture into
specuiation' ouy lottery tickets, play fan
tan and do anything with the belief that he
will have the greatest luck.
Other Powers of the Joss,
Another way the Joss has of dfrectinp
affairs Is through the medium of a bun-
dred or more little sticks that stand In q
wooden holder. The Chnaman shakes this
holder until one Of the sticks falls out.
1t is numbered. He turns to this number
and sees what 1t corresponds to in the
fortune book. Several of the newspaper
men We're permitted the pleasure of a
snake at the wooden receptacle on the
payment Of rs cents. The one-eyed China
man in charge Of the scheme said that the
newspaper reporters should not take
chances on playing the stock market for
siA AioilhS. AFTER tnat time they would
have great luck if they entered into spec-
ulation. He endeavored to have the loss
propitiated by selling packages Of punk to
tho visitors, but there were none who cared
to be mulcted for over rs cents. The joss
was probably much disgruntled at the
scarcity of funds from the visit
Signs are posted throughout the loss
house notifying visitors that they are ex-
pected to pay 20 cents for a package of
punk to help the joss accumulate funds.
The dragons and other ugly creatures that
the Chinese fear so much are kept In the
joss house. At Los Angeles the authorities
allowed the Chinese to parade dragon
In front of the President, but here the
police do not permit the dragons to be
brought out. They say it is dangerous to
good order and to holding the Cinnamon in
proper check.
Women are plentiful in Chinatown, and
at any minute a Chinese woman can be
seen walking in and out of houses and
stores and on the streets. These however
are known as the big feet women, and are
not considered in the same class with the
women with little feet. The latter class
never go outside of their homes and their
faces are never seen unless 1t be from be-
hind curtain peerng out to see what Is
going on. The restrictions on the big-feet
women are not near so great. The latter
belong to the coOlie class of China while
the little-feet women belong to the better
classes. Very few of the women of either
class ever go outside of Chinatown.
PoIysamy Among the Chinese.
The average Chnaman has two or three
wives and the plurality Of better halves Is
thoroughly known to the police and state
officials, but they can never prove the ex-
istence of more than one wife, This is
true of the higher as we'll as lower-class
Chinese. A well-to-do Chinaman may have
three wives and neither be aware that
there are others. That is because the Wo-
men are not allowed outside Of their homes
and do not know anything Of what is 60
ing on. They know that the law In China
permits this plurality of wives and they
may suppose 1t is allowed here They
never question what their husbands do
Chinese drug stores are plentiful in
Chinatown. Medicines are compounded
just they are\ in American stores, ex-
cept that the drugs are quite different in
their makeup. There are regular practi-
TONERS among the Chinese, and the drug
stores compound prescriptions given to pa
tients by these practitioners. Dried lizard
Is the chief ingredient In all prescriptions.
In the window Of any Chinese pharmacy
one will see a number Of dried lizards and
dried sea horse. All around there will be
bundles of dried banks and herbs and little
packages Of weeds ready for handing out
to customers who may call. w. w. P.
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