The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1905-06-16


a century. I requested him to place
) the matter in the department to which
it belonged for immediate relief. A
reply came quickly, for that noble
and the following week directions
came to allow all to land who had per-
mits. The executive officer, although
not daring to disobey the order, would
have Disseminated against some who
had laborers' permits. holding that they
were issued in blank. 1 showed him
however that they were filled up by
the Hawaiian Consul in Hongkong who
had been empowered to do so and were
as valid as any other form and all
were landed. Like vultureS the law
yers lowered over the corralled Chi
nese and bled them and their friends
at every turn. [ sent the permits
which had been taken away from the
deported ones to them and eventually
they came again and were allowed to
land and go to their homes. For this
l was censured, if L would style it So
but 1 have rather courted censure for
my sympathy with this oppressed peo-
pie than otherwise. I had been taken
to the Custom House by Mr.. Damon
Minister of Finance, and indicted in
to office as assistant guard in charge
of Chinese immigration for the. avowed
purpose of assisting our people to re-
turn to their homes in Hawaii-nei and
the work was thoroughly done. For
my sympathy and efforts on their be-
half 1 have been traduced and malign-
ed but 1 f1atter myself that L will out
live my traducers.
All this occurred in free America at
the end of the nineteenth century
| The troubles of the Chinese in Ha-
wall under this inhuman exclusion law
had only begun, however. The fiat
I went forth that all should be register
ed and the time for such regulation
was cut down from one year to four
4 months. Witnessing what had oc-
Cured they did not know what fur
Their crueltes might be inflicted upon
them and they rushed hither and yon
to secure papers from any one having
a seal of Office whether the officer had
any authority of law or not and paid
out thousands of dollars for worthless
papers.
Under this Ubiquitous law the dis
tinction between the status of Mer
chant and Laborer is like that between
/ heaven and hell, the former can
, travel ad libitum whereas the latter
must have certain qualifications, as
be possessed of $1,000 of property in
Hawaii or have family here depend
ent upon him. Unfortunately at the
end of 1899 the bubonic plague attack
ed the city of Honolulu and the fiat
went forth that many Chinese homes
should be destroyed by fire. The fire
10 nf he
and destroyed whole streets of Chi
nese stores on January 90, A. D. 1900.
The registration of Chinese began inn
mediately after and many of them who
sought to be registered as Merchants
were refused on the grounds that they
We're not actively engaged in mer-
chandiZing whereas the bewildered
merchants were merely waiting to be
recouped by the government for their
forced losses, by the great con1agra-
ton to enable them to rebuild and re-
open. Surely, if a. man learns the
blacksmith trade he is as much a
blacksmith tomorrow as today al |
though he should lose his right arm
today. Men who had carried on bust |
ness as merchants for thirty years and |
We're burned out by accident or by
orders of the Board of Health We're
merchants sui as II was the only DuSl-
ness they were trained to. but the regis |
tration officers believed they must obey
the letter of the law and refused them
registration in the high status of mer-
chants
Then again some We're refused regis
ira ton merchants on the grounds
that their business was not of sufficient
volume as to enable them to have such
status. OF course this was a misread-
ing of this cruel law as there is no re-
quirement under it that a man shall be
possessed of one dollar or ten thousand
dollars for him to be denominated a
merchant, but merely that he should
buy and sell goods at a fixed place of
business and do no manual labor fur
Their than was necessary in the conduct
of the business. On appeal to Wash
ingtOn directions came that they should
be registered. There seemed to be no
hesitancy in compelling a Chinaman to
appeal to Washington to obtain his
rights under this notorious law. In
fact, it would appear that the incentive
to cruelty to the Chinese was conta-
giOus and all who had to do with exc
cutting this obnoxious law were imbued
| with the idea that to tramp on a
| Chinaman or his rights would receive
commentator from his superiors at
WaShin Ston. We all remember the
| horrid spectacle of the Chinese bride
| being carried screaming through the
| streets at being separated from the
| bridegroom who had right to remain
| and she had not. a number of in
stances of youths making satisfactory
| proofs to the immigration officers of
| being born in Hawaii and being allowed
| to land and who We're again arrested
and their parents put to great expense
| TO prove in court the fact of being
| citizens of Hawaii by birth.
| Naturally, where such a notorious
| law exists humanity will endeavor to
evade it. What school child does not
know the story of Moses and the nat
ural endeavors of his mother to evade
the law that all Hebrew males should
be destroyed. Do we not commend her