Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-10-21

were but 100000 Chinese Of all classes In
our country, the result of a whole genera
ton Of immigration. More than double
this number of Italians, Hungar1ans or He
! brews now enter our ports in a single
year. But such coolies rs were here when
exclusion commenced to be bitterly ag1-
tated were concentrated mostly in CHli-
fornia, whose native labor naturally SUI
fered from the competition. 1t is doubtful
whether the almond-eyed celestials would
have ever been barred from the country
had not California been a pivotal state
in the Hayes Tilden campaign, when, to
entice her electoral vote. both parties in
serted anti-Chinese planks in their plat
forms. Most certainly the question would
never have been agitated had these Mon
golians distributed themselves among our
states. Under the exclusion laws all
Chinese were forbidden the country ex-
cept merchants. travellers for curiosity.
| four thousand of these classes are now
coming over each year. The coolies al
ready in the country were allowed to re-
! main and are permitted to visit China and
return in a specified time, condition
that before departing they register and
receive certificates containing their photo
graphs to identify them before the i'm
migration inspectors upon their return
here Over 100 600 have been registered,
but many of their certificates have been
| sold in China to barred coolies sufficiently
resembling the attached photographs to
admit of their using them to enter our
ports Illegally To abate this fraud the
government lately commenced measuring
by the Bertillon system all coolies who en-
bark for these visits home, besides taking
their photographs in two positions and
their finger prints.
Before exclusion coolie labor was utilized
on our great Pacific roads they constituted
the labor on the Central (now Southern) Pa
cific from San Francisco to Ogden, Utah.
The contractors furnished them with hun
dreds of wheelbarrows, which, after filling
them with earth. they bore upon their
heads to the dumping grounds. Many went
to work also for sawmill owners on the Pa
cific coast TT cir employers, wherever. they
| worked, found them always busy. If one
was i'll or detained he always sent another
of his race as a substitute. They were sober
and economical. and paid their debts reli-
giously. But the time soon came when con-
tractors no longer dared hire them for out
door labor Then these 100000 Chinese al
ready in the country showed the American
that they could make living for themselves
in independent pursuits-mosHy as laundry
men and merchants. Many became domes-
tic servants and have SO far developed
their skill that instead of undertaking
American domestic labor as cooks and but
lers they are commanding higher wages in
return for better service. good Chinese
cook can now command $40 in any Ameri-
can city. But no matter how Industrious
lava hiding and skillful these Mongols may
become they cannot hope to become citi-
zens of this country Our naturalization
laws forbid.
Chinatown. San Francisco. destroyed by
the recent earthquake, contained 10000 of
these one-time coolies, their descendants
and the merchants who have joined their
big colony.
X
Now that the cry of cheap labor Is no
longer heard against the Chinese who are
among us, the chief offenses charged against
| them are that they import slave girls for
purposes of prostitution that they smoke
opium gamble extravagantly and foster
of Chinatown fell sixteen opium dens and
40 gambling dens. The failure of these
Monaghan laborers registered here to bring
their wives to this country-aS they are
allowed to do under the exclusion law
has subjected them to further criticism. Mr..
]. Dyer Ball of the British civil service,
Hongkong, who knows John Chinaman like
book recently accounted for this apparent
| lack of domesticity., He says that wives
| and children left at home largely
| because the peculiar ethics of China con-
stitute them parts of the ancestral home
| rather than companions of the father
and husband, which latter, as soon as they
| earn sufficient in this country, hurry home
! to elevate their dependents to ease and
| luxury.
| or the 119Go0 Chinese of all classes now
| in this country, California still retains
much the largest share: $4,000; Oregon
| the other states they are quite evenly
| distributed In spite of their enumerated
| shortcomings they appear to figure less
! In our criminal annals proportionately than
any other nationality among US.
"A careful examination of the criminal
and police records of any city in the
United States" said Mr.. Holcombe on this
point will show a smaller percentage
of disorderly Chinese-smaler In proper
ton to the total number Of residents OF