masters have in numerous instances made false passage returns, in order to save themselves from the payment to the State of five dollars per head for all their passengers. As one evidence of the incorrectness of these returns, I will state that the whole number of female passengers from China for the first two quarters of this year, according to the custom-house record, is 16, when in fact 25 came on one vessel. The following table exhibits, as accurately as I can now determine it, the Chinese population on the Pacific: These are scattered about through our States and Territories somewhat as follows: In California, about In Oregon, about In British Columbia, about. In Nevada, Idaho, and Montana, about.. 43, 584 2,000 2,000 17,000 64,584 We may divide the Chinese in this State into city and rural population. As nearly as I can ascertain, they are distributed as follows: Residing in the country in small settlements, on farms and on the railroad, and in the mines 17,000 26, 584 43,584 Number of women.... The occupations of the Chinese in this State may be classified as follows: Whole number in the State 43,584 4,000 Laborers in factories and in other capacities in cities and towns.. 1,800 3,500 House servants. 1,000 Laborers on the Pacific railroad 3,000 Miners.. 10,000 Farm laborers.. 13, 084 Fishermen 2,000 39,584 The following table exhibits the licensed occupations of the Chinese in San Francisco for the years 1867 and 1868: The following table exhibits an estimate of the amount of business done by the Chinese merchants and manufacturers of San Francisco during the year 1867: Amount of sales by merchants.... Value of 19,000,000 cigars made, at 25 cents per thousand. Value of slippers made... Value of clothing manufactured. Value of jewelry manufactured.. $20, 000, 000 475,000 75,000 The tax paid to the United States government by the Chinese, on manufactures alone, amounted to nearly $100,000. The amount of business done by the Chinese in manufacturing can perhaps be better estimated by returns made to the assessor of United States internal revenue by the principal merchants and manufacturers. Amount of jewelry returns by Tin Tuen manufacturer, 1867, $2,071 50. Returns of sales by four Chinese merchants for the first quarter, 1868: Augh Kee & Co..... Sun Chong Kee & Co.... Hop Kee & Co..... Wing wo Sang & Co.... The incomes returned by Chinese in San Francisco for 1867 are as follows: Imports at the port of San Francisco, from China, for the past four years. 12, 454 Export of specie to China, from the port of San Francisco, for the same years. 1864. 1865. 1866. 1867 Export of merchandise to China, from San Francisco, for four years. The foregoing tables, showing our commerce with China, which has been built up, and is maintained by the Chinese merchants of San Francisco, exhibit some important facts. I will here observe that the importations from China, by other than the Chinese, are inconsiderable. All the opium, tea, rice, and most other articles, being such as silks, medicinal plants, and articles of food used by their countrymen in this State, are imported by them. They supply our own merchants here with these things. The Chinese use all the opium, it being prepared for smoking, and most of the rice, and a large proportion of the tea imported in this port. During the past four years the Chinese merchants have paid to the United States government the sum of more than $4,000,000 in gold for duties alone. The United States government is therefore so much the richer for their presence. If the Chinese were to leave this State, and return to their own country, our trade with China, being almost wholly maintained by them, would be destroyed, and that source of present and prospective prosperity to this city would be lost to us. The development of that trade must depend upon the action of the Chinese, and that will be largely governed by the manner in which they are treated by our people, the character of our legislation affecting them, and the sufficiency of the protection that is extended to their persons and property. If our resident Chinese merchants and capitalists felt secure in this country, they would greatly increase their business, in a few years double our trade with China, and invest much of their capital in this country in the development of its resources. The following table, prepared by the officers of the Chinese companies in this city, for the joint select committee of the legislature of this State, in 1862, upon "the Chinese population of the State of California," shows the expenditures made by the Chinese in 1861 for the benefit of our government and people: Amount of duties paid by Chinese importers into the custom-house at this port..... Freight money paid to ships from China.. $500,000 180,683 This table may be relied upon as substantially correct. From such data as I have already examined, I think the aggregate might be increased for the year 1867 to $18,000,000 in gold, being nearly $45 for each one of our white population, estimating it at 400,000. This is much more than one-half of the total yield of our gold mines in this State for the same period. That the State, in all branches of its government, and all classes of its people, is greatly benefited by this considerable expenditure of money, and that all branches of business and industry are quickened and sustained by it, is too self-evident a truth to need argument for its demonstration. If it was suddenly suspended, all branches of our government-city, county, and State-would lack sufficient revenue to pay their expenses, and would need to resort to greatly increased taxation upon the white population to obtain it. A commercial crisis would be inevitable, many of our merchants and business men would be ruined, and all classes of our citizens would suffer loss and inconvenience. The effect of the China trade upon our shipping interest is very great. We have a large tonnage engaged in carrying freight and passengers between this city and China. It is sustained by the Chinese immigration and the commerce created by the Chinese merchants. Even the mail-steamship line between this city and China and Japan depends for its support upon Chinese passengers and freights. I think it is hazarding nothing to say that, if the Chinese support were withdrawn from it, it could not be maintained without very great loss to its owners. The estimate made by the Chinese of the amount paid by them in 1861 for freight and passage to ships from China alone is $562,683. It will be at least $700,000 for the present year. I think the amount paid by them during this year to ships engaged in the China trade will equal $1,000,000. There is a very mistaken impression outside of this State that the Chinese in California are only miners and merchants. In fact, they fill so many employments, and are engaged in so many branches of industry, that it would be almost tedious to enumerate them. The following is a brief statement of their occupations in this city: 14. Mechanics: 1-Carpenters; 2-Tailors; 3-Workers in metals; 4-Shoe makers.. 9 10 3 7 7 9 2 6 10 1,000 15. Wash-houses, employing about.. 16. Intelligence offices.... 17. Fishermen, about.. 18. Wood and lumber dealers.. 19. Pawn-brokers.. 20. Hucksters... 21. House servants: 1-General servants; 2-Cooks; 3-Waiters; 4-Nurses (1) Of cigars... 2) Of slippers. Of clothing. (4) Of jewelry. (5) Other, about. 6-Tailors, about. 7-Boarding houses. 8-Actors and employés in the two Chinese theaters, about.. 9-Employés in gambling houses, and lottery houses, and opium shops, about... Chinese thieves, about. 1,000 40 20 1,500 1,000 200 100 100 3 18 40 50 20 1,000 1,500 400 100 25 50 20 30 200 200 50 This estimate, when taken in connection with the number of female Chinese here, accounts for the Chinese population of 10,000 in this city, and shows their honest and also their disreputable employments, and will enable you to form a judgment of their usefulness to our community. It is an interesting fact, not generally known, that all the Chinese trades and occupations, when those engaged in them are in sufficient numbers, have their trades' unions, which are more perfect in their organization and comprehensive in their purposes than those formed by our own people. All engaged, whether it be as employer or employed, belong, and have equal rights. Their purpose is to meet and consult for the general good, and establish uniform rules as to hours of labor, manner of carrying on business, prices paid and charged for certain work, &c. Thus, in this city, the cigarmakers, slipper-makers, manufacturers of clothing, washermen, &c., each have their trades' union. I have not time to comment upon the different occupations of the Chinese, but must content myself with merely naming them. The Chinese in this State are, as they have been described by all travelers in their empire, a quiet, law-abiding, industrious people. They are always at work in some way, and earning something, though it may be but little. Unlike many of our laboring class, they never remain idle because they cannot get all they choose to ask for their labor. A Chinaman will live where and when a white man would starve; and for this reason, that he will labor for a small sum which, perhaps, will only provide him with the commonest necessaries of life, while the white man, stickling for what he considers a principle, will not consent to receive less than the full value of his services. It is this fact, among other things, that renders Chinese labor particularly valuable to our State. It is cheap, reliable, and persevering. Their employers are not fearful of strikes and sudden suspensions of work, to their great injury. When Chinese contract to work for a certain term, there is no danger that they will fail to keep their engagements. I know that there are individual exceptions to this, but the rule is true. But for the cheap Chinese labor our cotton and woolen mills upon the Pacific could not be sustained so as to compete with New England. New manufacturing enterprises are agitated, and they all base their calculation of prosperity upon Chinese labor. Chinese laborers are quite as honest, and more patient and persevering, than whites, and by many are preferred to them. Many persons have speculated about what Chinese labor is capable of doing for this State, and have been very enthusiastic in their predictions of its effects upon our future |