“Suppose a man does not pay?” I asked a Chinese who speaks English very well.  He replied, “Then the company loses it; but all who can, pay.  Very seldom any one refuses.”

“Suppose,” said I, “a Chinaman refuses to respect the company’s decision, in case of a quarrel?” He replied, “They never refuse.  It is their own company.  They are all members.”

Naturally there are sometimes losses and a deficit in the treasury.  This is made up by levying an additional contribution.

“Do the companies advance money to bring over Chinese?” “No,” was the reply, “the company has no money; it is not a business association, but only for mutual aid among the Chinese here.”  Nor does it act as an employment office, for this is a separate and very well organized business.  It sends home the bones of dead men, and this costs fifteen dollars; and wherever the deceased leaves property or money, or the relatives are able to pay, the company exacts this sum.

It is evident that the Chinese in California keep up a very active correspondence with San Francisco as well as with China.  They “keep the run” of their people very carefully; and the poorer class, who have probably gone into debt at home for money to get over here, seem to pay their debts with great honesty out of their earnings.  It is clear to me that the poorer Chinese command far greater credit among their countrymen than our laboring class usually receives, and this speaks well for their general honesty.

I do not mean to hold up the Chinaman as an entirely admirable creature.  He has many excellent traits, and we might learn several profitable lessons from him in the art of organizing labor, and in other matters.  But he has grave vices; he does commonly, and without shame, many things which we hold to be wrong and disreputable; and, altogether, it might have been well could we have kept him out.

The extent to which they carry organization and administration is something quite curious.  For instance, there are not only organized bands of laborers, submitting themselves to the control and management of a foreman; benevolent societies, administering charity and, to a large extent, justice; employment societies, which make advances to gangs and individuals all over the State; but there is in San Francisco a society or organization for the importation of prostitutes from China.  The existence of this organization was not suspected until during last summer some of its victims appealed to a city missionary to save them from a life of vice.  Thereupon suit was brought by Chinese in the courts for money which they claimed these women owed; and, on an examination, I was told, no attempt was made to conceal the fact that a regularly formed commercial organization was engaged in either buying or kidnapping young women in China, bringing them to San Francisco, there furnishing them clothing and habitations, and receiving from them a share of the money they gained by prostitution.