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the time of employment, instead of having one thousand or two thousand idle men in San Francisco, we would have five thousand or ten thousand; for they would come from all parts of the State seeking work." At the previous session of the Legislature a committee was appointed by the Senate to examine into and report upon the actual condition of the Chinese in California, and the effects of their presence upon the white population. A report was made and published, without containing a portion of the testimony taken in the city of San Francisco. A member of the Senate, on moving that this testimony be published, stated that it disclosed, in part at least, the relations that existed and still exist between some of the authorities of the city, including one branch of the Police Department, and the criminal classes in the "Chinese quarter." In most instances these disclosures were made with extreme reluctance, and in one case the witness-a special police officer-refused absolutely to answer certain questions touching his compensation and that of his associates at the hands of the proprietors of gambling-houses and houses of prostitution then and now flagrantly kept open in the Chinese quarter. An officer who had been specially detailed to examine that quarter, and who, because of his zeal, was summarily removed therefrom, testified to the existence of from four to seven hundred of those houses in that quarter; and all the witnesses admitted upon oath that those dens of infamy and pollution, which are a disgrace to the city and civilization, could be closed by simply enforcing existing ordinances and laws; but, by reason of the fact that they pay for the privilege of keeping open and plying their infamous vocations, they are not only permitted but actually encouraged to do so. A new law was therefore passed entirely reforming the police system of San Francisco, and abolishing all offices of special police. It was thus anticipated that the doubtful practices which prevailed in the Chinese quarter, and which have contributed not a little to foster the prejudices entertained against those people, would be stopped.

A bill was also introduced in the House to stop the destruction of small fish, shrimps, minnows, etc., known to be the food of large fish, by stopping the drying and exporting of thein to China, as is now done by Chinese fishermen. It was stated before the Fish Commissioners that on the river Sacramento there were about fifteen white men in the business on the river and from five to eight hundred Chinamen. The Chinese stretch two nets

across the river about a mile apart, and then draw them together, forcing all the fish with them, and then everything in the net is hauled on shore. Their nets are so small that nothing can pass them the size of a man's finger. The custom-house figures showed that the exportation of small fish to China in 1875 was worth $960,000. Specimens taken from a Chinese boat were submitted, and consisted of young perch, smelt, flounders, sardines, salmon, rockcod, tomcod, shrimps, and pipe-fish. Some of

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the fish were not over two inches long and not as thick as a lead pencil, indicating a very small net.

An act was passed to amend the sections of the Code of Civil Procedure relating to attorneys, etc. The amendment consisted in striking out the words "white male" from the sections, thus permitting women and persons of color to practice law upon passing the requisite examination. The first person_to_take advantage of this act was Mrs. Clara S. Foltz, of San José, who pursued her studies under disadvantages that would appall most students of the other sex. She had a family of five small children to provide for, and most of the time did her own housework unassisted, and occasionally was obliged to take to the lecturefield as a means of adding to her meager in

come. She was admitted to the bar, and the local paper says that "the committee appointed to examine her consisted of some of our first lawyers, who subjected her to a thorough test of her legal knowledge, and who unanimously certified to her entire fitness for advancement." A concurrent resolution passed the Assembly providing for a joint committee of nine to consider the subject of a Constitutional Convention, voted for by a majority of 723 votes at the last election. Early in January the Committee reported a bill to provide for holding a Convention to revise and change the Con

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stitution of the State, It proposed to hold the Convention at Sacramento in May, and that it should be composed of 120 members. The measure was extensively discussed in each House, and various amendments were made in one and rejected in the other. The act as passed provided for the election of delegates in June and the assembling of the Convention on September 28th. Thirty of the members were to be chosen on a general ticket, of whom each voter was to vote for twenty.

A bill was also passed to provide for a State Labor Bureau. It consists of commissioners whose duty it is to keep a list of all persons, companies, or corporations making applications

for working men and women, the number of each required, the wages offered, the work to be done, and where; ascertain the facilities for the performance thereof, the sanitary condition of the locality where such labor is to be done, the provisions for the comfort of the workmen, and the probable term of employment. The Bureau must also keep a record of all applications for employment or information, with the name of each applicant, sex, age, nativity, trade, or calling, whether married or single, number in family (if any), and amount of wages asked.

In all cases where practicable, situations should be filled in the order of their application, and without partiality. The Bureau shall, when ordered by the Commissioners, establish branch offices in other parts of the State.

The subject of irrigation has become of the highest importance to the State, and a bill was passed to secure this object. A commission is created to have charge of the undertaking, and it is empowered to engage the services of skillful engineers, whose business it shall be to make surveys, to ascertain the best mode of districting the State for irrigation purposes, and to draft plans for carrying out the work.

Another subject of no less importance to the prosperity of the State is the disposal of the débris from hydraulic mining. At present it flows into the rivers, filling them up, and is carried by freshets over the fertile lowlands, causing their destruction. This prevails to a great extent through northern California. The losses by floods in February, which in the main were chargeable to the débris, were estimated at $75,000,000. Nothing was done by the Legislature on the subject.

Various resolutions relating to the financial policy of the Federal Government, removal of troops from the Southern States, civil-service reform, railroads, etc., were introduced before the Legislature, but failed to be approved. The session closed early in March. Some fifteen hundred and sixty bills were introduced in both Houses, a large number of which failed to become laws.

The certainty of the ultimate adoption of a system of irrigation in the State, in consequence of the passage of a bill for that end, was very favorably received. A large tract on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, it was thought, would become far more productive under the system. Below the altitude of two thousand feet, the hills or mountains are essentially the same in all their characteristics of soil, shape, accessibility, and climate. The length of territory included in this slope, or foot-hills, is about four hundred miles, and the width from five to thirty miles. The entire area

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is equal to one fifth of the area of the Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys. For the purposes in view this statement of the area may be extended to the altitude of three thousand five hundred feet above the sea. The soil of this vast extent of territory is rich and warm. The abundance of volcanic clay, formed from dissolved lava, provides it with a recuperative power within itself. This clay, under the influence of water and exposure, slacks, and in this form it is easily combined with vegetable mold, and the result is a good manure. The climate of this region, so far as temperature is concerned, is essentially the same as that in the Sacramento Valley. But the absence of malaria and the presence of resinous matter in the air, added to the benefits derived from elevation, result in a climate far superior to that of the lower valleys. It is more agreeable and healthful. Bilious diseases and lung troubles are comparatively rare in this region, while the general vigor of its permanent inhabitants will be above that of the Sacramento Valley. It produces everything that is raised in the latter; and the peach, apple, plum, and ordinary garden vegetables reach a degree of perfection which can not be attained in the valley. It is also asserted that in one notable instance this region has produced oranges which have been pronounced by travelers superior to any others raised in the State. The availability of this region depends, however, upon facilities for irrigation; and, if this can be had, it will offer inducements to agriculturists superior to those of the great valleys. There is water enough in the Feather River, unclaimed by anybody, to irrigate the whole range from Red Bluff to Folsom, and the practical use of it is entirely feasible. In addition to this source, there are other and more limited sources which are sufficient for the wants of a considerable acreage in this vicinity.

An unusual excitement was raised in San Francisco, in the early part of the year, by the demonstrations of workingmen. The occasion of the excitement was chiefly the reckless and violent language used by some of the leaders in their harangues, rather than any disorderly conduct by the workingmen. Application was made to the Legislature for the passage of more stringent laws, and an act was passed which contained the following provision:

Any person who, in the presence or hearing of twenty-five or more persons, shall utter any language with intent either to incite a riot in the present or in the future, or any act or acts of criminal violence against person or property, or who shall suggest or advise or encourage any act or acts of criminal violence against any person or persons, or property, or shall advise or encourage forcible resistance to any of the laws of this State, shall be deemed guilty of felony, and on conviction thereof shall be punished by imprisonment in the State prison or in the county jail not exceeding two years, or by fine not exceed ing $5,000, or by both.

During the debate in the Senate on the bill, the following address was sent to that body by the leader of the workingmen :

SAN FRANCISCO, January 19, 1878. The Honorable the Senate of the State of California. and Secretary of the Workingmen's party of this GENTLEMEN: The undersigned are the President State. We have read your speeches on the new gag law with astonishment. We were not aware before we read it in the papers that we had used incendiary language, had fixed on Sunday, the 20th, for a gencity and kill the people, or even to incite so much eral uprising, had proposed to plunder and burn the as a riot. We have been examined once and discharged, not for any defect of the law, but from want of facts. You read the reports in the papers, when you should look at the sworn testimony. We need your assistance, and not our adversaries. They alone have violated law, created riot, and trumped up charges based on false newspaper reports. For our part, peace, law, and order have been our motto, and will be. The ballot-box is our battle-field. But winning there, we do not propose to be cheated out of the result by any indiscretion. The capitalist, the land-grabber, and the Chinese Six Companies see the death-knell of all their hopes in our numbers, our strength, and our calm resolution. They have falsified our unguarded speeches; they have done they charge us with crimes they can not prove, and all they could to provoke us into disorder; and now ask for new laws to give effect to their persecutions. Gentlemen, you are supposed to be the guardians of the public liberties and the friends of the people. Read the sworn testimony in our case, now given If you are, show it now. Hear us before you strike. before a jury. Do not hasten to do wrong.

The Workingmen's party is a great power now-a respectable and orderly and resolute power. It is destined to rule this State by law, and at no distant day. We aver to you that we have never incited to or contemplated any riot, any killing of men, or destruction of property; never so much as broken the peace or held a riotous meeting. We are simple workingmen, who speak to our fellows from our hearts; theirs respond in thousands. This is what has alarmed our enemies. This is what they can. never avoid until the interests of the people are consulted, and the Chinese pest abated, if not removed altogether.

We are rapidly forming in two ranks in this city and in the State: those who will have the Chinese nuisance abated, and those who have conspired with the Chinese Six Companies to keep them here. Between these two there is no peace, and there can be

none.

If, as is claimed, there is a middle party, who are not with us, because they have been led to believe us too violent, now is the time for them to step to the front. Their assurance that this thing must and will be done, speedily and peaceably, will give calm security to both. Let them move solidly, and we will wait patiently. But while they content themselves with menacing us, and array themselves with our enemies, we can not abate a jot of our zeal and devotion to our own interests. D. KEARNEY, President of the Workingmen's Party. H. L. KNIGHT, Secretary.

Respectfully yours,

A Convention of the workingmen was held at San Francisco about January 21st, at which the following declaration of principles was made:

Whereas, The Government of the United States has fallen into the hands of capitalists and their willing instruments; the rights of the people, their comfort and happiness, are wholly ignored, and the vested rights of capital are alone considered and guarded, both in the State and nation. The land is money monopolies control Congress, purchase State fast passing into the hands of the rich few. Great legislation, rule the courts, influence all public offi

cers, and have perverted the great republic of our fathers into a den of dishonest manipulators. This concentration and control of wealth has impoverished the people, producing crime and discontent, and retarded the settlement and civilization of the country. In California a slave labor has been introduced to still further aggrandize the rich and degrade the poor. And the whole tendency of this class legislation is to undermine the foundations of the republic, and pave the way for anarchy and misrule, and this Convention therefore declares as follows:

SECTION 1. The workingmen of California desire to unite with those of other States in effecting such reforms in our General Government as may be necessary to secure the rights of the people as against those of capital; to maintain life, liberty, and happiness, against land and money monopoly. Only in the people, the honest workingmen, can we hope to find a remedy.

SEO. 2. Chinese cheap labor is a curse to our land, a menace to our liberties and the institutions of our country, and should therefore be restricted and for ever abolished.

SEO. 3. The land is the heritage of the people, and its appropriation by the Government for the furtherance of the schemes of individuals and corporations is a robbery which must be restricted in future, and all lands so held should revert to its lawful possessor, to be held for actual settlement and cultivation; and individuals holding by purchase or imperfect title land in excess of one square mile shall be restricted to the use of that amount only for cultivation and pasturage, and all lands of equal productive value shall be subject to equal taxation.

[Supplemental to section 3.] Our previous legislators have abused the trust confidingly reposed in them by a misguided people by allowing a corrupt ring of land monopolists to exist, who have appropriated vast tracts of the fairest lands on earth to themselves; we therefore, in the name of humanity, consider a resurvey of the Stato necessary, in order to ascertain, as far as possible, the extent to which the law in this respect has been violated. As the land is the natural heritage of the children of men, we deem, on the laws of equity and justice, that one section of 640 acres is a sufficiency for any one man to own or transmit to his offspring.

All import duties on raw material not produced in

the United States should be abolished.

SEO. 4. The industries of the country are depressed or improved by the fluctuations in our financial system, and we therefore insist that the National Government shall give to the people a system of finance consistent with the agricultural, mauufacturing, and mercantile industries and requirements of the country, uncontrolled by rings, brokers, and bankers, but for the interests of the whole people.

SEO. 5. The pardoning power conferred on the President of the United States and the Governors of the several States should be abolished, and the same be vested in commissions.

SEO. 6. Malfeasance in public office should be punishable by imprisonment in the State prison for life, without intervention of the pardoning power.

SEO. 7. We demand the abolition of the contract system in our State prisons and reformatory institutions. They should be managed in the interests of the people, and the goods therein manufactured

should not be sold at less than current market rates for like products of free labor.

SEO. 8. All labor on public works, whether State or, municipal, should be performed by the day, at current rates of wages.

SEC. 9. Eight hours is a sufficient day's work for any man, and the law should make it so.

SEC. 10. All public officers should receive a fixed salary, and the fees should be accounted for as pub

lic moneys.

Subsequently this resolution was adopted:

We demand that the Constitution of the United States be amended to the effect that the President and Vice-President of the United States and Senators of the several States shall be elected by the direct vote of the people.

The following were adopted:

Whereas, The Workingmen's political party of the State of California, now permanently organized, desires that no persons shall be promoted to any positions on our State Central Committee who are not willing to forsake all previous political alliances, and work to promote and advance the interests of the Workingmen's party: therefore

Resolved, That this Convention appoint, from the members thereof, a Committee of Investigation, to examine the political antecedents of all persons prior to their election or appointment to any position in this party, or as a candidate therefor.

Resolved, That the committee hereby appointed shall apply to the city and county of San Francisco only.

Resolved, That a majority report of said committee in the county, when appointed, shall be sufficient to admit or disqualify such person or candidate.

The immigration of the Chinese has been a subject of absorbing interest in the State for many years. The first treaty between China and the United States was ratified in June, 1844. Though it granted no rights or privileges to the Chinese, yet immediately thereafter they began to emigrate to the State of ually and steadily increased up to the spring California. Their numbers, few at first, gradof the year 1876, when the people of the Pacific slope became alarmed at the great influx of this class of immigrants, and by means of the press and public meetings endeavored to check it. The effect of this excitement against the Chinese, and consequent danger to their safety and welfare, was, however, of short duration. The number of immigrants for the quarter ending June 30, 1877, which was the second quarter following the Chinese agitation, was 6,691, the highest ever reached. The rate of increase has been very rapid. Dividing the last two decades into periods of five years, the average number of immigrants for the period from 1855 to 1859, inclusive, is ascertained to have been 4,530; for the second period, 1860 to 1864, it was 6,600; from 1865 to 1870, 9,311; from 1871 to 1874, 13,000. In other words, the increase for the four periods of five years each has been at the rate of 50 per cent. The lowest estimate of Chinese in the Pacific States is 150,000. Accepting this as correct, it will be seen that at the above rate of increase, and after deducting the large number who return, the Chinese population will in the near future exceed the male adult all other races combined. It is apprehended population of Americans in those States and that this rate of immigration will continue in consequence of the advantages to the immigrants. China is estimated to contain nearly one third of the population of the earth. The density of the population in many provinces exceeds 400 persons to the square mile, and the average of all the provinces is 300. The

wages of the laboring class in China range from $3 to $5 per month. Their condition is a hard and miserable one. They are exceedingly migratory in their disposition, and, though their ports have been so scantily opened to free commerce, they are to be found to-day in every civilized country of the world. They find in America a congenial climate, high wages, and a more liberal government. They are separated from us by a comparatively narrow ocean, which is pacific in spirit as well as in name. Passage can be made quickly and cheaply, the usual price being from $40 to $50, which by competition has been reduced as low as $12. If any are too poor to pay this small sum, brokers stand ready to advance the necessary amount, to be secured by a mortgage contract on their future wages.

As the Chinese are thus residents in the country under treaty arrangements, petitions and memorials have been sent to Congress for the abrogation of the treaty. This has led to an investigation on the part of Congress into the nature of the objections against them and their justness. As a result it appears that the Chinese laborer is in some respects very desirable. He is frugal, thrifty, patient, cheerful, and obedient. He readily learns his trade, and expertly performs every species of light work. Chinese cheap labor has worked a great material benefit to California in its early days, by digging its canals, delving in its mines, reclaiming its tule lands, building its railroads, and in various other ways contributing to the development of its material resources. If the desire for money-making were the only question in value in this contest between American and Chinese races, it would in its industrial labor phase be promptly decided in favor of the latter. The material advantages of this kind of labor, however, sink into entire insignificance when compared with the personal considerations at stake-the comfort and selfrespect, the decent, honorable living of the laborer himself. The Chinese laborer does not come up to the American standard of industry. Those who come to this country have no homes, no home feelings, nor home interests, in the usual sense. They are willing to work for less wages than will secure homes and comfortable support to white laborers. In their own country they work patiently and obediently during twelve or thirteen hours for less than one tenth of what the poorest class of American workingmen receive. In the Pacific States they are willing to work for almost half of the price paid to American operatives. They are able to live upon rice, tea, and dried fish, costing upon an average from twenty to thirty cents per day. Under-clothing is a luxury almost unknown to them, while the clothing they wear is of the simplest and coarsest character. They bring with them neither wives, families, nor children. One hundred Chinese will occupy a room which, if subdivided, would not accommodate five

American workingmen with their families. Here they sleep, cook, and eat.

Another and more serious objection urged against the Chinese is that their personal and moral habits make them undesirable members of society. The crowded condition in which they live renders the observance of hygienic laws and sanitary regulations almost an impossibility. Neatness and cleanliness is an exception. The air of their apartments is filled with noisome smells and pestilential vapors, threatening disease and death. The property occupied by them is lessened in value, and the locality itself avoided by the white population. Not only their personal habits, but moral ideas, methods, and institutions are directly antagonistic to those of Americans. The religious ideas, even of the higher and titled classes in China, are preeminently wretched. Their superstitions are numerous and ludicrous. Their educational systems are exceedingly defective. Among the laboring or cooly classes the grade of morals is very low. One illustration of this is seen in their treatment of woman. Her birth is commonly regarded as a calamity. If not destroyed, which is not unusual, she is regarded as a slave, and suffers privation, contempt, and degradation from the cradle to the tomb. Instances are frequent of the sale for debt by parents of their daughters, and by husbands of their wives, and that, too, for the worst purposes. Infanticide of girls is practiced more or less in all parts of the em.. pire, and in some sections to an alarming extent. The sanctity and obligation of an oath are disregarded, and torture is often employed to extract the truth. These are some of the characteristics of the class from which nine tenths of the immigrants come.

A third and principal objection to the Chinese was the fact that they do not assimilate with the American people, but remain a distinct and alien element. In this respect they differ from all other voluntary immigrants. The German, the Irishman, the Frenchman have sought this country as a permanent home for themselves and their posterity, promptly and cheerfully adopting its habits, customs, and political institutions. Devoted to the people, to the Government and the laws, they speedily become the worthiest and thriftiest citizens, vindicating in the chambers of the nation their knowledge of the political principles, and illustrating upon every battle-field, when liberty has been attacked, the patriotism which such knowledge inspires. It is not so with the Chinese. They have been in this country over a quarter of a century; their employment as house servants and laborers has brought them into close and immediate contact with the people; but no change has been produced in them. What they were when they came, they are at this day-the same in disposition, in language, in religion. They manifest no desire either by word or action to become identified with the people

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