The San Francisco call. [volume], January 07, 1900, Image 1

About The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913

Image provided by: University of California, Riverside; Riverside, CA

                
Hip Sing Tong* and the Suey Sirtjj
M^p Tongs are at it again, which means that the
W^ highbinder war is on. This is what the miners
would call the annual clean up. Just before the
end of the year this city is usually treated to a
«ensation in the way oLa brutal murder in Chinatown.
The daily papers tell us next morning that there has
been trouble between rival tongs, and that a man has
been murdered because he was a Sam Yup. which com
pany is not on good terms with the See Yup organiza
tion.
To begin with, there are two great Chinese
tongs which have their headquarters in this city;
they were started, or rather imported, by the first
Chinese who landed in this State in the early '50's, and
it is only fair to say that the original intention of the
founders of these societies were of a purely benevolent
nature, but like many organizations fostered by our
own countrymen the bad men have gradually gained
control and are now using them for their own corrupt
purposes.
When I say that the idea of the tong was brought
here by the Chinese pioneers I mean that they
were simply carrying with them the ancient form
of paternal eovernment. to which they have been ac
customed for many centuries. On account of the
peculiarities of the Chinese civil code, it is not
only an expensive but a very dangerous thing to go
to law over trifles, so the country people concluded
long ago that it was better to have all minor dispute?,
settled by arbitration, and such matters have ever since
been left to the wisdom of the elders of each village.
By the natural process of evolution, criminal as well as
civil cases were adjudicated by these same elders, and.
as this system relieved the central government of much
worry, no objection has ever been offered thereto.
When the first Chinese arrived on this coast they
found themselves associated with a strange people, of
whose language they had not tTie slightest knowledge,
and they soon realized that those of their countrymen
who were to follow would find themselves in the same
dilemma, and, as they were all from but two districts
of China, who were settled here at that time, the two
original societies were inaugurated, the Sam Yup and
the See Yup. and a great deal of good were these same
societies to the poor and ignorant who chanced to
come to this country. In the first place, all who were
without means were furnished board and lodging un
til places had been provided for them; they had the
advantage of a competent interpreter, a Portuguese,
who was born in Macao, a man thoroughly conversant
with the Chinese and English langtncres. For all these
favors they were charged nothing beyond the actual
cost. When any member wished to return to the old
country he was supposed to deposit the sum' of $n
as a donation to his society fund. This money was to
be used for the same purpose of relieving the others
of his race who might wish to try their fortunes in
the land of gold.
There was still another privilege accorded to the
members of these tongs. Confucius had written cen
turies ago that every Chinese must tie buried in Chinese
sqil. and it has ever since been one cf th.* worrying
fears of every son of the Flowery Kingdom that hv
some fluke his bones might be -left unclaimed in foreign
earth. Xo such fear if he were a member of one of
the tongs, for it was fairly stipulated that the ton^s
were to maintain an officer wiiose business it was to
see to it that every body be exhumed after a certain
period and the bones carefully shipped to his ances
tral home, and this agreement was carried out to the
letter.
As these societies grew in magnitude and impor
tance it was found necessary to send home for men of
more education to manage their affairs, for it must be
remembered that there was no such thing as a consulate
here for many years after the Chinese began to settle in
this country. So each district made it a rule that the
person passing the most creditable examination for the
government civil service, that is to say. the one next
highest to the one who had gained the home govern
ment prize, was to be made president of the local so
ciety in San Francisco, and for many years the position
was considered a great honor to the recipient.
Since the first Chinese landed in this country they
have made it their rule to settle all their small disputes
through the medium of the tong. These people, in
their ignorance, believe that they have a perfect legal
right to manage their own small affairs in this crude
oriental manner, and it is quite a surprise to many of
them when they find that some of their business trans
actions which have been approved by the tongs are not
as binding as they might be when tested in our courts.
But it must be adjnitted that the tongs had the virtue
of believing in themselves, and were as honest as they
were profoundly ignorant in the rendering of their de
cisions, and had they been wise enough to have kept
themselves within the province of civil actions, few
Americans would have objected to their method of dis
bursing miniature justice to their own countrymen. Uut
C.:ce they took it into their heads to try a hand at crim
inal practice there was trouble in store for the self-made
mandarin.
As the archives of this city will amply prove, the
real beginning of crime in the Chinese quarter began
with the importation of women to this country, that is
to say. those who were brought here for lewd purposes;
the great prices a^ked for these human chattels was
an incentive for robbery and murder, and. as a verifica
tion of the ...Id axiom. "There is a woman at the bot
tom of all trouble." the degeneration of the Chinese
benevolent societies may easily be traced to this source
and dated from the moment this horrible traffic in hu
man beings began.
\\ hen the first lot of women were brought here by
their purchasers it was tacitly admitted by all Chinese
then resident here that these poor creatures were the
legitimate property of their masters, but the ignorant of
the^e people are ever ready to adopt any innovation
that may seem to their personal advantage, even though
that new idea came from the much disliked "foreign
devil." It did not take long, through the kindness of
some of the real busybody "foreign devils," for the
evil-minded Chinese loafers to learn that in this coun
try there was no such thing as slavery, and thai if a per
son could persuade these frail women to desert their
masters they were free to do so. Of course they were
promised protection by these fellows, and were led to
believe that as soon as they quitted their masters they
were to become the wives of respectable men who had
taken this great interest in their welfare. It is unneces
sary to say that these were all empty promises made »o
the unfortunate women in order to gain possession of
them and hold them for ransom.
When the slave owners found thru their bagnios
were being looted in this manner they at once rushed
to their local tribunal crying aloud for justice, and in a
moment of weakness the heads of the tongs gave heed
to their complaints, and even tried to induce the rob
bers to return the women to their former masters. But
these brigands had inherited the blood of their an
cestors, the old river pirr.tes of China, and it was not
in their nature to give u,i anything of value once they
had gained the nine points of possession. Disagree
ments soon followed: members took varior vie.vs of
the situation, and some of the really well inclined tooi<
sides with the wicked, innvjcently believifig that the
robbers were working in the cause of justice and that
they really intended liberating the poor slave women.
Thus ended the usefulness of the original tongs, dis-
Continued oa Fago Sloven,
SUNDAY CALL
MAGAZINE SECTION
JAN. 7, 1900
HISTORY OF THE HIGHBINDER'S WAR