Throughout the period when the negro was the subject of legislative action, the measures presented were a reflection of the politics of older states, or were efforts to avert anticipated evils, rather than attempts to deal with problems that had actually developed to such proportions as to threaten the welfare of the state. In California as in other parts of the country, the active pro-slavery minority were able to profit by the disposition to make concessions rather than endanger the public peace and unity. By 1860 there were only about 4,000 negroes in the state, and the Chinese numbered 47,000; the people had begun to realize that not negro, but Chinese labor, would be the real race problem of the Pacific Coast.

CHAPTER III.

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATION FOR THE EXCLUSION AND REGULATION OF THE CHINESE, 1852-1867.

Legislation prohibiting the further immigration of Oriental laborers has been the chief object of the organized activities of the working people of California for over fifty years. Those whose occupations have brought them into direct contact with the Chinese or Japanese have never had but one opinion as to the significance of their admission; whether in the mining camps of the early fifties, or in the factories and workshops of the later periods of industrial development, we find the same bitter complaints of the evils of such competition. Had the state been able to legislate on the subject, the question would have been settled long before the Chinese had arrived in sufficient numbers to constitute a serious race problem, but since Congress claimed the exclusive right to regulate immigration, it was necessary to convince the nation before the desired relief could be obtained. The small minority within the state whose interests were opposed to restrictive legislation were greatly reinforced by the merchants of older states, who feared to jeopardize the rich trade of the Orient, and by idealists who were loth to recognize the world-old significance of race in the application of their theories of political and social equality. By the persistent efforts of the working people of California first the state and then the nation have been converted to the policy of Oriental exclusion.

THE BEGINNING OF CHINESE IMMIGRATION.

The small number of Chinese merchants who came to California with the first rush of gold-seekers met with a cordial reception, for the thought that the Golden Gate would soon become the port of entry for the rich commerce of the Orient appealed strongly to the early Californians. These first arrivals were shown special honors; we hear of them occupying a

conspicuous place in the San Francisco celebration of the admission of the state. They quickly realized the golden opportunities of this new land, where they were received with a hospitality hitherto undreamed of in the overcrowded Orient. We cannot do better than to quote their own account of first impressions: "We remember the time when the report went abroad of the great excellence of your honorable state and its inhabitants. The people of the Flowery Land were received like guests. In consequence, with the hope and desire.

of enjoying a residence where the customs were so admirable and just, we came. In those early times we were greeted with favor. Each treated the other with politeness. From far and near we came, and were pleased. Days and months but added to our satisfaction. The ships gathered like clouds.

Such favorable reports quickly resulted in an extensive immigration. Parker, our representative in China, wrote to Webster in March, 1852, that 14,000 Chinese had emigrated to California since January 1, 1851, nearly half of them sailing after January 1, 1852. He said that already there was a fleet of fifty to sixty vessels employed in conveying Chinese to the United States, and that the business was very profitable, as $50 per head passage money was charged. The officers of the Chinese Companies gave an even larger estimate; declaring that early in 1852 there were 25,000 Chinese in California, but that many of these left after the opposition to them developed, so that there were 22,000 remaining in 1853. This decline was only temporary, as they reported 38,687 registered in their Companies two years later, a figure which is much more accurate than the governor's greatly exaggerated estimate of fifty to sixty thousand.*

The period of this first extensive immigration was that of the greatest development of what is generally spoken of as the

1 Brooks, B. S., Appendix to the Opening Statement and Brief on the Chinese Question, San Francisco, 1877.

2 Ex. Doc. No. 105, 34th Cong., 1st Sess., Serial No. 859.

3 Report of Committee on Mines, Assembly Journal, 1853, Appendix, Doc. 28.

4 Minority report on Resolutions of Shasta Miners' Convention, Senate Journal, 1855, Ap., Doc. 19.

"coolie trade."

5

It has been estimated that between 1847 and 1859 fifty thousand of these contract laborers were shipped to Cuba alone. The conditions of the traffic were, if possible, worse than those of the African slave-trade." There has been much discussion of the relation of the California Chinese immigration to this trade. The legislative committees, the Governor of the state, and the Chinese Companies all agree in declaring that the earlier arrivals came as contract laborers under Chinese masters, but there is no evidence indicating that their immigration was involuntary, or that it was subject to the terrible abuses of the traffic in laborers for Cuba or the South American countries. Nor is there any reason to doubt the assertion of the Chinese Companies that the plan of bringing over large numbers by Chinese masters proved unprofitable and was soon abandoned."

THE FIRST EFFORTS TO SECURE ANTI-CHINESE LEGISLATION.

The assembly committee on mines first pointed out the dangers of Chinese immigration. Their report presented April 16, 1852, declared that the policy of free mines had, in the main, proved advantageous, but that there had been accompanying evils, the greatest of which was the concentration within the state of vast numbers of Asiatics. Feeling that the time was not far distant when absolute prohibition of entry would be necessary for our own protection, they wished a resolution sent to Congress declaring that the importation by foreign capitalists of immense numbers of Asiatic serfs and Mexican and South American peons was daily becoming more alarming, that it threatened the peace of the mining regions, and urging prompt action to remedy the evil.s

5 Rep. on Coolie Trade, Com. on Commerce, 36th Cong., 1st Sess., H. R. No. 443, Serial No. 1069.

The U. S. Congressional documents give the correspondence from consuls in China, Cuba, Brazil, and Japan showing the terrible conditions of this trade.

7 Report of Committee on Mines, Senate Journal, 1852, Appendix, p. 669. San Francisco Herald, May 4, 1852.

8 Assembly Journal, 1852, Appendix, Doc. 28.

Governor Bigler promptly took up the matter; a week later his special message on Asiatic immigration was sent to the legislature. This called attention to the dangers of what he characterized as "the present wholesale importation of Asiatics," and declared that over two thousand had arrived in the last few weeks, and that fully five thousand were on their way. He stated that they usually came in bands of thirty or more, but that one vessel had recently arrived with one hundred on board who were under the control of one master. This message gives us the first analysis of the character of the Chinese as citizens. Governor Bigler pointed out that though there were a large number of these people in the state, not one had ever applied for citizenship. His objections to them were the same that have so often been repeated in subsequent anti-Chinese agitation. They remained a distinct people, with their own customs and laws; they lowered the standards of labor, thereby shutting out the more desirable white laboring population; they came but to dig gold to be carried back to the country to which they still owed their allegiance, never to establish a home in the land of their adoption; with increased facilities of transportation they would come in overwhelming numbers. He recommended that the legislature check the immigration by taxation, and that Congress be urged to prohibit such contract, or coolie, labor in the mines.

This message from the governor called forth many replies, and for a time there seemed to be a reaction in favor of the Chinese. They had learned at this early date the advantages of employing an able lawyer to present their side of the situation; with such assistance, they were able to obtain a favorable report from the committee on mines in the following year. Much prejudice had been aroused by the belief that a large percentage of the Chinese immigrants were exploited by a few of their countrymen who brought them to this country under contracts. While acknowledging that the earlier arrivals came in this way, the Chinese merchants declared that the plan did not prove profitable and had been abandoned, and that such

9 Senate Journal, 1852, p. 373.