Page:Senate Reports 1892–’93.djvu/790

{| Representative. Have you any Chinese population here?
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Mr. . Yes; but not so large as it used to be.

Senator. Are they prohibited from coming here?

Mr. . No, sir.

Senator. Isn't it generally estimated that there are about 7,000 Chinese here?

Mr. . I guess there are more than that. There was at one time supposed to be very nearly a hundred thousand, but since the stoppage of emigration by the Government very few come over, and the population has decreased wonderfully.

Representative. I have understood that there were 40,000 on the island.

Mr. . There were several years ago, but I doubt if there is that number here to-day. That could be ascertained at the Chinese consul's.

Representative. How do the Chinese come here; through the States or directly from China?

Mr. . Formerly they used to come direct from China.

Senator. They come by way of the Isthmus, many of them, do they not?

Mr. . Some. They used to come direct. I was a young clerk in the office that did that business on a large scale years ago, and I was very familiar with it; I used to revise the invoices.

Representative. Do they not come in transit from San Francisco?

Mr. . Not in such lots as they used to come. We used to receive 400 or 500 at a time.

Representative. How did those 400 or 600 come?

Mr. . Came in clipper ships.

Representative. Do you know of any coming in transit from San Francisco?

Mr. . No. Now and then we see new faces in the office that must be recent arrivals, but I do not know how they come here. They come and go back there.

Representative. The transit business was broken up by order of the Secretary of the Treasury during Cleveland's administration. They used to come in great numbers before that. They were landed at San Francisco and came down across the continent. Now I ask whether that was not the mode by which the 40,000 arrived here?

Mr. . A small number may have arrived that way, but the great bulk of them came direct in English and American ships. That was years ago, but you will recollect there is a law prohibiting the carrying of coolies in American vessels; but we received a great many cargoes of coolies in American vessels when I was there as clerk.

Representative. Have you any foreign population other than Spaniards here?

Mr. . We have Germans, a very respectable set of people, all connected with the commerce of the country and the commerce of the United States, and with that of Germany and England.

Representative. Any Italians?

Mr. . Yes, a very few; all respectable people.

Representative. Can you tell us about their numbers?

Mr. . I do not know how many there are. That could only be ascertained through the consul-general of that country.

Senator. I would suggest that we now ask Dr. Burgess some questions.