ld that the members pay seven
dollars each, which sum is paid at any time, but always before they go
home.

"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