Commissioner WEINSTOCK. And what other suggestions occur to you in this suggestion that you think would be helpful to the commission? What is your judgment on the suggestion that has been made to the commission that contrabands after having been caught shall not only be deported but shall also be imprisoned? Mr. AINSWORTH. I don't think I would favor that. Deportation is pretty salutary. I can't help, in my position as an officer, I can not help but having some humane feeling for those people. Those people are not at all times here because of their own wishes. They are very frequently the victims of exploiters, people in China holding out glowing accounts of things to present to them, of their roseate future in the United States, and I think that deportation is pretty severe. I have noticed a great many aliens, and I have seen they fear deportation more than they do a short imprisonment. I believe that deportation is as far as we ought to go with Chinese unless they commit some crime against the peace. Mr. BUSIEK. Mr. Ainsworth, will you please tell the commission about the efforts that are being made in this district to stop smuggling of Chinese by water? Mr. AINSWORTH. At the present time? Mr. BUSIEK. Yes. Mr. AINSWORTH. At the present time the efforts are largely confined to Insp. Taylor and his assistant, Mr. Chadney. Up to along in March or April of this year the smuggling of Chinese was under the direct care or supervision of the commissioner of immigration. But at about that time there was a change in administrative order, and Mr. Taylor was placed in practical charge of that character of work. We cooperate with him; where we hear of any Chinese smuggling we notify Mr. Chadney. We do not usually have Mr. Taylor's address, but Mr. Chadney is stationed at Monterey, and we promptly advise him of any information of that sort, and we also notify the bureau, the collector of customs, and the commanding officer of the Revenue-Cutter Service, the tribunal where the smuggling is supposed to be by water. And I think since Mr. Taylor has had charge of the work here the only arrest and deportation that has been accomplished is upon information furnished by the commissioner's office in San Francisco, in case of a man who came in and who was captured at Vallejo. Mr. BUSIEK. To what extent in your judgment is smuggling carried on by water? Mr. AINSWORTH. Very extensively. Mr. BUSIEK. What in your judgment is the best way to stop it? Mr. AINSWORTH. As I have said to Col. Weinstock and the commission, I do not think that any one plan will completely deal with the situation. But I do think that rendering the tenure of a man after he is here unsafe is one method. Mr. BUSIEK. My question had reference to the present law, under the present law. Mr. AINSWORTH. Under the present law? Mr. BUSIEK. Yes. Mr. AINSWORTH. I am greatly in favor of calling the public to the assistance of the bureau, because of our experience, and if I may illustrate that I will recite two instances. About two years ago I was called up on the telephone at my office by a man who asked me if I was Mr. Ainsworth. I said, "Yes.". He said, "I read some time ago in the paper about a smuggling enterprise in the Morning Star. Now, I and my father drove over to Half Moon Bay from Redwood City to have a little fishing and camping, and last night on the beach we saw a boat come in and a number of Chinese land, and we believe that they are smugglers." I says: "What is your name?" He says: "I don't want to give you my name, because I am employed in the city, and I don't want to be entangled in it." I sent some men down there and they found a boat called the Earl K, which had brought in 40 Chinese on the night that this man stated. captured but two. We captured the boat and the master and the engineer and the Chinese who was engaged in the smuggling, and they were all convicted and the boat seized and sold. Now, the information in that instance came from a man whose only knowledge of the situation had been on account of publicity. Another illustration: Some of our officers in Eureka came across a Japanese junk which had come all the way from Japan with a bunch of 10 or 12 Japanese; a little, small boat. We gave it the greatest publicity. It so happened We that the steam schooner Henry T. Scott was sailing early in the morning, and the captain told me afterwards that he bought two or three papers and he did not have time to read them until after he got out at sea, and then he sat down and read this account. He said that afternoon he was some miles north of Point Race and saw a peculiar looking affair, and he said he thought it was a Japanese junk, and he sent me a wireless message from sea, saying there was a suspicious craft north of Point Race and giving the location, and I sent inspectors there, and they got there about the time the Japanese got on the beach, and found it was another Japanese junk from Japan that had come across the Pacific, and we captured them all and got the boat. Commissioner WEINSTOCK. Japanese are not prohibited from entering the State? Mr. AINSWORTH. Oh, yes; without they come with passports. Mr. AINSWORTH. Subject to deportation under the immigration, not under the Chinese, law. In this community there is substantial antipathy to Asiatic laborers, and I believe if the public is kept informed of the activity and efforts to bring in Asiatic laborers, they will respond as they always have done, and if that is the case we would have all over the State a body of people who every time they saw a suspicious action or suspicious automobile load of Chinese, or suspicious boat, they would sent the information in. I don't believe that wolld be altogether applicable to the State of Washington, where the people are in sympathy with them and where they get pay for letting them in. I think another method would have to be used there. I think publicity in this particular location and making their remaining here unsafe, and activity by revenue cutters and gasoline boats in the southern Pacific would tend to stop Chinese smuggling. Mr. BUSIEK. Any other questions? I believe that is all. TESTIMONY OF MR. LEE TIN YAT. Commissioner GARRETSON. Do you solemnly swear that the testimony which you will give will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you, God? Mr. LEE. I do. Mr. BUSIEK. What is your name in full? Mr. LEE. Lee Tin Yat. Mr. BUSIEK. How long have you lived in San Francisco? Mr. LEE. Since 1901. Mr. BUSIEK. And what is your present occupation? Mr. LEE. Newspaper reporter. Mr. BUSIEK. What paper? Mr. LEE. Chung Sai Yat Po. Mr. BUSIEK. That is the paper of which Mr. Ng, Poon Chew is president? Mr. BUSIEK. That is a Chinese daily newspaper? Mr. LEE. Yes, sir. Mr. BUSIEK. In connection with your work have you ever had occasion to make an investigation of any of the Chinese interpreters at Angel Island? Mr. LEE. You mean have I any connection with it? Mr. BUSIEK. Have you ever looked them up? Looked up their record and found what they were doing? Mr. LEE. Yes, sir. Mr. BUSIEK. What ones, for instance? Mr. LEE. You mean the interpreters? Mr. BUSIEK. Yes, sir. Mr. LEE. Well, I often heard it talked Mr. BUSIEK. What is said about Ed. Park? Mr. LEE. Well, they say he accepts bribes. Mr. BUSIEK. The people say Ed. Park accepts bribes? Mr. LEE. Yes, sir. Mr. BUSIEK. What is Ed. Park's financial standing in regard to money? How much money does he seem to have? Mr. LEE. I could not tell. He owns a good many automobiles, two houses and lots, and big diamonds, and his wife dress very elaborate. Mr. BUSIEK. What kind of automobile has he got? Mr. LEE. He has one Winton Six, and Studebaker, and I heard he had a Buick. Mr. BUSIEK. Where is his real estate? Mr. LEE. In Berkeley. Mr. BUSIEK. What other interpreter have you heard anything against? Mr. BUSIEK. What have you heard about him? Mr. LEE. Well, the Chinese said that he always tried to extortion the Chinese merchants in some way. I don't know what way, but they say he always tried to extortion the people. Mr. BUSIEK. How is he fixed for money? Mr. LEE. I could not tell you, but I always see he has plenty of money, couple of thousand dollars in his belt. Mr. BUSIEK. He wears a money belt, does he? Mr. LEE. Yes, sir. Mr. BUSIEK. Have you ever heard anything about his connection with gambling houses? Mr. LEE. Yes, sir; men told me he is the treasurer of one of the houses on Washington Street. Mr. BUSIEK. What kind of a house is that? Mr. LEE. Gambling house. Mr. BUSIEK. And is Chin Jick married? Mr. LEE. Yes, sir. Mr. BUSIEK. How many times? Mr. LEE. Men told me he has a wife in China and that he had one out here. Mr. BUSIEK. Has Chin Jick any automobiles? Mr. LEE. No, sir; he hasn't. Mr. BUSIEK. Does he live in the same house one Embert Lee lives in? Mr. BUSIEK. Embert Lee is a former interpreter for the Government, who was discharged for dishonesty, is he not? Mr. LEE. Yes, sir; he used to be up at Seattle and San Diego. Mr. BUSIEK. And have you ever made any investigation of Dr. Gardner? Mr. LEE. Yes, sir; I did. Mr. BUSIEK. Tell me first what is Dr. Gardner's reputation here in San Francisco among the Chinese? Mr. LEE. Well, as far as I see, he has no friend of the intelligent people-I mean the first-class, honest people, they are not friendly with him at all. Mr. BUSIEK. What do they say that Dr. Gardner does? Mr. LEE. He imports slaves, divides partners with a Chinese-two Chinese named, one Woo Wai, and another by the name of Woo Jick Ting, and another Chinese, Yee Mee. Mr. BUSIEK. What does Yee Mee do? Mr. LEE. He is nothing but gambler. Mr. BUSIEK. What gambling house does he run? Mr. LEE. Siberia, on Ross Alley. Mr. BUSIEK. How does that compare in size to the other gambling houses? Mr. LEE. The biggest in the city. Commissioner WEINSTOCK. Is gambling allowed in the city? Mr. LEE. Not just now. Commissioner WEINSTOCK. How long has it been stopped? Mr. LEE. I think about six months, but still they have some stealing-I mean they go quietly. If the police know it, they went to raid them. Mr. BUSIEK. He is very friendly with Yee Mee? Mr. LEE. Yee Mee and Woo Wai. Mr. BUSIEK. How long has this been going on, these rumors about Dr. Gardner? Mr. LEE. I think about 1905, before the earthquake. Mr. BUSIEK. And do you know of these rumors ever having been called to the attention of the officials out at Angel Island? Have they ever heard about this talk that is going around, to your knowledge? Mr. LEE. Yes, sir; Mr. Edsell has took my statement once. Mr. BUSIEK. And did you help Mr. Edsell get other statements? Mr. LEE. Yes, sir; I did. Mr. BUSIEK. And did you help him get hold of a book which has some transactions in it? Mr. LEE. I didn't help him get the book, but I heard he could get the book. Mr. BUSIEK. I will hand you this book and ask you to tell the commission what it is, or whose it is first. Mr. LEE. It is a book for three or four years for the Hop Yick Co. Mr. BUSIEK. What kind of transactions are recorded in that book? What are the nature of the transactions recorded in that book? What do they deal with, Mr. Lee? Mr. LEE. Some of opium, tobacco, lotteries, borrowing account, lotteries, opium, borrowing, medicine, opium. Mr. BUSIEK. Just to get the thing out shortly. You have gone over this book with me, have you not? Mr. LEE. Yes, sir. Mr. BUSIEK. And you have found that it is filled with incidents of opiumsmuggling accounts? Mr. LEE. Yes, sir. Mr. BUSIEK. And with lottery accounts? Mr. LEE. Yes, sir. Mr. BUSIEK. And with smuggling operations or other operations of other kinds where Chinese crew men bring things off the ships? Mr. LEE. Yes, sir. Mr. BUSIEK. And I wish you would tell the commission about this account, and what does this account deal with-these two pages in that book. Mr. LEE. This is a two-partner society Mr. BUSIEK. Mutual benefit society. Mr. LEE. That is the heading of that account. That means only two men in the partner society. Mr. BUSIEK. And what does the amount relate to, and what does it deal with generally, the whole account? Mr. LEE. Railroad fare, telephone expense, lawyer fee [reading from book], telephones, dinner, car fare, and comes one item here. "Pay for the girl dinner $1," the next column, "Pay for Pak Wah Jon $250.” Commissioner O'CONNELL. That $250, what is that? You Mr. BUSIEK. What is that item of $250 there, and who is Pak Wah Jon? Mr. LEE. You know, in Chinatown they call Gardner Pak Wah Jon. take everybody on the street, ask him who is Pak Wah Jon at the bureau; yes, they know what it is. Commissioner WEINSTOCK. That is his Chinese name? Mr. LEE. Yes. Mr. BUSIEK. What does that mean in Chinese, Pak Wah Jon? Mr. LEE. Means he speaks Chinese. Commissioner WEINSTOCK. Interpreter? Mr. LEE. Yes; it means he speaks Chinese. Mr. BUSIEK. And that is paid to Pak Wah Jon there, $250? Mr. LEE. Paid to Pak Wah Jon $250. Mr. BUSIEK. Now, what is the next item? Mr. LEE. The next item is pay care fare, 50 cents. Mr. BUSIEK. Now, show the commission item that is, pay to Pak Wah Jon-between those two marks. (The book produced by the witness was handed to the commissioners and inspected by them.) Mr. BUSIEK. I want you to notice that it is not an insertion. Mr. LEE. You see, I can make this character individually and show you plainly [illustrating with pencil] two-hundred-five-ten dollars-there is two-hundred-five-ten-dollars-that means $250. Mr. BUSIEK. Now, the whole two pages deal with the admission of a Chinese prostitute, does it not? Mr. LEE. Yes. Commissioner WEINSTOCK. Chinese what? Mr. BUSIEK. Chinese prostitute. Mr. LEE. Prostitute. Mr. BUSIEK. And at the end there is an adding up of all the expenses paid out and a dividing of the profits, is there not? Mr. LEE. Yes, sir. Mr. BUSIEK. What were the profits in that case? Mr. LEE. Two hundred ninety dollars seventy cents. Mr. LEE. Apiece. Mr. BUSIEK. How much did they receive for the whole transaction? Mr. LEE. It says profit, it states the profit $1,397. Commissioner WEINSTOCK. Well, what were the gross receipts; how much money did they get altogether? Commissioner GARRETSON. The total. Mr. BUSIEK. Before they began deducting the expenses. Mr. LEE. One thousand six hundred and seven dollars and seventy-eight cents. Commissioner WEINSTOCK. What were the expenses? Mr. LEE. This is cost, but don't say what cost; cost $1,607.78. Mr. LEE. One thousand six hundred and seven dollars and seventy-sight cents. Commissioner WEINSTOCK. That is the money that came in? Mr. LEE. This total paid, $1,130.35; then items paid, $1,070.75, equal $477.50. Mr. BUSIEK. That was evidently mixed. Mr. LEE. Yes; maybe so. Commissioner WEINSTOCK. What I want to get at are the gross receipts and the gross disbursements so that the difference would show the profit. I want to verify those figures. Mr. BUSIEK. The account doesn't balance. I have had this translated twice, and the thing does not balance. Mr. LEE. It says total paid. Commissioner WEINSTOCK. Their science of bookkeeping is very thorough, and they usually make it work perfectly. Mr. BUSIEK. But not in this instance. Mr. LEE. Balance on hand $875.50 Commissioner WEINSTOCK. What were the expenses? Mr. LEE. This is an item, cost $1.600.78. Commissioner WEINSTOCK. One thousand six hundred dollars and seventyeight cents is what they paid out? Mr. LEE. Yes. Commissioner WEINSTOCK. How much did they get in? Mr. LEE. They get in cost them $170.75. Commissioner WEINSTOCK. One hundred and seventy dollars and seventyfive cents? Mr. LEE. Yes. Commissioner WEINSTOCK. That would leave a profit of $1,430.03. wouldn't it? If they got in $1,600.78, and paid out $170.75, that would be a difference of $1,430.03, which would be profit? Mr. LEE. Yes. But they don't balance right here at all. Commissioner WEINSTOCK. It does not? Mr. LEE. This is each share equal $698. Commissioner WEINSTOCK. How many shares were there? Mr. LEE. Two. Commissioner WEINSTOCK. That shows then a difference of $54 unaccounted for. Mr. LEE. Each share. Mr. BUSIEK. You are the one who first told me about this book, are you not? Mr. LEE. Yes. Mr. BUSIEK. And in whose possession was this book? Mr. LEE. Wong Yee Jim. Mr. BUSIEK. How did you come to hear about it? Mr. LEE. Mr. Yon Kay, my son-in-law, he told me. Mr. BUSIEK. Yon Kay, son-in-law of yours, told you about it? Mr. LEE. Yes. Mr. BUSIEK. At my request you got this book this time, is that true? Mr. BUSIEK. You brought this book here because I asked you? Mr. LEE. Yes. Mr. BUSIEK. Do you know how Mr. Yon Kay got the information concerning this book; that it was in existence? Mr. LEE. I think he told me that Mr. Edsell and him went over to this man's place and just happened when his nephew coming over from China, and then that is the only chance to get the book. Mr. Edsell promised this man that he will help him land his nephew if he give up the book, but I do not know how Yon Kay or Mr. Edsell know he has the book. |