The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, October 3, 1897, Page 18

18 THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 3, 1897. PERILS OF THE SEDUGTIVE WEED mrxmrnmnnrmmmmrrrmrwmvmnrflmnmmmn I The way in which the Chinese make cigars has been exploited. People shudder at the have placed a finishing touch. But such cigars are smoked by people who never suspect it, because E thought of smoking cigars that leprous fingers may have rolled or upon which leprous lips may § they are sod as the product of white labor. P = 2292922928998 999889228992222909922222292222228928022222222222922R82282 928 “What vou want?” “Chuy Forg” (inquires of the Jaw) and the fl ish of asilver star answer this question powbriully in Chinatown. The tscowl at once becomes a hideous, mechanical smile; the claw- like banas are streiched out for an American handshake and lie for an instant in yours, passive, inert and as off=nsive as the cold bands of a bony corpse. Chinese policy mukes an obeis- ance to American law, but there is hatred in it, and a threat. At the last meeting of the Board of Health Dr. Henry H. Hart pre-ented a startling communication concerning the abuses of the laws of sanitation in the Chinese cigar factories. He knew whereof he was speaking, for, in company with Batn and Laundry Inspector Tobn, he bad wpent a good part of three weeks investigating these places. In his 1ep rt to the Beard of Health, he said, among otker things: While I was tolerably rcquainted with their condition prior to my inspection. I bat littie realized what e source of coatagi defiance of health and sauitation—would unfold itxelf as my re- searches procecded. 1 can bardly believe that in s city such as San Franeisco considers herseli to be, in a commonwealih composed of the mos: inteliigent citizens to be f such & mass of living disease, one ¢ yphilitic heip engaged West cigars, and then the lest stages of their disease, biting cff thes ir appearance, oue stops again to wondz m we are 11ving and 1o what mer pulaton owe their selvation irom two o ases known {o mankind. can existin our midst. Wi sumptive and nsiders the great numberof con- the manufacture of sc-called o5 tliese people, in ms of cigars to im- under what kind some of our smok- the most dreaded During the meeting the Boa'd of Health appointed William H. Tob:n inspector of Chinese cigar factor:es, giving him full au- thority to act in the premises. The nextday, bright and early, [ started with Inspector Tobin to see for THE CALL'S 1eaders just how the heathen made cigars. Ilaughed at Mr. Tobin when he told me that Chinese cigars were sold at the best cigar-siands in town. Strely only opium fiends, those uncanny, white, shivering specters, more separ- ated from their race than the dead in their tomts, people who skulk around the dirtiest, darkest aileys of Chinatown at night like evil birds todisappear when daylight come-, and the China- man himseif, who minds not his own dirt, would smoke the Chinatown cigar. But I lived to learn and not to laugh, bat to pray that I may be given the power to show the thing that I saw and to impress as I was imopressed. We began our inspection on Pacific street, near Bartlett alley. ‘Cigarfactory,” in littie vellow, crooked letters, was on a very narrow, very low and very dirty glass door. Without knockirg, or as much as saying *'by your leave,”” we went in. The door opened into a small room, which was evidently the office of the establishment. Two sieepy-looking Chinamen were sitting upon stool-, one leaning against a counter, which was simply an overgrown bench, and the other against the wall. They were both smoking long-stemmed pipes with very small bowlis. One held a sore-eyed sick cat in his arms. They stared at us without moving, there was no expression in their faces to indicate that they saw us. They seemed, in fact, to look through us and way beyond us and still to be gazing into vacancy. “They are both opium fiends,” said Mr. Tobin, “and they haven’t yet recovered from the effect of their last night's smoke,”” We passed on into a dark room from which a foul odor seemed to ooze. The gas was burning. but so low tnat the fecble light failed to cast even a shadow. Perhaps its light couldn't penetrate the smell that dwelt there with it. Mr. Tobin turned on other lights, but they were ail pale and sickly. The floor was covered with wet lea. tobacco. It had been placed there to dry, if dry it could. In one corner was a bed made of boaids and without a mattress. A filthy blanket had been kicked aside. Some wooden cigar molds, which are two heavy pieces of boards fastened together, having indentations on the inside of each ihe shave of a cigar, had evidently been used for pillows upon which some luxuriant Celestial had rested a head full of opium visions, There were dirty rags aad unclean clothing scattered around. Bits of dried meat hung on the walls. The room was damp and greasy, the floor, where there was no tobacco, and the walls being slimy to the touch. Going out of the room we came to a pair of perpendicular stairs, built like a step-ladder. These led to a hole in the ceiling. Through this hole we reached the factory proper. There were three long tabies in this room and five or six Chinamen sitting at each table. In frontof each wasa heap of tchacco, which he was rolling into cigars. The tobacco fell in quantities to the floor. It was early in the morning and the fiends ana consumptives were coughing their hardest. Expoc- toration feil on the floor on and among the tobacco there. One of the Chinamen told us that they swept the tobacco from the floor twice a day and used 1t agsin in the manufacture of cheaper cigars. Just imagine how many thousands of bacilli are gathered up in this tobacco! Dr. Hart say: 'Smokers of these cigars at each indrawn breath inhale a sufficient number of bacilli to cause a rapid spread of consumption or to deposit in the system the germs of levrosy, cancer and other di-eases.” Some of the laborers only made the filling and the others wrapved them. The fillings were som-times pressed in cigar molds. The wrappers rolled the big uninjured leaves around the filiing. In front of each wrapper was a little dish of paste.* Salt-cellars, butter-chips, littie medicine jars, etc., was used These were very dirty; in some instances the p: had turned green and was in a state of fermentation. Sometimes there were two or three fliesin adish as well as other more mysteri- ous foreign matter. The leaf was fastened down with this paste. The point of the cigar which is held in the mouth requires more manipulation than all the rest. It was rolled, and pinched, and pas'ed by slender, deft and dirty fingers. There is at the end of the cigar generally a piece of the tobacco left over; the workers are supplied with sbharp knives with which to cut this aweay, but one Jat old Chinaman, with thick infilamed lips and a tore face, put the cigars iuto his mouth, bit off the leaf and then rolled the cigar around, wetting it thoreughly, bringing it out beautifully finished. We saw the same thing done in other factories. In factall Chinese cigar factoriesare much alike, part of them being worse than the others. Into several places on Puacific street we went. In one coop full of chickens rested beside the tobacco, whick was dry- ing on the floor. Close by, near a door at the back of the room, was a sink full of chicken’s feet and decaying vegetables. A big pink rat without any hair on him—a wet ratat thst—stalked about in it without fear. He seemed to be at home and quie chummy with the Cninese. The Chinamen who owned the chickens was a jolly old pauper, his clothes torn anu greasy, his old feit hat full of holes, and he wore no stockings. He sat in the doorway picking a gooss for the sake of the feathers, which he sold downtown. In one taciory the proprietor was out of sight and we went on an exploring expedition without his assistance. We stumbled upon “my Jady’s chamber.” In here was a Chinese woman, a really handsome Chinaman and a visiting China- mon. The men went out, leaving the little woman, who sat in a defiant attitude or her wooden bed beside an opium tray. The Chinamen stood near by, talking excitedly. They looked so fierce I became frightened. Finally the good-looking fellow said h htily and in perfect English: “‘Come out. That is my little girt's room."’ “1 beg your pardon. It was a mistakse,’” said Mr. Tobin as he showed his star. What miracles this star performs. The surly faces changed; the Chinese smiled; the handshake was at once offered. One factory, having its office on Dupont sireet, has under- ground workroows. Nothing human could exist there but Chinese. Through a small hole in the floor you climb downa ladder into a damp, dark excavation ihat there is no possible way of ventilating excepting through the little hole whicn forms the entrance. The underground roem is not large, yet in it are twenty-five or tuirty workmen. & Thereis no gaslight there. Thecigar-makers work by candle- light mostly. Eome of them have giasses full cf oil in which two or three tapers float. I was there only a minute or two and I thought I would faint before 1 managed toclimb back into the air. It scemed good and iresh in the room above, though the stench there had sickened me before 1 had gone below and struck a worse stratum of the Chinese style of ventiiation. There are between three and four hundred cigar factoriesin Chinatown. They are scattered all over, in every street and alley. 1did not visit them all. Isaw about twenty-five. Mr. Tobin said there were : ome places that were so utteriy bad that he would not take a woman into them. As it was I saw con- sumptives and workmen with horrible skin diseases side by side engaged in all the operations necessary to the fisal completion of the cigar. Isaw them spraying tobacco leaves with water held in their mouths just as Chinese laundrymen sprayed clothes till the Board of Health stopped them. Isaw quant:ties of refuse totacco soaking in water in airty barrels, the tobacco to be us:d, the Chinamen candidly told us, to color light tobacco leaves. In every one of these factories imitations of the best im- ported and domestic cigars are made. There is not a sign on any cigar-box to indicate thai they are made in Chinatown. The law compels every manufacturer to print on the bottom of each box tbe number of hisfactory and district. Of course all San Fran cisco !zctories are in the first district, but how few smokers know anything about the numbers of the fuctories. I think I may safely say that there is nota man in San Franeisco outside of the revenue oflicers who can locate the different fac- tories by their numbers. Sometimesthe numbers on the boxes are so ssall that they blur and then there is no way of telling where they came from. Thoron hly sick of Chinatown, I asked Mr. Tobin to take me to some white factories. We went first to a place on Front street. It hasan Italian name and is a large, well-known insti- tution. Ibadn’t an idea I'd see a Chinaman there. Imagine my surprise when I saw nothing else. The boss is quite a high- toned Chinaman. He has a litile Chinesz who was brought up in a mining town in California, and who has American friends. She speaks English well and will not live in China- town. She doesn’t like dirt, and Chinatown makes her sick, she says, o ste lives in the factory. Tuere are dirtier factories in Chinatown, but there was tobacco on the floor here, and the spitting and coughing went on just the same. A very prominent cigar firm on Market street, which poses as cigar manufacturers, has its cigars made in this factory. There is one little room fuil of cigar boxes with the pictures of the two partners on one end of each box. There is a big sign up in this room with their names on it. This is where the rey- enue officials coliect taxes from these manufacturers. We went to another place on Front street, which also bears an Italian name—I believe the Iialian who owned the name bas been dead these many years. The place Is run by China- men altogether, with a Chinese family living there, On Clay street we visited a factory with a gond American name. We found tbe proprietor and a girl stenographer in the outer office. In the factory there were none but Chinamen, A Chinaman who appeared to be in the last siages of consump- tion had the final handling of the cigars, He sorted them and labeled them. On Battery street there is a factory with a large downstairs salesroom. The boxes are artisiically and showilv arranged about the walls and in the middle of the room. A preity little stenographer sits in the glass office. How nice and neat it all seems. There isn’t even the smell of a Chinaman about. I went into ecstacies over it, and mounted the stairs, at the back of the room, rapidly. A pretty girl sat just at the bead of the stairs. She was putting the labels, the little paper rings, around the cigars. She had a nimble, dainty way of handling them that made one aimost lonz ior a smoke. Such cigars would bring fantastic reveries even to one gouty. The pretty picture was spoiled, as I glanced down a long room and saw the familiar sight—rows and rows of Chinamen, pressing and biting, coughing and spitting. There are about 500 factories, large and small, Chinese and American, in San Francisco. They ail, with the excention of some small ones, employ Chinamen. There are none but whits people working in at least 1wo factories. All the 1actories employ Chinese. This means food for thousands of Chinamen, while our own people have been un- employed and last winter many were on the verge of starving. Now cigar manuiacturers can say that there are few white cigar-makers and that they do not want to employ green hands. If*there were plenty of white cigar-makers, it seems to me our white manufacturers might find it unhealthy to employ Chinese. Inspector Tobin romises a general cleaning up in Cnln-: to wn and hopes to teach the heathen a few lessonsin sanitation and I hope he will, Luvey Byrp, Pt - 8 A STUDY OF THE “FUNERAL FIEND. “'See that woman in black over tnera?’ said a promirent Mission underiaker to me a few days ago. *Well, she is what we call a ‘funeral fiend.’ “What's tha.?” I asked after I had looked at the woman mentioned and saw nothing particularly ususual in herap- pearance. “She is a woman who attends funerals simply for the iun she can get out of such a queer pastime,” replied the undertaker. “Oh, we have lots oi them,” he went on. “I meet them all the timein my business, and the nerve some of them have issimply | marvelous.” s My iniormant then went on to explain that there are abou: fifty women in San Francisco who have an insatiable desire | to attend funerals, repardless of how | obnoxicus they make themselves tothe | relatives of t!e deceased. These brazen | creatures will boldly enter any house that | has crape on ‘the door, even though the | inmates are absolute strangers. Once in- | side they make ita business to get as near | the corpse as possible. Then they will | exhibit all outward siges of “grief as tlhough the dead person had been a dear ‘! friend. It is seldom thatany of the real | mourners ever say anything to these | women. In fact, in most cases they pass ‘ for friends of the deceased. Notonly will these women visit the place where the de- | ceased is laid out, but they will uuldx_” get into a carriage and follow the body to | the grave. 7 | ~Just wait awhile,” said the undex-‘ taker, “and there will be more of the friends around. Tihat man who is laid ' out in the parlor there isa stranger in San | Franciaco; tbat is be has not more thana | dozen friends here and died in a snall | town about fiity miles away. He is10be buried in about an hour, and bis few real friends will all be here, and so will the others. Look there now. I really ougnt to kick her cut.’” I glanced into the parlor and saw stand- | ing beside the coffin a well-dressed woman | of uncertain age. Fora moment she rested one hand on the lid and gazed long and steadily at the face of the dead. Then she put her handkerchief to her eyes and burst into tears. Sob after sob shook her form and she gave all outward indications | of the deepest grief. “Poor woman,”’ [ said. “Poor humbug,"” saia the undertaker. “She never saw that man alive. Why should she weep over hira now that he is dead ?” “But are you sure she 1s not some rela- tive?”’ I asked. “ture,” replied the undertaker; ‘‘of| course I am sure. Why, I've seen her do that very thing at nearly every funeral I had here in the last six months. As soon asa body is laid out sae comes in, and she generally goes to the grave with lhe‘ mourners. I have a'so seen her act the same way in private hounses. I don’t know why she should act that way, but I think she must be crazy.” As the undertaker had asked me to wait, | I determined to do so and also to follow the woman to the grave and afterward ask her why she had tbe strange desire to at- | tend tunerals. | There were nine friends of the deceased | at the funeral and the undertaker pointed | out three women that were what he called “‘fiends,”” making twelve persons in all. By questioning these women after see- ing their actions I concluded that they are poseessed of some sort of mania. Just what it is remains for some medical man to find out. The actions of two of these women were not yarticularly conspicuous, but the third, the one who wept beside the coffin, behaved so as to attract the attention of one of the mourners, who, takicg pity on her, rushed out to get her a drink of brandy, Did you know Mr. —?” he whispered to her when she had quieted down. | “Yes,” she half gasped. *I knew him long ago. He was a good man and a good friend.” After the simple service had been read the coffin was put inio the hearse and the mourners got into the carriages. It so happened that the nine real mourners got into two carriages Jeaving the three false mourners standing on the sidewalk. The man who had obtained the brandy | for the woman who seemed so deeply affected noticed this. He held a whis- pered conversation with the undertaker, the result being that another carriage was cailed, into which the three women got and seated themselves comfortably. | 1 took a streetcar and reached the ceme- | tery almost as soon as the carriages. 1 The services here were very simple, a | friena reading a passage from the Scrip- tures and making a few remarks in regard to the career of the deceased. Up to this time the three women had be- haved in a perfectly modest manner, but as =oon as tue coffin was lowered inio the grave the hysterical one commenced. “He's gone,” she almost shouted. “Hush,” some one whispered. But her handkerchief came out and the sobbinz began. When the clods dropped on the eoffin iia she lost all control of herselfand fairly shrieked: *We'll never sea him again; we’ll never | see him again. Oh, it's an awfal day.” | Brandy was broughtout and a couple of | mourners supported the sobbing and trembling woman while she took a long drink. They then conducted her 1o aseat and the ceremony was finished. | Strange as it may seem the three false mourners showed no inclination to asso- ciation with one another, but kept far apart, as if in fear of contagion. ‘While the service was zoing on I had heid a conversation with the undertaker, and he agreed to keep the women’s car- Why Some of These Queer Women Wish to Get Near the Dead. riage away for about half an hour, so as | to give me an opportunity to speak to | them. i The other mourners got into their car- | riages and drove off. | “There’s something the matter with | your axle,’ said the undertaker tothe | three women who were waiting, “bat he’ll | be along in about half 2n hour.” They then separated and took seats | almost out of s ght of one another. | “What's the reason you go to so many | funerals?” I asked the younger and best- | dressed woman of the three. “Why do you ask such a question?” “Oh. just curiosity,”” I replied. ‘1 have seen you around the parlors somuch I wondered. I know you never knew the man we buried to-day."” *That’s so. I never did.” “Nor the woman whose funeral you went to yesierdsy,” I continued. “You seem to know all about me,” she | replied, smiling. “No; I know nothing about you, except | that you go to = funeral almost every day, and I would like to know why you do so.” ““Well, since you want to know so bad I will tell you. I go because I like the carriage ride. I have nothing to do at homie, and my husband does not earn very much, so it is the only way I can amuse myselfin the way I like. I don't like to be around dezd people, but I never pay | much attention to them, and I do enjoy | getting out into the country behind a pair | of horses."”” | “'But wouldn’t you rather take your | ride in a funeral procession than any other way 2"’ I asked. “Yes; now that I think of it, I suppose I would. There's so much excitement at | a funeral and everybody seems to think | so much of the dead person that I rather | enjoy it. But, really, I am sure I only go for the ride. 1f it were not for that I am | sure I would never go to a funeral except | the person was a relative or friend.” Sure y a simple and worlaly explana- ! tion, but in reality a crime against de- cency. However, the woman said she \ oniy 1in a way. He 1s my fri nd._ All the dead are my ‘riends. How I-pity them, laid away irom sight-in the dark"ground. I must weep for them.” “Ob, come, now,” I $aid, “‘that’snot the reason. You know -you like to go .to funerals.”” Atthis she gave up -and admitted that |'she went to funerals because ‘ste enjoyed the grewsomeness ol itall “But, after a!l; I cannot tell’ you ‘why I £9,” she said after a long pause.. *“‘Some- thing drives me to’it. -1 must-get near death. I long to get close to a agad -body asa drunkard longs for liquor. - And'when I get near the body a tremor stealsall over me. Then pity comes and I'weep forihe onethat is gone. I amnot an actressanl | T realiy feel ail I express. -Bui why more than i know. 1eannot helpit “I have often made up my mind 10 ‘¢ to no more funerals. But I can homo., control myseli than I can fly. I will'brav anything to get near a dead body. It is borrible, and yet it is a pleasure. - The clods falling on the coffin-lid send thrilis through me, and I don’t know: what I do. And I know I will be in’ a coffin ‘myself then I won't go to any-more ral To solve this mystery was beyond me, so I left her on .the verg: of tears and sought the third woman. Sbe was kneeling 1n front of ‘a- tomt- stone, with an agonized éxpression on her face. Atmy approach she- got up, and when I asked her why she went to so many funerais of people she liad never known she answered at once,” ‘‘Because it makes me feel bad.” “Do you wish 10 feel bad ?” 1 asked. “Yes; there is nothing else in the world for me,” she answered. “I have had trouble ali my life, and know that thereis lots more coming.” “But you seem to be hunting'it.”” “I know it. I feel more at home, I might say, when I feel bad. The worst { ever felt in my life was when my husban ! died, and going to funerals bringsitr | back to me. It makes the whole world SHE WEEPS OVER THE BODY OF A PERSON SHE NEVER KNEW. enjoyed the ride, and it surely hurt no- | body. The hysterical creature, however, was made of different material and raiher re- sented being asked why she went to fune- rals so often. “I go to the graves of my friends,” she said, “and you have no right to question me about 1t.” The man we just buried was not your friend,”” 1 said. *‘You know that you never saw him before you saw his dead | boay.” *“But I am his friend, nevertheless.” | “You were not personally acquainted with him.” H “No. That's true,” she replied, “but | | Wera such not look different than it does at other times | To tell you the truth I enjoy feeling bad and melancholy.” And so it must be; T-thonght; that these three women reaily have deranged brains, the case they could not bave such unnatural desires.’ The ques- tion naturally arises, Are all the oiher funeral fiends ‘in .the. city equally as un- balancéd? I such is the case they are really not to: blame for their. grewsome craving, 3 When the undertaker’s carriage came up the three women "got iv, and as there { WAs an empty seat they invited me to ride with them: But 1togk a streetcar. ‘ARTHUR LiNDSLEY. HOW AMERIGAN GOODS AND PRODUGTS FARE IN THE MARKETS OF EUROPE, Itis not so many years ago when all agricultural implements (except tools for and use like spades, hoes, eic.), used in the European countries, were manufac- tured in the United States. That these implements, as well as sewing-machin:s and many other kinds of machinery, were eradually superseded by goods made in Europe, is due mostly to the fact that the Europeans had learned to manufacture them at home and coud throw them on | the mearket at a iower figure on account ot the cheaper labor at their disposal. Itis a very different ma ter, however, with American products, Leaving Great Britain and Ireland out of the question, most of the Continental countries do not produce breadstuffs in sufficient quantities 1o mee: the home demand. Whenever there was a shortage in the crops of Russia and Hungary, or when- ever American wheat could be obtzined at a lower price, the United States was calied apen to cover the shortage. None of the European countries, except perhaps Russiz, can do without our petro- leum, and all the countries are dependant on us for cotton. American fres: apples | bave become a staple article in Europe | and find much favor there. ! Other canned goods, so far, are not in | much demand, though they are often of- | fered there at a much lower price than here. Iremember buving bough: a single can of one of (he best brinds o! American canned lobster at Hamburg :or 50 viennig (12¢), at Vienna for 50 kretzer (1334c) and at Ravre for 60 centimes (12 ). at a time when this same brand could not be bought in any New York grocery tor less than 18¢ | acan. Asfar as meats are concerned our ex- ports to Europ» have not proved a prorit- | abie speculation. With the exception of canned corned beef, which is Tetwled al- most anywhere on the Continent ag from 18 to 23 cents a pound, our meats h; a found mucn favor. g | The slipments of :live_catile and hogs do not prove a good-investment. Most of the animals shipvea to. England and the Continent have airived thefe in poor “hape and had to 'be sold &t a sacrifice. Our cattle, besides, are net as good as the Buropean cattle. : The repeated changes in our tariff,which became necessary thtough the -passing of the McKinley, Wiison:dand Dingley bills, have caused much annoyance angd dissat- isfaction to the Buropean exporiers, and it is smail wonder that many. o”_them. fa. vor the introduction:of rhore :restrictions on American imports,” They hold that .a country like the United -Staies, which ex- ports so largely (o- Eurove, “hould not ruigse the duties on European goods so nigh as to make them prohibitive. And if we look at both sides of the.question we must admit that theve is some justice in the European view of the matier, © WiLLiad Loprsass,