USA > California > Los Angeles County > Los Angeles > A history of California and an extended history of Los Angeles and environs : also containing biographies of well-known citizens of the past and present, Volume I > Part 37
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76
"Vice Consul F. A. Woodworth, His Honor, Major J. W. Geary, Rev. Albert Williams, Rev. A. Fitch and Rev. F. D. Hunt were present. Ah Hee acted as interpreter. The Rev. Hunt gave them some orthodox instruction in which they were informed of the existence of a coun- try where the China boys would never die; this made them laugh quite heartily. Tracts, scrip- tural documents, astronomical works, almanacs and other useful religious and instructive docu-
ments printed in Chinese characters were dis- tributed among them."
I give the report of another meeting of "The Chinese residents of San Francisco," taken from the Alta of December 10, 1849. I quote it to show how the Chinese were regarded when they first came to California and how they were flattered and complimented by the presence of distinguished citizens at their meetings. Their treatment a few years later, when they were : mobbed and beaten in the streets for no fault of theirs except for coming to a Christian coun- try, must have given them a very poor opinion of the white man's consistency. "A public meeting of the Chinese residents of the town was held on the evening of Monday, November 19, at the Canton Restaurant on Jackson street. The following preamble and resolutions were presented and adopted:
"'Whereas, It becomes necessary for us, strangers as we are in a strange land, unac- quainted with the language and customs of our adopted country, to have some recognized coun- selor and advisor to whom we may all appeal with confidence for wholesome instruction, and,
"'Whereas, We should be at a loss as to what course of action might be necessary for us to pursue therefore,
"'Resolved, That a committee of four be ap- pointed to wait upon Selim E. Woodworth, Esq., and request him in behalf of the Chinese resi- dents of San Francisco to act in the capacity of arbiter and advisor for them.'
"Mr. Woodworth was waited upon by Ah Hee, Jon Ling, Ah Ting and Ah Toon and kindly consented to act. The whole affair passed off in the happiest manner. Many distinguished guests were present, Hon. J. W. Geary, alcalde; E. H. Harrison, ex-collector of the port, and others."
At the celebration of the admission of Cali- fornia into the Union the "China Boys" were a prominent feature. One report says: "The Celestials had a banner of crimson satin on which were some Chinese characters and the in- scription 'China Boys.' They numbered about . fifty and were arrayed in the richest stuff and commanded by their chief, Ah Sing."
While the "China Boys" were feted and flat-
231
HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
tered in San Francisco they were not so enthu- siastically welcomed by the miners. The legis- lature in 1850 passed a law fixing the rate of license for a foreign miner at $20 per month. This was intended to drive out and keep out of the mines all foreigners, but the rate was so excessively high that it practically nullified the enforcement of the law and it was repealed in 1851. As the Chinese were only allowed peace- able possession of mines that would not pay white man's wages they did not make fortunes in the diggings. If by chance the Asiatics should happen to strike it rich in ground aban- doned by white men there was a class among the white miners who did not hesitate to rob the Chinamen of their ground.
As a result of their persecution in the mines the Chinese flocked to San Francisco and it was not long until that city had more "China Boys" than it needed in its business. The legislature of 1855 enacted a law that masters, owners or consignors of vessels bringing to California persons incompetent to become citizens under the laws of the state should pay a fine of $50 for every such person landed. A suit was brought to test the validity of the act; it was declared unconstitutional. In 1858 the foreign miner's tax was $10 per month and as most of the other foreigners who had arrived in California in the early '50s had by this time become citizens by naturalization the foreigners upon whom the tax bore most heavily were the Chinese who could not become citizens. As a consequence many of them were driven out of the mines and this again decreased the revenue of the mining counties, a large part of which was made up of poll tax and license.
The classes most bitterly opposed to the Chi- nese in the mines were the saloon-keepers, the gamblers and their constituents. While the Chinaman himself is a most inveterate gambler and not averse to strong drink he did not divest himself of his frugal earnings in the white man's saloon or gambling den, and the gentry who kept these institutions were the first, like Bill Nye in Bret Harte's poem, to raise the cry, "We are ruined by Chinese cheap labor." While the southern politicians who were the rulers of the state before the Civil war were
opposed to the Chinese and legislated against them, it was not done in the interest of the white laborer. An act to establish a coolie system of servile labor was introduced in the pro-slavery legislature of 1854. It was intended as a sub- stitute for negro slavery. Senator Roach, a free state man, exposed its iniquity. It was defeated. The most intolerant and the most bitter oppo- nents of the Chinese then and later when opposi- tion had intensified were certain servile classes of Europeans who in their native countries had al- ways been kept in a state of servility to the aris- . tocracy, but when raised to the dignity of Amer- ican citizens by naturalization proceeded to celebrate their release from their former serf- dom by persecuting the Chinese, whom they re- garded as their inferiors. The outcry these peo- ple made influenced politicians, who pandered to them for the sake of their votes to make laws and ordinances that were often burlesques on legislation.
In 1870 the legislature enacted a law impos- ing a penalty of not less than $1,000 nor more than $5,000 or imprisonment upon any one bringing to California any subject of China or Japan without first presenting evidence of his or her good character to the commissioner of immigration. The supreme court decided the law unconstitutional. Laws were passed pro- hibiting the employment of Chinese on the pub- lic works; prohibiting them from owning real estate and from obtaining licenses for certain kinds of business. The supervisors of San Fran- cisco passed an ordinance requiring that the hair of any male prisoner convicted of an of- fense should be cut within one inch of his head. This, of course, was aimed at Chinese convicts and intended to deprive them of their queues and degrade them in the estimation of their peo- ple. It was known as the Pig Tail Ordinance; the mayor vetoed it. Another piece of class legislation by the San Francisco supervisors im- posed a license of $15 a quarter on laundries using no horses, while a laundry using a one- horse wagon paid but $2 per quarter. The Chi- nese at this time (1876) did not use horses in their laundry business. The courts decided against this ordinance.
Notwithstanding the laws and ordinances
232
HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
against them the Chinese continued to come and they found employment of some kind to keep them from starving. They were indus- trious and economical; there were no Chinese tramps. Although they filled a want in the state, cheap and reliable labor, at the beginning of its railroad and agricultural development, they were not desirable citizens. Their habits and morals were bad. Their quarters in the cities reeked with filth and immorality. They maintained their Asiatic customs and despised the "white devils" among whom they lived, which, by the way, was not strange considering the mobbing and maltreatment they received from the other aliens. They made merchandise of their women and carried on a revolting sys- tem of female slavery.
The Burlingame treaty guaranteed mutual protection to the citizens of China and the United States on each other's soil ; to freedom in religious opinions; to the right to reside in either country at will and other privileges ac- corded to civilized nations. Under this treaty the Chinese could not be kept out of California and agitation was begun for the modification or entire abrogation of the treaty.
For a number of years there had been a steady decline in the price of labor. Various causes had contributed to this. The productiveness of the mines had decreased; railroad communica- tion with the east had brought in a number of workmen and increased competition; the efforts of the labor unions to decrease the hours of labor and still keep up the wages at the old standard had resulted in closing up some of the manu- facturing establishments, the proprietors finding it impossible to compete with eastern factories. All these and other causes brought about a de- pression in business and brought on in 1877-78 a labor agitation that shook the foundations of our social fabric. The hard times and decline in wages was charged against the Chinese. No doubt the presence of the Mongolians in Cali- fornia had considerable to do with it and par- ticularly in the lower grades of employment but the depression was mainly caused from over-production and the financial crisis of 1873, which had affected the whole United States. Another cause local to California was the wild
mania for stock gambling that had prevailed in California for a number of years. The bonanza kings of the Washoe by getting up corners in stocks running up fraudulent values and then unloading on outside buyers had impoverished thousands of people of small means and enriched themselves without any return to their dupes.
Hard times always brings to the front a class of noisy demagogues who with no remedy to prescribe increase the discontent by vitupera- tive abuse of everybody outside of their sym- pathizers. The first of the famous sand lot mass meetings of San Francisco was held July 23, 1877, on a vacant lot on the Market street side of the city hall. Harangues were made and resolutions passed denouncing capitalists, de- claring against subsidies to steamship and rail- road lines, declaring that the reduction of wages was part of a conspiracy for the destruction of the republic and that the military should not be employed against strikers. An anti-coolie club was formed and on that and the two succeeding evenings a number of Chinese laundries were destroyed. In a fight between the police (aided by the committee of safety) and the rioters sev- eral of the latter were killed. Threats were made to destroy the railroad property and burn the vessels of the Pacific Mail Steamship Com- pany unless the Chinese in their employ were immediately discharged.
Among the agitators that this ebullition of dis- content threw to the front was an Irish dray- man named Dennis Kearney. He was shrewd enough to see that some notoriety and political capital could be made by the organization of a Workingmen's party.
On the 5th of October a permanent organiza- tionof the Workingmen's party of California was effected. Dennis Kearney was chosen president, J. G. Day, vice-president, and H. L. Knight, sec- retary. The principles of the party were the con- densed essence of selfishness. The working classes were to be elevated at the expense of every other. "We propose to elect none but com- petent workingmen and their friends to any of- fice whatever." "The rich have ruled us till they have ruined us." "The republic must and shall be preserved, and only workingmen will do it." "This party will exhaust all peaceable means of
233
HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
attaining its ends, but it will not be denied jus- tice when it has the power to enforce it." "It will encourage no riot or outrage, but it will not volunteer to repress or put down or arrest, or prosecute the hungry and impatient who manifest their hatred of the Chinamen by a cru- sade against John or those who employ him." These and others as irrelevant and immaterial were the principles of the Workingmen's party that was to bring the millennium. The move- ment spread rapidly, clubs were formed in every ward in San Francisco and there were organiza- tions in all the cities of the state. The original leaders were all of foreign birth, but when the movement became popular native born dema- gogues, perceiving in it an opportunity to ob- tain office, abandoned the old parties and joined the new.
Kearney now devoted his whole time to agi- tation, and the applause he received from his followers pampered his inordinate conceit. His language was highly incendiary. He advised every workingman to own a musket and one hundred rounds of ammunition and urged the formation of military companies. He posed as a reformer and even hoped for martyrdom. In one of his harangues he said: "If I don't get killed I will do more than any reformer in the history of the world. I hope I will be assassi- nated, for the success of the movement depends on that." The incendiary rant of Kearney and his fellows became alarming. It was a tame meeting, at which no "thieving millionaire, scoundrelly official or extortionate railroad mag- nate" escaped lynching by the tongues of la- borite reformers. The charitable people of the city had raised by subscription $20,000 to al- leviate the prevailing distress among the poor. It was not comforting to a rich man to hear himself doomed to "hemp! hemp! hemp!" simply because by industry, economy and enter- prise he had made a fortune. It became evident that if Kearney and his associates were allowed to talk of hanging men and burning the city some of their dupes would put in practice the teachings of their leaders. The supervisors, urged on by the better class of citizens, passed an ordinance called by the sand-lotters "Gibbs' gag law." On the 29th of October, Kearney and
his fellow agitators, with a mob of two or three thousand followers, held a meeting on Nob Hill, where Stanford, Crocker, Hopkins and other railroad magnates had built palatial residences. He roundly denounced as thieves the nabobs of Nob Hill and declared that they would soon feel the power of the workingmen. When his party was thoroughly organized they would march through the city and compel the thieves to give up their plunder; that he would lead them to the city hall, clear out the police, hang the pros- ecuting attorney, burn every book that had a particle of law in it, and then enact new laws for the workingmen. These and other utter- ances equally inflammatory caused his arrest while addressing a meeting on the borders of the Barbary coast. Trouble was expected, but he quietly submitted and was taken to jail and a few days later Day, Knight, C. C. O'Donnell and Charles E. Pickett were arrested on charges of inciting riot and taken to jail. A few days in jail cooled them off and they began to "squeal." They addressed a letter to the mayor, saying their utterances had been incorrectly reported by the press and that if released they were will- ing to submit to any wise measure to allay the excitement. They were turned loose after two weeks' imprisonment and their release was cele- brated on Thanksgiving Day, November 29, by a grand demonstration of sand lotters-seven thousand of whom paraded the streets.
It was not long before Kearney and his fel- lows were back on the sand lots hurling out threats of lynching, burning and blowing up. On January 5 the grand jury presented indict- ments against Kearney, Wellock, Knight, O'Donnell and Pickett. They were all released on the rulings of the judge of the criminal court on the grounds that no actual riot had taken place.
The first victory of the so-called Working- men's party was the election of a state senator in Alameda county to fill a vacancy caused by the death of Senator Porter. An individual by the name of John W. Bones was elected. On ac- count of his being long and lean he was known as Barebones and sometimes Praise God Bare- bones. His only services in the senate were the perpetration of some doggerel verses and a
234
HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
speech or two on Kearney's theme, "The Chi- nese Must Go." At the election held June 19, 1878, to choose delegates to a constitutional convention of the one hundred and fifty-two delegates the Workingmen elected fifty-seven, thirty-one of whom were from San Francisco. The convention met at Sacramento, September 28, 1878, and continued to sit in all one hundred and fifty-seven days. It was a mixed assem- blage. There were some of the ablest men in the state in it, and there were some of the most narrow minded and intolerant bigots there. The Workingmen flocked by themselves, while the non-partisans, the Republicans and Democrats, for the most part, acted in unison. Opposition to the Chinese, which was a fundamental prin- ciple of the Workingmen's creed, was not con- fined to them alone; some of the non-partisans were as bitter in their hatred of the Mongolians as the Kearneyites .. Some of the crudities pro- posed for insertion in the new constitution were laughable for their absurdity. One sand lotter proposed to amend the bill of rights, that all men are by nature free and independent, to read, "All men who are capable of becoming citizens of the United States are by nature free and inde- pendent." One non-partisan wanted to incor- porate into the fundamental law of the state Kearney's slogan, "The Chinese Must Go."
After months of discussion the convention evolved a constitution that the ablest men in that body repudiated, some of them going so far as to take the stump against it. But at the elec- tion it carried by a large majority. Kearney continued his sand lot harangues. In the sum- mer of 1879 he made a trip through the south- ern counties of the state, delivering his diatribes against the railroad magnates, the land mo- nopolists and the Chinese. At the town of Santa Ana, now the county seat of Orange county, in his harangue he made a vituperative attack upon the McFadden Brothers, who a year or two before had built a steamer and run it in op- position to the regular coast line steamers until forced to sell it on account of losses incurred by the competition. Kearney made a number of false and libelous statements in regard to the transaction. While he was waiting for the stage to San Diego in front of the hotel he was con-
fronted by Rule, an employee of the McFad- den's, with an imperious demand for the name of Kearney's informant. Kearney turned white with fear and blubbered out something about not giving away his friends. Rule struck him a blow that sent him reeling against the build- ing. Gathering himself together he made a rush into the hotel, drawing a pistol as he ran. Rule pursued him through the dining room and out across a vacant lot and into a drug store, where he downed him and, holding him down with his knee on his breast, demanded the name of his informer. One of the slandered men pulled Rule off the "martyr" and Kearney, with a face resembling a beefsteak, took his departure to San Diego. From that day on he ceased his vituperative attacks on individuals. He had met the only argument that could convince him of the error of his ways. He lost caste with his fellows. This braggadocio, who had boasted of leading armies to conquer the enemies of the Workingmen, with a pistol in his hand had ignominiously fled from an unarmed man and had taken a humiliating punishment without a show of resistance. His following began to de- sert him and Kearney went if the Chinese did not. The Workingmen's party put up a state ticket in 1879, but it was beaten at the polls and went to pieces. In 1880 James Angell of Mich- igan, John F. Swift of California, and William H. Trescott of South Carolina were appointed commissioners to proceed to China for the pur- pose of forming new treaties. An agreement was reached with the Chinese authorities by which laborers could be debarred for a certain period from entering the United States. Those in the country were all allowed the rights that aliens of other countries had. The senate ratified the treaty May 5th, 1881.
The following is a list of the governors of Cal- ifornia, Spanish, Mexican and American, with date of appointment or election: Spanish : Gaspar de Portolá, 1767; Felipe Barri, 1771; Felipe de Neve, 1774; Pedro Fages, 1790; José Antonio Romeu, 1790; José Joaquin de Ar- rillaga, 1792; Diego de Borica, 1794; José Joa- quin de Arrillaga, 1800; José Arguello, 1814: Pablo Vicente de Sola, 1815. Mexican gov- ernors: Pablo Vicente de Sola, 1822; Luis
235
HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
Arguello, 1823; José Maria Echeandia, 1825; Manuel Victoria, 1831; Pio Pico, 1832; José Maria Echeandia, Agustin Zamorano, 1832; José Figueroa, 1833; José Castro, 1835; Nicolas Gutierrez, 1836; Mariano Chico, 1836; Nicolas Gutierrez, 1836; Juan B. Alvarado, 1836; Man- uel Micheltorena, 1842; Pio Pico, 1845. Amer- ican military governors: Commodore Robert F. Stockton, 1846; Col. John C. Fremont, Jan- uary, 1847; Gen. Stephen W. Kearny, March I, 1847; Col. Richard B. Mason, May 31, 1847; Gen. Bennet Riley, April 13, 1849. American governors elected: Peter H. Burnett, 1849. John McDougal, Lieutenant-governor, became governor on resignation of P. H. Burnett in January, 1851; John Bigler, 1851; John Bigler,
1853; J. Neely Johnson, 1855; John B. Weller, 1857; M. S. Latham, 1859; John G. Downey, lieutenant-governor, became governor in 1859 by election of Latham to United States senate; Leland Stanford, 1861; Frederick F. Low, 1863; Henry H. Haight, 1867; Newton Booth, 1871; Romualdo Pacheco, lieutenant governor, be- came governor February, 1875, on election of Booth to the United States senate; William Ir- win, 1875; George C. Perkins, 1879; George Stoneman, 1882; Washington Bartlett, 1886; Robert W. Waterman, lieutenant-governor, be- came governor September 12, 1887, upon the death of Governor Bartlett; H. H. Markham, 1890; James H. Budd, 1894; Henry T. Gage, 1898; George C. Pardee, 1902; James H. Gillett, I906.
CHAPTER XXXV.
EDUCATION AND EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS.
T HE Franciscans, unlike the Jesuits, were not the patrons of education. They bent all their energies towards pros- elyting. Their object was to fit their converts for the next world. An ignorant soul might be as happy in paradise as the most learned. Why educate the neophyte? He was converted, and then instructed in the work assigned him at the mission. There were no public schools at the missions. A few of the brightest of the neophytes, who were trained to sing in the church choirs, were taught to read, but the great mass of them, even those of the third gen- eration, born and reared at the missions, were as ignorant of book learning as were their great- grandfathers, who ran naked among the oak trees of the mesas and fed on acorns.
Nor was there much attention paid to edu- cation among the gente de rason of the pre- sidios and pueblos. But few of the common people could read and write. Their ancestors had made their way in the world without book learning. Why should the child know more than the parent? And trained to have great filial regard for his parent, it was not often that the progeny aspired to rise higher in the scale
of intelligence than his progenitor. Of the eleven heads of families who founded Los An- geles, not one could sign his name to the title deed of his house lot. Nor were these an ex- ceptionally ignorant collection of hombres. Out of fifty men comprising the Monterey company in 1785, but fourteen could write. In the com- pany stationed at San Francisco in 1794 not a soldier among them could read or write; and forty years later of one hundred men at Sonoma not one could write his name.
The first community want the American pio- neers supplied was the school house. Wher- ever the immigrants from the New England and the middle states planted a settlement, there, at the same time, they planted a school house. The first community want that the Spanish pabladores (colonists) supplied was a church. The school house was not wanted or if wanted it was a long felt want that was rarely or never satisfied. At the time of the acquisition of Cal- ifornia by the Americans, seventy-seven years from the date of its first settlement, there was not a public school house owned by any pre- sidio, pueblo or city in all its territory.
The first public school in California was
236
HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
opened in San José in December, 1794, seven- teen years after the founding of that pueblo. The pioneer teacher of California was Manuel de Vargas, a retired sergeant of infantry. The school was opened in the public granary. Vargas, in 1795, was offered $250 to open a school in San Diego. As this was higher wages than he was receiving he accepted the offer. José Manuel Toca, a gamute or ship boy, ar- rived on a Spanish transport in 1795 and the same year was employed at Santa Barbara as schoolmaster at a yearly salary of $125. Thus the army and the navy pioneered education in California.
Governor Borica, the founder of public schools in California, resigned in 1800 and was succeeded by Arrillaga. Governor Arrillaga, if not opposed to, was at least indifferent to the education of the common people. He took life easy and the schools took long vacations; in- deed, it was nearly all vacation during his term. Governor Sola, the successor of Arrillaga, made an effort to establish public schools, but the in- difference of the people discouraged him. In the lower pueblo, Los Angeles, the first school was opened in 1817, thirty-six years after the founding of the town. The first teacher there was Maximo Piña, an invalid soldier. He re- ceived $140 a year for his services as school- master. If the records are correct, his was the only school taught in Los Angeles during the Spanish régime. One year of schooling to forty years of vacation, there was no educational cramming in those days. The schoolmasters of the Spanish era were invalid soldiers, possessed of that dangerous thing, a "little learning;" and it was very little indeed. About all they could teach was reading, writing and the doctrina Christiana. They were brutal tyrants and their school government a military despotism. They did not spare the rod or the child, either. The rod was too mild an instrument of punishment. Their implement of torture was a cat-o'-nine- tails, made of hempen cords with iron points. To fail in learning the doctrina Christiana was an unpardonable sin. For this, for laughing aloud, playing truant or other offenses no more heinous, the guilty boy "was stretched face downward upon a bench with a handkerchief
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.