The Chinese Six Companies [pp. 518-526]

The Chinese Six Companies.
THE CHINESE SIX COMPANIES.
THE term "Six Companies" has
often occupied columns of the leading
newspapers of the Pacific Coast, and
many public speakers have stood at the
street-corners of the cities to present
this subject to the people. Still it remains as mysterious as ever to the
average American citizen.
Let us examine the facts of the case,
and see why the Six Companies have
been so long immediately connected
with the American people, and yet are
wofully misunderstood. We all know
that the Chinese government, institutions, life, and customs, differ much
from those of America, and that they
are exceedingly difficult for an American to understand. Even if one understands the Chinese language, yet it is
still difficult for him to discover the
real nature of these companies, unless
he lives among the Chinese for a considerable time, and pays special attention to the subject. It is doubtful
whether there has been any one who
has devoted his time to the investiga tion of the matter.
Both newspaper men and public
speakers. get their materials for the
subject of the Chinese Six Companies
mostly from unreliable sources, and
have never taken pains to examine the
real nature of the subject before bring ing it before the public. There are
two reasons for their doing this work
in such a careless manner: one is, be cause they know that the more they
exaggerate about the Chinese, the
more attention they will attract from
the great majority of the people. The
other is, because few or none of the
Chinese have ever attempted to refute
their inaccurate statements. When a
newspaper reporter tries to get some
information on Chinese subjects from
the Chinese, he goes around to some
Chinaman who can only either answer
him by saying, "Me no sabbe," or explain to him unsatisfactorily on account
of insufficient knowledge of the English
language. Then the paper comes out
the next morning with some very
prominent pictures of the Chinese,
whose "pigtails" are floating in the
air; and the story in the paper which
accompanies them is entirely created
by the imaginative power of the reporter. After having learned a lesson
from such a man, the Chinese are not
very anxious to tell all their business
to every one they happen to meet.
In fact, there are very few Chinese
who understand enough English to explain what the Six Companies really
are, so that people can understand
them thoroughly. No matter how incompetent the Chinese interpreters
may be, we are often compelled to depend on them for communications between the Chinese and the Americans.
It is said among the Chinese that dur ing the early period, when they first
came to America, they elected an in terpreter whom they supposed to know
the English language, in order to trans act business with the Americans for
them. On one occasion a Chinaman
died, and the Chinese sent this inter preter to buy a coffin and lot for the
burial of the dead. The interpreter
accordingly went to the undertaker's
office and said: "A Chinaman no like
lice (rice), like long box (coffin), sleep
long time, not get up." You may im agine how easily the Americans and
the Chinese can understand each other,
when they have to depend on such an
interpreter as this for communications.
In order to understand Chinese insti
tutions in the United States, we must
518
I May,