business I what you do with money? If you work good for me, that all
I care. No business my what you do your pay." Surely he was right; the
Chinaman may send some part of his wages out of the country, though not
much, for he must eat, must be clothed and lodged, must pay railroad and
stage fares, must smoke opium, and usually gamble a little. When all this
is done, the surplus of a Chinaman's wages is not great. But suppose he
sent off all his pay; he does not and can not send off the work he has
done for it, the ditches he has dug, the levees he has made, the meals he
has cooked, and the clothes he has washed and ironed, the harvest he has
helped to sow and gather, and the vegetables he has raised; the cigars,
and shoes, blankets, gloves, slippers, and other things he has made. These
remain to enrich the country, to make abundance where, but for his help,
there would be scarcity, or importation from other States or countries.

But lately it is asserted that the Chinese have brought or will bring
the leprosy hither. This is a genuine cry of anguish and terror from the
Hoodlums; for, bear in mind that, according to the best medical opinion
in the Sandwich Islands, where this disease is most frequent and has been
most thoroughly studied, it is communicated only by cohabitation or the
most intimate association. If you ask a policeman to pilot you through
the Chinese quarter of San Francisco between eight and eleven o'clock any
night, you will see the creatures who make this outcry. They are Hoodlums,
gangs of whom per ambulate the worst alleys, and pass in and out of the
vilest kennels.

I was curious to know something about the "Chinese Companies" of which
one frequently hears here, and which exercise important powers over their
countrymen all over the State. What follows concerning these organizations
I derived from conversation with several Chinese who speak English, and
with a missionary who labors among them.