LEGAL DISCRIMINATION

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Oct 13, 1881

LEGAL DISCRIMINATION.

Any one who reads the daily papers, must be struck with the paternal care which the local government exercises over the Chinese. Gambling and drinking may be freely indulged in by all but the Chinese The heathen must be virtuous. The Oakland Times, refers to the distinction made between the two races, in the following ironical language:—

“The heathen in our midst must pay the penalty for their perversity in refusing to assimilate to the customs of civilized people. They might forego their love for their game of “tan” and substitute the great American game of draw poker, which they could play with impunity; but such is their love of custom, that they will gamble after their own methods, even if they have to pay the penalty of staying in jail twenty days, and living on fare that costs fifteen cents a day. If in place of opium, they would use bad whisky on their carousals, they could escape all special penalties, but they adhere to the use of the drowsy drug, and contentedly serve their terms in prison for doing so. If John Chinaman would assimilate even the vices of the white people, it would be very profitable for him.”