CHINESE GIRLS SOLD IN SAN FRANCISCO.
By T.
Gong Gow, who for years has kept one of the disreputable dens in San Francisco, decided recently that he would go back to China. Among his assets were five young girls that he had kept in his den as prostitutes. These were put upon the block and sold at public auction. They were not sold to a slave-driver and condemned to a life of hard, laborious toil; it was far worse than that; they were sold to another dive-keeper and condemned to a life of vice—perhaps their education is such that they know nothing of shame. If such a thing as this had been done in some corner under the cover of secrecy it would not have been so shameful, so far as the community is concerned. But the auction was duly advertised, and took place at midday in the heart of “Chinatown,” which is not far removed from the business center of San Francisco, and is only a little way from the most aristocratic residence portion of the city. What do such things as this say in regard to the boasted civilization of this time? Did men really possess the virtues that we boast of to-day, could such a thing as that happen in one of the leading cities of this enlightened land? If the sentiments of purity and uprightness were anything more than a veneer in so many of the cases that profess it, no heathen would think it safe to do such things in the light of day in the open streets of a leading city. It should be manifest to any one who will stop to think of it, that this world is getting into a terribly sunken condition. Not that we would attach so much importance to the fact that a heathen sold some girls to a life of vice, but that it could be done in such a land as this. Where is our boasted morality when such things can be done in the open, and no one seem to pay any particular attention to it? And should not the blush of shame cover our faces when we think that the moral sentiment of the community is so low that any one would dare do such things? Even a heathen knows better than to go right in the face of a strong public sentiment in any of his debaucheries. Happenings of this kind not only show that vice is becoming more and more prevalent, but they also show that the people are becoming more and more indifferent to it. T.