ment" in the matter.
In 1861 the first opium was imported into San Francisco and a flourishing demand for the narcotic sprang up not only among some of the residents of Chinatown but also among certain white groups of other parts of the city. Although the evidence is by no means conclusive, it appears that the narcotics traffic was managed by several of the secret societies. Attempts to restrict the trade in opium by duties and inspections drove operations underground, and it may be presumed that the secret societies continued to obtain considerable profit through the sale of narcotics. Secret societies also appear to have owned or controlled, through tributary payments, the gambling houses and brothels that honeycombed early Chinatown. Living in enforced bachelor status and denied access to the amenities and recreations available to white settlers in California, the Chinese laborers were hardly immune to the promise and pleasure available in the pai kop piu parlors and bagnios. Provision of these heavily demanded illicit goods and services undoubtedly was a lucrative occupation, well worth the entailed risks of fine and impiis-onment.
As the secret societies increased in number and operations, their competition for control of gambling and prostitution in Chinatown expanded into a struggle for power in the socially isolated ghetto. "Salaried soldiers" were employed by the "tongs" (as the societies were designated) to carry out vendettas against rivals and to fight the now more frequent "wars" between opposed societies. Called "high-(Continued on Page 56)
Joyous Greetings
from
Bollman Roofing
and
Sheet Metal Ltd.
TAR AND GRAVEL ROOFING STYROPON INSULATION
815 - 1st St., New Westminster LA 1-5245 521-1724
For Her
This Christmas ,,,
A New Singer Sewing Machine
Vacuum Cleaner Floor Polisher Typewriters Washing Machines
Stools, tables, sewing cabinets, button hole attachment, zig-zag attachment and many other gift selections.
SINGER SEWING MACHINES
148 W. Hastings St. MU 5-9385 (Opposite Woodward Store)
Yuletide Greetings
SLADE & STEWART LTD.
WHOLESALE
FRESH FRUITS PRODUCE
and CANNED GOODS
HOME OF "SNOBOY" and "STANDBY"
MUtual 3-3151 400 Prior Street
CHINATOWN NEWS, DEC. 18, 1963