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23 False Starts (1894–95) Shortly after the Columbian Exposition closed, Wong returned to New York. With his departure, the second incarnation of his Chinese American newspaper died. In December 1893, several papers around the country carried a tiny item in which it was revealed that Treasury Secretary John G. Carlisle—the man charged with enforcement of all Chinese exclusion legislation—had appointed Wong Chin Foo to the position of Chinese inspector.1 Such inspectors were employed by both the Customs Service, which still had some authority over immigration in the 1890s, and the Office of the Superintendent of Immigration, which had been established in 1891. Both were part of the Treasury Department; their inspectors enforced the laws governing Chinese immigration.2 Wong had realized his wish of securing a federal appointment, but that he would have accepted such a position, given his views, is on the face of it somewhat shocking. One of the nation’s shrillest critics of the Geary Act, he had signed on with the agency responsible for enforcing it. While it was true that Wong favored a halt to further Chinese immigration, it is still remarkable that he was willing to become a part of the agency that not only kept his compatriots out, but also deported Chinese who had entered America illegally. It appears, however, that Wong’s position at least partially involved the interdiction of opium imports: this was a cause with which he thoroughly sympathized. The Washington Star had an interesting view of Wong’s appointment . It called it “at least a start in the direction of bringing the Celestial under the civilizing and soothing influences of the government pay roll,” noting that “if John could be given to understand that he is eligible to the police force or to other departments of employment , it is very possible that the representatives of his race in this 236 The First Chinese American country would at once cut off their cues, wear commonplace clothes, learn to vote and even to write legible laundry tickets.” Apart from the snide comment at the end, Wong would have agreed with these aspirations.3 If he had misgivings about taking the job, they are not recorded. And, as with most of his other endeavors, he did not keep the position for long. In fact, several years later he would deny having accepted it at all.4 Wong’s initial assignment appears to have been a temporary one that began some time before the official announcement. He worked under John B. Weber, a Republican, Civil War veteran, and two-term member of Congress from upstate New York. Weber had been appointed the Port of New York’s very first Commissioner of Immigration in 1890, a position he held for three years. As Wong told a Washington Post reporter, Weber soon discovered that he needed all the help he could get in controlling the smuggling of Chinese—and opium—into the country, and it was he who had approached Wong for help. According to Wong, Weber pledged in return not only to pay him “liberally,” but also to help him secure a position as a consul somewhere in the Chinese Empire.5 Wong had sought both before— the steady pay of a government job, and a diplomatic posting in his native land.6 According to the Post—and Wong seems to have been the source for its report—Wong performed well in the position. He captured many smugglers and helped organize seizures of a considerable quantity of opium. He did so well, in fact, that he was sent to Boston, where a syndicate of Chinese merchants was smuggling Chinese laborers in from Canada and earning $200 a head in the process. Wong, in an excellent position to gather information from within the Chinese community, discovered that some of the money was ending up in the pockets of federal customs officials. He reported as much to Weber, implicating Colonel Louis M. Montgomery, a Confederate Army veteran who was in charge of the New England district. Wong’s accusation of Montgomery came to a head in Weber’s office at a meeting of the three men. “There was a very stormy scene,” the Post reported. “Wong claims that he was finally shoved through the door with the impression of the Colonel’s Boston boot on his trousers.” He was fired. He claimed to have been cheated out of some wages, and a friend he sent to collect what was due him was...

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