The Hidden Slavery of Whitechapel

For the past week, an official investigation by government agents of the alleged system of slavery among the Japanese women of Whitechapel has resulted in startling disclosures. A number of women collected from various dives were brought to a room in the Occidental Hotel, where they were examined through an interpreter. Immigration Inspector Thomas M. Fisher conducted the investigation, and a number of local ministers were present. Seventeen women were examined, and a number of them admitted that they were controlled by Japanese men to whom they were forced to pay one-half of their earnings. As a rule, the women were in debt to their masters for their passage to this country and were kept in that condition as long as possible. Generally, when their first contract expired, force of circumstances compelled them to make another. The men engaged in this business usually handled from one to five girls. Most of the women said they had been deceived by those who brought them over; they expected to find employment at needlework and embroidering handkerchiefs. One girl told a pitiful story to the effect that she had been brought over with the expectation of getting work, but on the first night after she landed, being without means, she walked the streets all night. In the morning, she fell into the clutches of a Japanese woman who rents out houses in Whitechapel, and she began a life of shame. A report of the investigation has been sent to the treasury department at Washington City.