Memorial of the Chamber of Commerce, San Francisco, Praying the Establishment of a Steam Mail Line from San Francisco to Japan and China

[Washington DC]: (n.p.), 1862. First Edition. Pamphlet. Fine. The San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, claiming to speak for the business community of the West Coast, argues that the success of Chinese merchants in California and the growing trade with China requires armed transport across the Pacific Ocean to ensure the safe passage of gold and silver: "A steam mail line across the Pacific to Japan and China, in subsidized steamers or in armed vessels of the government, by which treasure shipments can be made and protected, is a necessity..."

Such a route would transfer the commerce in bullion, which at the time depended on Mexican silver, to California gold. "The Chinese merchants of San Francisco are now exclusively using gold bars, in preference to silver, in their remittances to their countrymen... Within a few years after the establishment of a line of steamers, the entire production of the precious metals of California will be absorbed in the East India and China business."

The Pacific Mail Steamship Company opened just such a route in 1867. In addition to cargo, they brought many Chinese and Japanese immigrants to the US on their return voyages, setting the stage for the anti-Asian legislation of two decades later.

5 pages, printed on a single sheet folded to make 8 pages (three blank). 37th Congress, 2nd Session. Senate, Mis. Doc. No. 25. First edition. A fine copy; folded as issued. Never bound or sewn. Uncommon thus.