From the Los Angeles Herald,
February 6, 1903

PURGE CHINATOWN

Health Board Asks for a Sewer System

PAY A BOUNTY FOR KILLING ALL KINDS OF RATS
Doctors Recommend Measures to Insure a Continuance of Healthy Conditions of the City — Inspection Trip Is Made in Chinatown

Chinatown and rats were two subjects in discussion by . . . the city board of health and . . . the [city] council . . . yesterday.

In the face of all the ancient and honored jokes, songs and legends, there was not a mention of the Chinamen‘s appetite for rodents.

In fact the apocryphal tales of John Chinaman and the rat were not in discussion. The subjects were treated as two, which indeed they were, but co-related in that both are subjects for extermination for the good of humanity.

The doctors asked . . . an ordinance to offer a bounty on rats — dead ones[,] . . . in which the city will agree to pay 2-1/2 cents each for rat scalps, thus starting, it is expected, many enterprising boys on the road to wealth.

“Rats,” the doctors said, “are spreaders of disease, and should through any chance rats come here from Mexico, they may bring bubonic plague.” . . .

Chinamen came into the discussion when it was suggested that Chinatown be given a thorough cleaning.

To ascertain how much of a cleaning and fumigating the district needs, Dr. Powers, the health officer, and Drs. Johnson and Hitchcock . . . made a personal inspection . . . [of] the streets and alleys that ramify the quarter. . . .

. . . Dr. Powers will insist . . . [on] the construction of a complete sewer system in Chinatown, and this he will ask to have done at once. Sink holes and cesspools . . . will be removed, and . . . many of the dark hovels and shacks in which the Chinamen live [will] be removed, alleys closed and streets improved.

The attempt will be made to make Chinatown thoroughly sanitary and as wholesome, from that point, as any other part of the city. . . .

CARRIE NATION’S SISTER

A sister of [temperance leader] Carrie Nation, Mrs. Robert Butcher, resides in Los Angeles at 1025 West Twentieth Street.

Mrs. Butcher is the youngest of a family of seven children, . . . of which Mrs. Nation is the eldest.

Mrs. Nation corresponds regularly with her sister in this city, who . . . does not enjoy the publicity which her relationship to the Kansas reformer thrusts upon her.

A large framed photograph of Mrs. Nation, in which she is pictured with a Bible in one hand and a hatchet in the other, hangs in the parlor . . .

Click on the cartoon for a better look at the text.Cartoon and editorial from the Los Angeles Herald, February 7, 1903

CHINESE AND RODENTS

The local authorities have at last taken measures aiming to remove a notorious menace to the public health. Why Chinatown has so long been allowed to exist in its unwholesome and filthy condition is a question that strikes the mind of every visitor to that unsavory quarter of the city.

Curiosity leads all eastern tourists to visit that section, but there is no recorded case of a desire to repeat such a visit. . . .

 The proposition to introduce a sewer system in Chinatown . . . is both commendable and timely. . . .

INVITED TO THE SCRAP

James Morley and Al Levy, for the Century Athletic Club, called on the councilmen at the City Hall yesterday afternoon to invite them . . . to Hazard’s Pavilion last night to witness the boxing contest. Hazard’s Pavilion photo from the Los Angeles Public Library. The pavilion was on the northeast corner of Fifth and Olive, where the Philharmonic Auditorium later stood.

It was to let the councilmen see that a boxing bout isn’t a very cruel thing after all, Morley explained.

Incidentally, he discussed with Councilman Skilling the new revenue measure in which a license tax on baseball games will be made.

The Cartoon

A rat wearing a hat and carrying his “Cheese” tied in a bandana walks in front of a sign reading “2 1/2 Cents Bounty for Rat Scalps.” In a weak rendition of a lower-class accent, the cartoon is captioned “Well, wouldn’t dat kill yer. Dis is de cheapest town on de map. It makes a feller feel like two cents an’ a half. Ain’t as healty ’round here as dey claims, neither.”

Notes

Chinatown. Not the present-day Chinatown. The Old Chinatown began at the Plaza and then spread across Alameda Street to where Union Station is today. According to oldchinatownla.com ,

“Old Chinatown in its heyday, 1890 to 1910, could count 15 or so streets and alleys, and perhaps 200 building units. It had sufficient size and sophistication to boast of a Chinese opera theater, three temples, a newspaper (for a while), and later, its own telephone exchange. Old Chinatown was a residential as well as commercial community. The slow increase in the number of women would lead to the establishment of families with children. During this time, most of today's leading Chinese family and district associations, Chinatown institutions were founded, and church missions were organized, which began the process of community acculturation. Old Chinatown, with restaurants, curio shops, and ‘strange’ entertainments, even became an attraction for the early, pioneering breed of American tourist.”

Also see the Chinese-American Museum in Los Angeles page.

James F. Morley. Morley was manager of the Los Angeles baseball team. Click here for a story on his reappointment.

Al Levy. A prominent restaurant owner, he was treasurer of the Los Angeles baseball club. Click here for his biography.
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