Mr. Browne to Mr. Cleveland
Dear Sir: I understand that you have been for some time past engaged in the preparation of a work on the Chinese in California, in which you propose to give a sketch of their immigration to this coast; their trades and occupations; the amount of taxes paid by them to the federal and State governments; their present condition; their influences upon the development of our resources; and the injurious effects of any legislation having in view their exclusion from our snores.
It is peculiarly important at the present time that our experience of this interesting people should be correctly understood.
You have devoted much labor, as I can well appreciate from a perusal of your notes, [Page 531] to the collection of reliable statistics on this important subject; and I know of no citizen of California better qualified to treat it with candor and intelligence.
If not inconsistent with the plan or purposes of your work, I would be greatly obliged to you for a summary of the data embodied in your notes, for transmission to the Department of State at Washington.
The purposes of my mission to China would be facilitated, and the humane and generous ends which you have in view might to some extent be promoted, by a more thorough knowledge on my part of the history and condition of our Asiatic population in California.
Wishing you success in your undertaking, I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
Daniel Cleveland, Esq.