in exchange for protection from prosecution. From the 1850s to the 1870s, California passed numerous acts to limit prostitution by all races, yet only Chinese were ever prosecuted under these laws. After the Thirteenth Amendment was passed in 1865, Chinese women brought to the United States for prostitution signed a contract so that their employers would avoid accusations of slavery. Many Americans believed that Chinese prostitutes were corrupting traditional morality, and thus the Page Act was passed in 1875, which placed restrictions on female Chinese immigration. Those who supported the Page Act were attempting to protect American family values, while those who opposed the Act were concerned that it might hinder the efficiency of the cheap labor provided by Chinese males. In the mid 1850s, 70 to 150 Chinese lived in New York City, of which 11 married Irish women. The New York Times reported on August6, 1906 that 300 white women (Irish American) were married to Chinese men in New York, with many more cohabiting. Research carried out in 1900 by Liang showed that of the 120,000 men in more than 20 Chinese communities in the United States, one out of every twenty Chinese men (Cantonese) was married to a white women. At the start of the 20th century there was a 55% rate of Chinese men in New York engaging in interracial marriage, which was maintained in the 1920s, but by the 1930s it had fallen to 20%. It is after the migration of Chinese females in equal number to Chinese males that intermarriage became more balanced. The 1960s census showed 3500 Chinese men married to white women and 2900 Chinese women married to white men. The census also showed 300 Chinese men married black women and 100 black men married Chinese women. It was far more common for Chinese males to marry non-white females in many states. One of the U.S. censuses of Louisiana alone in 1880 showed 57% Chinese American men were married to African American women, and 43% to White American women. As a result of miscegenation laws against Chinese males. Many Chinese males either cohibited their relationship in secret or married with black females. Of the Chinese men who lived in Mississippi, 20% and 30% of the Chinese males had married black women in many different years before 1940. Another major concern of European Americans in relation to Chinatowns was the smoking of opium,