San Andreas independent., 1857-12-26
GBe gn0fptnbtnt.
sAruRDAY,.-..DEcEMBER 2e, 1857
For the Independent.
CAMPO SEco, Dec. 10Th, -

CAMPO DECO, Dec. Iotn, 81.
Mcssrs Editors i was much inter-
ested in the perusal of the "Reply to
Calaveras," which appeared in your issue
of the 18th inst. The subject it treats
of is one regarding which much has al
ready been said, and we'll said but there
is another body of men, not mentioned in
the "Reply," who have done and are do
ing, more, probably, than all the "..Steam
Navigation and Stage Companies" in
California, to keep up this nuisance, (Chi-
namen.) | mean Canal proprietors, or
rather those Canal proprietors who wish
to uphold exorbitant prices for water. 1t
is well-established fact that Chinaman
cannot compete with an American in mi
ming, on equal terms-yet instances are
innumerable where Americans have left
claims that would not pay them board,
and Cinnamon have worked them and
made good wages. How is this? Simply
because they do not have to pay as much
for water. There is Cor was) one Chinese
company in this Camp who used regularly,
ten inches of water per day and paid SO
per week, when an American company
would have to. pay S60l Talk of China
men working claims that Americans would
not work 1t is all humbug-sheer hum
bug. Givean American the same chance.
give him water at the same rate that Chi
namen pay for it, and you would never
hear of such thing as g Chinese claim"
The question then naturally arises, "Why
are the Cinnamon so petted and fostered
by these companies? Why are not those
Canal owners as willing to be generous to
their own countrymen as to these useless
importations 2" The answer is-Because
they need the Cinnamon to keep the
americans in check! When white men
complained of the high price of water, the
reply is, "We sell all we have, could sell
more if we had it." Talk of a strike, and
in come the Cinnamon in shoals. Where
they come from, God only knows, but the
idea has sometimes struck me that there
Is reserve body of them kept somewhere
to be called out as occasion demands; the
water is sold to them, and they either
know too much or too little to tell their
white neighbors what they pay for it; but
it will leak out sometimes, and it is now
we'll known fact that the Chinese, Gin
this Camp and vicinity, at least, pay less
for water than any other class of mem
No wonder, then, that these Celestials can
afford to keep their horses and ride around
like nabobs, while the owners of the land
can scarcely afford to buy boots to walk
in. But such is the fact, and such will
continue to be case, unless the miners do
something for themselves. But if they
are willing to pay e.rtortionate prices for
water while they see Cinnamon get it for
less than fair equivalent; if they are
content to remain the abject slaves of
few capitalists who speculate and blunder,
and speculate again to repair their blum
ders, on their toll and labor, then they
have no reason or right to complain-but
if they wish for a reform, it is time for
them to show these Celestials and their
patrons, whether Steam, Stage or Canal
Companies, that they are men who know
their rights and will maintain them, who
do not wish to be harsh or ungenerous to
others, but who will not be imposed upon
themselves-in short, that they are Amer
leans. Yours, &C., FAIR PLAY.