Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1867-08-08
RUTLAND HERALD.
THURSDAY, AUGUST /, 1867,
The Cooii~ Traffic.

w uNh khN NAAA va hhsHAs ~ 49, AA'
perisl uksse gave freedom to the serfs of
his dominion, an enlightened world APP
plauded, and still later, In our own
country, when the lamented Lincoln is
sued his emancipation proclamation
knocking the shackles from the limbs of
four millions o. human bondsmen, We of
the United States felt for the first time
in our history, though long called such
by the Oppressed OF ali nations and climes,
that ours was, in reality, a Gland OF
the free" At that time prayers went
up to Heaven from the hearts of millions
of freemen in praise TO the Great Ruler
who. In His divine goodness, had so cast
our lot that slavery was TO cease TO ex
list in our limits, and as these prayers
went up the same millions resolved that
no word or act of theirs should ever be
wanting to thereafter render our nation
An asylum for the down-trodden OF
eyery race and color, and that the crack
of the slave.drivers whip should never
again be heard In our land, in short that
involuntary servltude, except as pun
ishment .or crime, was at an end in the
United States.
And vet, Notwithstanding these vows
so solemuly made, we are at the present
time laying the foundation for syste m
of labor in the South, which with half
the fostering, will become q greater
curse to us, and more degrading in the
ewes of nations than was that of African
slavery. We refer TO the importation OF
Coolies from China, traffic which is be-
inc extensively carried on in the Gulf
States, and threatens not only to become
one of the institutions of the South, but
also to extend to our enlightened New
England - the land of churches and
school-houses despatch announcing
a few DAYS since that some Eastern
manufacturers had united on a plan for
securing several thousand of these Chi
Nee laborers.
Now we have no objections to China
men coming among us and earning an
honest livelihood, any more than any
other class of foreigners, but we do pro-
test. and we believe that in doing so, we
but echo the sentiments of all liberty
loving people, against the manner in
which they are brought to our shores
and disposed of after their arrival.
The trade or traffic is one Of long
standing between China and Peru and
Cuba. In China the business Of procur-
ing coolies is carried on notwithstand-
ing that the laws of the country declare
it piracy, by men who upoh pretense OF
being missionaries or humanitarians, in
duce the simple minded natives to emil
crate to Cuba, Peru or the United States,
and bond themselves for an indefinite
period of years, usually seven, their pas
sage and monied consideration OF from
$50 to $50 per year, being held ont to
them as inducements to enslaye them
selves to these tricksters and swindlers.
On their arrival in Cuba, Peru, or the
United States, as the case may be, they
are disposed of to the highest bidder for
the period for which they had bonded
themselves, their impor ers frequently
receiving $500 to $500 per head for
their services. They are then taken by
theirnew masters and placed upon plaut'
ations where they are worked from
eighteen to twenty hours per day in fact
the very life is worked ont Of them
many never living to serve but their
terms Of apprenticeship"
This is, in brief, Cooliesm, as it has
long existed in Cuba and Peru, and
which now bids fair to be adopted in
the United States. The whole system
is villainous and wrong and should not
be tolerated, If our laws do no, pro,
hibit it, or are liable to miscoustruction
they should at once be re.ensctcd. TC
boast of having abolished slavery, and
allow Coolie Apprenticeship" to be car
ried on in our lands, is simply to prove
ourselves ridiculous and Inconsistent in
the eyes Of the civilized world.