Abbeville press. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1860-1869, 1869-07-23
TIE CHINESE MOVEMENT.

HSS 81 Ah'AShSs ShitSsC IdUOT
to tho South, the following protest
against tho further importation OF
these people into California, publish
ed by the Anti-Coolio Association, is
of special interest:
There are about 10000 Chinese in
California, 100000 of whom arc in a
state of pconage or slavery, and are
rented out by the company owning
them to the various parties Ly whom
they are employed, in gangs of from
30, to 5000: as they may be required
their wages being paid to the agent
of the company who is responsible
for the performance of their labor,
and for tho Ieturn of the slaves, dead
or alive, in tho Celestial Empire. The
bulk of tho female portion of them
arc scattered throughout our towns
and cities, dem morallzing our youth
and laying the foundation of future
disease and sorrow to an unlimited
cxtcnt. The importation Of these
slaves has alscady led to scenes of
conflict on our wharves, between the
rival companies owning them, and
threatens to assume gigantic proper
tions. The employment of these
slaves dispIaces u like portion Of white
labor, and moro particularly Of the
rising generation.
There are in San Francisco about
$4,000 to 10000 boys and girls Of ten
to twenty yeara of age, tho majority
of whom are brought up in idlcncss
as there is no employment fer them,
and no opportunity for their learning
trades, as all the interior work in our
mills, factories, stores, workshops, &c.,
that is elsewhere done by apprentices
is here done by Chinese labor. The
consequence is that our boys are but
preparing for the State Prison, and a
vast number Of our girls must, alas |!
sink to tho lowest depths Of degrc-
dation.
BY the general employment of this
slave labor in every branch of indus
try, immigration Of deserving white
people from tho East and Europe is
retarded and will ultimately cease,
while many now here must leave,
We may instance the cigar makers,
five hundred of whom, with their
families. who were earning good wa
here to the advantage Of the country,
were compelled two years ago to re.
tire before the Chinese labor and
leave the State. In this connection
it is noticeable fact that the intro
duction of cheap labor has not chesp-
ened the price Of q blanket, q cigar,
OF any other article of home manu-.
facture, ono single cont to the con-
sumer.
The employment of Chinese laber
on the Central, Pacific Railroad may
have expedited its completion a few
months, but we contend that the in.
jury done our State can never be bul
anccd by the gain in time. Had
white labor been employed, hundreds
of acres would even now been re
claimed from the waste and become
the homcsteads of happy families
who would have purchased the lane
and increased the revenue of The
railroad company, and also of. the en-
tire State, while tho money paid t.
Chinese labor has been drained out O
the country for export to Asia, ant
on the retirement of the Chimes,
slaves from their field of labor not
vestige Of Improvement will remain
not even q bone of them will be lcf
in the soil.
For twelve months an epidemic ha
been raging in our midst, which for (
long tine baffled the skill of our mcd
;, ical men{and the sanitary regulation
of our city: and this smallpox, 0
black plague, is generally attribute
to the Chinese. From the density 6
their population and their peculia
mode of living, they arc subject t
many diseases almost unknown to th
3 Caucasian race, to which we are rel
dercd peculiarly liable by the, intr.
duction Of Chinese into ourcshotel
restaurants and private dwellings 6
cooks, washers and domestic servant
Il 1t has been objected to our associ,
: ton thatit is an Irish crusade again
cheap labor; but, on the contrary, W
i embody in our own ranks all classe
Q creeds and political parties, i,nbue
not with hostility to tho Chinese as
q race, but fully believing that the va
: resources Of California can be fhi
Z developed, and her railroads, canal
and other public works, can be as WI
e and probably completed by fe
! white labor, as they have been In ii
: Eastern States, and that the fhta
!; greatness of California depends mo
-.