New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1869-05-01
THE CHINESE IN CALIFORNIA.

estimated Mt from four to five hundred millions
more than the population of Europe America Africa,
and Oceanica combined. people who possessed the
mariners compass, guDpowder, and de art of print
ing when our ancestors were yet barbarans ere the
walls of Rome had been traced OF Greek civilization
had begun to dawn.
Had it not been for the strange petrifaction which,
though by the fat Of the Almighty fell upon this
people ages ago-had they made but few steps for
ward in their utilization of the powers Of nature
made of the junk good sea boat, of gunpowder an
effective instrument of destruction well as toy,
universal history would have taken another direc-
ton, and America if not the world, would to-day
be MoDgolian.
We have now gone by them far enough. In knowl-
edge power and wealth, we surpass them moro
than two thousand years ago they surpassed the
painted savages of the British Isles, yet they still
tain their prominence of numbers.
And now that the barriers that for ages have iso-
lated these people from the rest Of the world are
beng broken down, their mere numbers, if nothing
else, make them force of vast Importance to the fu
ture of the rest Of mankind. Four or five hundred
millions of people coming into the line of at
fractions and rcpulsons, like some new Saturn TAX
ing up its place to circle round the
Now that the race which started from the plains of
Central Asia has completed in its march the circuit
Of the globe, China may wake from her sleep of
ages and learn from Western civilization; she may
pass into the hands Of intelligent conquerors or be
broken up into fraRmentary provinces; but whether
welded into vast power. to remain the political
cypher she now is, the Chinese people, by the mere
force of their numbers, must exercise immense in
fluence upon the rest of the world.
Look at the swarmIng that is possible from this
vast human hive Consider that if all humanity
were marshaled. every third man in the line would
wear the queue and the blouse of Chinaman that
this half billion people could throw off annually six,
ten, twenty millions of emgTants, and this not
merely without feeling the loss but without there
being any loss for over-population keeps reproduce
ton down, and new Cinnamon would spring into the
vacancies created by those who left as air into a
vacuum.
According to the count Of the six great Chinese
COmpaniestoO one OF tho other of which ALL ornearly
all of the Chinese upon the Pacific Coast belong
there are some $1,000 Cinnamon in California and
adjacent States and Territories. Knowing the
jealousy with which they are regarded, the Chinese
disposed to Iunderstate their numbers, and it is
probable that the true figures 100000 than
those given. Speaking roughly they may be said to
constitute at least onefourth of the adult male pop
ulation.
From San Diego to Stka and back into Montana,
Idaho Nevada and Arizona throughout the enOrm-
stretch of country of which San Francisco is the
center they everywhere to be found.
Every town and hamlet has its "Chnatownp-its
poorest meanest and flthiest quarter and wherever
the restless prospectors open a new district there,
sngly or in squads appears the inevitable Chinaman.
OCCUPATIONS.
Mining THAT is, placer mining for the Chinese
have supcrsttious fear Of yenturing into the bow
els of the earth, which, with other causes has
hitherto kept them from engaging in deep mining),
the washing Of clothes, and kindred occupations,
were the first branches of industry in which the
Chinese engaged but Of late years there has been
great increase in the variety of their employments
In the construction of the San Jose Railroad in
1860 it was discovered that they were cheap and eff
fcctiye road builders the Mission and Pioneer
Wooden Mills found that they made frst-class fac
tory operatives and now they rapidly obtaining
employment wherever patient manual labor, with
out any great amount of braip-work. is requisite.
Large numbers engaged as servants in families
hotels, &c, taking the places Of girls in chamber
work and cooking, in which they become very ex-
pert. large proportion of the Chinese immigration
consists Of boys from 10 TO l6 years of age who are
Immediately put out to service in families, where
they soon pick up knowledge of the language and
of household duties. In fact the Chinese are rapidly
monOpolizng employment in all the lighter branches
of industry usually allotted to women such as run
ming sewing-machines making paper bags AID boxes,
binding shoes, labelling and packing medicines &C.
They are good gardeners, and their assiduous care
produces the finest vegetables which enter the San
Francisco and Sacramento markets. But with the
exception of these little truck gardens they as yet
cultivate no land on their own account Many of
them engaged in picking fruit and tending vine
yards but few in the heavier work of the farm,
though individual cases here and there have demon
strated their capacity and it is probable that before
long the farmers of California will use their labor
to large extent.
But it would be easier TO recount the industries in
which Cinnamon are not yet TO some extent engaged
than to mention those in which they are and every
day their employment is extending, as employers in
ono branch of production after another discover
that they can avail themselves of this cheap labor
They are not only grading railways and opening
roads work for which they are now altogether re-
lied on) cutting wood, picking fruit. tending stock,
weaving cloth, and running sewing-machines; but
acting as firemen upon steamers running stationary
engines painting carriages, upholstering furniture
making boots, shoes. clothing cigars, tin and
wooden-ware.
Stand say at Clay and SansOme-sts., San Francisco,
about six in the afternoon and you will long lines
of Cinnamon coming from American workshops.
Pass up Jackson, Pacific or Dupont-sts. into their
quarter, and you may see them az work on their own
account. Besde the stall where the Chinese butcher
carves his vanished hog, or makes mincemeat of
slowed fowl, with cleaver such as was used by his
fathers long before our Savior sent the Devil into
the swine you may SEQ Cinnamon running sewing
machines, rolling cigars or working up tin with the
latest Yankee appliances. In front of the store win
dow, in which great clumsy paper clogs and glisten
ing anklets are displayed, and through which you
may watch the bookkeeper casting up his accounts