The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1869-06-30

parent population that the emigration from
Ireland and Germany bears to the home
population of those countries, the male
adults of Monaghan origin on this continent
would soon out-number those of the Euro
pean race.
SOCIAL AND POLITICAL IMPORTANCE OF THE
PROBLEM.
When we consider that the prejudice of
race is, with US, part of the foundation OF
politics; that the moral characteristics OF
various nationalities become important parts
of the framework on which parties are con-
structed; that the opposing armies which
fight with the ballot, and at times threaten
the sword, are, to large extent, massed
by races; when we consider this, and then
turn to the prospect of homogeneous mass
of people among us, their male adults out
numbering largely those of all other compo-
nent parts of the population, and having
no sympathetic bond with us in their Ian
guage, traditions, or, so far as it goes for
anything, their religion; then the social and
political Importance of this great problem
dawns on the mind.
To the thinker who has come to look upon
the Americas as the birthright of the Eu-
ropean under the tutelage of the Anglo
Saxon; as presenting the prospect Of a hem
isphere peopled with a new race built up
from the best elements of the European,
numbering more than twice the present pop
ulation of the globe; a race which will be
HOMOGENEOUS, enjoying the most complete
means of inter communication by steam and
electricity, having one language, one form
of government and one idea of God; to him
the startling possibilities involved in the
problem before us come az the discovery OF
neglected data, which may invahdate the
results of years of calculation.
If the probabilities of the case bear any
proximate relation to the possibilities, the
teeming population of our hemisphere two
or three centuries hence may have more
Chings and Changs in their genealogical
trees than Smiths and Browns; for, other
things being equal, the predominant blood
will be that of the race best able to main
tain an undiminished rate of increase; and
the vitality of the Chinese nation during
a constant struggle for life seems to bespeak
for it at least equally favorable prospects in
less crowded homes.
With an emigration from China standing
in the same ratio to the home population
that the drain from Germany holds to the
population of that country, we should have
an influx of more than a million Chinese
yearly. Ten years of this rate would place
upon our soil a preponderance of male adults
of Monaghan blood over those of all the
other families of man among US.
The perception of this possibility cannot
but awaken in the mind of the true Ameri
can the gravest thoughts The social, po-
litical, and chronological questions involved
are of transcendent Importance.
The question of the prohibition or the
heavy taxation of Chinese immigration is
almost sure to be one of the earliest and
most bitterly fought political issues of the
Far West. The hostility to the Chinese of
the white laborers, especially of the Irish,
is already beginning to show itself openly
in the most violent acts of intimidation
But it is not difficult to foresee, that any leg
islation, which has for its object the sup
preston of any social element or force that
has once shown itself to be a necessity in
rapidly carrying forward the system of in
ternal improvements on which large part
of our material industry rests, must ulti-
mately fail
We may therefore assume that the recog-
milton of the necessity of Chinese labor in
the Far West insures an influx of Chinese,
proportionate at least to the extent of the
great system of public works, which will be
needful for the growth of the Western States
and Territories We shall see, further on,
that these Asiatics are obtaining strong foot
hold in almost all other branches of labor,
because they answer the requirements better
than any other class of people. 1t is there
fore not improbable that they will find their
way, in large numbers, to this side of the
Rocky Mountains.
Is it probable that the party warfare of
the country will leave this enormous guam
tity of possible political force, in the latent
condition appertaining to aliens2
Gaining the right to vote means gaining
citizenship, the removal of disqualifcations,
and the protection of their distinctive in
terests and customs to a degree proportionate
to the number of their votes. Having
obtained these, the Chinese emigrant will
become, beyond doubt, permanent citizen.
With this prospect before us it may not
be uninteresting to glance at the characteris-
tics of this race, both in countries to which
they have emigrated, and in their own home
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CHINESE.
Twenty years of contact between the two
races in California have done little toward
removing the prejudice against the Chinese.
They have poured steadily into and out of
the country; but, surrounded by barriers,
they have been forced to form world of
their own. Within this some fifty thousand
men have been thriving, while many of them
have amassed large fortunes. Many an
enterprise, too, has swamped in failure, which
would have given brilliant returns but fer
the tyranny of white workmen who prevented
the employment of cheap Chinese labor.
This tyranny is met with at every step: from
the courtroom, where the Chinaman is de-
MED the right of giving evidence in mixed |
cases, to the "gold diggings,' where white
rowdies, acting as selfappointed collectors,
levy the mining tax which is never assessed |
upon Americans. Recently, however, vari-
Gus manufacturers, farmers, and others, |
Drawing that wild beast, the Irish mob, have
begun to employ Chinese labor, and with
such success that capitalists see in it the
sinew and muscle of the Far West.
A writer in the Overland Monthly, March,
1869, says of the Cinnamon:
What they want is employment and such pay as