The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-07-30
FRIDAY, JULY 80, 1869.
THE CHINESE QUESTION:

N--'NNNF~N~@-~
question clearly indicate the increasing inn
portance of this topic Some of the Demo-
cratic journals are displaying their character
istic tendency to exalt party above country by
their efforts to give partisan bearing to the
controversy. Their creed may be briefly
summed up in the statement that they want
Chinese immigration in the South for the
purpose of counteracting the influence of the
negro, and they are at the same time opposed
to the introduction of the Celestials in the
Pacific and Northern States, because they
fear that they will become formidable indus
trial rivals of Democratic Irishmen. This
creed is as contemplate and marrow as it is
contradictory, and totally unworthy of the
consideration of those whose judgment is
controlled by a regard for the welfare of the
whole country
The London Times takes a much more
correct view of this ubject and virtually en-
dorses the opinions we have heretofore ex-
pressed in these columns by its statement that
''the Chinese may be welcomed as assistants
in colonization: and dnotfearedasa race likely to
dominate in future" Their ''ancient civliza-
ton and perfect economic methods can be
United States than in any other portion of
the world The vast debt pressing upon the
nation can only be paid, principal and inte-
rest, by the surplus agricultural and manufac-
turing products of our soil, and each addition
to the grand army of effective laborers will
lessen the burden of every existing citizen.
Three-fourths of territory, at this nom ent,
scarcely yield enough revenue to defray the
current expenses of their government. Proud
as we may be of the Far West, it costs infinitely
more to maintain frontier posts, to build rail
ways, to fight and feed the Indians, and to
protect and stimulate the advance of
civilization, than the trans-Mississippi regions
yield to the Treasury. This drain will con-
tinue for years if Asiatic emigration is not
attracted, but with its aid the productiveness
of the western half of the continent can be
increased with amazing rapidity. The Chi
nese possess in an eminent degree the practi-
cal knowledge which is most needed for the
development of our great plateaus and our
mountain regions. They are subject to eli
matte conditions similar to those which pre-
vail in large portion of China, and the pro-
posed new emigrants are masters of the art
specially adapted to California Arizona, Utah,
New Mexico, and Colorado. The
clamor against the Chinese is senseless
when it is confronted with the well-attested
fact that they have uniformly proved intelli-
gent, docile, and industrious laborers, whether
employed in constructing railways, in the cul-
tlvation of farms, in manufacturing establish
ments, or in household service. California
promises to acquire infinitely more wealth
from agriculture and manufactures than she
ever derived from her mines. But she needs
above all things labor. She rewards with ex-
travagant wages workmen of every grade
from every country, and yet, with millions of
acres awaiting the culture of intelligent in
dustry, and with soil we'll adapted not only
to the growth of the cereals, but to the growth
of the grape, fruits, and the favorite food of
the sllkworm, her Democratic politicians pro-
pose to close her ports against the most indus
trious, useful, and economical laborers she has
everhad, forthe allegedreason that they are too
useful, and their labor, in proportion to cost,
too productive! The folly of France in ban
ishing the Huguenot artisans was supreme
wisdom when compared with this modern ex-
nDlIloh OF superlatlVe stupidity.
In the Southern States the Chinese would
be perhaps even more useful than in the
West. 1t requires no stretch of the imagina-
tion to suppose that three millions of work
ing Cinnamon, under proper surroundings,
would do infinitely more work than has ever
been done heretofore by the whole body of
her population. 1t would be very easy task
for them to raise larger cotton crop than
that annually grown before the Rebellion, to
restore the ruined rice plantations of South
Carolina and Georgia, and to revive the droop-
ing sugar interest of Louisiana If they
were as industrious and skilful in this country
as they usually are in their own, they could
even do infinitely more for the South.
They could make the old dreams of raising
tea and manufacturing large quantities o
silk vivid realities, and develop to a wondrou
degree the latent resources which have s.
long been systematically neglected. The
would not necessarily become the rivals O
the present laborers of the South, but rathe
useful assistants. The States which went int
the Rebellion have land, room, and wor
enough to maintain q hundred millions G
people; and the sooner they attract fair pre-
portion of the complement of workme
needed to utilize their neglected plantations
the better will it be for the whole body of tn
present Southern population and the peopl
of all other sections of the country.