The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1869-06-30
CHI AR ES T ON
WEDNESDAY MORNING, JUNE 80, 1869.
What VIII They Cost :

| What VIII Thoy Cost
A correspondent of the New York Jour-
nal Of Commerce, who lived six years in
California, and was able to familiarize him
self with the character and. enterprise Of
the Chinese, speaks in high terms Of their
industry and adsptabihty ~ laborers. The
immig-atiop Of Chinese to California was
large in 1s49, and has been steadily increas-
ing ever since. Since the commencement
Of railroads and other enterprises in the
Pacific States, immigration has been wisely
encouraged, and Chinese merchants have
been found ever ready to supply any num-
Dor Of their eountrymen TO perform tho
labor required on those works. As early
ss 1865, Chinese merchant named Ayuk,
then doing business in San Francisco, went
to Louisians and other Southern States with
IIa view to mako contracts with the Southern
| planters to furnish them laborers from his
native country. On his return to New
York he expressed his opinion that his
countrymsn would be moro oontentsd and
better satisfied to live in the Southern
States than in any others he had visited.
The correspondent Of the Journal ofCom-
merce also says that he is induced to be-
lievs that Mr.. F. K. Foreman, now begin
ming a leoturing tour in the South, is en-
ploy red BY the Chinese merchants Of Cali
fornis, with the view Of promoting an ex-
tensive Introduction Of Intelligent, tempe
rate, industrious, psaceabls Ohipsses labor
ers, (not coolis ssrfs,) who being natives Of
climate almost exactly the same IS that
Of Louisisns and Mississippi, will be per-
fectly competent TO perform the same task
in the sugar cane and cotton fields as was
heretofore performed b. the slaves.
No considerable quantity Of cane sugar
nor Of cotton has been prsduosd by the
labor Of white men. In the South our. de-
pendenoe is on negro labor, and the
negroes-never sufficient for ell our sgri-
cultural purposes-become less numerous
every day. We have not now more than
one half Of the working force that We had
in 1860, and coolie labor is all that We have
to look to -ss the mesns Of inoressing the
yield Of cotton and rice in the bottom lands
and on the coast where white men cannot
work. Half senillion Chinese introduced
into the rich susar, cotton and rice fields
Of the South. would soon bring them back
to the productive condition Of times past,
whom they yielded fve millions three hun
drsd and eighty-ssven thousand and fifty
two Is, ,Ss7, ,852) )1bales Of cotton, four hun.
dred and -ifty' thousand ESQ., .oOo) hogs
heads Of cane sugar, .ssyen hundred thou
sand GOO, 0,000) barrels Of molasses, two
hundred thousand Goo. .OOV casks Of rice,
and one hundred and eighty thousand
(1sO, ,0O0) hogshesds Of tobacco in single
year. - .....ss'.4rT .sf'
The main question is, however, what will
the coolies cost At this moment We are
not able to give any trustworthy informa-
tion as to rates of wages; but something is
known Of the cost Of transportation.
The New York Journal Of Commerce
says that an enterprising New York mer-
chant in the China trade offers to bring
Chinese laborers in his ships and deliver
them ct that port for $75 apiece. We un-
derstand that bis terms will be accepted il
he will change the point Of delivery to the
mouth Of tho Atohafalsya River, ono hum
dred miles below New Orleans, and within
twenty miles Of railroad connection with
that city. Putting in at the Atchafalaya
would lengthen the homo voyage number
Of days, and would, on that account, be
disadvantage to the shipper. As the Lou
isisna planters are very desirous to import
Chinese there is every prospect that sat-
isfactory arrangement will be made, if not
in regular New York packets, then in ves-
sells chartered for the purpose. ASt. Louis
paper recently stated that Cinnamon could
be brought from California to St. Louis for
$50. The cost Of taking them to New Or
leans would be about $40 It would pay
handsomely to obtain them by that route;
but they could not be contracted for on such
favorable terms round by sea. In response
to the demand for this labor, it is probable
that competition will bring down the rates
for Cinnamon between shsngahae and San
Francisco, and that they can be delivered
cheap enough acress the Pacific Railroad
to make it pay to import them by that route.
But the voyage round the Horn meets
every present wish as to price.
1t is evident, then, that the troublesome
labor problem is in fair way of being
solved. The future prosperity of the rich
est portions Of the South depends on the
number of Chinese immigrants that can be
obtained and put into the rich fields now
oyerprown with weeds and briers. The