The New York herald., 1869-07-06

laDorers Is eXcltlng great interest Ill Vfei 'uo
| country. and large number of our exchanges
| come to us with articles and comments thereon.
| But it Is more particularly In the South that
| the greatest interest is awakened. We pub
| lished Yesterday the call for convention in
| Memphis, of delegates from the cities, towns
and counties of the neighboring States, to con-
slider the subject and initiate plans for bring
ing in large numbers Of Chinese under labor
contracts. One of the leading Chinese opera
tors in this business in California has an
nounced his intention to attend the conyen-
| ton for the purpose of offering contracts, and
we are informed that parties in New York are
| preparing to visit M empbis at the same time
with offers of great facilities for transporta-
| ton. The convention will meet on the 18th
| instant and there is no reason why fifty or
| hundred thousand Chinese should not be put
| on the cotton plantations Of the South in
| time for the picking of next years crop
That the convention at Memphis will be
numerously attended there cannot be the slight
est doubt but though eminent as agricultural
laborers it is not alone in tling the earth that
the Chinese are adapted to fill our social
wants The experiment has been made in
California and has proved success. Nearly
two hundred thousand Chinese have already
poured in through the Golden Gate, and to-
day they dig the mines and the canals, build
the railroads, till the vineyards and the gar
dens, fill the household duties of cooks,
laundrymen and male servants, throng in the
factories, the foundries, the mills aud the
machine shops, and are ready to undertake
any kind of labor, heavy or light. In TACT, to
| them is due the great revolution in production
in California which enables home industry
and skill to supply every public want aud
contribute to the rapidly increasing wealth Of
the community. They are Industrious to
high degree, frugal and shrewd in business,
keen in finance and will create wealth where
others would starve. Their intellectual oul-
ture Is Of high order, and the moral precepts
of their faith assimilate in high degree with
those of the Christian religion
The stimulus that brings them hlther is the
vast difference in the wages Of labor in the
crowded area Of the Chinese empire, where
working man can earn but few cents day,
and those of our own prosperous but thinly
settled country The channels of communica-
ton and supply, now but just opened, must
continue to increase In capacity until sp ap-
Proclamation in the level of ws.es las been
reached Where that lcpci will lie it is now
impossible to estimate. The advent of steam,
the raj ard the electric wire in China, will
;col 10 increase employment and raise the
SC tbax, hn l.a
and in Europe, by increasing the facilities for
distribution and consumption Of his produc-
tlons. Whether the men of China be brought
here to till our lands and attend our machines,
Or the machines I've taken to China, the effect
upon the general condition of mankind must be
the samoa great increase in production, and
q commerce that viii surpess the widest
dreams of the merchant. 1t is estimated that
the steam engine has increased the produc-
tive powers of the twenty millions who
inhabit England a hundred fold, and
it is known fact that while population in any
country increases in a given arithmetical ratio
commerce increases in similar gcometrcal
ratio, go that when the population has doubled
their trade has increased fourfold.
Apply this rule to our own production and
commerce under the stimulus Of Chinese im-
migration, or to those of China under steam on
her rivers and canals and in her manufac-
tories, and II will almost seem that millennium
of trade is close at hand, when every man
shall be clothed in silks and every woman be
decked with pearls This problem is destined
to be first worked out in the great valley of
the Mississippi, through the agency of steam
on the Pacific Ocean and multiples of the iron
way from the Pacific to the great river.
Already an agency in st. Louis announces
that it is ready to contract to deliver fifty
thousand Chinese laborers, aud General
Forrest has closed for one thousand to Gil q
railroad construction contract which he
has undertaken. The South is the FIRST
In the field, because, in consequence
of recent events, her needs are greater than
ours. But we have our needs too, which the
Chinese immigrant can and no doubt will fiji.
The mission which pertains to us, however, is
to see that this great experiment In human de-
velopment under constitutional government be
conducted with that respect for individual
rights which our laws and our treaties guaran-
tee. Conflicting immigratlons from Europe
and Asia to our great field of enterprise will
give rise TO many interesting problems In so
cial government, 10 morals and 10 religion !;
for with industrial and commercial prosperity
comes great mental activity They can all
harmonic under the psnoply of free govern
ment, aud our ability to lead them to that re-
suit will be The highest test Of our greatness ss