The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1869-08-21

jectionablc, not because Chinese labor is CHEAP
labor, not because it is Chinese labor, but he.
cause the system is opposed to the laws Of political
economy. There need be, however, no difficulty
in dealing with the question, If the various
States will act with prudence. In the first place,
without special State legislation, no contract
made for labor in China can be enforced in tho
United States. The common law rule is that con-
tracts made in a foreign country must be governed
by the local laws Of the country where they are to
be carried into effect. Our local laws provide no
means by which Cinnamon can be forced into
complying with the terms of a contract for labor /;
and, therefore, all we have to do is to see that no
special Legislation is obtained by interested par
ties, for this purpose"
At the first Memphis Convention Northern
labor and capital were thought to be the most
powerful means which could be used for develop
ing the Southern States. The advent of Mr..
koopmanschap however and his proposed plan of
coolie emigration seems to have struck a chord
in the Southern heart which met with an imme-
date response from the unregenerated slave hold
ss of bygone days, and his offer to furnish
coolies was seized upon and adopted as the means
Of developing the South.
The action of the Convention has caused no
little excitement and the leading men of the
North have attacked it with spirit and ability.
Says one paper:
1t Is pitiful to see men who pretend to lead and
inform their n~eighbors still dwelling about snew
ways to develop their States, and catching eagerly
at every means of reviving that system of slave
labor which has been the curse of the Southern
States and the cause, the only cause, that they are
less p~opulous, and that their people are less wealthy
and prosperous than the region further North.
No new way is needed. There is an old way, a
way which has developed q dozen States, all less
favored by nature than any Southern State n way
which has made the Northwest great, powerful, en-
ergetic, intelligent which has flled n large region
with an intelligent. thrifty people which has built
up rich commemorative while men in Southern
States were holding conventions and talking which
has made the West the wonder of the world.
Why not adopt this old way? 1t is cheap it is
certain 1t Is, as the census will tell any doubter,
rapid beyond expectation. IL needs no conventions
1t requires no Intermediates like KOopmanschap and
Orr it demands no investment Of capital.
This old way Of development is by free labor. Free
men VIII go ut their own expense, where slaves must
be carried at the expense Of others. Freemen will
build schools, churches, towns. and auadruple the
value Of lands, where . coolie slaves will only make
costly wilderness. Free labor brings civilization,
with all its peaceful arts. its varied Industries, its
intelligence, all Of which combine to make free goy-
possible. sCoolie labor, which is slave
labor, will bring only more barbarism, more vio-
lence. more Reorganization, vice, and lawlessness,
and viii drive OH, as surely as the old slave labor
lid, the free lnborers, the enterprising, active, intel
igcnt, industrious population, on which every State
must depend for its glory and true prosperity"
Language which we advise our rulers to read
Ind ponder upon.