The union Democrat., 1869-08-21

send or take them to China. We have befor
Us SONS statistics, formerly published in
San Francisco paper, which show that durin,
the years of "a, '65 and ct, the sum of from
six to seven millions Of dollars in gold wa
annually shipped 10 China, where it re
msined-we receiving nothing in exchange
Had these sums been paid to American
laborers they would have been permanent,
invested here, and have gone TO increase tn,
taxable wealth of the State. The sole benefi
of Chinese labor consists in the labor itself
it yields no resultant or consequential ad
yantages; and it is evident that if the ma
terials upon which it is employed could bt
transported to China and the labor upoI
them be applied there, instead of here, tht
results would be very nearly the same.
The collateral advantages of the labor o
our own people. are even greater than III,
direct. a community OF laborers OF The
same race and habits may be regarded as s
large family; the legitimate pursuits o.
each conGuce TO the benefit of the Others
Society itself thus becomes vast net work
of mutual services and benefits. Thus II
has hitherto been with US. The American
laborer buys his food of one, his clothing
from second, and employs third of his
neighbors to build his dwelling. But this
is not all ; his earnings over and above the
support Of himself and family go to swell
the available capital of the country. Prob
ably, if the fact could be ascertaiued, il
would appear that nine-teaths or more oi
the capital OF our country originally existed
In the form of wages. 10 this way the
process goes on at sort of compound ra-
ito from year to year and FROM generation
to generation, and this it is that constitutes
the true material progress of the country.
Lord Macaulay, in striking passage OF bis
history, assigns as reason why her vast
public debt has not crushed Great Britain,
the fact that it is owing to her own people,
who receive the interest on it and keep II
in the kingdom. The same reasoning may
be applied to labor. The wages of our own
citizens being invested in our midst, tend
directly to promote the welfare of the coun-
try at large; the wages of Asiatic aliens,
being carried out Of the country, tend year
after year to diminish our resources.
Again, in addition to this while encour-
aging this race to flock to our country, we
are ipse tacto engaged in discouraging EN-
lgratlon from Europe of men Of our own
race and color. Encourage cheap labor and
you discourage emigration; because the
motive of the emigrant is the
hope OF betterirg his condition. When
wages are reduced to the rate to which
they must come, if Chinese labor continues
to be admitted indefinitely, this motive
will cease, and no longer will the impover-
ished natives of Europe seek food and an
asylum on our shores. This we conceive
TO DC one OF the most inevitable couse-
quences OF the importation of Chinese
a consequence desired by none. unless il
be those who are so enslaved by bigotry
that they prefer every other race to that
to which they themselves belong.
WHO ARE BENEFITED BY CHINESE LABOR q?
To this question, it will be answered,
that "cheap labor makes cheap products, :"
and the consumer rather than the capital.
isr will be the party chiefly benefited by
the importation of Chinese. Let us briefly
examine this position.
When labor gradually becomes cheaper
through the operation of natural laws and
the progress of the country, most products
will cheaper in the same ratio. Iu such
cases the laboriug man will expend the
same relative proportion OF his wages for
his support that he did before the fall, and
have the same proportion left to add to his
accumulations.
This reasoning does not apply to rents,
nor to the products of agriculture-the
price of which depends on the value OF
land aud the rates of interest on money,
rather than upon the price of labor. Nor
does it follow where the fall of wages is
caused by sudden, unnatural, and spas
mOolc action. In such cases cheap labor
does not operate directly to cheaper the
articles of consumption which it produces;
the price of such products remains as be-
fore, until brought down by competition
between the manufacturers themselves.
Meanwhile those who have no resources
but their labor must suffer greatly.
Do We now buy cigars any cheaper be-
cause for years past Chinese labor has been
exclusively employed In San Francisco in
them? Do we get woolens
or other fabrics any cheaper for the same
Have the rates of board at our
hotels and inns been reduced because Chi
nese servants are employed? And, lastly,
do travellers on the Central Pacific road pay
less transportation money because, as some
that great work could not have
been completed without the aid of Chi
nese! To all these questions We apprehend
a negative reply must be returned. Let
not the people then be deluded by the pre-
tence that this demand for cheap Asiatic,
rice consuming labor, is for their benefit
Not the public but the capitalists who EN-,
ploy them will reap the enhanced profit
accruing from preferriDg them to white
laborerS.
EFFECT OF THE FIFTEENTH AMENDMENT.
Hitherto We have said nothing relative to
the political aspect of this great question.
That 1t presents considerations of the very
highest importance to us all no one can
doubt who knows what the party in power
has already done, and Whist it proposes to do
towards radically changing the political sys
tenn of our fathers.
Those Chinese born herein nearly every
81, I'D e
Chinese brothels-are, by the operation
Of existing amendments to the Constitution
and the civil rights law, already citizens of
the United States. 1t is, howerer, from the
proposed 18th amendment that We have the
moStto apprehend. This amendment strikes
1t the very root of self government in the
States. by providing that 'Ule right of the
citizens OF The United States to pote shall not
be denied or abridged 6ythe United States, or
Jy any State, on account Of race, color, on
precious condition Of se1'pitude."
Ii this clause shall be ratitied-and we all
know that no means, fair or foul, to secure
its ratification will be spared-what will be
its effects upon the Chinese in our country
We answer that the monent they become
citizens they will also become voters at all
our elections. But, it will be sald they are
not citizens. True, they are not yet citizens,
except those born here) but we are not SO
sure that they cannot become such. Every
lawyer knows that it is a mooted question,
they may not, as the law stands, be
But admitting that they can
not, how easy it is to strike the word white"
out of the naturalization laws. Nay, how
easy ii Is, when il shall be necessary, to the
party in power, for Congress to clothe them
with the suffrage by wholesale, as it did the
negroes.
We know that their press and speakers
generally disavow such intentions. But
what confidence can we place in the asser
tiuns and good faith of those who have so
often deceived US? Not year has elapsed
since they proclaimed throughout the
Union that II was not their intention to
force negro suffrage upon any of the
States, except those recently in rebellion.
Yet no sooner had they succeeded in the
object which sueh false representations
were intended to promote, than they pro-
mulgated the Fifteenth Amendment,
which, if ratified, will make negroes
voters in every State of the Union. They
may possibly be sincere in their present