Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1869-07-23
The Chinese Labor Question.
The Memphis Convention.

We take the following faithful synopsis
of the proceedings of the Convention
which recently assembled at Memphis
Tenn, to consider the Chinese Labor
Question, from the Baltimore Gazette Oul
space will not allow moro detailed report
of the proceedings, especially ut this
time
After q session Of three days, the Mem
phis Labor Convention closed its labOrs
and adjourned on Thursday last. It was
largely attended by delegates of high char
acter from all the States of the South, and
much interest was manifested in the pro-
ceedings. The correspondence read and
the speeches made there throw consider
able light on the question of Chinese Ia
Dor. 1t was shown by the Committee on
Transportation that cargoes Of Cinnamon
could be brought from Hong Kong to San
Francisco, and thence by rail to Memphis,
at cost of about 800 head. It was be-
lieved that if sent by rail from San Fran
cisco, in lots of five hundred or more, the
total cost of transportation would be still
further reduced. The time occupied in the
transit from Hong Kong to Memphis by
steamer and rail, is estimated at thirty five
days.
Among the letters read before the Con-
vention was one from that restless wan
derer, Walter IL. Gibson, whose voyages
among the islands of the Malay archipela-
go, and whose imprisonment by the Dutch
authorities of Java gave rise some twenty
years ago to long diplomatic correspon-
denco with the Government of the Neither
lands, and claims for damages which have
never to this day been conceded. Suisse
H., 20 TtoI,
he embraced Morn onism, and it may be
but of this we have no certain kno Wedge
also q plurality of wives. How he came
to abandon the Church of the Latter Day
Saints and migrate elsewhere, it is impos-
siblo to say, but he next turned up in the
Sandwich Islands, and has been acting
latterly as Commissioner of Emigration
nnder m appointment from his dusky
majesty, the King of Hawaii. In this Ca
pacity he processes to have had consid-
cradle experience with Chinese labor,
having employed the different races and
tribes of the Chinese Empire in the sugar
and cotton and rice plantations of the
Sandwich Islands, and also in various me,
chanical pursuits, and as cooks and house
servants.
Mr.. Gibson warns the Convention that
the whole success of the enterprise now
contemplated by Southern people will de-
pend upon sele Getting the Chinese emigrants
with particular reference to the work re-
quired Of them. He alleges that neglect
of this precaution has resulted in great
disappointment and mischief in Peru,
Cuba and other countries, and that in the
Hawaiian Islands the planters suffered at
first for want of thorough practical kpowl-
edge on the subject. Mr.. Gibson also
claims to have had much to do with the
Japanese. If not quite SO energetic as the
Chinese, he regards them as more docile,
and is of opinion that they wo1ld become
desirable colonists and permanent laborers.
These views we're, in the main, confirm
ed by Mr.. Tye Kim Orr, an Intelligent
Chinese traveller, who was present OF the
Convention, and in very good English
spoke of the Coolie system as he found it
in the West India Islands. He found O
considerable number of Chinese employed
on the plantations in Jamaica. He could
not say how many. In British Guiana
there are twelve thousand SO engaged, and
also an indefinite number in Cuba, Martin
ique and Surinam 81 don't know the
statistics" he said, "but they are all get
ting along we'll" TO the objection that
the Chinese were Pagans, he answered
shrewdly, Il know the Chinaman is
heather, but you want cotton and cano.
and if he makes them you will not mach
object to him. Besides" he added, you
may be the means of evangelizing them. -
The Chinese" he went On to remark,
" are a dociIe patient. susceptible people,
and will follow and love those who will try
to teach and benefit them. You be kind
to them,' said he, earnestly, land they
will love you"
Nevertheless, like Mr.. Gibson, he coun-
selled great care in selecting the proper
class of emigrants. They must not be
taken from the "wharf rats, but from tho
rural population, ga hundred miles or so
from the coasts, where the people are ag-
riculturists. The wages of field hands in
China, he said, were from eighteen to
twenty dollars year. But the cost of iv-
ing is cheap there, and they grow their own
vegetables. In the districts to which he
referred, I" they grew cotton, rice and su-
gar, and know the cultivation" Subsist-
ing almost wholly on rice, fish and vegeta-
bles. the Chinese laborers are neither so
large. he said, nor so strong as white men.
But they are expert, frugal and industrious,
with great powers Of imitation.
The proper sort of men could be had in
abundance, and women, who work in the
fields with the men, if they too are needed.
He cautioned the Convention not to rely
on spectators for supplies of Immigrants.
but to send agents to China and make a
careful selection there.
Mr.. Koopmanshaap, who had the chief
contract at San Francisco for importing
Cinnamon to work on the Pacific Railroad,
next addressed briefly the Convention. In
California. he said, the Chinese laborers
were getting thirty-fve dollars month,
He admitted that such wages would be too
high at the South, and thought that all
the labor required could be had at twelve
dollars month. In Cuba and Peru the
Coolies got eight dollars q month. But
with all the Cinnamon who might be |
brought South to work on the plantations, |
he considered that a stringent contract
should be made, as they could not be de-
pended upon to fulfill any verbal engage
ment at fixed sum, if other planters offered /
them better wages.
The report of the Committee on Immi-
sunAT< = II