The Portland daily press., 1869-05-05
What shall be Done with John China


Somebody very sagaciously calls this ''the
coming question And indeed it is a very Sc
rious one. The presence of from three to five
hundred million Cinnamon opposite the "a
cifc coast, whose access to our shores and to
the whole COUNT is made easy by the success
full establishment of the Pacific Mail Steam
ship line and the. completion OF the Pacific
railroad already gives rise to grave apprehen-
sions The Oriental is not, relative to our
own people, luxurious being He can live
less extensively than we, and can therefore
work for less pay. This circumstance is the
immediate occasion of the jealousy of the in
habitants of the Pacific coast and of all the in
vdious laws that they enact mulcting the es-
tate and abridging the personal rights of emf
grants from the East But there is graver
difficulty that has yet to be fully appreciated
The Chinaman is an incorrigibe heathen.-
He cares nothing for republican government
or for any of the social and religious institu-
tions Of his adopted country. He is merely
coming to get the good wages and the sumptu-
Gus fare of the outside barbarians. He has a
semi -barbaric cowardice with the undeveloped
moral perceptions of all uncivilized people
Yet unless we are Tcduy W CAdASO phO ohOchJ
OF our political system and put up bar that
shall either exclude him from the country or
keep him out Of the body polite after he
gets here, be must be admitted, whenever he
requires it to all the rights of citizenship. If
the latter alternative is accepted Cinnamon
might SO recruit the ranks Of their country
men in the United States-now embracing on
ly $4,000 or 100000 people-as to obtain COM
plete political ascendency, their initiative tai
ent enabling them to adopt the American sys-
TEN of organization for that purpose. Hence
timid people are apprehensive that the encour-
agement Of Chinese emigration will result in
the supplanting of the constitution by the in
stitutes of Confucius, and that the Re-
public will be utterly wrecked by this great
tide of emigration from the East.
It would be an unfortunate necessity that
should compel the nation to accept the views
of the people of California, Oregon and Neva-
da and shut our doors to these new guests who
are ready to come in swlrms. Probably the
anticipated trouble is greater than the real one
will prove to be. China is overcrowded, and
hence the ease with which the population oy-
erfiows to other lands. But the exclusive pol
icy which has been heretofore in vogue in that
country has now been altogether broken down.
The world is all before the Chinaman, as it is
to other men, and perhaps he may sometimes
90 elsewhere than America. Besides, the lat
er civilization of which he has just become
aware, may teach him new arts and new pro-
ductve industries that will give him profitable
employment at home. More than all, il is to
be considered whether it is likely that Chinese
emigrants making America their home will be
able to resist the tendency of our institutions
to assimilate and make into homogeneous
populace all the elements that are brought in
to contact with them If he can resist this
salutary influence, brings China with him and
keeps it here, he is indeed an apple of discord