Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1869-12-04
THE LABOR QUESTION.
European VS.. Chinese ImmigraIiO

European vs.. Chinese immigration.
= the Editors of the Union and American
Since the war, many efforts have been
made to attract foreign emigration into
the Southern States, in order the more
rapidly to build up the waste places, in
crease the great industrial products, and
restore the former richness of the South.
By common consent of all classes, not
only is immigration regarded as desirable
for our industry, credit and wealth, but as
Indispensable to keep pace with the pro
gTeSs of other States.
Some worthy citizens have conceivedthe
notion that the demand for labor in the
South can best be supplied from the 3O0,-
600, 900 of people which fill the Chinese
Empire; many Southern journals have
gravely discussed the speediest method
and best plan for importing cargoes of
coolies the Memphis and other Southern
Commercial Conventions have deliberated
and resolved upon the subject; and certain
gentleman have organized an 'Immigrant
Company for the purpose of undertaking
the business Of introducing these China
men to order, by hundreds or by thou
sands.
Some men seem to imagine that a vast
multitude of these almond-eyed Orientals
are already on the way from California,
have assembled the slopes of the Sierra
Nevada and Rocky Mountains, spurning
with their feet the golden sands and silver
fields along the overland route, and fol-
lowing the track of the Pacific Railroad,
ar.n oil, 70 into I,a b..
Valley flood Of relocating, Tat-CatChing
pig-tails.
Congress must Immediately legislate
upon the subject of Chinese immigration
and the cOolie trade. "The States
must take this matter in hand, or we
shall be oveTun with these celestial bar
barians,' eXclaims a timid wiseacre.
This idea of immigration into the Southern
States is q hltmGiiQ of the first aOGteT.
Those persons who believe that it is praC-
ticahle, desirable or even possible, to in
troduce into the South, this class of la
bOrers in large numbers, are wholly ignO-
rant of the Chinese, their habits, andtheir
national characteristics. The writer of
this article draws his conclusions from a
residence of ten years ON the Pacific coast,
with abundant opportunity for seeing
thousands of these people in California
and elsewhere.
Almost every city and town upon that
coast has its Chinese quarter, with shops,
stores, laundries and gambling houses,
sometimes with a joSh-hOUse, or little
temple for worship, with its idols. The
Chinaman is industrious, but he is gre
garious night-owl and good liver; he is
torn to gamble, as he is to eat
pigs and chickens if he can get them.
Some Chinese merchants of San Francisco
are men of wealth and intelligence, and |
have stocks of teas and other AsiatiC pro
ducts TO the value of hundreds Of thou |
sands. Like many Americans and men
of other nations, these people would rush |
to the uttermost ends of the earth-pass |
through fire and water-fOr a chance in |
a gold mine But of all those who have |
come to, or are now in California, only |
a small portion remain more than four or |
five years; all expect to return to the |
FlOwery Kingdom dead or Gtipe; The |
bodies of those who die in this country |
are preserved and religiously restored to |
their friends in few months. A China |
man believes that he would stand%uo |
chance to raise at Gabriel COnfucius'
trump, if he was left to mOuldeT in the |
outside barbarian world; hence, vessels
which are in the China trade from Cali
fornia, and bring on cargo of live |
Johns, return with mixed Cargo-sOme |
dead and some alive. He rarely brings his
wives and children with him; female immi- |
grafton is like smuggling; of the several |
Chinese women on the Pacific |
coast, with here and there an exception,
they are all prostitutes of the lowest |
order
Cinnamon receive for labor in Califor-
MIA from 500 to $50 per month in gold. |
What would our Southern planters do |
with Iaborers at such wages But did |
not Mr.. KOOpmanschap, a man who has
been largely engaged in the business of |
these people to California, come
all the way from San Francisco to attend |
the Memphis Convention, and afterwards
visited many sections of the South, pro-
posing to import Cinnamon here Ger
tainly, he did. And we happen TO have
met and had personal interviews with Mr..
Koopmanschap, both before and after his
visit to the Mississippi valley, and we
know his private opinion in this matter.
He is a commercial man, shrewd and in
defatigable in business, and ready for a
trade in any quarter of the globe If |
Louisiana, Mississippi, or Texas planters,
viii furnish the necessary funds-sO much |
per capita-he will guarantee to bring
them a cargo of Hottentots or Fejee
Islanders. Whether the planters shall be
suited or not with the fellows, when they
get them, is ga horse of another color"
The idea, and the talk of introducing
Chinese immigration to the South, is q
bubble and sham, about which there
is no more necessity for legislation-State
or national-than there is in regard to the
Ecumenical Council.
Twenty years hence, John Chinaman,
with his g-tail, and his chop-stick, will
be as great a curiosity in any Southern
State or city, as an Indian in London or
Paris.
"LdbOr is Capit0l-POpulation is
Wealth. "-The.hope and main reliance
of every civilized country lie in its hard
working farmers and sturdy mechanics.
There are two great classes of labor upon