Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1869-06-07
CHINESE LABORERS.

We present below an interesting and
instructive letter from CHAs. w.
lLIGHTNER, Esq, a distinguished
Mining Engineer, of California, adj
dressed to a friend in this city. We
call attention to that portion of it
in which he remarks that the
six companys are able to turn Chinese
out by the thousand" The question
occurs to us can these " six companies"
which are wealthy Chinese corpora
| tions-be induced to locate at one or
more of our seaport cities, or in Mem
phis, as a base of operations for the
South? New Orleans is but eighteen
days farther from Canton than San
Francisco. The idea of Chi
nese immigration is beginning
to take a tangible form, and
we trust that some move will be made
in the matter before it is too late for
next season. VIII the seaports re-
spond? VIII the rice-growers and SUI
gar planters give this scheme the ear
nest consideration it deserves? 1t
will be noticed that Mr.. LIGHTNER
had but one foreman to seventy-fve
or one hundred hands, and found
them faithful, reliable and efficient.
What if all the plantations in the
South We're manned by such people?
For such labOrers as are here
described no c~anvassing would
be required; five hundred thou
sand could find employment at
once in any one of the Southern
States. But we will not keep the read
er longer from Mr.. LIGHTNER's inter-
esting letter:
STOCKTON, CAL, May 2G, 1869.
Dear j. NJ: l will give you my ideas of
the Chinese question. My absence from
your present field of labor for so long a
term of years, renders me unfit to draw
any comparison as to labor employed in
the Valley of the Mississippi and that of
the Chinese. / can only compare the lat
ter with that of the ordinary unskilled
labor here, and therefore in handling the
subject you must do up the comparison
yourself. During the past three years l
nave worked from seventy-ive to one
hundred Chinese, at the BoraX Lake and
sulphur mandatory in Lake county, and
all my observations there lead me to free
" say that both the manufacturing of
borax and sulphur woald have been a
total failure with any other kind of labor.
/ had several kinds of labor to perform
with them; the first required them to be
owe their knees in the soft alkaline mud
in which the crystals of boraX is found. /
The second was the employment of hands
-, .gha-a 4pfnr nm .Tnhnr thu hnf1nr 90 1
sorting the material, ~dissolving the bOrax
in particular solution varying in temper
allure and specific gravity, ~stringing the
tanks, selecting and packing the market
able crystals, marking and numbering the
boxes, etc. At the sulphur works the la
Dor consisted of mining and selecting the
ores, loading them in cars, charging the
~retorts, firing up in the furnace, refining
and packing the sulphur. l have found
them as a class patient, honest, indus
trioUs and intelligent, and, with the ex-
ceptiOn of the carpenters and blacksmiths
and one foreman, at the sulphur works,
the entire work was done by them. One
remarkable trait in their character con-
sists in this, that you have rarely TO teach
them the same thing twice. Once having
shown them a method of working, and
they adhere to it with an almost mechan-
ical perseverance. Even in the refining,
they become cOnversant with the uses of
inc 0NuGOllCIeE anu lueTLlOlIlcief, the
time required for crystalizing, the quality
of the salts, etc, etc. j believe they
could be instructed into being the very
best of sugar boilers, soap manufacturers,
and other trades in which constant watch
ingis required, and in whiebEYhite men,
once acquiring what they conc& to be the
important part of a process, are apt to
overvalue their services and strike accOr-
dinghy.
The wages paid them are 81 % (gold)
per diem ten hours) for working in the
mud and water, and in the sulphur re-
filming; 81 20 gold for ordinary shore and
mining ~wOrk-hOuSe rent free, fuel free,
they boarding themselves. This they
were content TO do. Their grand staples,
rice at eight cents per pound, pork eleven
cents per pound, tea seventy-five cents
per pound, were furnished and deducted
from their months pay.
They bring to this country a few nation
al prejudices, principally a jealousy of one
party of 4 different section; politics or re-
] am satisfied, nave nothing to do
with their difficulties. These are rarely
carried to any extreme, and are developed
more in a stubborn dislike to work with
a rival party and a total want of charity
or even pity for the troubles of any one ?
from their own Chinese locality, i
nave found it better when working one
or so to have them of twop parties
exciting the one by the other. A few
words from a white Overseer will at any
quell a disturbance. Let them have
separate quarters, and fields or parts of
work allotted to them, and there will be -
no difficulty in managing them.
They care but little for holidays, anda are y
supremacy Indifferent to the elective fran
chise, whether at general or primary cleo
tons; like a tolerably bad article oil whis- ,
ky, if cheap, drinking it entirely out of
working hours; and detest tolls and taxes a
No - ITs-I1--1-
all fond of gambling, but it is the policy of i
The overseer to stop it, as ono will often
of months wages in advance, and
ike ourselves hate paying for "dead 0
horses" They generally, when in large
bodies, ask for two or three days in Feb
-uary New Years., and one or two laws {
II September full moon (gOOd daysl and
will work all the better for having these
holidays. They make but little show of
he little religion they have, and take no
pains to make proselytes to their belief.
gn0ring the idea that an outsider can
yer see their heaven under any circum- =
tances.
Now, as to inducing any large portion
" them to migrate to your district, il is
too much for a party here to ven =
ure it. An agent leaving this coast to
anvasS the older States for "a market for
heir labor has too much to learn, and too
hort a time to learn it in. While there 1
re mere plenty OF men who are ]
with the method of getting any
together for any mining or rail-
DAD contract; and while the "six compa-
lies" are able to turn them out by the
thousands, it is another thing to ask them "
0 go so far away from the only line of
Communication they have with their ma
i've home. The uncertainty of the eli
nate, and the people they have to go
mongst, the nature of the work they are
be employed at, the facilities for OBJ
their favorate food, rice-and here
It me say they have a poor opinion of
"swamp seed" and would starye
n it, their small grained rice being much
cher n more farinaceous land pork
will for a long time, or until they
re satisfied in these respects, prevent -
lem from leaving here. Should a COM
any of men, in say Memphis or New Or
ans, raise a fund of $500, 900, 1 believe
nat by sending out a proper agent, who
-ould be associated with some party here.
/ whom the six companies have conf
ence, they would be able to secure from
700 to 5000 men who would be willing to
Y the experiment. / assure You that ar
pmp cOnll hn mada for fhair noe