The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1869-07-28
COLUMBIA. e.. ..S.. ! G.
Wednesday Morning, July 20. 1859.
The Law Against Coolie Importation.
The New York Times makes the fol.


lowing comments on the coolie trade.
Whether or not its statements are cor
rect, we cannot assert, and give the arti-
Gle for what it is worth:
I've publish, this morning, the more
important section of the law adopted by
Congress prohibiting the importation Of
Chinese coolies into this country. It will
be seen that the enterprise in which
Messrs. Cornelius Koopmanschaap & Co.
and others, Of San Francisco, have been
largely engaged, and into which the late
Memphis Labor Convention wished to
embark, is as illegal as the slave trade,
and punishable by fine and imprison-
ment. This law was adopted in 1862,
when the feeling of the North and of its
representatives in Congress was at its
height against slavery and the slave
trade, and at time when the Cuban
planters were largely adding to their Ia
porlng force by the purchase of this class
OF workers. There was at that time no
material interest to advance an argument
1nfavor of the iceolie trade; there was no
demand for coolies, either at the South
or on the Pacific coast; and in default of
other arguments, the public antipathy to
the traffic decided that the law should be
passed, and it is an existing statute at
this time.
lit is not to be OF once admitted that
there are strong reasons, involving the
material prosperity of the country or
any section of it, which now demand
the total repeal Of this law. At the same
time, the strong feeling which existed in
1862, and which dictated its adoption.
ought not to stand in the way of its mo-
dihcation or alteration if the prosperity
OF the country demands the admission
OF this class OF laborers as we admit
others. There is no longer any doubt
ot-the great value and economy of Chi
nese coolies as agricultural laborers; they
have been tested as common lahorers on
various public improvements in the West,
and have been found more economical
than the Irish; but they have not proved
to be available as skilled laborers There
is no doubt that the Pacific coast needs
labor, and that Asia will most probably
supply that demand for many years to
come. The conditions, in an industrial
sense, are, therefore, somewhat changed
from what tney were when the law was
passed, and favor its modification. The
conditions, politically and socially, are
also materially altered, and these also
favor the modification of the law. To
prohibit the coolie trade entirely is to
prohibit the immigration of the Chinese.
The coolies are too poor to immigrate
without help; their Government will not
send them, and hence those in need of
their labor will have to supply the means
OF transportation. This subject of coolie
labor is one which will largely interest
the country for many years to come; it
IS one upon which the public want. ex-
tended practical information; and it is
to take new action in the light of devel-
opments of later date than the passage
of the prohibitory act alluded to-
Still further commenting on the
Koopmanshaap enterprise, the Times
says:
"His enterprise comes under an act
passed during the second session of the
Thirty-seventh Congress, specifying that
no citizen or foreigner coming into or
residing within the United States shall
engage in the coolie trade under penalty
OF losing the vessel or vessels so engaged.
In the same act it is provided that every
person who shall aid or abet the build
ing, equipping or navigating of any ves-
sci intended for the coolie trade, shall,
upon conviction. be liable to fine not
exceeding $4,000, and be imprisoned,
not exceeding one year. Another sec
tion of the same act makes it an offence
to take on board of any vessel, or receive
or transport any coolies who shall be in
tended for the coolie trade. The punish
ment is fine of $4,000, or imprison-
ment for one year. The first and most
important section of the act reads as fol-
lows:
''"That no citizen or citizens of the
United States, or foreigner coming into
or residing within the same, shall, for
himself or for any other person whatever,
either as master, factor, owner, or other
wise, raise, build, equip, load or other
wise prepare any ship or vessel, or any
steamship or steam vessel, registered,
enrolled or licensed, in the United
States, or any port within the same, for
the purpose of procuring from China, or