Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1870-07-20
THE COOLIE IN OUR MIDST.

THE COOLIE In OUR MIDST.
Strange is it that, in a quiet corner
of our land, among the Berkshire hills
of Massachusetts, within the circle
where, from the centres Of Stock bridge
and Lenox, was once shed the influence
of mild Sedgwick abolitionism, there
should suddenly y arise a new question
of an alien race-anothor problem of
the color of the skin. Yet so it is /;
and, supposing il TO be the herald of
n new dawn or night 1--WE are not very
certain which, } we think of il rather
anxiously, trying, SO far as We can, to
divest ourselves Of aught prejudicatc
1t is very ominous incident, this
coming and organizing Of Chinese la.
Dor in our midst. Statistics tell us
that in the decade from 1910 TO 1850
there were but thirty-fivo immigrants
in this country, and in the next, A.
600, and in the one that has just end
ed, and which has seen the relative
decline Of mining enthusiasm, about
tho samo number Now, we are quite
aware that making shoes and boots
and clothes, and digging coal and iron
ore, are not so tempting or exacting
as were the undeveloped treasures Of
the West Still there is temptation
enoughj and capital, restless aud raw
enous, angered, and often justly so, at
the initiatory action of combinations
aud strikes, will, in the initial expert.
mcnt succeed, pcrsevere at any risk or
sacrifice. Then, too, in the South,
there is the actual need Of patient, ,un.
aspiring labor; and one Of the fruits
Of emancipating and ennobling the
African may practically be to enslave
and certainly maltreat--thc Asiatic.
Philantrophy, which often has but
one idea and aim, may persuade itself
that such substitution is for the best.
1t was, if our memory docs not very
much mislead us, in order TO save the
poor tropical Indian, that the good
Las Casas favored the importation
and employment Of the negro. The
rich Radical captalist-he of Massa-
chusetts and Rhode Island-will have
no difficulty in persuading himself he
is doing God service by this expert
mont aud new translation Of the heath
en- to the land Of civilization One
grievance will not characterize this
form of seridom-for such it is. There
will be no need of shedding tears over
the separation Of familios-of husband
and wife, of mother and child for,
unless the wives and mothers be found
here among the multitudinous white
women OF the land, there is no chance
ofrupturing any domestic ties The
same dread statistics tell us (and II
may be we'll for moralists, if not econ.
omists, tothink ofthc startling result
that of the $500 Chinese who in ono
year (1s67) camo to the United States,
but eight were females. PolydHdry
we know, is an Oriental, though not
exactly Chinese institution, with all
its frightful consequences of virtual
prostitution and sure sterility. II
must be this or something worse; and
be il remembered, there is nothing in
Eastern habits and appetitcs to make
that "worso" impossible. There are
then to be no kindred women, no chill
drcn, no home ties, no domestic yir
tue, and with mortality at the usual
rate-more rapid when hideous dis
ease and unnatural practice accelerate
IA constantly increasing necessity
for a fresh supply These are som'
of the considerations moro Of morals
and social statistics and physica
health than of economy, which give
us pause, and incline US in new sons'
rather
"To bear the ills We have.
Than ny TO others We know not Of"
Better, perhaps, high wages an,
trades-unions, and leagues than tith,
of the evils which we have distinctly
: hinted att Mr.. Calvin Sampson AM
Mr. Koopmanschoop, Che very nam
redolent Of the coolic barracoon,) th
account Of whose enterprise our scru
pies may turn away, will call MS COW
} ards for these doubts-but they ar
4 very grave ones which scofiing won
= remove, and which rest on some oh
scrvation and no little study Of th
othnologies of Oricntalism.
n There are certain postulates in thi
matter which history authorizes. On
is that, in the contract Of servitud
.e which the Chinese coolic makes, thcr
is nothing like individual consent, an
very often there are and have bee
actual imposition, and sometimes &C
ercion. OF the thousands who CONT
= and the tens of thousands that arc {
1 come, few indeed arc they who kno'
what they arc about. The Chini
i, man, a bomc.loving creature If eve
there was one, is not made drunk, i
our Christian fashion, whisky befor
Z he onists, but around the cribs {
g; Of Swatow and Mecao there is a mai
" vollous flavor of opium about th
time Of signing the articles Doc
any sane human being believe tina
the Chinese, man or boy, willingl
- leaves the home Of his father and III
be graves Of his ancestors with any for,
De knowledge Of the misorios Of his mis-
die passagc-twicci in days not "a