The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1870-09-03

Seoceas. soeial independence, respect FOR
honest labor, and equality of political rights.
Would John Chinaman have been disturber
Of the peace on the Pacific Coast He might
have visited our shores az . voluntary
conner, attracted, perhaps, BY the spectacle
Of society 20 prosperous, and elvillzation
50 admirable but the COolis trsstc would
have been unknown, because the conditions
which would invite it would have been
wanting. This traffic has its genesis in
the aggregation of capital in California IN the
hands Of few men. and especially in the
monopoly Of her lands. Look at the facts.
The State is cursed BY a great system CT
Spanish grants covering her best lands. and
handing them over in great bodies TO IN
dividuai monopolists; and this evil IS
greatly aggravated by the absorption into
their monopolies OF large Quantities OF
Government lands contiguous to them,
through the shocking INSTRUMENTATION OF
Federal and State officials. Then there
are hundreds of thousands of Government
lands bought up by few spectators
largely with College and Indian scrip at
low rates. and thus held back from settle
ment by the IandIess poor, sold upon such
terms as these spectators may see nt TO
exact. Besides all this, hundreds OF
thousands acres Of fertile and dry lands have
passed into the custody of the State, and
thence into the clutches Of monopollsts,
through monstrous perverson OF the swamp
land acts Of Congress, thus infIcting upon
the nation. and our pioneer set ers OF this
and the next generation, stupendons
wrong. The monopoly of lands in Cali
fornia by her railroad corporations must not
be omitted, Of course, in this Inve. tory nor
must be forgotten that the power of this
organized California Land .Ordlsm natural
| " exerts a shapeing influence over her
judiciary, whose rulings have % often been
unfriendly to the poor. Ii to all this we
add that the great land holders of the State,
the Bank Of California, her steam ship
companies, and her railroad corporations
find it to their interest to stard by one
another, and are to a conslde able extent
interested in common in the business of each
other, we shall readily see that the maxim
1" Capital owns labor has q t0lerably tam
prospect Of being verified in that state.
To fearful extent the capital of the State
has the labor Of the State in its power T; and
that it should seek still further to PauperIse
labor BY COole importations is the most
natural thing conceveable- Ii wants
base and back ground for its growing
domination, and longs to lIken our country
more and more to those Of the old world,
in which not one man in five hundred Is a
land owner, and wages slavery bears
almost as grievously upon the poor 8
chattel slavery once did upon its vict,ms
in the South No CoOlie trade is wanted
in their countries 10 order to lover wages
and degrade labor for the power Of capital
is already so complete over their toilIng
poor that it could scarcely be augmented.
Let me repeat then, that while favor
the strongest statutes against Coolie im-
portation, and the thorough enforcement
of these statutes, the real question involved
lies deeper than any crude legislative pro
lection. The rush Of Chinese to our
shores may be wholly prevented, and
yet American labor may be pauPer'
ised, nay, must be, if the causes
referred to which inevitably lead to
It, remain unchecked. The working men
of the country should go to the root Of the
matter, and | doubt not will. / have re-
ferred to California but the monopoly Of
the soil in sundry other States has become
almost equally alarming 10 all Of them
the spirit monopoly is sleepless. active,
and aggres~.,e ;, while the General Govern
ment, putting on the temper Of the times,
and bending itself more and more to the
service of capital. needs the constant vigi-
lance and conscientious guardianship of the
people. 1t needs, especially, the organized
and intelligent power Of the wovkingmen Of
the whole land, invoked In Ons ssrong and
unf1inchlng effort to divorce il from Its
meritricious union with the great corpora
tons, and to marry it indissolubly to the
service Of labor. This great Iced, | rejoice
to believe, is about to he met The hour
is ripe for it. The workingmen at length
are resolved to work at the ballot box, as
well as elsewhere. Let them see to it that
the men they install in office shall no longer
be the mere stipeDdiaries Of a bank, or q
railway, or "ring" Of any sort, but real
believers in the living issues of the hour, in
the gospel that labor is honorable and must
be compensated that the people, and not 9
select few, shall rule, and that equal and
exact Justice shall be done to all For ray
self, believe, religiously, in democracy a.
a principle, and in its utmost practical vim
! dication and deem it quite as important
for believers, as for unbeievers, to organ
ize and stand by one another.
Earnestly hoping that this session Of
your Congress may be guided BY wise corn
sells, and accomplish great good.
GEO. w. JULIAN.
FROM CEN. c. w. MORGAN.