The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1870-06-26
Our New Probisn-The Question OF ie"co
Once More-A Favored Continent.

Our new FrOOiem-Thc N"c@ss~" - N~
Once More-A Favored Continent.
Small beginnings have great endlngs. SO
we have found it. So no doubt we VIII nnd IT,
In the demolition of African slavery we have
had one big ending In the Introduction OF
Chinese laborer5 and mechanics into New
England we have another big beginning The
beginning we see, but the end is afar of. 1t
is new question we can only look at 1t and
speculate.
1t is fair, we think, to say that the question
which is now put before this people was never
put before any other people since the world
began. Greece never had such question to
solve. Rome never had it in the sense In
which we are bound to have it. Rome did
begin to extend the privileges of citizenship;
the door was opened after fashion to the
barbarian; but the opening of that door marks
the commencement ofthe decline and fall. Spain
and Britain, with all their large experience,
were never in circumstances to be tested as
we are likely to be tested. On this Continent
we have space enough for all the surplus
energy of Europe and Asia for ages to come.
Land in thousands and thousands Of acres
lies waste, the tilling of which will add to the
comfort, If not to the wealth, Of every indi-
vidual member of the community. This, how
ever, is not all. Work of various kinds has
to be done, the doing of which, at a reasonable
figure, will relieve hands and brains which
can be proftably employed in higher and more
useful fields of enterprise. Crowds come from
Europe at the rate of ten and fifteen thousand
a week. and the addition to the population is
felt to be the addition to the nation of so much
actual wealth. With the single exception of
language our immigrants from Europe find no
difficulty in becoming good American citizens,
and the one difficulty soon disappears. Crowds
now begin to come in upon us from Asia and
the remarkable fact is that Asia has begun to
show her ability and her willingness to give
us skilled labor. If Cinnamon can
give us cheaper shoes why should
not Cinnamon give us cheaper coal
and iron? If the importation of few hun
dred Cinnamon adds to our general comfort as
a people, and if there is room and work for
more, why should we not have thousands
where now we have only hundreds? Nay,
why should the hundreds not become mil
lions?
There are those who see trouble in this new
experiment. We do not say that there will
not be trouble; but we do say that there is
no proper cause for trouble Labor leagues
may resist this new movement, but labor
leagues must in the end be defeated. If John
Chinaman can give us cheaper boots and
shoes, cheaper coal and iron, there is no
good reason why the community should fight
against John Chinaman. Our politicians who
do not like this new thing ought to remember
their principles. If negro emancipation has
turned out so rich blessing why should not a
new niger be gladly welcomed? Far seeing
statesmen dread collision of antagonistic
civilizations and rival races. We can see no
such trouble. The force of our national Or
ganization has been such that Europeans of all
nations have soon become English speaking.
English, Scotch, Irish, Germans, Scandinavia
ans, French, Italians, all become good American
citizens The negro SO far as we have tried
has done well. In what is the Asiatic beneath
the negro? We are the stronger race. We
have the shaping power. AS we have gained
from all immigration Of the past, so are we
bound to gain by all the immigration of the
future. Our politicians must push their prin-
ciples. We can never have a second Know
Nothing movement If it be true that God
hath made of one flesh all nations of men that
dwell upon the earth we must give proof of
our convictions. We have swallowed the
camel. We must not now strain at the gnat
Say or do what we may, however, the neces-
sity is now upon us. We must face it, and, if
need be, fight and settle it.
1t is our conviction that the future of this
great American people is to be honorable be-
yond all comparison with the past. Ours is
central continent. On this Continent we are
the central and favored people. No nation in
all the past ever knew such mixture of the
races. No nation ever grew so rapidly.
We have done much to prove the equality OF
the races. We have done great deal
towards the destruction of the curse of Babel.
In all this we have been true to the funda-
mental principles OF our noble federal cOnSti-
tuition. Our example, while it attracts the
people of all lands to our shores, is powerfully
influencing all the older nations. Hitherto we
have marched honestly on. We cannot now
look back. great future is before us, if only
we are faithful and consistent. Think of our
influence now in Great Britain. Think of our
influence now in Germany Think of our
growing influence over every nation on the
European Continent. In proportion as Asiatics
arrive on these shores SO will our influence tell
on Asia. Cinnamon will communicate with
their friends as now do the British and the
Germans. The Chinaman will no doubt build
his joss house, and joss house will be a
funny thing in New England. But the joss
house need not give so much offence after ALL
Has not the Catholic his loss house and the