New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1870-06-30
TIE MASSACHUSETTS CHINESE.

ERRORS SET RIGHT-CHEAP LABOR AGAINST
UNWILLING LABoR-THE OBNOXIOUS CON
TRACT-CuAINS AND sLAyERY-LEARNISG
ENGLIsH-TEA AND CHoP-STiCKs-GREAT
NoRrU ADAMS, Mass, June 22-There remains
little that Is new to told about the Chinese shoemakers
working steadily away at the benches OF Sr sanpsohs
factory learning their trade with marvellous facility
living simply and contentedy as their ancestors nave
lived for thousands years. and gradually venturng TO
make acquaintance with the busting Berkshire village
in which their fate has placed them Some errors ana
however may be corrected To advan
tage since this trial Of chinese labor In the Eastern
states regarded with interest all the country and
any erroneous statements which creep out IN regard 10
II are sure OF wide circulation and harmful result
Although the step which ar. Sampson has taken has
brought the cheapest labor in the world face to face with
the dearest 1t was by the costness OF his la
Dor or any question OF price at ALL which induced MIN 10
undertake his experiment. The Massachusetts manu-
facturers not deserve to be ndsrepresehted on TINS m
portant point They have class seriously OBJ
iected to the high wages which their mechanics were
earning Able to make fair profit themselves over the
high rates they have been content TO let their hands
earn from % to &c day. and their girls ranging as
high as 500 month To be sure, they have been some
what by the fact that men getting such
rates for piece work were unwilling 10 toll more than
days the week. taking holidays according to their
own fancy way which somewhat disturbed the regu-
arty of business Yet there would have been any
serious breach between employer and laborer had the
question of wages alone involved. In fact this has
been tho least Of the issues raised by the arrogant Cpn
organization Manufacturers have been forbidden to
employ non-Crispin workmen have been debared from
teaching apprentices giving trivial tasks, such
| as stringng shoes, to orphans whom they wished
assist have been prevented from themselves driving
peg into "a shoe in their shops have had commit
tees appointed TO examine their books; have been pro-
hbited from making any other than certain low grade
e1oft to1
1 in their manness in hundred ways Indeed, the final
blow which drove Mr. Sampson TO seek relief In San Fran
the mandate Of the Crspn Lodge that dozen
clever wOrmen (Crispins) whom he had procured from
thocenra part OF the State, should home again and
leave his Irish and Canadian hands to turn their
clumsy workmanship undisturbed by the sight of any
thing better He warned these obedient Crspns
they left him that they driving him TO step which
would destroy their order but they laughed in uIbeef
What he sought was not men who would work eheapy,
but men who would work wel-men, In fact, who would
| work at all II in obtaining them he has got who
viii work and live happily on what would not keep
Crispin in tobacco he at least is not to blame II
other shoe manufacturers Of North Adams who
afflicted with strike against temporary 10 per cent
reduction Of wages during the dull to stock
their shops with Cinnamon the charge against them Of
economical motives ght have more TO sustain it, but 1t
is not fairly to be brought against the first in the
revolution. The responsibility decidedly lies With the
! workmen and not with the capitalist.
The Senate OF the United States will be interested 10
learn that there Ia nothing in Mr. sampsons contract
| about sending his wsrkmens bones back to China,
though the report that effect wasat first made through
natural misunderstanding. The class OF young China
| men from whom his apprentices are drawn are singu
larry free from the superstitions which have been
attributed TO their whole Very few of them look
hack TO China as place TO which they are sure to re-
| turn; none Of them welded TO any forms OF idol
airy and highly probable that most OF them at the
expiration Of their contract will settle down as New
Enganders for life in such employments as they seen
specially fitted There has been natural curiosity
to examine Simpsons contract and there has been
quite natural reluctance his part 10 consent II
such inquiry his private business savoring as
II does Of the mpertnence TO which he was sub
jected by the Crispin Committee. His refusal hai
| given opportunity for host of stories, TO The
effect that the worlmen are practically slaves
that their wages all mortgaged to the Chinese Com
pany In San Francisco, and which one havn,
the prvile re of entrance Mr. SIMPSONS shop woul,
believe q moment These cheerful faces, these cage
learners faithful workers, these lavish purchaser
OF shirts and stockings, carefully charged to them b.
their b0okkeepers, have no suggestion OF slavery
this generous manufacturer more bent on making tn
strangers feel comfortable home in strange liant
than in getting back his large investment is not the ma
to undertake the business OF save-master and there
nothing either In atmosphere In the laws OF Massa
chusetts to IL desirable his part 20 make sueh
bargain enforcement here. The only slaves IN MOTT
G Adams the men who have sworn feaity ana sacr
. feed their independence to arbitrary Union g0verne
h far away; the manufacturer who has broken the bond
of the same power Is emancpated from slavery nor
humiliatng still and the freest men In the village al
the immigrants who have come from crowded China 10
. land which offers opportunities for ALL
2 The Celestial shoemakerS continue to devote the