The Hawaiian gazette., 1870-10-05

bones to learn our language. laws, morals. and
manners then We may give them the ballot with
out peril.
1t strikes US that there is a vast deal of un-
becoming clamor against Chinese labor Swinton
echoes it when he says am opposed to Amer
lean working men surreudering the different
branches of industry to Chinese operatives
Put "fregnr in the place of 3" Chinese" and
you have fair extract from half the Know
Nothing platforms of 1854. The cry then was
" Don't let these Irish. Scotch, and Dutch come
here and take the bread out of our mouths by
working for lower wages" Well. what was the
result Of it all The Irish. Scotch Norwegians,
Germans came in countless thousands, and they
did work for lower wages and many American
artisans laid down their tools. and frequently
with temporary Inconvenience. sought other
work Foreigners supplanted Americans at half
the looms. lathes. wheels and forges IN the East
and those re',y americans are better of and
richer .for II to-day.
Last week We took the ground and the New
York World has since elaborated the same idea
that a man who can work at the cost of a spoon
fol Of rice day. is no more the enemy of Labor
than is machine that can work a. tine cost of
spoonful of oil a sewing machine, at a merely
nominal cost. closes more seams than can half
dozen women threshing machine cleans more
grain than fity men are these therefore the
enemies of American industry? Fifty years
ago. all the hand workers combined in denouncing
labor-saving machinery, and only the other day
some infatuated workmen in ireland made wild
raid on reaping machine But any American
laborer Of average sense knows now that ma
chine is his best. most faithful friend 1t not
only relieves him of drudgery, but it improves
his chances in life. And what is the difference
between the peggiug machine and the cooIie?
The Chicago Tribune says this argument is
plausible but fallaclous and thus explains that
il a boot machine should drive the Crispins out
Of all the shops. the transition would be incon-
Yenient. but would be necessary. and, 10 the end
they would be gamers. Not so if. instead of
boot machine. we have cheaper human labor eul-
ployed 10 the manufacture Of boots. because the
fact that it is cheaper implies that it is plentiful
and the fact that it is human implies that it ia
as capable Of being employed in the other trades
to which the displaced boot-mskers are driven, as
in that Of bOot-making. So the analogy between
cheap labor and machine labor a. regards those
who work for wages falls 70 the ground
This srgcmen, is not only not sound, but it is
not even plausible. For if the fact that cheap
coolies can make boots imphes that they can do
all other kinds Of human lshor, so the assumption
that boot-aachine could be made TO supersede
the Crspns, implies that other machines could
be invented to supersede them everywhere else
The machine argument is incon'rovertible. A
cheap coolie is. industrially blessing to the
country. if steam and water-power are blessings
The Infammables seem wholly to lose sight Of
some simple facts:
l. They assume that there is exactly 50 much
work to be done 10 this country. and that wages
must be smaller or grpater in proportion to the
number Of workers They forget that the labor
increases with the labOrers. As philosophy tells
1s that DO stone can be thrown into the air With
out slightly attracting the earth upward to meet
its return. 50 no man can land on our shores
without creating here new demand for food and
clothes. His labor is the complement Of his
needs In a country where land is free by the
millions Of fertile acres. no willing worker can be
permanently oppressed
2 They assume chat the Chinese viii come in
great numbers; forgetting that their passage
costs thrice that of Eur. IS; that they are
not an emigraling people lat their anchorage
is firm on MODgOiian soil that the worship of
ancestors is their religion, and that there is no
probability thai We shall be able to get even so
many as We need.
g. They assume that the Tartars in America
will live as cbeapIy as the Tartars in China. 1t
Is roast rat against roast beef" says SWinton
bunk against bed naukeeD breecbes against
brOadeIOth.s Has sEinton not Jet heard that
the coolies are an initiative race 7 that fhey ara