Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1870-09-28


grafton of the Chinese to this country,
we may consider the probabilities Of
their future condition here. When
they first arrive they have all the dis
advantages Of foreigners among .
strange and unfrlendly people. They
can not go among our people to seek
employment and demand equal wa
ges. They find it necessary to put
themselves under the protection Of
some Chinaman who know the Gus
toms Of our country, to contract their
labor. Many of them owe money for
their expenses in coming over and
have contracted their labor to pay
that. These conditions disabled them
from demanding first-class wages, and
from separating to seek the best labor
markets. And at first they are not
worth the best wages.
But the Chinaman is intelligent,
quick to learn, with great talent for
imitation, and as ava-iciOus as any
body. As soon as he has learned to
take care Of himselfin this country is
it probable that he will not be as
sharp to demand the highest wages as
any white man? To suppose that
because he is frugal in habit he will
be content with low wages is foolish
ness. And to suppose that he will
continue to live cheaply when he shall
have gained the means of indulgence
in comforts and luxuries is to sup
pose that the Chinese differs from all
other human nature. Mr.. SWintOn,
who has written a pretentiOus article
against Chinese immigration without
producing a single argument that does
not apply as well to all immigration
and TO all our extensions Of liberty
and the suffrage, declares that for the
American labOrer it is a question be-
tween roast rat and roast beef.
With equal reason he might de-
claim against the Irish emigration
that for the American laborer il is q
question of potatoes and a shanty or
roast beef and a house of seven rooms;
and against the German emigration
that for the American labOrer it is
a question of vegetable soup, black
bread and a shilling day, or Of meat,
wheaton bread and two dollars. Irish
and German immigration have not
introduced here the Irish and Ger
man diet of common labOrers, nor the
Irish and German rates of wages
We find that the Irish peasant, who
at home was content with potatoes
and a shilling a day, here demands
the whitest Of bread, meat three times
day, and is as sharp as any Ameri-
can can be in demanding the highest
wages. And likewise the Germans,
who in the old country were COM
PEELED to carry the economy Of living
to its extreme, here demand the high
est wages, and expand their style Of
living accordingly.
And so will the Chinaman, as soon
as l e learns enough OF the customs of
the country to take care Of himself
1t was not his nature, but his wages
that made his extreme economy Of
substance. With the means OfinduI-
genee he will show as great an appe-
tite for luxuries as any other race. 1t
may be thought that this will be
modified by the Chinamanis desire to
save money to return to China; but it
is not according TO human nature that
he should be willing to leave a cOun-
try where he can make so much mon
ey, and can have so much greater
means Of indulgence, to return to the
frugal ways and low wages Of China.
1t is probable that the intention to
return will lapse with most, and that
every one who returns will be the
means of sending over many.
Whether the Chinaman will con-
tinue to be as much desired as a la
bOrer when he has learned to take
care Of himself, and when the drst
charm Of low wages and long con-
tracts has subsidized, is a question:
. - NrA hnN
those who have served out their first
engagements shall have beem difused
their interest against low wages and
long contracts, and their means Of
protecting the new cOmers against
them, viii do away with the practice.
The Labor Convention treated the
Chinese matter as a labor question and
not as a political question. No more
as a political element than as a labor
element do we desire the coming Of
the Chinese. Both for social and pO-
litical members the immigration Of
the highest races is to be preferred.
A country has the same interest in
selecting the members of the body
polite, as a person in selecting his as
sOciates or his business partners. And
the Chinese are not of the highest
races.
But when an inferior race has al
ready become habiliated, and a part
of the body polite, or at least Of the
social body, then the problem is differ
ent, and then questions arise whether
their exclusion from equal rights does
not tend to prevent their improve
ment, and to degrade them more and
so it seems to become the interest OF
society to try TO elevate them by hold
ing out tn themall the chances that
stimulate human ambition, and by
giving them all the protection that IS
conferred by equal political rights
In this country we meet the question.
Shall we exclude the Chinese from
political privileges after we have ad-
mitted the negro? The case is entire
" different; for thenegroes were citi-
Zens of the country, and had done
their part in creating its wealth. But
twill not be materially different when
the Chinese have gained residence
here, and when a generation Of Ameri-
can citizens Of Celestial descent shall
have grown up.
Thus, although the Chinese immi-
grafton is unwelcOme to US, it appears
to US that as even those most hostile
do not venture to declare for the pro-
hibitiOn of free immigration, and as
the political conditions are already
created that will, in due time, en-
franchise all bona fde inhabitants,
the Chinese immigration will be left
to take its course, and to the in1uen-
ces of the existing conditions--CtB-
ciRRdi Gazette.