Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1870-07-20
CELESTIALS IN LOUISIANA.
New ORLEANs. JnIY 4. 1s7O

New ORLEANS, July 4, 1870.
This morning at daybreak 40 Chi
namen turned out to work in the cane
fields of Louisiana. If the expert
ment succeeds half as well as indica-
tions now promise, Independence Day
will have new meaning for the plan
ters of the South. In Louisiana alone
before this time next year thousands
upon thousands of acres Will be
brought under cultivation, which, but
for this new labor force, would have
lain idle. In Texas two hundred and
fifty Chinese are now working on
railroads, opening up the commerce
of that magnificent empire State; and
some hundreds have been set to work
in the cotton fields of Arkansas.
| Thus in three Southern States at once
the experiment is progressing. But
! louisiana affords the best and most
suitable field for Chinese labor for
several reasons, chief among which is
the fact that its climate and products
are precisely similar to those of the
sections of China from which the en-
igratlOn is likely to come; for, Curl
ously enough, the tide of Chinese en-
igration to the United States has only
reached two or three provinces OF that
great empire at present. In the
AmOor region and other districts no
inducement could prevail on the peo-
pie to leave their native and crowed
land. So, at least, says Lee Fook
| Wing, the intelligent, educated head
man OF the gang now in Louisiana.
Dressed in blouses and drawers,
very much like Coney Island bath
ing dress, with shaven crowns, beard
less faces and plated pigtails sweep
ing the ground, their appearance con-
veys a first impression of effeminacy,
which a close inspection quickly dis
sipates. Nearly all of them are young
men-they have no women among
them-sOme mere boys, 1.-the, muscu-
lar and active as a company of picked
| French ZoUaves. Yesterday, when
your correspondent visited their quar-
tiers, they were racing, jumping and
chattering with all the abandon of
parcel of schOolboys just let loose.
Two or three, on soberer thoughts in
tent, were engaged in cooking the
common supper, and cooking it in a
way of their own devising. In the
arrangements for their reception a
ingenuity was equal to the occasion.
Burrowing hole in the ground, after
some quaint fashion of their own,
they developed a kitchen range,
which would make backwoodsman's
fortune. Alas, for the fOndly cherish
ed beliefs of early daysi That well
known picture of our childhood which
represents the Chinese provision mer-
chant making his daily rounds with
string of rats slung by the tail to
one end of bamboo pole, and three
fat puppy dogs dangling at the other,
was one of the few traditions which
time had not disturbed forward to
verify this honored belief by ocular
demonstration. Your correspondent
found a most appetiZing TdgOlH of
chickens and rice simmering in the
saucepan; five or ten pounds of beef
steak broiling on the embers and some
corncakes baking in the background.
Is not this enough to shake ones con-
fidence in everything-even in fish
stories?
These 40 pioneers from Celestial
land have been engaged to work upon
one of the finest sugar estates in
Louisiana, known formerly as the
Millandon Plantation, now owned by
Oakes Ames, Governor Gardner, Pc
ter Butler and other Massachusetts
capitalists, and managed by Mr.. Amos
B. Merrill, one of the shrewdest law
yers of the Boston bar.
The hands employed by Mr.. Mer- !
rill receive fourteen dollars a month |
wages and twenty cents a day |
to find their own provisions, all !
payable in gold. A certain pro-
pnrtinn of their pay is kept hack as n /
guarantee for faithful service.
Thirty of the hands have worked /
on sugar plantations in their own
country; the rest are quick and ready
to learn. They are handy at mechan-
ical trades and are said to make the
very best of household servants. A
few of them speak little English;
Lee Fook Wing, their head man, who,
by the way, is one of the adherents of
that powerful rebel faction in China
which has overrun half the country
and whose leader mixes up Christian
ity and Confucianism in celestial con-
fusion, has lived in England and
speaks English well.
81 suppose some of your country
men here can write ?n was asked of
him N the hearing of your correspon-
dent.
Certainly: all of them"
"WhatI and read too"
"Certainly-their own language"
''Well, that's more than can be said
Of many other laborers in this country.
Are they contented?"
"Yes.n
"Do they like the climate?"
"Yes; it's what they are used to-"
"Have they written this to their
friends in China? ?"
"Yes; all of them. 1 had to take
much letters" to the city yesterday"
"Whew! Well have labor enough
lere directly, when those letters get
'ver."
"Yes; there Will be much Chinese
lere by and by"
MERRILL PLANTATION, I
NEAR NEW ORLEANS, July 3, 1870. !
The first days work of the Chinese 5
n the cane fields of Louisiana was :
ntirely successful. The hands show r
d themselves apt to learn and docile /
o obey, and got through an exceed !
ngly good average days work with 7
10 sign of fatigue, despite a broiling i
un. Planters all over the State are
investigating the matter with a view 7
f adopting Chinese labor themselves. '
This movement is already giving I
uch an impetus to rice and sugar :
ultivation as cannot fail to be in the i
highest degree beneficial to the State. t
Cor. to ". Y. Herald.