Clarksville chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 186?-1872, 1870-09-03
C0OI.IE LABOR.

There is am article going the rounds
Of the press, eSulting over the sue.
ccs Of Chinese labor on u Sugar plan.
tation, near New Orleans. We are
not prepared TO question the success
of the experiment, nor to deny the
efficiency VI COolie labor, and did we
book no further than the limits of the
present generation, should certainly
advocate Chinese immigration as q
Temporary blessing to the South
But The patriot and statesman have
do right to overlook the welfare OF
posterity while shaping their meas
ares for the people Of the present day,
Looking to the future rs likely Ia
be Affected by the present, the ques-
ton arises--wliat will be the condi-
tioD Of the negroes under u rapid In
gress Of Chinese laborers? The ne.
groes are here, and here they mus,
remain uutil 1.-THE day of their desti-
ny Is DER" III we cannot make them
useful citizens, they must become an
unmixed curse, politically, socially,
and morally. If Radical incendiaries
will let them alone, the relations
heretofore existing between them and
the whites, and the mutual knowl-
edge Of each other acquired by long
association, will make them most
desirable laborers and better adapted
to Southern wants than any Other
type Of mankind.
To answer the question just pro
pounded, let us suppose that one
thousand Coolies are brought to this
vicinity-does 1t not follow that they
will substitute one thousand negroes.
And will 1t not follow, with equa
certainty, that, by this operation, We
throw upon society, one thousand
persons who will be forced to beg, Of
steal, or be supported by public chart
ty? And the more extensive til,
scale Of Chinese immigration, tn,
more wide spread the evil that mus
follow In its train. If the question
were simply one Of the substitution
of one race for the other, there woult
be less difficulty in settling it; bu
in importing one, we do not expor
the other-bOth will remain here
the:one class, as cheap laborers, thu
other, as dear paupers, or dearer Grim
inals.
But the evil will not stop here
The jealousy and rivalry that will
be engendered by this additional ad
mixture of races, must necessaril.
lead to war of castles, and, as histor.
teaches, that war will be war o
determination. The negro KNOWN:
the South to be his native land, an,
feeling that it Is his home, will no
tamely submit to be deprived of hi
means Of support, by race of for
eigners but little superior, in the seal
of humanity, to himself, and prefer
Ell rs laborers only because they vii
work for little and can live on les
than that little will buy.
The advocates of policy threat
ening such dire ills, offer but one pie
in justification, and that is the nee
essity for cheap labor. The past ex
perience Of this country ought t
have taught us that the safest an
most tangible test of a wise govern
ment Is to be found IN the degree q
comfort and independence enjoyed b.
the laboring classes. Whenever tn
favored few are clamorous for chea
labor, and the laboring many ar
forced to yield to the demand, tn
government will be found RADICAL
defective, and its defects will be man
ifested i'm the presence of an arrogan
and oppressive monied aristocracy
and laboring class impoverished
degraded and depraved. That ari'
tocracy already exists in this countr,
and hence the demand for Cool
labor, which, i'm competition wit
white and negro labor, promises tn
sure and speedy success of that r,
nous policy which seeks to swell tn
Golfers of the rich and to multipl
the rags of the poor. In view Of tn
ruinous results of such policy,
seems to us that every good man an
enlightened patriot will strive again'
, Chinese immigration as the immed
ate forerunner Of war, pestilence an
/ famine.