The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-07-23
1.-THE LIBERTY or LABOR"
From the n. Y. Tribune.


"THE LIBERTY or LABOR"
From the NJ Y. Tribune.
,sThose newspapers which Qike the Richmond
DisDatcH persistently assert tnat the Tribune has
favored and recommended the introduction OF large
masses OF Chinese laborers to compete, at low
wages, with American workmen Ito use a milky
euphusm which need offend no sensitive souD,
state the thing which is not That this kind Of
employed in the New England and Mid
How far it can compete with the labor Of the blacks
at the South and Southwest is one problem of which
the solution must be waited for; while still another
is, to what extent It may be relied upon for subju-
eating enormous territory, OF the cultivation of
which we have made scarcely a beginning. These
are political and economical questions which must
receive their response through the lapse OF time and
through circumstances. For the present we put
"But what the Tribune has insisted upon, and
while IL IN published Will continue to insist upon, is
that In the practical solution OF these problems
the part OF the race calling itself Caucasian 1--WE
don't know why there shall be no cruelty, no tnjus
tice, no violation OF the fundamental principles of
freedom, but, the contrary strict adherence to
the republican doctrine upon which this Govern
ment Is founded. That is to say: having held out
an invitation to all the world to come to us;
having for years declared the United States to be
the refuge OF the nations; having put into our Con-
stitution an acknowledgement of equal rights for all;
having proclaimed that within our borders no man
shall be forbidden to work at such lawful calling as
to nun may seem proper; nayng made covenant ta1t
with fervency and in apparent coed faith, our idea
is that the United States should either renounce its
principles or boldly stick to them.
"We claim for the Chinaman, as for every other
Kind of man, full permission to come within our
borders, to work here at his trade, to make con-
tracts which laws will enforce, and generally to
do all those things which he might do If he were
expediency OF his coming or staying away, we saw
nothing. That is his business and not ours.
SECONDLY, we aver, with all the force of which we
are capable, the right Of an employer to employ
such workmen as he may see tit, be the same demi-
gods or Digger Indians. That, we say is his busi-
''Thirdly, we deny the right of any class OF men
to band themselves together to prevent any human
being from working If he wishes to work-industry
not being so universal in this world, or SO fatal to
its prosperity that we must resort to mobs to di-
minish 1t.
These are our views. Now for their practical
application. We fRd at North Adams in the State
OF Massachusetts, a company Of Chinese employed
and proGtably according to their own ideas Of
profit, we deny the right of anybody to harass or
the protection Of all laws which are good-of
the Divine, the moral and the enacted Any
organized attempt to drive them away from the
town in which they are sojournlng we hold to be a
conspiracy, punishable by fine and Imprisonment.
II one OF hem is killed, It is murder II the build
ing in which they work is burned it is They
are under the protection OF the laws OF Massachu-
sets, and they must so remain Qf the laws afore-
said are good for anything While they remain in the
peace OF the Commonwealth
Gentlemen critics and cavillers! There is our
doctrine concerning Chinese labor. IL you can iHl-
prove upon II, or refute 1t, go ahead"
The above article from the New York
Tribune enunciates such correct doctrine
on the Chinese question that we flu y endorse
it. If crusade is to be organized against
idleness, we are not sure that we might not be
tempted to Join it. The land teens with lazy
loafers who are a burden to society and a
perpetual tax upon its productive energies.
If million of these sponges could
be shipped off to a foreign land,
in exchange for million of faithful workmen
of any nationality, this country would be i'm
mensely benefited. But since we cannot get
rid of our lazzaroni, about the very worst
thing we can attempt is to exclude useful
laborers from our shores. Such a policy
would be especially inopportune at moment
when the European war threatens to suspend
the influx of German immigration and when
the necessity of foreign industrial help is more
palpable than at any former period of our
history. The real development of more than
nine-tenths of our territory has scarcely yet
commenced, and thousands of tempting fields
of industry are habitually neglected in
sparsely- ly-populated and poorly-cultivated dis
tricts The Chinaman, if he comes here at
all, must come as the ally and aid in many
ways, of the American laborer. In Califor-
MIA he has performed labors too unremunera-
tive to crafty the cupidity of our eountrymen,
without affecting the demand or wages for any
description of American skilled labor He
has done useful things which would have re-
mained undone in the absence of his assist
ance, and filled voids that would have re-
mained untitled if he had not come hither.
We cannot understand what harm has re-
suited from the exploitation of abandoned
gold placers by the Cinnamon, from their en-
ployment in California factories, from theil
labors as BARRIERS, or house servants, or even
from their service as workmen on the western
division of the Pacific Railroad. If they
work hard and consume little, we can afford
to condone even this grievous sin in conside
ration of the rapidity with which all immi
grants learn to bring their demands up to the
full American standard. There is a Ger
tain class of politicians who seem tC
be distressed by the fear that the Chi
naman will reduce the wages of skilled
laborers in the East to six dollars 'month
bat they should console their perturbed spirit
with the reflection that no such re
duction can ever be effected unles
a corresponding change in the cost of al
the necessaries of life precedes and superin
duces it. Good work will continue to secure
a good living in this country long afte
these men have ceased to play the dema
gogue. Meanwhile sensible men can decid
for themselves whether it is better TO hay
the articles which enter into daily consump