The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1870-08-18
THE CHINESE QUESTION.

WENDELL PHILLIPS VIEWS ON CHINESE
| IMMIGRATION, THE NORTH ADAMS Elk
II PERTINENT, AND THE CONFLICT OF La
Il BoR AND CAPITAL.
II From the National Standard.
I We welcome every man of every race
Ito our soil and to the protection of our
laws We welcome every man to the
Ibest opportunities of improving himself
] and making money that our social and
Il political systems afford. Let every OPP
! ipressed man come. Let every man who
Wishes to change his residence come.
I'VE welcome al, frankly acknowled giug
1.-THE principle that every human being
has the right to choose his residence Just
where he pleases on the planet. Our
faith in our political institutions and in
Jour second system is that both can en-
ldure all the strain which such immigra.
ltion will produce. More than this. we
4 believe our civilization will be perfected
lonly by gathering into itself the patient
ltoil, the content with moderate wages,
1.-THE cunning hand, the inventive brain,
the taste and aspirations, the deep relig-
1 ious sentiment, the rolicking humor and
4 vivid Imagination, the profound insight
land searching sagacity which mark the
i different races; each contributing one
Especial trait to the great whole. But
such immigration to be safe and helpful,
must be spontaneous It must be the re-
suit of individual will, obeying the laws
of industry and the tendencies of the age.
Immigration of labor is an unm1xed good.
importation of human freight is an un-
mitigsted evil.
This brings US to the question of inn
porting Chinese laborers The Chinese
are painstaking, industrious, thrifty in
ventive, self-respectful and law abiding
, race. They have had some pretensions
: to democratic institutions, and moral cult
ure-are little too much machines, but
i, we shall soon shake that servility out OF
them. Their coming will be welcome
4 aud valuable addition to the mosaic OF
: our nationality. But in order to do that,
they must come spontaneously, of their
own free will and motion, as the Irish,
Germans and English have done. If the
} capital Of the county sets to work 10y
system and wide cooperation to import
them in masses, to disgorge them upon
E us with unnatural rapidity, then their
5 coming will be peril to our political
ylsystem and a disastrous check to our So
! cial progress. We lay it down as fun
damental principle-never to be lost
s sight of-every immigrant OF every race
!. must be admitted to citizenship If he asks
slit The right to be naturalized must not
j be limited by race, creed or birth place.
e Secondly, every adult here, native or nat
{ uralized, must vote. In spite of this, give
us time, with only natural amount OF
immigration, and can trust che education
+ and numbers of our native voters to safe
!, ly absorb and make over the foreign ele.
: ment. Irish and German immigration
{ has been only ripple on our oceans
breadth. Generally speaking, it has been
| only healthy stir, but it is easily posi-
| Bile for associated capital to hurry the
: coming of the Chinese in such masses as
e will enable these moncy lords to control
: the baIlot-box by their bond servants.
i IAN extended North Adams can do more
]. than lessen shoemakers' wages. One
3 thousand such Simpsons, the associated
/, capital of Massachusetts, can swamp ana
i oyerwhelm the ballot-box of that State
t We hold it to be clearly within the prov
t ince, and as clearly the duty of legisla-
q ton, to avoid this danger. Capital is too
e strong now. The public welfare demands
! that its political power be crippled. Uni
/; versal suffrage isaadmissable only on con-
0 dition of an educated people. We can
a not undertake to educate the whole world
= at once In detachmeats, millions by
d millions, We can digest the whole human
I'll race. ~
E Then IS to the influene Of such import
/ alton onIthe laborlng Glasses The Chi
y naman will make shoes for seventy cents
y a day. The ayerage wages for suchswork
d in Massachusetts, is two dollars. What
Il will become of the native working man
ii under such competition He met similar
e competition from the Irish immigration
is and the German. But it never harmed
IS him. They came in such natural and
"a moderate numbers as to be easily absorb
led, without producing any Ill effect or
wages. These continued steadily to ad
= vance. So it will be in the case of the
i Chinese, if he be left to come naturally
"a by his individual motion. Imported IN
3 Overwhelming masses by the concerted
= &C ion Of capital, he will crush American
! labor down to pauper level, for many
il years to come. Putting aside all theo
/ ries, every lover of progress must see
with profound regret, the introduction
!. here of any element which will lessen
# wages. The main spring of our progress
v is high wages-wages at such level that
n the workingman can spare his wife to
preside over home," can command lei
t sure, go to lectures, take newspaper and
!. lift himself from the deadening routine
: of mere toll. That dollar left af-
D ter all the bills are paid on Saturday
! night means education, independence,
y self respect, manhood; it increases the
$ value Of every acre near by, fills the town
e W til dwellings, opens public libraries and
0 crowds them; dots the continents with