The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1871-03-18

men should have no hesitation in addinl
great stability to this desirable eDterpris
IN our midst, from which already other ben
ehclal industries are starting"
THE HEATHEN CHINEE."
SP ECH
HON. VIM. MUNGEN
IN THE HOUSE OF kEPREsENTATIy Es
JANUARY Z, 1871.
CONCLUDED.
AChinese labor is no longer an expert
ment. California, the New England States
New York, Alabama, Delaware, Georgia
and New jersey, the valley Of the Missis
slppI, all testify on this point. 1t bal
proved successful in all the forms in which
1t has been tested. Directed and instruct
ed BY the brain and knowledge Of q few
Caueaslans, hundred Chinese can perform
every operation more cheaply than the
white man can, to say nothing Of the lazy,
chlidless, and uncertain negro. We have,
therefore, an immense demand, euualine
that of the chief part of the labor of the
country. We have next an unlimited SUP.
ply Of Chinese, willing to come, even to
the period when their wages will be reduc-
ed to one third the amount they earn now,
land let me say that our capitalists viii re-
duce it to that at the earliest possible mo
ment they can get the Chinese in their DOW
er-thls is their ultimate aim and end,
and, at one third, it will be very far below
the point where any Caucasian men with
out families could possibly keep soul and
body together.
1t is estimatnd, / believe, in the carry
ing trade, that every ton Of ships meas
urement will carry a passenger and his
food for long voyage. Thus one million
tons Of shipping would transport one mil
lion passengers. There are nearly eight
million tons of British and about four mil
lion tons of American shipping, besides a
large amount Of other foreign shipping.
All shipping, irrespective Of patriotism or
principle has always been employed by its
owners wherever treights are to be obtained,
since the time the Mayfower shipped the
tirst cargo of negroes here, and before that
time, and down to the present and to teq
last, slavtrs ran into Cuba which it was
charged were fitted out and owned in New
England. Whether it be true, | know not;
but would not say it was not true. But
paddle-wheel and first-class steamers would
make four or five trips, propellers three or
four, and sailing craft two, annually, be-
tween our shores and China. The patient
Chinese passengers, who even on shore at
home are packed like herrings in barrel,
'VsGld only be limited by the weight of the
man to about one hundred and twenty
pounds weight of food and water per month
Of passage. Take this basis and only one
halt the tonnage in the carrying trade, and
consider the number of trips in year, and
then you can comprehend why l talk about
mlllionsOf passengers.
1t Is said, on the other hand, that the
price of labor, like water, will find Its lev
ell That the Chinese, so acute in every
trade, have a keen sense Of what their la
bOr is worth. That they will soon learn to
protect themselves by vote hope our
labOrers will improve this maxim. And
again, we are told that we need not fear
them politically, because none Of them in
tend to, or would be induced permanently to
settle here. Most of these allegations, even
where seemingly contradictory, are true (;
but yet do not effect the bearings of the
question. 1t is true that the Chinese wants
to get as much for bis labor as he can, but
the condition Of bis employment is under
selling or uDderbidding the white artisan,
or labOrer. When be has driven him out
Of competition then comes the competition
OF Chinese and Chinese,-rat cat rat-then
down comes the price even of Chinese labor.
This is what the capitalists desire, and the
result will be the Chinese agents or con-
tractors will compete. and labor will come
down to within few cents day Of the
wages in China. This will be joyous time
for capitalists /; and by this time our work
ingmen will be where Saul found his faith
er's asses-nOwhere- They will have starv-
ed to death, they and their families, many
Of them.
Again, though be may not permanently
dwell among you, though he would rather
return to the Celestial Empire to be BAN
boOded by order Of an official Of sufficient
rank, than sit Senator in the United
States Senate beside the honorable Revels,
he will doubtless soon find that vote may
be the equivalent Of DerqulSite. 30 find
ing, he will be directed by the honest capi-
talist, his employer, when and how to vote,
and bow to obtain the perquisite. Then if
there were several important elections com
ing of, be might make more by voting, in
a few years, than all his progenitors have
earned since the last Tartar inva on. He
would do it, for be has no conscientious
scruples. 1t is already common remark
that the rich are becoming richer, and the
poor are getting poorer. 1t is true, too.
Our excessive and corrupt taxation and gov
ernmeOtal mismanagement have filled the
air with sinister mutterings. Already cap
ltal and labor, whose interests, well under
stood, should move hand in hand, are dis.
trustful Of each other And this Chinese
immigration and importation, unless you
take order, | warn you now, sooner or la
ter, perhaps soon than latter, will beget
fatal war between labor and capital.
In our young Republic, while, generally
speaking, none are very poor and none ex-
travagantly rich, we have some exceptions
10 this rule. We have capitalists whose
fortunes are counted by tens of millions,
some reckoned as big gh as twenty, forty,
nf'y' and few as high as sixty million dol
lars. This is exclusive of vast sums owned
oy gigantic railroad corporations and mon
oPOlles. Chinese merchants themselves
may and probably will accumulate vast for
tunes: Why not Why not, as we'll az
the German, John Jacob Astor; the
HRaW