The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1873-08-02
THE CHINESE CRISIS.


, VI OuH OtCdAu OIly HNO years aBo AhoNi
Burlingame came to this city with pig
tail crew of Chinese, on his way to Wash
ingtOn to make treaty with the United
States. The men Of wealth and Influence
rejoiced in the prospect Of opening trad
with 400, 600, 900 Of celestials A banque
was prepared and all made merry arounC
the champagne table many toast wa
drank to his Majesty, the Emperor o
China, and all went on merrlly, as If at the
wedding Of two great nations.
Old fogies limited at seeing through tn,
cracks Of the Trojan horse, some shining
substance that might be gold, and other'
that it was more like the glistening of bay
onets and moving soldiers. They talked
Of large numbers Of Chinese coming Il
this country to learn the mechanical trades
and the art Of war They were laughed al
and called humbugs and demagogues, they
were pitied as men of narrow minds, wish
ing to contract the lilaits Of this Asylum
for the oppressed Of all nations" They
talked of the "Fatherhood Of God. and
the brotherhood Of man." They told rs
all men were born equal, that white was
only the absence Of black, and they were
in fact the same color
4 ne ATcaJy was ihAuc, anu W give II tnc
force and character Of highly concentrated
wisdom, il was signed on the 4th day of
July by Anson Burlingame on the part Of
his Majesty, the Emperor Of China, and
VIM. II. Seward, Secretary of State, on
the part Of forty millions Of (so called free
and independent people. The United
States saw that the people were not ready
for the whole dose 1T once, they were not
prepared to admit Cinnamon as voters.
The Senate saw this whale floating around
in the great sea Of American thought, and
threw him tub with which he might
amuse himself behind the huge waves Of
popular indignation.
The question Was. If the treaty admits
Chinese to all the privileges Of the most ia
vored nations, may they not become Datu-
ralizeG citizens 1t was an important
inquiry, full Of meaning. and it had to be
answered.
The Senate saw the danger, and attempt
ed to avert it by adding to the 9th Article
OF the treaty these words but nothing
herein contained shall be held To confer
naturalization upon the citizens Of the
United States IN China or upon the sub
jects of China in the United States.
Here was wisdom for you regular Buns
by foresight. 1t reminds us Of a pedler
travelling in the Western country many
years ago, having piggins for sale. Calling
at farmers house one day, he said
Madam, do you want to buy any piggins
to-day r The old lady had a horrible idea
Of pedler-she was washing dishes, and af-
ter wiping her hands on her apron and ad-
iusting her spectacles, she took good look
at him, and not liking his angular counte-
nance, she answered, snapplshly No, |
don't want no piggins. Very well, y
said he, ''piggins will be piggIns next year,
madam good bye, and striking his horse
he started. Rejecting while upon the
Importance Of the fact he had stated, she
cried out "hold on, stranger, if that is the
case | will take couple.
Nothing hsreiH contained shall be held
to confer naturalization Is the awful Ian
guage used To satisfy a gaping nation who
''didn't want to buy plggins 1t was an
insult t. the Intelligence IF Ameri-
can citizens, to ask them to be satisfied
with such a declaration. Whenever we
have obtained territory from another ma
ton, the inabitants Of that territory are
admitted to citizenship by virtue of the
Treaty. As for instance. when We annexed
Texas and acquired California, the inhabI-
tants became citizens by virtue Of resi-
dence there.
Commercial treaties, such AS made with
China, never provide for naturalization T;
nor did that treaty make an exception to
the general rule. Hence there was not the
slightest necessity Of adding the proviso
that it should not be so construed. The
Constitution provides that Congress may
pass naturalization laws, which it did
many years ago, and they apply equally to
all nations. The whitest European and
the blackest African are alike entitled to
citizenship they are exactly equal before
the law, and no one ever attempts to offer
an argument to prove 1t Is not 50. That
being the case, there can be no reason why
Chinese may not be naturaliz Il under the
same laws That we have been deceived
by quibbling set Of advocates for univer-
sal suffrage, there can be no doubt. The
question now asked is what we can do in
the present emergency
! In the first place Congress must amend
! the naturalization laws to exclude from cit
izenship the subjects Of the Chinese En-
pire. The next thing is to contine their
immigration to reciprocal advantages in.
stead Of privileges, and prevent the coming
! of such hordes of Chinese labOrers, who
are running our own people. All classes
are alarmed at the condition Of things In
relation to the Chinese immigration. The
Examiner Of the 18th Of April has a splen-
did article on the subject, in which it said
"A movement against the employment
Of Cinnamon Is now progressing in ouI
city. II has not been produced by any ef-
fort of the working classes, nor is it under.
taken for their benefit" In this they are
mistaken. 1t was undertaken by the
House Carpenters Eight-Hour League
Their Committee had the petitions pri TED
and freely circulated and it has beer
done at their own expense. Ii is however
a singular fact that more than two third,
Of the signers are business men, and not
men who are working for wages Thii
should not be SO ana the only way to ac
count for it is that business men are read
lily found at their places of business, Will,
the men who labor by the day are not easily
found without interfering with their time
which belongs of right to their employers
We hope, however, they will take tim'
and sign their names to the petition whicl
may be found in almost any part Of tn,
city.
One Of the most touching instances 0
gratitude with which we are familiar &C
Cured the ether day. A little boy, tn
child Of wealthy mother, tumbled int
the river He was rescued by workin
man and restored to his parent Tn
mother gave the rescuer three-cent post
aye stamp, and said she would be glad t
have him come to her house and sit in tn
entry, and hear her play the piano. II
went away with tears in his eyes. He sal
he wasn't used to such kindness.
A Washington correspondent Of the Cir
cinnati Gazette, who has been examinin
the records of the Pension Office, hs
found on the list of twenty-five survivin