The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1875-11-27

non resistance Wearylng our courts mt
letting them alone. Chinese emigration
is not an unmixed evil There is an argu
ment IN its favor. This argument is tn,
one Of temporary necessity, Of individua
profit, Of cheap labor and present conye
nIence. The farmers have utilized Chimes,
labor IN the pressure Of their havests Tn,
railroad builders have availed thems I've,
| Of thar steady and industrious working
habits; they dyke the tide lands. build
roads, work IN factories raise vegetables
catch fish, and serve in mental capacities
they solve he servants problem IN the
country; they act as break waters between
the mistress and the maid in cities, and dc
something towards mitigating the insolence
Of cooks and chambermaids by affordng a
| poor substitute for wnte domestic servants
IN cases of dire extremity But quietly
and Insldiously the Chinese are eating at
The Vltais OF our prosperity, and unless the
broad proposition can be maintained that
a country may prosper with an alien and
Heterogeneous population, there can be no
conclusion IN favor uf Chinese emigration
III country may attain a real ana perma-
nent advancement with IT'S labor interests
IN the hands of class that will send their
earnings abroad. then California is on the
high road - prosperity. Ii It is not essen
tai that the population Of a State should
become cltiZeus thereof, ana be clothed
with All the responsibilities and duties Of
citizenship, then We may look upon the
incoming Oh uuese without alarm. Slowly
yea surely they are invading fields Of profit
able industry, every branch of labor that
they have attacked they have subdued: :
tt, H.. /
but 1t is as irresistible As an army of locusts
the progress ot the Kansas grasshopper
from field To ntld Is not more de
structive and absorbing than the
march Of Chinese labor The Irish
~asherwumau Nas the first to sue
cumb the German cigar maker fell next
IA order, the itahan gardener ana fisher
man are made to give way before the inev-
liable Chinese; the slipper maker fell first
III has hne, the shoemaker next; women
AID taliOrS hung Oh upon the sowuDg ma
chine for time, but soon had To give way
store porters, boys to clean offices, cooks
III kitchens, chfld's nurses, and second
girls, box and bag makers, employees IN
cOrdage, WOODEN and silk factories, at turn
my lathes and IN all the lighter mechanical
occupations, laboTers on farms, IN placer
mines, on railroads, all made way for the
cheaper ASIatIc laboTer. Instead " fifty
thousand white labumg men, with nifty
thousand white families, living IN nifty
thousand houses, raising children to mul
tply their generations, spending their
IN lney IN the land where their labor pro-
duced 1t, We have nifty thousand pa5ient
iaborlous animals, living III crowded tene-
tea. tsh and rice, cooking with charcoal IN
brazlers, importing from China their own
goods, and sending to China their earn
lnzs The Chln,s are not alone danger
Gus to poor men. but III good time they
will eat up the rich; already and always
they have been their own bankers; they
have long since disposed Of our merchants
as mlGdemen. they import their own
goods; even now they mOnopolIze the
trade ia tea, rice, sugar, silk, opium and
all the fabrics and productions raised IN
China; they supply in san Francisco and
in every interior village their people with
goods ana we see no reason why they
should not III tine own the wooden, cord
AGE, SIX, shoe. cigar, tobacco and other
factories, the sugar rehneries and rice
mills, import goods IN their own ships, and
reiuove the relation which now exists he
tween the Chinese and the Americans. The
Chinese have greater wealthi they have
overwhelming numbers; they can live in
hnityly cheaper than our own people; and,
when we reflect upon the war We have
waged against them and its results, we are
not altogether convinced that they are not
a superior people. As yet We have no
trouble Ur cuLfIct between the races: our
times are prosperous, our country Is ex-
panslye, labor Is plenty; but remove all
tins, and let US ask ourselves will our
white working classes be patient and en-
dlre, should poverty press them, should
hunger invade their families Should la
Dor become scarce and unremuneratlve,
would they silently suffer while these har
barlans consumed their substance ? The
righttul inheritance Of poverty is labor.
Will our poor people rest content while
these aliens TIL their places Suppose III this
coming winter with all its horrors Of climate
aud its scarcity Of labor, the city pf New
York had 200, O00 Chinese men N the
heart of the town, ready tn perform skilled
or unskilled labor, willing to work for any
compensation and capable, by their habits,
Of living upon ten cents per day, would
the white people, its laburing men and
women, look patiently on and see their
children starve San Francisco is young
and prosperous, California is new and
sparsely settled. labor to-day IS abundant,
food is plenty. But IN the midst Of this
Dir, am OF mfort Is there not In this Chi
nese population the germ Of future dangeri
With All the nodesty Of a defeated par
tsan aud all the humility that ought to
characterize the advocate Of lost cause,
W. cannot avold suggesting possibilities to
our politicians, and threwing out these
hints for the consideration Of our prosper
Gus business men and wealthy citizens.