The workingman's advocate., 1876-07-15
CLEN o., July 10, Il

OLkNELAND, W. July IU, IotO.
To the Editor of the WoRKISexAS's ADVOCATE.
1t is now conceded that the experiment
Of employing Chinese cheap labor at North
Adams is not profitable. There has been
no great loss by attempting it, but the i'm
provement Of the Chinese in practical skill
has latterly been less than was anticipated
from their advance in the first few months.
With the return of these Cinnamon to
their native country there is probably an
end Of employing Asiatics for skilled labor
anyw here east of the Mississippi, since
there we're many favorable conditions at
North Adams not likely to result elsewhere
People who were moved by the scare about
Chinese cheap labor few years ago have
mostly recovered from their fright, at least
on this side Of the Rocky Mountains but
if there Is yet lingering trace of their
malady, this news should dispel it-New
York Tribune.
| suspect the Chinese as they became
better skilled III the shoe making
trade, which was done at large expense to
the manufacturers, like all other skilled
laborers, because less docile TO their mas
tiers. After large outlay of money upon
this race for the purpose Of teaching white
labor generally, and the Crispins in par
ticular, lesson in the Divine command Of
servants obey your masters" and offer no
resistance to the terms they may offer or
conditions the impose. Obedience, under
any circumstances, is required Of labor,
and this was the aim Of the manufacturers
Of North Adams, when they supplanted the
labor of Cacausian with that of the Asiatic.
Now they lind out what trade Unionists,
and labor leaders have always asserted that
manhood ana independence are the near
kinsmen Of skill and competency. The
higher the degree Of ability in the work
man the more Independent he is, and of
course vice versa
Now that labor has been reduced to the
most rigid economy in wages and living,
the Chinese are not the only race that are
being thrown out. Other nationalitles that
have been used i'll our mines and other in
dustries to crush trade Unionism, and de-
grade the workmen, find themselves pinch
ed beyond anything they ever dreamed of,
and are ouly kept from returning to their
native lands by their inability to raise the
means. When times were good and wages
high, forced up by the etfecasy, Of trade
Unionisnl, men Of inferior skill were able
to get along. Now however they cannot,
neither can the operator afford to pamper
them as before, and now they suffer. 1t
has now come question of living, and is no
longer one Of wages. This condition has
been hastened in part by the earnest per
sistent efforts of all labor employers They
had large profits, and were making money
fast, but the wages Of the workman was
an eyesore to them, and they must keep
hammering away at getting them down.
Now the object is accomplished, or is fast
reaching, consummation. How wonder
do they like the spectacle 1t is not what
they contemplated altogether, but it is
what the best minds in the labor ranks
predicted it would be. John Chinaman
could be brought in here and used as an
instrument, with others to reduce the
wages of our trades, but the very fact that
he could live on less, and sent his surplus
out Of the country, has demonstrated to
the people Of North Adams, Mass, the
operators inclined that ne is not profita-
BILE investment, and so it is all over the
country, where cheap labor is employed,
because it invariably has linked to it other
disadvantages that fall even upon those
who use it at what seems a handsome diff
ference in cost. Thus it is now on the
Pacific coast. There, those who most en-
couraged this class Of people are the most
anxious to get rid Of it. Before we can
have national prosperity, we must get back
to paying good wages to our workingmen,
and it will call out their best efforts in
every business. BY doing so we put in
their hands the means to make times good,
and they will use them. Merchants, man.
ufactures, and all classes should feel this,
if they do not. This worlds experience
proves it. Cheap labor is an inferior COM
modify, and the owner of it an inferior
citizen. JOHN JAMES.