The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1876-07-13
THE CHINESE QUESTION.
Number of Chinese Ia the United states--
why they are Opposed as In .,igrants--A
Serious Question.

why they are Opposed as Im nigranrs--A
| Serious Question.
The question OF Mongolian immigra-
ton into the United States is one 30 spri-
ous that both OF the great parties have
| in their platforms called the attention
OF Congress to it. In 1870 the census
sh wed that there we're in the Unit ID
States 63,251 Chinese. or these
81, 721 were in the Pacific States, 220 in
the Southern and $40 in all the other
States.
Since 1870 there has been a rapid in
crease of this class OF alien immigrants.
| The statement Of the number of Chinese
arriving from 1850 to 1875, as taken
| from the reports of the bureau OF
statistics, shows that from 1851 to 1876
the total immigration was 189,96 In
1871 the number to arrive was 5000; in
1872 it was 10. 642; in L 373 it was 18, 154; /;
in 1874 it was 1861, and in 1875 the
largest immigration took place, the
number being 1908. The six
companies in San Fran cisco, under
whose auspices these people came, re-
port that they have imported 187, 900.
In the last five years of the Chinese
arriving 1887 were women, and there
are not now in the country over $500
Chinese women. At the present time
there are 10000 Chinese in California,
and that State feels the effect more seri-
ously, of course, than any other. The
complaint made is that the Chinese are
not an assimilative people and do not
come as other aliens, to make homes in
our midst, or make this the land of their
adoption, and that the presence Of the
Chinese in large numbers is cause of
serious discomfort to the greater portion
of our permanent population.
| The Chinese population expels all
others. That to rent dwellings to
them is to insure that such build
ings will never be reoccupied by others.
That they are filthy in their habits and
surroundings beyond description that
they herd together in such squalor and
indulge in such habits as make their
presence in any city q sanitary offense,
if not positive danger to the balance
of the community.
Their habits of living and capacity for
organization are such that they can de-
stroy all competition, and thus they not
only drive out the high priced and
homogeneous labor of our own race
| ulu pCoPio, puo phCJ SlaouhthJ ihoLOPo-
lizs the manufacture of all light trades,
as shoe and cigar making, etc, COM
pelling the smaller capitalists and en-
ployers to surrender participation there.
in. Their presence, in fact, is the first
veritable presentation to us of a genuine
proletariat population.
Being in debt for his passage to one
of the companies which imports him,
his family is held in China as security
for repayment. Hence he does not come
to stay, and brings with him neither
home life or family associations. This
condition of affairs has produced another
and more terrible traffic-that of
Chinese females for the purposes of
prostitution. The result of this traffic
is simply horrible. 1t degrades the
youth Of our Pacific towns, sows the
vilest diseases broadcast. All attempts
to break it up have been thwarted by
the organized perjury and intimidation
which, it is charged, is SO marked fea-
ture of the lower Chinese life. Gam
bling is also an organized business, and
the better class of this people acknowl-
edge themselves as helpless as the au-
thorities at San Francisco are to break
up the frightful business.
The question is one that will continue
to attract attention until it is settled.