The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1876-07-05
The Chinese Question.

The anti Chinese question on the Pa
cifc coast has in all likelihood been
given more prominence than it deserved.
Those who participate in it are general
~ OF the brawling class. small politi-
clans anxious to curry favor with Ia
borers and artisans whose apprehen-
sions, especially in time of CONNER
ciar depression, are always easily
aroused, and sensation mongers eager to
accept the offered opportunity to write
up "China town" again and invent a
few details to suit the occasion, and be-
hind them all is the hoodlum element
on the alert for anything which prom
ises riot and al occasion for pillagc.
In the midst of the turmoil raised by
these agitators it is not easy. for. the
voice of common sense to be heard, and
principle is very apt to be swayed or
silenced by prejudice. Nevertheless,
we venture the prediction thatsif the
respectable citizens of California could
be polled they would, by an oyerwhelm-
ing majority, declare that. the present
anti-Mongolian crusade is as undesirable
as it is unjust.
The Six Companies have, in their ap-
peal to the President and people of the
United States, made an effective presen-
tation of strong case; it might have
been bettered if the signers had chosen
to 60 more into detail. There is, for in.
stance, not the slightest fear that the
Chinese can ever become so numerous
as appreciably to affect our social or po
itical institutions. Granted that the
same rate of immigration, which the
hoodlums effect to consider Q source of
danger be maintained for q century,
with allowance for, increase by natural
causes, our Chinese population in 1876
would only be 5000, 600 as against how
many millions of Xhites9 Besides, the
anti Chinese argument defeats itself,
for in the same breath that it is urged
that the Celestials pour in here by
myriads it is also charged against them
that they don't come to stay and be
Americanized, but as soon as they have
made little money take it and them
selves home to the, fowery kingdom.
The positions are inconsistent, and till
the Californians elect to stand on one we
must reject both. y
The economical considerations of the
question hardly merit serious attention.
If the Chinese pay their taxes, rentsand
fares, and earn and purchase that which
they wear and consume, the community
must be gamer. If they work for
less wages than other people, then there
is saving of capital which will find
other investments and open new fields OF
industry. Inasmuch rs the most rabid
denunciations of the Chinese come
from people who do not work except
when menaced by starvation, the
Chinese have rather the better of the
argument. = =
SO with the. moral and social features
of the question. The prison statistics
of California and San Francisco show
the average of crime among the Chinese
to be lower than, among the rest of the
population. IF their residences are pub
lie nuisances, why are not the nuisances
abated by those charged with preserv-
ing the public health and moralsS Are
they any worse than some OF the quar-
ters frequented by: other foreign resi-
dents? Whenever those who now 80
loudly declaim against Chinese immi-
grafton are able to answer such ques-
tions as these, it will be time to allow
them to take the next step and show
cause for excepting one particular peo-
pie from the operation of our laws and
competition in our markets.
It is by no means fattering to our ma.
tional pride that in this centennial
year such a discussion as this should be
waged, and that all the courtesy and
cogency should be displayed on the side
of the unciyiHzed heathens.--NeW York