New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1877-11-30
TIE CHINESE QUESTION AGAIN.
THE DARK SIDE OF THE PROBLEM.
Vc,r- York, Nov. %, 1877.

APPEAL FROM THE CALIFORNIA STATE SENATE
SMALL CHINESE IMMIGRATION BIZ sToPPfDF
lFRoM A STAFF CORRESPONDENT or THE TRBUNEl
WAsHINGrOV. Nov. IA forcihlo. and 81 the
same zine temperate. appeal comes to Con2ce,s from
the State senate Of California, for the passage o.
laws and the modification Of treaties, so as To pre-
won't the further immigration OF Chinese. The vio-
lent prejudice often displayed IN the treatment OF
this question by tie people of the Pacific coast and
the frequent instances of mob violence di-
rected against uaolfending Chinese iaborefs
have awakened sympathy in the East
for the Acknowledged Asiaucs. Eastern tourists
visiting California have, however seldom failed 10
return strongly impressed with the unanmlty oi
sentiment upon The subject which they found TO
exist there and with the arguments Of p"opie whose
intelligence raised them above vulgar hatred OF
an inferior race. Thus. little by little ther- has
grown ND a frame of mind here on the Atlantic side
of the Continent favorable to careful consideration
of the question whether the United states should shut
IFS doors against further inroad' from the flowery
Kingdom.
The memorial Of the California senate presents
many startling facts gathered from the dark side ~
the Chinese problem II states that ones Yin ot the
entire popujarion of California are Cinnamon. They
number 10000 souls. but they pay less than one
f,ur-bundreIth part Of the revenue raised for
fine snoDorr OF the state Government. The total
amount of taxes gathered from them falls twelve
thousand dollars short of maintaining the Chinese
corvicts i'm the state Prison. TIN. fact alone would
NOT be conclusive against their value as citizens for
q similar showing might Dee made against the negroes
i'm some sections Of the South. The Chinaman, how
ever. sends back TO the land of his birth
all the money he accumnlates and thus
drains the state of S1S00o0,000 annually,
which any other laborine population would RETAIN
and add m the productive wealth Of the community.
The California Chinese if the report is 10 be credit
ed have no families Not one in a thousand Is mar
ried The few Chinese women on the Pacihc coast
are of vile character and are brought over as slaves
and bought and sold Ike cattle. There Is no eNl-
dence that a single Chuaman has been conVerle 10
Christianity or has been persuaded to adopt Christian
manners and habits of life Impregnable 10 all the
Influences of our Anglo-Saxon life they remain the
same stold Asistics that have hoated the rivers
and shaved in the rcc-felds Of China for thirty
centuries Of time" The competition of Chinese
cheap labor has stopped the immigration of Amer
lean and European workingmen and seriously inter
fered with the development Of the State. China
men can work for wages that no white laborers
can accept because they live like rats IN
hole twenty or thirty occupying a single
ROOM and because they have no families to support
are accustomed to eating the cheapest kind OF food,
aud have no expenses for books schools. churches,
or for anything else that cultvates the moral na-
ture The climate of California is essentially AsIa;ic,
and, therefore, favorable to the influx Of tuis
heather peope. Ii Congress does not interfere, the
time VIII come when the constantly increasing tide
Of Chinese immigration viii overflow the Pacific
coast communities and drive out white labor alto
gethcr, leaving but two classes in society-masters
aud Serf5.
This is. in a nutshell, the argument of the memo
rial Accompanying it is an address TO the people of
the United States, into which Is worked good deal
of interesting testimony taken by a committee of
the senate. about the character and habits of the
Chinese Immigrants. The time has evidently come
when the Chinese question ha- grown to such an
Importance a. % demand from Congress more care
fll examination than ID has heretofore received.
The progress. Of the Pacific States has been far from
commensurate with the expectations formed when
fine traps,outinenta line of railway was completed.
Perhaps their resources were exaggerated but II is
certain that they are being much more slowly de-
veloped than such new States rs Kansas and Min
ue-ota II Chinese labor Is tithe Of the evil 10
is pictured 10 be- then il time that the fact was
known 10 tine whole country, and remedy found
. od 4uplict