New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1879-03-08
THE CHINESE IN AMERICA.

TIE SIX COMPANIES" REALLY MUTUAL DEN
EFT AsSOCIATIONs-N0T A SLAVE IN CALI
FoRSIA.
70 me EDITOR OF The Tribune.
SIR: The President has vetoed the anti-mmlgra-
zion bill and the House has refused to override the
voto This coniont action dIsmisses the subject
from general attention for the present But the
ouadrennlal fever into which an excitabe class on
the Pacific side are dashed will reach its height
during another Presidential campaign. Now thar
the public mind is quoted little after the connect
il NAV be well TO examine thoroughly the SUBJECT
and be prepared for future skirmishes
The inst and wise settlement of the Chinese dim
Guilty in California is truly matter OF concern 10
our Nation and Christianity. The action Oh our
Government at the present juncture aifects l'eio'
Of the first importance commercial political ana
religious 1t will establish procedents ana deter
mine lines of procedure with regard to the most
nopulous and venerable empire on the globe the In
Nncnces of which no one can estimate. In
the discussion of it in Congress and elsewhere
the very first necessity must be truthful ana falr
statement of the facts which lie at the foundation
of the matter.
The primary assumption of those who demand
the restriction of Chinese immigration to this conn
try the declaration which in the first place makes
this at all serious question: is that there ls danger
of flood of the Chinese. need not repeat the
language in which in many forms this has been as
serted and vehementy commented upon Is TINS
fundamental assumption truei
II is not true. China is not Overpopulated 1t
does not contain 4OO,OOOOO0 or 420,0OO,OOO OF
neople. 1t is generally supposed that at the begin
ming of this century there were about 36OOOO'ooo
But it has not-as those unscquainted with Its his
tory. and Judging its increase by our own, have
mag.ned-added to the number of its people.
have nowhere in the Old World such terrible
and complete desoatOn of large districts. once
crowded with busy and prosperous inhabitants, as
in Central China. The foreign wars, the vast re-
bellions the terrible famInes, have swept away
tens OF millions of human beings. Some of the best
Judges there SAID and there can scarcely be qucS-
ton of IT, that there cannot be over 3OO,OOO,OOO
of people in the Empire proper now. If as densely
populated some parts of Europe, 1t would sup
port full 500 100000.
But this is not the question to settle now. The
real question is. Who OF the Chinese race would in
any case come TO Amencaf The Chinese regard
their Empire as embracing the civilized world.
They look upon a residence in America much as yOu
or would upon one in Greenland or Kamschatka.
All the Chinese in this country come from lin
tied region in the south. where the people have for
many centuries traded with foreigners, and become
acquainted with them. Most of the immigrants are
from the neighborhOod of the City of Canton the
rest from other parts Of the province Of that name
and from the neighboring borders of Fuhkeen, the
next province to the eastward on the coast. have
becn amused in travelling through other provinces
in the Interior and north of China, to observe the
contempt expressed for the Canton people
count Of their Willingness to 90 abroad, and to hear
the epithets which are applied to foreigners hurled
al them, as if they not genuine Chinese. The
people of various provinces i'll China are widely
sep rated by differences of dialect Those cannot
understand each other IN conversation, perhaps,
who live in contiguous districts counties. They
maintain ancient jealousles. They differ in many
customs and religious usages. That man OF Can
ton emigratcs is no indictment to one living in
province north-ust as. in Europe, what a German
does is a small motive to a Portuguese And so large
proportion of the Chinese have died here, or been
unfortunate, or been wrOnged in various ways that
emigration has not many attractions in the eyes of
the Chinese elsewhere.
Many of these Cantonese have come here through
the solicitations OF foreigners. Handbllls adver-
tIsements ship-brokers, emigration agents, and
other means similar to those used to excite emigra
ton from Ireland and Germany and Sweden, have
been employed by Europeans and Americans in
order TO fill their vessels, to obtain labOrers. 1t
is our own efforts which have made the inning
ton as large as it is. And foreign, not Chinese,
ships have brought every man that has come
Yet even the Cantonese cross the ocean in small
numbers and with much reluctance trembling on
account Of the dangers Of 50 distant voyage, and
of residence among strange a race as ours. They
stay no longer than is necessary. Half of all that
have arrived here are dead, have sought
again their native shores. In the thirty
wears since gold was discovered there
have been attracted hithcr from the Chinese
Empirc, by all the immense inducements ana
facilities for coming which American and European
commerce has placed before them, only 2NO,OoO
Chinese There remain not over $4,000 of whom
il Is estimated that Oue-halt are dispersed over
States and Territories outside OF California.
1t would be but just to array BESIDE these state
ments and numbers the facts and statistics of
European immigration during the same period. In
single wears the latter has been One-half greater
than that from China in the whole thirty III 1871,
427,OO0; in 1872, 10000 During the years
1SiS-7S, II sums up 5000 900! Tins IS equal To
Ont-Slxth of the entire population OF the United
States at the present time. Excessive and neTclleSS
as have been the denunclatOns OF the imputed evIS
and dangers of Chinese immigration, unpTeJudlced
people will ask whether they excel those WhlcI
threaten from across the Atlantic Here, at
least, is a population which furnishes no puDHc
drunkenness and none Of the multltude OF crimes
which proceed from drunkenness, no Deggars on
the highways, no pIupeT5 III the almshOuses anu
hospitals and no material for the manipulation OF
the priest and the demagogue. We cannot AVOID
the conclusion that 10 talk, as some nave dohe, Oh
the Chinese immigration hlther a. an "nVa-
sion is peIveTlOn of Language and OF the truth.
10 sound an alarm all over the country. TO aIae
into Congress fierce debates of TINS subject 10 the
exclusion OF others mNOlNlhg present anu Iedi
national necessities, Is a wrong to the General
Government and TO our people. 10 Elolate
upon any such pleas a solemn and i'm
]ortant treaty, to east away on Their account the
great commercial and other advantages and the
opportunities Of good which the American people
possess IN China, would STAN us with dlshOnor and
contempt before the world, would be crime
against Heaven, against our postcrity and against
the highest interests of the human family
| cannot take time for general exam
ination of the subject but let me ex-
anime one other principal indictment
prcfcrred by those hostile to them against the
dniucsc-that the most of those in the United