The weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1878-1881, 1880-11-09

people, especially those on the Pacific slope
are making to free themselves from the de
moralizing effects of Chinese cheap labor, bu|
like the Old Man of the Sea, the almost TN
bearable burden clings to them with a ten
acity that renders them at times desperate
and in their frenzy, uncomfortable by the
means to which officers of the law usually
resort.
Let us for a moment review this Chinese
problem and trace it in its incipiency to the
present time. As early as 1850 the Chinese,
stimulated by the prospects OF suddenly &C,
curing fortunes, commenced focking to the
Pacific coast. At first their presence was re-
enived with indifference, hut as their numbers
increased, the people became alarmed, not oil
account of the cleapness of their labor, but
because they were taking immense amounts
0 gold from the country obtained in diggings
which were not at that time, considered val
uaIle enough to pay white labor, but which,
the white miners reasoned, would at some
future time pay them for working. To check
this influx of Chinese the legislature of Cali
fornia passed a law by which all aliens were
taxed four dollars ger month for the privilege
of working in the mines. This tax was not
| collected of any other class of foreigners but
the Chinese. This tax added to their road
tax and poll tax to which they were subjected
made an annual tax of fifty-six dollars per
annum, that those engaged in mining had to
pay.
Az thn hIp1oN woe cnTnnVlIat nnaVnyIS IN
the heathens, the heavy Chinese companies at
San Francisco took the matter in hand and
contested the validity of the law in the state
courts. About this time Burlingame was sent
to China to conclude q treaty with that en-
pire which was finally ratified by the United
States government. Under that treaty the
California courts held that the mining tax on
the..Chinese could not be collected. But previ-
Gus to this decision the miners, as early as 1858
and "a, had driven the Cinnamon off from
camps. Thus commenced the first war
against tho Chinese. As the surface mines
became exhausted these people sought and
obtained employment in other branches Of
industry and OH account of the cheapness of
their labor they finally confined white labor
to a few departments the operations of which
the Chinese did not then understand. But in
a short time they encroachcd upon those de,
partinents and then commenced a contest in
which the white laboring men of California
have since been fighting for their bread
against a horde Of aliens backed by the strong
arm of the government.
In this unequal contest the heathens have
practically maintained their ground, and not
insidiously advancing and gaining footholds
in the basin of the Mississippi and on the
Atlantic slope. This riot at Denver is the
first protest that tho laboring masses of the
interior has uttered. The cry will be taken
up and carried from city to city, from the
Mississippi to the Atlantic scaboard, that the
Chinese must 60.
The only effort that congress has made to
restrict Chinese immigration, was in the form
of a bill that it passed a year or two ago.
President Hayes vetoed the bill onthe ground
that it was in conflict with one of the provi
SONS of the %Burlingame treaty.
To even the unthinking the Chinese prob
lem assume an aspect truly alarming. No one
can deny.the effect that Chinese cheap labor
has in shaping the future welfare of our la.
boring classes. 1t is a labor with which white
men cannot compete. Fifteen years ago
close inquiry revealed the fact that the Chi
nese of California provided themselves witt
food at an average cost Of ninety cents eacl
per week. Here is, in part, the secret OF
their being able to work for wages upon which
the white man cannot support hi self ant
those dependent upon him. This fact is pat
ent to the people, and when we hear of riot
and mob violence in which the Chinese suffe
we know the cause, and so long as the cause
exists The effects will be the same. Our onl,
hope lies in the favorable action of the gen
eral government. If the present treaty b.
modified SO as to shut out a further influx @
the Objectionable race, we may in time ab
sorb the present number in various occupa
lions that would not materially Interfere will
the labor Of the white class. Or if by con
gressional action their residence upou Amer
lean soil could be confined to the cotton an
sugar growing states of the Union we Nigh
see a way out of the dilemma in which W
are placed. Under the existing state q
affairs we cannot foretell to what desperat
measures the working classes will resort t
shake off the incubus which now weighs S
heavily upon them. The situation demand
the immediate attention OF congress. If gu
government fail to take measures to chec
the influx of this undesirable class of labol
ers, we shall continue to hear of ripts, incer
| diarism and bloodshed, wherein the Chimes