The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1880-06-21
An INTEnvIEw WITH GARFIELD.
As Published I'm the IntsIIiEeneer Two
Yeara ago.


San FIanei,oo Post, Juns9
Thefollowing report Of q conversation
with General Garfield was published in
the Pot Of. December Z, 1873, copied from
the Wheeling wv. ya) ISTEtuoEScER. 1t
should eaectually set at rest all doubts as
to the soundness Of his views on the Chi
nese question:
"The writer's Of these lines, while tray-
ling West few days ago, fell in with Gen.
ersl Garfield, Of Ohio, on the cars, and
had a long and interesting conversation
with him on the leading topics Of the day.
"The future Of our country" said the
General, sis a great problem. and, for
mat matter, so Is the future OF Europe and
Of he whole world. This reminds me"
he went on TO say, "of conversation had
with a very intelligent gentleman IN New
York City q few days ago. He had Just
returned from Europe, where he had beer
travelling for two years, and was In de-
spondsnt state OF mind over the impress
ions he had received while abroad. lie
detailed these impressions at length TO me
and in a way that was indeed well caicu-
lated 10 make q systematic impression,
II was the prevailing impression
among very many OF the thinking men oil
Europe that society there was being I'M
dermined by certain. Irresistible influences.
In the first place, 1t WAS honeycombed by
widespread and still wider spreading ind.
deity. The Christian religion is no long
ar a supreme influence over the minds
and consciences OF the masses. The lead
ems Of thought, the scholars OF England,
France and Germany, have popularized
unbeliei, and in France 1t has passed into
A current remark that only women and
children are any longer TO be seen at
church.
ain the second place, there is great rest
lessness among the masses in regard 70
the Inequalities OF society. Why should
the few be 80 very rich and the many so
yery poor? is the burden OF their inquiry,
and also Of their conversation one with
another. This undertone OF discomfort Is
yisibly growing, and is finding expression
through channels that are unsettling the
foundation stones OF the whole social lab
rio in Europe. Socialism in Germany, Nj.
hilism in Russia, Communism In France,
and Chartism in England were all at work,
and the masses were being leavened with
these principles. Their aversion to king.
craft and prfestcrait borders upon reyolu'
ton. The whole OF Europe is volcanic at
this time. Immense standing armies are
All that represa the outburst But while
they Iepress its they afford the grievance
ION which revolution grows and spreads,
and becomes more and more irresistible
!, for the final reckoning. It is believed by
many Of the most sagacions minds that
the day OF upheaval is not far of.
"But this il not all, said General Gar
field. "that my New York traveller said to
me. tits believed in Europe that one Of
! these great historic movements OF the
. Monaghan race, that in the remote past
have dispersed their people into less
densely populated countries than their
own, is now preparing. For instance, the
Russians, in pressing recently upon the
Asiatic borders OF their empire, devel-
oped by actual reconnaissance q Chinese
] army, OF which they were totally igno.
rant, 250,0G0 strong, and armed, too, with
all the effective enginery OF modern war,
including the Krupp guns. These guns
had been made by their own skilled work:
, men, who had been sent to Europe and
, secretly taught the art, and Prussian 9th.
GERS had drilled their armies in the use oil
them. No man knows today thestrength
of the Chinese military establishment
All we see or know OF what is going on in
China is on the shore edges. Its believed
that the skeleton for an army OF 10000
900 already exists. Its believed, further,
that the idea OF conquest has once again
taken possession OF the Chinese mind, and
that the great Buddhistic family OF Asi.
attic races can be leagued for not only a
wholesale raid upon Europe, but also for
descent upon the Pacific coast OF the
United States. Such movement means
the possible wiping out OF Caucasian CIV
iliLation. England has modified these
Asiatics as defense against Russia's am
bition in the East; but, as Count Schouya.
loft said in the Berlin conference, what II
the Asiatics, taught the art OF war
should, like the irresistible Turks, once
again look down upon the plains OF Eu'
rope, bearing upon their banners the lie.
gion, we come, we see, we conquer.
Modern war is now matter OF efiec'
tive arms, and Of simple and reliable
commissariate system. The Monaghan
race is capable OF great personal poweress.
Being fatalists, they dare everything for
the end they have in view. Their food is
simple, easily supplied, and easily trans
ported. Their endurance OF fatigue is
proyerbial. Once organized and in motion
they could swarm into Russia as irresisti-
bly, as the locusts Of Egypt, and upon the
Pacific coast OF this continent as numer-
Gus and destructive as the grasshoppers.
Once started, where would they stop?
Civilization would retire before them as
from plague. Look at the plague spots
in San Francisco to-day. Nobody lives in
them but the Chinese. Nobody else can
live in them" At this point General Gar
field digressed from the thread Of his mar.
ration OF this tale OF a traveller, to speak
OF what he himself had seen in San Fran.
cisco. 81 have SEEN" said he, sin space
no greater than the length and height Of
this sleeping car berth, in Chinese tene.
ment quarter in San Francisco, the home
OF twelve Cinnamon. In that space they
actually liyed-yes, actually lived most Of
their time. There they couched (all doub.
led up aud there they cooked ate, slept,
and, in word, lived. They cooked with
a little lamp a mess OF stuff that they i'm
port from China, which, like their nee
food, is yery, cheap, and mere pittance in
the way Of earnings on the street will sup
ply them food and clothes for an indef.
mite time. A few cents per day is more
to them than dollar to the commonest
American laborer. Hence the lowest
grade Of poor paid labor retires before
them as 1t would before a pestilence.
"rhis is not all. They have no assimi.
lation whatever to Caucasian civilization.
He wants all that we want. He adopts
our neutrality-suspicious. our religion
works for our wages, and is customer
for everything that civilization produces.
Hence using figure Of physiology we
can take him up in the circulation OF the
body polite and assimilate him-make a
man and brother Of him, as the phrase
goes; but not SO in the least degree with
the Chinaman.
"And this brings me to say" said Gen.
eral Garfield, before leaving the cars,
that one Of the great questions that now