Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1880-08-05
THE CHINESE IN CALIFORNIA.
Why Their Unlimited Immigration
Should Be Prevented.
Graphic Sketch OF Chinese Character, Habits,
and Influence, by an Eye Observer.

The following article IS long, bat
it treats of a subject looming up to
vast Importance to the American cit
izen. If we wish to be and continue
to be IN enlightened people. we must
acquaint ourselves with facts and act
upon their teachings Had the most
enlightened minds controlled our
government at its foundation on the
subject Of African slavery, the adj.
vantages we might enjoy cannot be
estimated. If the present generation
at once arrests the progress of Chi
nese slavery, it may do the republic
of the future as great a good as an
anti.slavery clause In the first con-
stitution would have done. The ar
ticle is written by California lady
now visiting relatives in this county.
To tho Editor of the Grant County HERALD:
At the suggestion Of a friend / send this
communication on the Chinese question,
which may seem TO many hackneyed one
that has already received its full share of att
| tention. Having lived nearly twelve years
on the Pacific coast, and been an eye wit
ness of the evils that have grown out If the
immigration of such large numbers of CHS
nese into our country, it seems to me Of vital
Importance that the question should be bet,
ter understood.
| The people Of California were the first to
| feel the baneful effect of the presence of this
peculiar race among them. people who did
not come Wishing to become citizens, did not
/ bring their families or want homes, would not
adopt our manners and customs, or in any
way affiliate with American people who de-
| spise and eyade our laws whenever possible
who have their own secret tribunals where
they try, condemn and execute their own peo-
pie according to their own laws, known only
to themselves; thus producing state of
things incompatible with a Republican form
| of government.
The people of California believe the Chi
nese to be a blight to her prosperity, curse
to her white laboring classes, menace to her
liberty, and detrimental to the best interests
OF the State, and this belief was expressed in
q manner not to be mistaken by our eastern
/
vote stood l54,6SS against Chinese immigra~
ton to $50 for it. Such an expression of sen-
/ timent is entitled to respectful consideration
by those who favor unrestricted immigration.
/ Restriction is no party measure; every men,
Der of Congress and Senator of the Pacific
! States, irrespective Of party, has urged the
passage of laws restricting the immigration OF
these people. The appointment of the Chs
nese commissioners lately sent out by our gov>
! eminent, can do but little to stay this influx
/ Of Chinese, without the cooperation of the
Court of st. James, as fully nine!eenstwenti,
eths Of the Chinese sail from Hong Kong,
which is British port, under the control OF
the British authorities, and the Chinese gov
ernment has no more to do with the laws
! governing that city, since the treaty which
ceded that port to the English, than our gov
eminent has.
California is in sympathy with the provinces
of Queensland and New South Wales in Aus.
tralia, which passed yearly three years ago in
| their colonial parliaments strongly proAibi-
tory acts which received the royal assent and
reduced the number of immigrants from Chi
ma into Queensland (aIone) from 74Q0 in 1877,
to less than 200 in the succ eeding year. The
province of Victoria is also waking up to evils
connected with this class of immigrants and
will doubtless follow in the footsteps of her
sister colonies. The views of the people OF
| California on this vexed question. are differ
ent from those entertained by many worthy
people east of the Rockies, simply because
our eastern friends have no practical knowl-
edge of the subject 1t has been bro't home
to them as a matter of vital importance, as
something to be arrested before it gains firm
footing on our soil. The people of California
having better understanding of the facts
have protested against it with unanimity
never before witnessed in the history OF our
country. But so far we have had but little
sympathy or attention from our sister States.
The anti Chinese sentiment is spoken of az nf
"Hoodlum origin" and one would suppose
they regarded Dennis Kearney as the expon-
ent of the whole Pacific coast, while his in
fluence extends no father than his own race,
and does not include all of them. Chinese
labor threatens the eastern states as well az
the western, and will work the same havoc
with the industries of Atlantic States it has
with those of the Pacific. 1t is only matter
of time. We felt the blow first, and have
determined to resist it, and ask the cooper
alton of those whose interests are in jeopardy
as much as our own. The Chinese have not
yet gained so strong foothold in the eastern
States. They are yet subjects OF curiosity as
they were with US twenty-five years ago
when only few thoughtful, far-seeing per-
sons recognized the fact that their growing
numbers were a menace to American insti-
tutions and American industries that they
would never assimilate with our own people
and become loyal citizens that they had no
idea Of freedom or what independence meant.
Hinton R. Helper, after visiting the Pa.
cifc coast twenty-five years ago, published
a book in which be speaks Of the Chinese
who then were quite numerous in California
in this manner:
"Certain it is that the greater the diversity o;
colors and qualities OF nea. the greater will be the
strife and conflict Of feeling One party will gain
! the sscendency and dominate over the other. Our
population already too Heterogeneous before the
Chinese came, but now alother adyentitious ele'
ment has been added, and should not wonder if the
copper of the Pacific became great subject Of
! discord as the ebony OF the Atlantic"
The trouble Helper foreshadowed has be-
come reality. A system Of slavery slightly
! less abhorreht and detestable than the ore
abolished be the de structive and bloody civil
| war we so lately passed through, is being
| fostered IN this country. II has made con-
! siderable progress on the Pacific coast, and
| there is plenty of material in China 10 en-
| trench 1t in every state of the Union unless
| vigorous measures are taken to prevent il.
Gen. John f. Miller, an old resident OF
| California, in an article on seer tain Phases
OF the Chinese Question:" says:
practically, China is the great slave-pen from
which lahore for this country are being drawn;
there myriads now ready and only sta I'D waiting
for tae beck and sign of the Chinese Chiefs TO come
aud toll Ike galley slaves. for wages upon which
American laborer would starve."
The great capitalists and manufacturers
who utilize the cheapest labor, will make il
very difficult TO uproot the system when
once fairly inaugur4ted, and it is of para
mount Importance that this invasion of Chi
nese should be checked that it may never
gain a firm foothold farther East.
For every Chinaman who finds employ
men., white man or woman, boy or girl
must step down and out. The Chinese de-
grade labor by reducing its compensation be-
low the point which enables white family
TO live. Those who camor for Chinese la
cor ignore the fact that cheap labor. the
world over, means poor and insr fficient food,
no education, no refinement, filth, squalor,
degradation, ignorance, superstition and
Standardization. Il is the very height of
absurdity to argue that our working classes
can compete with a race like the Chinese,
who Sc standard of comfort is 80 much below
the wants and necessities OF the humblest
American family. One has been accustomed
| to the blessings Of civilization. The other
has sprung from . stock that for centuries
has endured the deprivations and evils of
semi-bsrbarism, and the latter can underbid
and drive the other out of the labor markets
of the world.
Chinese labor is not free labor. 1t can
MAYER n aXCpnt