The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1881-01-05

OUR readers are aware that late news from China
asserts that a modification of the Burlingame
Treaty has been secured by the American Com
missioners. The modification is supposed to con-
the Tese.e.. P3sSisly the prohibition of
the migration of Chinese . american soil. On
the superstition that either of these notifications
is the fact, some of the newspapersNo Of San Fran
cisco are jubilant, and view the OUTCOME of the
work of the Commission as most worthy OF praise
and laudation. 1t disposes, as they saw of qias-
ton which has vexed their community for years,
and has threatened the well being and future well
fare of the State. No more Chinese for us, and
a certain elimination of what we now have in the
near future, that is what we now have TO con-
graduate readers upon" 1t is said that there
$1,000 Chinese in the city and about $1,000 in
the State out of 10000 population. In vexed
question, who shall decide which course is wisest
which course will in the long run produce the
best economic results? AT present the loudest
voice-that is, the most clamorous-is in favor of
prohibition of Chinese immigration. But the vuice
of those who have an assured social position, have
property TO be improved, and have the material
progress of the State at heart is for letting the
Chinese immigration be governed by natural forces
that is, by the laws of trade and industrial needs
These latter argue, assert that as to social and
moral forces, our Western civilization need not
fear contact with the Oriental and that the State
is in no danger of being overrun. As matter of
fact, statistics show that for the past two years
the Chinese population has been falling off, and
that therefore the fear which has been expressed,
that Chinese would swamp the State, and which
in the heyday of Sandlotism gave rise TO an in
=
threaten every person employing Chinese, is and
was unnecessary.
Now that it seems probable Chinese immigra-
ton may be restricted prohibited, the " sober
second thought is coming to the front. The
questions are propounded, Wherein have the Chi
nese injured the State of California in the past
what good will be secured by shutting them out
These queries are not in the mouths of office
holders or seekers, or of newspapers greedy for
popular applause, or of the unthinking multitude,
but they in the mouths of those who seek to
know and guide the moving forces of social and
economic conditions and changes The most
prominent evil of the Chinese, saws one. a.
their congregating in our cities and engrossinc
the small occupations. They herd together like
cattle, and make themselves obtrusive and offens-
i've. Doubtless this is their way and thereby they
tread upon the toes, and crowd to the wall. the
denizens engaged In like poorly paid occupations.
But California has demonstrated in all the lower
occupations, since the discovery of her mines in
lo4o to the present, that only in exceptional cir
cumstances can community afford to pay double
and seKtup!e the rate of wages of other communi-
ties, and yet keep pace in the race of the worlds
progress. If the advent of the Chinese has made
comfortable living, at moderate cost, possible in
California, and manufacturing possible in CONNIE
tition with the rest of the world their coming and
their labor has not been an unmixed evil.
If the news of this treaty, says another.
is true, in less than twelve months dom
este service will advance in this State % per
cent Our railroads now building will not 60 on.
while our manufacturing establishments will sue
cumb TO Eastern competition. 1t will be useless
TO establish new ones, for they cannot payn These
may be exaggerated statements, but they are sur-
gestive, for California is in need of cheap reliable
and productive labor. As new, undeveloped and
thinlypopulated State, there is room for and need
for thousands of workers.
Another point made as to the result of the new
treaty, is Its bearing upon schemes now advocated
for developing manufactures. Capitalists and
business men are urged to engage their idle and
surplus money in starting new factories But fac
tories without hands, or with hands at wages
which are above that of Eastern manufacturers.
do not appear to be enticing investments.
1t appears now as if the popular CRY of 1.-THE
Chinese must CO." is likely 10 give place TO
another, What for !r