Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1881-01-07
Labor in China.
Report OF Hon. u. q. Denny. Showing
how Cheap Labor Suppiies Chinu-
meas Scanty Wants.

In discussing the vexed question
of Chinese cheap labor, rs it in
trude3 its blishting presence into
the industries of the Pacific Coast,
the fact that these laborers can live
without the slightest home comforts
and work upon food upon which u
white man would find it impossible
to subslst, has become apparent.
Hon. o. O. Denny, formerly of
Portland, but for several years past
U. $. Consul General at Shanghai,
furnishes a report to the Department
of State, upon Labor in China, "
which gives the status industrially
and to some extent socially of this
class OF labor in it's native land
which shows that the wages at which
Chinese labor here, meager rs they
are, and ruinous to white labor as
they are, are yet muniticent COM
pared with the rates for which Chi
nese work at home. A perusal of
this report, which we subjoin, will
convince any who have before doubt
ed, that American labor, by which
homes are built up and maintained
and in which families dwell in COM
fort, cannot compete with labor
that is content with wages that will
provide merely q hovel in common
with others and rice and rat diet.
The. first division noticed in this re-
port is
SKILLED LABOR,
Comprising artisans, manufacturers,
etc. These people live mostly in
towns or cities, where the highest
cost of living and house rents exact
a correspondinsly higher income.
Art, taste, and genius, while highly
appreciated by the people, do not,
as in Europe and America. command
that high premium which so much
encourages art. Sometimes q paint
er will be rendered more or less
celebrated by the boldness of his
brush and by his genius in initiating
nature; his name, or seal, may be-
come immortal, but he will during
his lifetime, be probably no better
off than his neighbor, the coffin
maker. The painter of porcelain,
the designer and weaver Of those ex-
quisite patterns seen on China silks,
the man who works those beautiful
pieces of enamel which are the ad-
miration of the world, is each con-
tent if he and his family earn enough
to live upon, and if, after providing
for parents funeral expenses and
contributing towards one of his
children's wedding, he has econo-
mized sufficiently to assure an hon
orable funeral for his own remains
and those of his wife, he feels rs
though he had accomplished the
object of his existence. His neigh
Dor, the butcher, is in equally good
circumstances. When great re-
sponslbility rests on workmen, such
Ds gold and silver smiths, consid-
Grafton is made in the remuneration.
The highest paid day laborer is per-
hapS the silk reeler or spinner, for in
addition to the skill which it is ne
cessary for these operators to pos
sess, the silk has to be reeled off
the cocoons within limited time,
and for several weeks tho men have
to work almost day and night. For
such work the wages paid, vary from
one to two dollars per diem. The
grand average OF an income under
the head of skilled labor is as fol-
lows: For a Muster, per week, 50;
$lJ6 per annum. For II Workman,
per week, 81 80; S1S per annum.
For youngsters or females, per week,
90 cents; S2G per AMMAN. The eN-
penso Of living will be respectively:
For "A mlStpr ncr :lnnUn: