The Daily Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Or.) 1876-1883, 1882-03-24
An Economic View.

AND yet IN a materlal point OF
view the presence of Chinese in
our Pacific states has so far not
been so injurious as many assert.
True, Chinese labor has at times
pressed with some severity upon
class of our own population. But
the evil effects of this competition
have always seemed to US greatly
exaggerated. So far in our history
there has been small reason for any
industrious person among US to be
idle, There has been enough for
all to do, Chinese included. 1t is
to be observed, too, that the Chi
nese among US have been chiefly
employed in work which, without
them would have been left undone
for years yet. Where would the
labor have come from to build our
railroads, or clear onr lands? The
complaint, too, that tho send the
money they cara ouL ot the coun-
try, has little force. The money
they earn is well represe nted by
the permanent results of the labor
they perform. If we limit our
view of the case to its more mate
rial aspects, we shall find small
reason to stop Chinese immigration
for years yet to come Their labor
can be used, on the whole, with
advantage to the country, till such
time as immigration shall bring US
a sufficient working population of
a better class.
The above is a "garbled" excerpt
from an editorial in the Oregonian
OF the Chinese question. The
qualifying adjective is quoted, as
we are in full recognition of the
fact that our Portland contempo-
rary has that word patented as a
matter of self defense, and views
with distrust any infringement OF
vested rights.
One of the main arguments ad-
vaneed by the eastern press in ad-
vocacy of Chinese immigration is
that we need this kind of cheap la
Dor to develop the new country of
the Pacific slope; that, without it
we could not have built our rail-
roads; that we require it IN the es-
tablishment of manufactures, and
in our large farming operations.
But it is something new to find an
Oregon journal advocating such
immigration, and reiterating such
radical error. Probably the we'll
known attitude OF our infallible
contemporary toward the railroad
company, has something to do with
it.
1t might be sufficient answer
to the argument of the Oregon,an
to point out the fact that railroads
are constructed on the eastern side
of the Rocky mountains without
Chinese labor, and that the manu-
featuring and agricultural interests
Of the older states appear to have
made substantial progress with
free white labor. But we will
concede that coolie labor can be
very proGtably employed in the
prosecution of many great enter
prises on this coast, and then we
shall insist that its employment
will be hurtful to every perman-
ent interest of the state, that it
will impoverish the community,
and degrade the masses. To Illus
trate, it is but necessary to cite the
development of the free and slave
states Of this republic up to the Pc
riod OF the civil war. Starting in
the race with every favoring ad-
vantage of soil and climate, the
slave states were left far behind in
the march of progress. Slave la
Dor was enormously profitable in
the cotton and sugar producing
states; but it was precisely in those
states of the south where this labor
was the most profitable that the
least progress was made-that
there were the greatest extremes
of opulence and poverty. The
wealth, education and culture of
those states were concentrated in
a small'minority of the population:
an aristocratic class; indigence and
ignorance were diffused among the
masses. Let one contrast suffice:
Compare Mississippi with New
Jersey by the census of 1860.
Now it is just what the institution
of slavery did for the Southern
states that coolie labor threatens
to do for Oregon, and our people