The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1882-05-17
An Intelligent Statement of Their Condi-
ton as Seen by business Man.
New York World I

An Intelligent Statement of Their Condi-
ton as Seen by business Man.
New York World.
Mr.. A. Dougherty, a business man of this
city, has just returned from a trip to San
Francisco. at W: my first visit 10 that mos;
| interesting portion of the country" said Mr.
Doughertv to World reporter yesterday,
and / enjoyed it immensely. | was in San
Francisco when the news reached there of
the veto of the anti-Chinese bill by Presi-
dent Arthur, and it reminded me forcIbly
of the scene here in New York when the
news came that the Rebels had fired on Fort
Sumter. People were not only terribly ex-
cited, but they were sorely disappointed.
They fully expected, up to the last moment,
that the President would sign the bill.
stayed five days in San Francisco, and dur
ing that time | investigated the Chinese
question, as it existed there, pretty thorough
ly. People in New York do not understand
or appreciate the question. When / went
to San Francisco | was in favor of allowing
as many Chinese to come to America as
wanted to come. When / left there l had
changed my mind entirely. / went all
through the Chinese quarters, visited their
Theater, stores ana shops went into their
houses and studied the Chinese Ques-
ton in all its phases, as presented
in San Francisco. The irresistible conclu-
sion was that the system is a bad one
are consumers and not producers OF every
dollar the Chinaman earns, seventy five
cents goes back to China. They buy moth
ing in San Francisco except little fresh
meat now and then. All their rice and
yams and even the materials of which they
manufacture their clothing, are bought in
China; and, finally, their bones must be
deposited in Chinese sell. There are in the
Chinese quarters of San Francisco from co.
600 TO 10000 Cinnamon, and.no women.
Every third man you meet is a Chinaman.
They occupy about twenty blocks of terri
tory, and that part of the CITY resembles
nothing so much as it does ar Oriental set
Element. In that whole portion of San
Francisco there is but one white man left.
He is Jew, and deals in clothing. How
long he will remain is hard to tell; imagine
not great viii longer.
HOW THE SYSTEM WORKS.
THE practical workings of the system, as
demonstrated in San Francisco, may be best
illustrated by one example: l visited the
shop of a Jew cigar manufacturer. He en-
ployed fifty Cinnamon, and he said it was
because they were cheaper than other help,
and better workmen; and, besides. others
employed them, and he was forced TO do the
same in order TO compete with his neighbors
| asked him if it had proved profitable
Struggling his shoulders, he replied that it
did pay at first, but that at present il did MT;
and when asked to explain the reasons for the
change, he said it was because many of his
best workmen, as soon as they had learned
the business, had left him and gone TO man.
ufacturing cigars themselves. The conse-
quence was that the cigars he used TO sell for
S24 per 1000 he was now selling at S12, and
the question now was whether he or the
Chimes bosses could live the cheapest. The
same rule holds good in all branches. A
~ xtTfll IN tQn low
half pound of rice being sufficient for him
for the twenty-four hours. / asked him
whom he employed before he got the China
men, and he said he employed men, women,
boys and girls. When asked what these
people were doing now, he said he did not
knOw-probably nothing. And that is just
what they are doing. Many of them
the city. What is the result?
Capital is leaving there also. Of the fifty
Cinnamon working in that shop probably
nearly all live in one house, and seventy
cents of every dollar they earn is Withdrawn
from the actual circulating wealth of the
community and sent to China. The butcher,
the baker, the grocer and the dry goods mer-
chant suffer accordingly. If men with
families were employed instead, fifty houses
would be occupied, the money would be
spent in San Francisco, and money would
be invested in trade and in supplying them
with shelter. The inevitable result must be
apparent. II you put a hundred-gallon
pump into a reservoir of water. the supply
is not exhausted 50 long as you turn the
stream INTO the reservoir Ii q straw is in
serted and the stream is allowed to run over
the sides, the reservoir viii in time be ex-
hausted. 1t is the same with the farmers. |
They are able to raise large crops cheaply, |
but there is no market for the surplus, aud |
the consequence is that they are compelled
to let it rot or sell at greatly reduced prices |
THE CHINESE UNALTERABLY ALIEN.
"Some people profess to believe that in |
time the present conditions will be changed, |
and that the Chinese will become citizens, |
and settle in this country with their fami- |
lies. That time will never come. They are |
a most cunning, shrewd, thinking race of |
people, and are invariably hard-working, |
plodding and industrious. They are also |
very happy. and boast of their unalterable |
attachment to their native land They are
aliens, and will always remain such. They |
are also very ingenious, and easily acquire a |
perfect knowledge of any trade or calling |
and quickly become adopts in it. They are |
also educated and intelligent. There |
are in San Francisco today large number |
of Chinese shoemakers, and they manufac- |
ture elegant shoes. These shoes are being |
sent East and sold in this market by Ameri- |
can statesmen. Before many years they |
will, if not checked, monopolize that branch |
of industry, as we'll as many Others, and the |
result will be, not the elevation of the |
but the degradation of their |
white competitors. They work for from |
fifty cents 10 81 per day; in order to COM |
pete with them, white American citizens |
with families to support must do likewise, |
and in order to do likewise they must hive |
as the ChinaMan lives, and the employer |
Enust sell his goods tor the same prices the /
employer of Chinese labor does or go
10 the wall. That means degradation
all around. They make excellent
house servants. They are tractable. docile,
Intelligent and tidy. What they see done
once they San do themselves. Bun. taking
all things into consideration, they are not
profitaDlein anycapaeity, because they are
consumers and not producers. They take
everything out of the country and bring
nothing into it. Every poor Italian or Ger
man OK Irishman who comes here Is worth
$1,000 to the country, because he comes
here to settle, he helps to develop the re-
sources of the country, he becomes part
and parcel OF the community in which he
lives, marries and raises family, and when
he. dies his children are Americans. All the
money he earns is spent here, and instead
Of impoyerishing the country he adds to its
wealth and helps keep that wealth in circu-
lation. -
''As said at theoutset, people here do not
understand the question as they do In Fan
Francisco, because they have never had it
orrfh afora than, hor in re iol.f and