The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1883-04-21
THE PACIFIC

THE Chinese invasion" Is the great
question of the hour, throwing all Others
into the shade for the present. To the COM
munity generally liz sudden influx OF
Chinese comes as a surprise. Yet it is evil
dent that the movement must have been
organized beforehand. The removal Of the
restrictions which have been enforced at
HOngkong for some time past has faciIi-
tated it but the whole thing was evidently
planned long before this change was made.
The firms engaged in exporting coolies
from China had found a way of evading
the restrictions by shipping men ostensibly
to a British port, whilst arranging to allow
them to land here, and it is very likely
that it was a knowledge that their regu-
latiOns could be, and were being rendered
futile in this way, that induced the Govern
ment of HOngkong to rescind them. The
Cinnamon come like any other sort Of COM
modify, to supply a demand. Our RICE
plantations and sugar plantations wanted
them and therefore they are here. \ num-
Der may come as adventurers on their own
account, but the vast majority have come
under some sort of an arrangement with
those who paid their passage, to become
plantation labOrers. 1t is no random inn
migration of restless hOrdes, but the natural
flow of labor towards the place where en-
plOyment awaits it. Until this country is
so settled that the plantations can draw
their supply of labor from Il resident pOpu-
latiOn of its OWL, this sort of thing will be
constantly repeated unless it be put down
with a strong hand. The great question to
be solved must therefore be, Fought it to
be put a stop to-"
Such a question is not one to be answered
on abstract grounds. If All men are born
free and equal" be a political maxim of
universal application, there is an end of
the matter. The Government, as repre-
senting the community, even though it
were backed by the unanimous sentiment
of that community, can have no right to
say to one man, "you shall land here"
and to another "yOu shall not" if abstract
propositions of this kind are to be the rule
of our conduct. Fortunately such theories
have never been carried out in practice to
their extreme results. Even in commune
ties in which they are popularity accepted
as irrefragably logical, and spoken of as
"eternal TRUTHS human instinct has dis
cerned the fact that there is n flaw in them
somewhere (even if it could not point it
out), and has never acted upon them. And
we in Hawaii, at this juncture, cannot
afford to be led away by any such specious
theories. a horde of Chinese males thrown
upon our shores, whether each of them was
"born free and equal" with ourselves or
not, Is q dangerous and obnoxious thing;
and it must be treated as such.
We need not enumerate here the grounds
on which the people of this country view
with alarm this new Chinese invasion.
. Thau - many I'm nunnhar lOn1p pf thGm
are very grave in character, and, taken to-
gether, they acknowledgements all con-
sideratiOns that can be set up against them,
or in mitigation of the verdict which they
dictate. Nevertheless there is need of some
careful discrimination in dealing with the
actual circumstance of the day. So far as
those Cinnamon are concerned who left
their native land without receiving any
warming as to the feelings with which their
arrival here would be viewed, an attempt to
repel them from our shores would he unjust,
unless their number had been something
much greater than it really is. Not only
they, but those who have engaged them
selves in the business of bringing them
here, deserve fair Reconsideration. They are
admitted, therefore, after conforming with
certain rules. Now some people, and no
doubt the Chinese themselves, are disposed
to ask by what right the Government de-
tains these immigrants until something
definite is known as to what they are going
to do after their admission into the country.
To which the reply may be that it is by the
right conferred by that highest law, the
safety of the people. If the methods adopted
be cavilled at by any one, we would ask
him to consider for a moment what would
happen to- a shipIoad of Hawaiians were
they to make their appearance some morn
ing at a Chinese port (Other than those
known as Treaty pOTts) for the purpose OF
landing and staying in the country. The
contrast between the light rules enforced
here and the pleasant quarters provided
for these unlimited visitors, and what
would befaI Hawaiians who similarly tried
to enter China, is too great for any further
mme on our part to be necessary.
As to Chinese Coolies, unaccompanied
by women, who may attempt to come here
after the warming sent by the Government
has been made known, they ought To be
rigidIy excluded. We hope, indeed, that
the warning will prove successful IN stop
ping this Objectionable invasion, but the
Government must not stop short ut a warn
ing; but must be prepared with measures
which will effectually control and hmii
Chinese immigration to such form a. they
themselves may dictate.
THE canneries in the United states have
adanfed n lately discovered method of pre-