Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1885-12-26
THE wORKINGMEN's COMPLAINT

A correspondent the other day suggested
that in our criticism of the habits of many
laboring men, we failed to take into ac-
count the manner in which the California
farmer treats his help" They are very
often required to sleep in hay-stacks or
barn lofts; to furnish their own bedding,
and to shift for themselves as best they
may during = off hours" They are not
treated, in short, as is the hired man"
at the East, but are debarred the house
and thrown upon the crossroads rum-mill
for amusement and places of low character
for entertainment. That is all true, and
in our criticisms we distinctly stated that
there was Just such a side to the question.
We are fully aware of all the facts, and
have been, by observation, from the
earliest period of labor agitation in
the State. The California farm
err is greatly to blame, no doubt !;
he does not treat his employee, in very
many cases, as well as he does his horse But
llllS uOcS nOL Nltdil1C lllt view We OTtSlt2allN
took. 1t is no excuse for the working man
of to-day squandering his earnings in
drink. II is to be added that one of the
causes that have led the California farmer
into his bad habit regarding his help"
is the conduct of that help" In the
earlier DAYS when hired men, were scarce
and help" difficult to find, the farmer was
compelled to take upwith a wandering class
infected with all the restlesSness and I'M
reliability of the laboring man in this
State at an early day, when wages were
high and laborers very few. The
labor supply foated. 1t drifted from
mine to valley. from new diggings to old,
and it went off in body on every fresh
reported discovery of placers, no matter
how distant. The loose habits of such
life untitled the men for the farmers fire.
side, and so the custom cane about of
treating them with distrust, and relocating
them to out-houses and hay-stacks Even
then the farmer was driven to the necessity
of employing Indians to aid him, indiffer-
ent as such labor always was. In short.
the rowing, drinking, gambling habits of
the earlier laborers here made them
most undesirable class on the farm. Pres
emily the Chiuaman presented himself,
content to live anywhere and anyhow, and
the California farmer seized upon the op-
portunity to utilize his labor. That labor
fastened upon him, and with it all the
conditions and vices that attach to it.
When white laborers became more plenti-
ful and stable, they were forced into COM
petition with the Chinese, and driven to
abandon the field or to live as do the
coolies. That contamination, discourage
ment and incompetency resulted, is not to be
wondered at. The white worker saw little
hope OF becoming anything better than a
drudge when forced to compete with
the Chinaman, and naturally his habits
did not improve. With the deeadence
of the mining fevers, the decline of the
stock ranges, and with the rapid settlement
of the country, there came other laborers
from the East, and these were met at once
by the Cinnamon. The latter we class
among the heather, the former as the re-
suit of better civilization, though they
early became victims to the vices of our
free-and-easy system of living, and went to
the cup, which at least the heather avoid.
ed. The better civilization of the white
did not make him more reliable than the
Chinaman, and hence the difficulty we who
wish the Cinnamon out of the country
meet to-day. 1t is Just as well to face the
truth and speak it. The Chinese must go'