Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1886-07-07
A WORD FOR our SIDE.

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intelligent writer in IN Eastern journal
taking a right view of the Chinese ques-
ton. As rule, most writers at the East
are radically wrong on this subject. And
what makes it all the more provoking is
that this wrongheadedness invites the
charge Of ignorance and stupidity, though
we in California fear to make such alega-
tons, for the reason that we 50 badly need
friends on the East side, and can i'll afford
to antagonize any influences. But it may
be said that historical reading should CON
vince the scholars of the East, who in the
main are opposed to our views on restric-
ton of Chinese immigration, that the
statement of Professor +. w. Gillian in
the current number of the North American
Repie'r is true, that China is, Of all nations
of the earth, the most exclusive, but now
that she has begun to relax her rigor and
is pouring upon the shores Of this country
a Hood of Asiatios, their presence in large
numbers must work in time our utter con-
fusion. Professor Gillian points out that
China views all other nations as inferior,
her intense national pride makes her the
most egotistical of peoples. She conquers
in her new policy by the emigration Of her
subjects to lands where wages are high and
the cost of living comparatively low.
They seize upon trade centers, as is in
staneed at Singapore. In twelve years
they increased their number twenty fold
in that place In about twenty years
they sent over 100000 to Chile
and Peru. 10000 to Cuba, 100000
to Siam, 10000 to Australia, and some
hundreds of thousands to other countries,
without mention of what they have sent to
the United States. In fact, if there is any
proof in historical data at all, it justifes
the belief that the migratory movement of
this people has but Just begun, and that it
Is, in full tide, capable of overwhelming
the people of the United States. At the
East and by even few of our own people
this is believed to be the nightmare of a
timorous fancy. But unless the past be-
lies itself the early future under unchecked
immigration will be FOR this nation one of
sorrow and degradation. Prof Gillian
in contemplating the outlook for his coun-
try under the influence Of an unrestrained
human tide from Asia, finds the word zap
pallinga to be not strong enough to express
his sense of the danger Chinese immigra-
ton constitutes to it. He holds that the
reason for the exclusion Of the Chinese is
found in the race deterioration of the An
Clio Saxon when brought into contact with
the Mongol. China is governed by the
traditional rule Of the pasriarch--;he fam
lily is the unit, not the individual-and as a
result the subordination of the citizen is
the rule. A race so educated will not
assimilate with a system that rests upon
wholly different foundations. The Chinese
are commercially intellectual, but in the
higher spheres Of intellectual activity are
the inferior of the Caucasian, and vet,
wherever they have come into contact and
competition with them, the Caucasian
has been forced to give way.
Wherever they have gained a foot
hold they have worked their
way toward commercial supremacy, and in
several quarters they have already at.
tanned the controlling power to the exclu-
sion of the native race. Professor Gillian
points ous that +" the American, with
stronger physique and more inventive
powers, il less initiative, is so far forth a
better workmeR But a Chinaman can
live on fourth of what is required by the
average American, exercising rigid rules
of thrift and economy. He can, therefore,
easily underbid the American, and will al
ways so far do so as to control the situa-
ton The man who will do the work for
half the sum is in universal demand. The
American must either lower his wage or
leave" He then proceeds to show that ii
would require the same training of CEN
turtles, and under populous conditions un-
known to us, for the American to come
down to the Chinaman's reduced standard
OF comfort. Even could he at once do so.
it would be undesirable. Low wages, with
temporary local advantage to manufacture
ers, would ultimately prove an enduring
national curse Their incidental influence
upon production is adverse, in making the
laborers less efficient, and in diminishing
the tendency toward improved economic
methods. As to the character of the i'm
migration we have received in California
from China, he pronounees it in the main
stream vile, and that the best OF the Chi
nese do not come to US. Those few who
are noble in spirit and have qualities we
could admire, do not migrate. Beyond
question, says the essayist, the immigra-
tion stream from China is blighting the
Pacific coast. lie takes it that the State of