The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1886-02-20
THE CHINESE QUESTION.

who is at all sensitive to the signs
Of the times it has for months been
apparent that the Chinese question
is rising with a renewed urgency
which bodies possibilities of good
or i'll to any or all Of our communi-
ties on the Pacific Coast.
At all times when face to face
with anxious public questions it
should be the earnest desire Of
every citizen, regardless of party
lines or special interests, to inquire,
by every mode of public and pri-
vatc exchange of opinion, as to the
wise and just course to be pursued.
For never was sentiment more
profoundly true than that which
warns us that no public question
will stay settled which is not set
tied right. Witness, in the greatest
question which our country has
been called upon to meet, the fruit
! lessncss Of the schemes for com
promise with slavery.
Though the large and right view
bids us wish for, and aid as we are
able, the welfare of the human
race wheresoever, or in whatsoever
condition found, and however much
we, as Americans, regret to make
an exception to the generous
hopes and invitation extended
to the oppressed of all ma
tons and lands by our immor-
tai magma charta, or decla-
ration of freedom, it nevertheless
may be, and probably is true that
the immense practical difference
between Western progressive civil
ization and the long-arrested, sta
tionary standardization of the
East makes it necessary for self
preservation and civil good that we
raise barriers against being over
run and overwhelmed by the tenn
ing millions of Asia. This. / think,
nearly all our statesmen now con-
cede. There is practical limit
or delay to the most generous
purposes and hopes of even our
Declaration. In other words, we
cannot undertake to be general
providence to all the world, within
our own borders, at least to the
Asiat.c world, whose masses through
ages of hercdity have been
adjusted to such meagre con-
ditions of living and such UNI
aspiring conceptions oflife rs we do
not wish to see in any American
citizen. Who, on the contrary, we
would see rising from generation to
generation, more in the scale of
intellectual, moral and material
manhood and nationality.
So much for the subject viewed
on general lines.
In the immediate, practical ques-
ton now agitating, what course
ought we to pursue? Should we aid
by our action or our silence the inn
patience which would break out into
violence against our Chinese resi-
dents? For let us distinctly under
stand that the forcible removal of
them, through intimidation or
threats, is personal violence exactly
of the same nature, and as unlawful
as it would be if body of the
Chinese themselves should attempt
to remove us. They are here under
treaty with their government, and
as such are bound, in justice, to be
protected in their right. To say
nothing of the inhumanity of such
violent expulsion.
Then, what sail we do? it may be
asked. In reply, | would say, con
tinue to agitate in all lawful ways
for the passage of a law such as
that of Senator Miller, now before
Congress, prohibiting all further
immigration of Chinese to this
country, with exceptions as to
government diplomatic servants,
students to our colleges, etc. 1t is
evident that we are on the eve of
such legislation, so that the stop
page of further immigration to our
shores seems now assured.
This being so, what shall we do
with the Cinnamon already with
Us? / answer, let them stay. Out
side Of San Francisco and a few
lnrrn fnync of fbo Coast Al: