Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1886-08-27

tant. We need hardly tolerate uulhble
on words or balancing OF technical
phrases. A people is servile when it
becomes an inert mass. directed solely
by the will OF others. and rcptllcd by
fear from exercising the ordinary pro-
negatives of frermen. That this is the
case with the Chinese i'll California, is
apparent when we consider, never so
briefly, the circumstances under which
they are brought into the country, and
the tenure by which they stay is de-
termined. The real masters of the
Chinese in California are those of their
own countrymcn who compose the Six
Companies, the Sam Iup, Kong Chow,
Wing Yung, Hop Wo, Young Wo and
Yang Wo. These enforce their au-
thority partly as creditors Of the Ia
| borers, and partly hy combinations
with the steamship companies. A
contractor desiring any given number
OF Chinese, makes an agreement with
one or the other OF the companies.
| which undertakes to furnish the de-
sired number, to be selected i'll China.
A Chinaman wishing to emigrate from
his own country to California will, in
mos: cases, borrow money for his cx-
| pcnses, paving interest ut from four TO
eight per cent. Il month and until this
money is repaid he is bound to the
company. and goes hithcr and thithcr
at lis beck and call In addition to
the cost rf his voyage, he is required
to pay scvcnty-fivc dollars to the com
| T,
for this commission, the company ex-
erciscs general supervision and care
over each individual, not only finding
him employment, but caring for him
in sickness and misfortune.
When the company Is fully repaid,
the immigrant is presumably free hut
is not So in fact. Every Chinaman
hopes to return sooner or later to his
own country, or at least to have his re-
mains laid beside those OF his anccs-
tors; but the Six Companies have
made arrangements with the steam
ship companies by which no China
man. alive or dead, can be trans
shipped without their consent. More
than this, the great majority, being
directly indebted to the companies,
work for the interests, real or imag-
ined, of their creditors, and Il China
man fares hard indeed Mt the hands OF
his own people, ii he is found To he re-
calcitrant. Whatever name, there
fore, may he given to the relation OF
the Chinese to their employers, they
are neither more nor less than scrvile
to the last degree.
Another result that has been OBJ
served to flow from this is the con
stantly increasing arrogance on the
part of employers, Il fault cultivated
and encouraged by the patient and alb
solute servility OF the cheap laborer,
1t is no wonder, therefore, that witt
wages depressed below the point o.
comfortable living, and with labor de
based to the social depths of an Asiati,
community, California has not in
, creased in white population, and ha.
materially diminished in that distrihu
tive wealth which is the only soil,
! foundation for the material prosperity
of a commonwealth. | know that i
, is claimed that the aggregate wcaltl
. Of the State has been increased 10y
Chinese labor, but the evidence doe.
not bear out the assertion. On the
contrary, it is not difficult to prov,
that the State is actually poorer to-day
than she would have been had the Chi
nese never passed the Golden Gate
More than this, it is easy to show tha
l the wealth of the State, even apar
/ from that included in the land, ha
| been principally accumulated in thu
: hands OF few, while the mass OF th'
people has been impoverished. w
5 may 60 further, and assert with per
5 feet truth that even the cities of tin
, Atlantic seaboard are poorer by man.
millions than they would have heel
b, had California been dependent upon
white labor alone. That State has los
: for the past quarter of century tn
increase OF white population tina
: would have Injured to her, had sh
: presented the attraction of high wage
e to the thrifty mechanics, farmers an
e laboring men of the Eastern States
a And during the same period she ha
: lost the refinements in tillage and tn
Y enterprise in commercial undertaking
a that she would have experienced ha
i her immense ranches been divide
= into smaller farms, as they would hav
d been had not the Chinese furnishe
vassals for their wholesale cultivation
e If agriculture has lost from chea
t labor, commerce has not gained.
r has been asserted that our trade wit
G China has been promoted by the pres
d ence of the Chinese But if we an;
If lyze this we shall find it as delusive 9
J. the others. Out of perhaps twent
D millions of dollars of imports, thrice
y millions are in tea and silk whic
would be imported to the same degr,
Is if there were no Chinese on the coas
e and the same remark applies to mo-
n of the other imports, Il very large pr
S. portion of which is consumed by Il
20 Chinese themselves, as, for exampl
A two million dollars Of rice, three hui
N dred thousand of fire-crackers, an
d one million dollars, more or less,
lg opium. OF the balance, some three
" four millions of dollars, it is difficult
n see in what respect it owes its exis
$ sists of such items as oil OF aniscsee
le caSsiabuds, china-warc, camphor al
H. cassia. all of which find Il considerabl
cr if not their greatest market, in Il
It. Eastern States, and would be called +
ne regardless of the character of the po
~ ulation on the Pacific coast. On Il
r. other hand, our exports amount to /
IL tween ten and eleven millions, lcavii
IL balance of trade against us OF app:
IN emily about nine and a half millior
st but which in reality is about sevente'
,g millions. For more than seventeen
MS of our so-called exports to China CO
in sist Of treasure which is listed with
&C. merchandise. This seventeen millio
H. in coin and its equivalent passes
Dn China, and thence, in payment
n opium, to the British, to form part
its the fund with which their power
. maintained in the East. About o