Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1888-12-29
AN INFAMOUS PLOT.

pro-Chinese hysterical attack. 1t pretends
to believe that there is a widespread
demand in the fields, vineyards and or
chards of California for Chinese cheap
labor. 1t is not true, in the first place,
that we are upon the verge of labor
panic or famine, and if it were, the re-
Spouse would be that it was due to the con-
tamination of Chinese labor in the past.
The great industries of California are not
to be built upon mudsill basis, that repre-
sents wage out of all proportion to the
demands and essentials of our civilization.
It were better that industries of the field
suffer some pause until the desirable labor
element with US is induced to take hold
ard until the new comes in, than that the
coolie system of semi-slavery be conserved
The youth and Drawn of the State have
been driven from industrial fields by Chi
nese cheap labor, and its elimination must
be expected to occasion some considerable
friction until the better class of labor can
be induced to return to the industries Of
the State. As matter Of fact, however
the Chinese have not left the State in any
material numbers, nor are they manifest
ing any disposition to do so. The situa-
ton. therefore, is such as it has been, ex-
oept that the Chinese demand higher
wages.
No one who has iutelligently and calmly
considered the Chinese exclusion question
has been blind TO the fact that in the pro
cess of change there would be experienced
some difficulty in securing proper labor,
and in restoring wages to a reasonable and
living scale. Because Chinese have for a
quarter of a century almost exclusively oc-
cupied the labor field in California a a
rate with which no white workman cvulu
compete. and build to himself home and
raise up sons and daughters to the State, is
so far from being reason for the continue
ton of the system, that it was the chief
reason for its abolition. 1t is not difficult
to understand that employers in large
numbers would be DESTROYS of securing
labor at anv low rate = it is the
natural desire of selfish interest. If
grape-growiug aud winemaking can
be prosecuted in this State only
upon the basis of coolie cheap labor, then
it is better that grape growing and wine
making suffer a period of quiesence until
conditions adjust themselves to the new
order Of things But no fears need be
entertained; American productive indus
tries are not to be abandoned because the
Chinese are excluded. The impression
able reporter of the Examiner who rusti-
Gated for holiday recuperation in the
Fresno section and had himself
pumped full of fallacies, has either
managed TO land that tickle journal in
hot water and give the pro-Chinese class
some hope, or else the whole attempted
scare is part Of an infamous political
plot 1t was the last paper on earth
to permit itself TO be made the medium of
the pro-Chinese advocates. \ journal
that Sweated and groaned over the as
sumed fear that the election Of General
Harrison meant the free incoming Of the
coolie, and assumed to understand the
whole labor problem, was the very last from
which 10 have expected such hip-aop. II
the E5amiaer had been employed by Chinese
coin 10 check the incoming and steadily
augmenting current of intelligent white
labor immigration, it could not have
worked more faithfully for its employers
than it has in the last few days. If it
will continue a little longer in its hysteri-
cal Explanations, it will enjoy the distinc
ton Of being the most vicious enemy Cali
fornia has vet had. In this connection
the statement in yesterdays issue OF that
journal, that hop-growers in Sacramento
county are dependent upon Chinese labor,
is so far from being true that the fact is,
the largest hop fields in the county and
several Of the lesser ones, were picked last
year by Indian employees, and at greater
profit and satisfaction to the employers
than when Chinese were engaged TO do
the work. In fact, more than half the hop
crop of the county was picked by 600 In
dams, and in 1889 there viii be twice the
number employed, if needed.
We have thus far proceeded upon the as
sumption of the hysterical sincerity of the
Eramiaer. but we have indicated that the
course of that paper may be part of an in
famous political plot All the eireumstan-
tial evidences are strong in support of the
theory that the Examiner has sounded the
keynote Of matured plan to bring
the Republican party into disrepute
upon this coast, and TO throw the Pacific
States bodily into the arms of the Democ-
raey. Already two or three minor sheets
have echoed the Erdmine-, and in some
nearer quarters, supposed to be friendly to
Chinese exclusion, whimperings of alarm
are heard between lines. The plot may
be TO encourage Eastern sentiment to work
the repeal of the Exclusion Acts, and thus
punish the working classes who eschewed
free trade and the Democracy in Novem-
Der, and fix upon Republican Admins
tration the odium of return during its term
to the Chinaizing process that went on so
many years unchecked in California The
Eramjaer, the growers it pretends to quote,
and the witnesses it calls to its aid in the
effort to work up a pro-Chinese sensation,
knew Just as well before the passage of the
Exclusion Act-if they are not ignora-
muses-what would be the effect of shut
ting out new importations Of coolies, as
thev pretend to have discovered within
the last few days. We repeat, there is alb
solutely no new factor in the labor question
on this coast; it is to-day precisely what it
has been for FIVE years, or when the first
steps towards exclusion were taken. The
attempt to make it appear that the indus
tries of the State have just awakened to a
great discovery is hollow, insineere and
the part of vicious scheme to punish the