The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1889-10-22

| Is nOtnlng 10 snow bnab IL is not
bin of general character to apply
to all foreign labor, but in reality il
applies and could apply only to the
Chinese shoemakers. The preraiiins
sentiment seems 10 Be that the experiment
Of Chinese labor must BE- tried"
The occasion for the proposed
legislation arose out of the fact that
the North Adams shoe factory in
Massachusetts, had imported from
San Francisco seventy-tve Chinese
shoemakers upon three year con-
tracts for wages not exceeding $50 a
month, to take the place of operators
who had been receiving 50 a day.
| Our local paper, the p. @. ApvER-
TIsER, in 1870 had the following
The four hundred millions Of China
are sure to migrate from their coun-
try like swarms of bees, as fast as
they can procure the means to go,
and in less than twenty years they
will outnumber the natives of this
group and be counted in America
and Europe by hundred of thous-
ands, if not by millions. They are
destined to be the laborers in Ha-
wall, America and Europe, and the
time will come when they will be
sought for as the best, most expert
and cheapest laborers obtainable,
| and treated as SUCH"
In connection with the above, it is
interesting to read Wendell Phillips
contemporaneous views on the Chin
csc question published in 1870:
He evidently was opposed on
principal to preventing Chinese
from coming as free individual
immigrants but considered the
prevention of their introduction
at the behests of capital wholly
justifable.
He says putting aside all theories
every lover of progress must see,
with profound regret, the introduc-
ton here of any element which will
lessen wages. The handspring of
our progress is high wsges-wsges
at such level that the workingman
can spare his wife to preside over a
home can command leisure, go to
lectures, take a newspaper and lift
himself from the deadening routine
of mere toll. That dollar left after
all bills are paid on Saturday night
means education, independence, self
respect, manhood. 1t increases the
value of every acre near by, fills the
towns with dwellings, opens public
Libraries and crowds them. That
one remaining dollar insures pro-
gress and guarantees Astor's mil
lions to their owner better than a
score of statutes. 1t is worth more
than thousand colleges and makes
armies and police superhuous.
The importation Of Chinese labor
seeks to take that dollar from our
workingman. The true statesman
must regard such policy as mad
ness. The philanthroplst must re-
gard it as cruel and mad too. Even so
much of such a result as will inevita-
bly, be wrought by the natural i'm
of the Chinese is to be de-
plored. Every aggravation of it is
to be resisted for the sake of repub-
licanism and civilization. If we can
not ind in the armory of the law
some effectual weapon to prevent it
our political and social future is dark
indeed, and such fate as swallowed
up Roman civilization is by no
means impossible.
Every one cries out for cheap la
Dor to develop the country.
"This random and thoughtless cry
for cheap labor is one of the great
mistakes of heartless and superficial
Seldom has there been
q graver mistake. We assert unhes-
itatingly that cheap productions are
IN unmixed good, cheap labor is an
1nmitigated evil. Human progress
shows itself in fall of prices and a
Use of wages. Although labor makes
,ne half of the cost of production,
till it is true that the world gains
ust as fast as prices fall and wages
Use. To insure progress the cost of
but human muscle and
,rains must fall. The remuneration
f thesetwo elements in production
must rise.
"The Chinaman works cheap be-
ause he is barbarian, and seeks
ratification of only the lowest, the
most inevitable wants. The Ameri-
an demands more because the ages
because Homer, and Plato, Egypt
nd Rome, Luther and Shakespeare,
,romwell and Washington, the
rinting press and the telegraph,
ne ballot box and the Bible have
lade him ten times as much a man.
hose who seek to food us artifcially
18th baYbarous labor are dragging
own the American home to the
vel of the homeless street herds OF
hina. When rich men conspire,
COR men should combine The bal
It box was given for just such crises
5 these. Use it remorselessly and
he legislatures will soon find a re-
ledy. Compel attention by fidelity
each other. Inscribe on your bal
t boxes, "Here we never forgive
w. "A. kinney.
N q I'M IL