The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1889-01-30

condition as to health and strength,
which would be utterly inadequate
TO the European.
No doubt the Psychologist and the
physician would smile to be told that
the internal economy Of the China
man Is different from that of the
white man. His organs may be
anatOmlcally the same but function
ally they must be profoundly
different, If not originally so, Ger
tainly made so by a long process of
evolution His shelter and sanitary
conditions most Of US are acquainted
with abroad. They are much worse
in China. The Cinnamon have, for
these almost untold centuries, crowd
ed together in their living apart
ments, more like saTdines than like
human beings. They live among
filth and impure air, at war with all
our notions of hygieDic laws.
His system can absorb, and either
assimilate or throw off an amount of
poison, that would produce an epjd-
emic in a small American or Euro
pean town. In times Of diseases of
/ an epidemic nature, wherever the
Chinese are, they still bid defiance
70 sanitary laws, and have compare
tive immunity from the disease. AS
he is now, so be has been for ages.
Perhaps the more sensitive to zymO-
tic ailments have long since been
killed out, and the rest and the dis
eases have agreed to dwell together
| in peace" In this, as in other re-
! spects, he Is fit to survive, while
others will die.
Comparatively speaking, the Chin
! csc are a homogeneous people. From
| Pekin to Canton, from the China Sea
on the East, to the remOtest Western
frontier, one Chinaman is like an
other. HomOgeneity is the rule, and
! heterOgeneity IS the racial exception:
! There Is nothing like the mixture OF
| closely allied species in the Chinese,
as in the European race. He has for
ages interbred, thus producing a
permanent type, dwarfed and sCrubby
! in some respects though it be, yet
| solid and hardy in character.
1t is well known biologic law,
holding good throughout organic
nature, that a race thus developed IS
! better fitted in the untrammeled
| struggle for existence, than q more
highly diversified and developed one
Finely bred horses, cattle, sheep
or chickens require more and better
food, and far more care than those
! of more permanent, but less es-
teemed type. In a limited way, be
cause our data are meager, the same
might be shown of human beings.
L. Il
! the Chinamau answer to the kind OF
man we might expect from the con
ditions of his development? Admir-
ably. He is Industrious, abstem-
ious, stOlid, avariciOus, unimagina
tive and unenthusiaStlc. Whoever
heard of an enthusiastic Chinaman
except in money getting? As a race
they are unsympathetic. Archdeacol
Gray says that they have no sym
pathy with the lame, the blind, tht
idiotic or those having any congeni
tai disease, saying that they arf
Justly punished for the sins of theil
ancestors. He even mas few of t1os,
rather amiable weaknesses, that seen
to be the sporadic outcrOppings o.
a richer and more enthusiastic
nature.
Is it at ali likely, then, that tn
unrestricted contact with the Chimes
will result in his being European
lied? viii the 4G0,GOO,C00 OF Chine
lee elevated or is IL probable tea
those with whom ne comes into com
petition will be compelled to adop
his methods Of living? This is tn
question to be faced, it seems to me
ia any restrictive measures by Euro
pean governments.
Wherever the Chinese so the
carry their methods of living alOni
with them. They have no assimila
tive tendency. Their clothes, fooc
manners, customs and habits are tn
same. They may demand the whit
; mans wages, but his civilization the
will have none of. They are cOnten
to live and to think as their fore
fathers lived and thought in the tim
: of COnfucius. The product of thei
labor may be very valuable to tn
white man in the way of piling u
products, yet they will buy and con
3 sumo little of these things when pro
duced Herein is one of the chic
objections to his becoming a denizel
at large among us.
OF course, it is not presumed her
that under peculiar conditions, as i
this country, or perhaps in som
others, the Chinese are not desirable
in limited numbers.
Such | think to be unquestiOnable
But [ am trying to deal with th
question in its largest aspect, in al
unlimited way. Let us see if w
can, what effect Chinese competition
would have, say in the United States
if left to natural laws.
: In his ability, if it be so, to d
cheaper work, that is to make
larger product for smaller wages, b
would, if left free to compete il
! sufficient numbers, displace thos
now employed. His employers, a
! long as a market could be found 70
their products at ruling rates, woul,
drive a thriving bargain.
But when the great body of cor
a sumers of these products are drive
a out, or are compelled to live on
! minimum, how will it affect the en-
+ ployers of labor, those who hav
: things to sell 1t is undeniable tina
7 a wage earner's ability to consume
+ depends on his wages as compare
h with the product of his labor. ]