The World. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1891-1896, 1893-03-25


A meeting was held in Washington
tie other night to discuss the question
of Restricted Immigration and The
opinion Of the majority was that two
many foreigners ARE coming to these
shores. Among the speakers was jus
tiee Brewer, Of the United States SUI
preme Court, who maintained that i
Is an injustice for Congress to pass laws
discriminating against the Chinese. II
reported correctly in the Washington
POST Judge Brewer isofopinion that
Chinese laborers are not more danger
ons q as class 10 civilization in this
country than are the European race
that cleared out its forests, foundedits|
cities, and developed its civil and polit-
zeal institutions He insists that the
Monogolians should be rs freely ad
mitted TO all the rights and privileges
that are accorded to tile Aryan nation
alities whose offshoots constitute the
great body Of the American peoples;
and he exclaims IF we exclude the
Chinese we should exclude all the
others
ne iearnpu Juuge uouDtiess cntcr-
tnins the view Of the optimist that
everything is ordered for the best in
this best Of possible worlds, and that
the American people, constituted as
they are Of superior races, have no.
cause TO dread competitions from 50
inferior race as the Chinese, But
there are many social, physical and in
dustrial facts that are at utter war.
fare with this cheerful opinion. AZ
was the instinct Of self preservation,
sharpened by experience, that impelled
the people Of California, as well as Of
Australia, to prohibit Chinese immi-
grafton. They saw that the increass
ing swarms Of the surplus population
Of China crowding upon their shores
I'd
would drive the white men ont Of near
~ ali ordinary occupations, from labor
in the mines to domestic service in the
household.
Nor is this in the least inconsistent
with the doctrine Of the survival of the
fittest. In large fields of labor the
Chinese are the fittest; and the habits
and customs of different and a low
er civilization have made them such,
Under these habits and modes Of liv-
ing they increase and multiply with
great rapidity; while under the same
habits Americans would perish. Trans
plant a body Of Americans working
men, small on large, to China, and
subject them to Chinese conditions,
and they would soon starse. If the
Chinese should be permitted to swarm
over the Western shores Of this coun-
try without restraint similar result
would follow. American cannot com
pete with them in the same fields Of
labor without adopting their habits
and methods Of living without sink
ing, in short, 10 the level Of their lower
civilization If the Chinese cannot be
brought to the plane Of American civ
iliation, that is no reason why it should
sink to theirs.
It is in no unjust spirit of discrimina-
ton, then, that the Chinese are exclud-
ed from this country, but from d just
sense Of self preservation which all ma,
tons must obey if they would accom-
plish y high destiny, Toevery logical
mind the exclusion ofthe Chinese from
this country is a totally different mat
ter from a restriction upon the admis-
sion Of the European races from whom
the American people have sprung.
immigration IF kindred races IS nc
more dangerous now than ii was az
any former period Of the country,
history. The evils connected with il
are vastly oyerbalanced by the good
But the teerning hives Of population
IN China are capable Of pouring upon
the shores Of California their sur
plus millions to SPREAD over The cont
nent wherever climate and opporuni
ties may invite them With all Til,
merits attributed q the Chinese by th
admirers Of their peculiar CIVILIZATION
they cannot be permitted to occup,