The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1893-04-24
CHINESE ON THE PACIFIC.


many times since. In 1886 the Council
of Federated Trades, comprising nearly
all the unions, was formed. These
unions could easily guard against the
coming of laborers from the Eastern
States, and thus keep wages high-higher
in fact, than were ever paid anywhere
else in the United States, by about
tvs nty per cent, in every class and kind
of work. But the unions were afraid of
the Chinese; and though it does not APP
pear that wages in any main line were
ened by any such competition, they
waged war upon them in every conceiv-
able way, and the politicians were early
and powerful allies.
A few examples will show the
Dreadful Losses inflicted
upon the community, and, in the end,
upon labor itself, by the cruel demands
made on manufacturers by these unions.
San Francisco was building up SPLEEN
did industry in the boot and shoe bust
asss, the annual output being in 1885 and
OBVIOUSLY, $5,0O0,000 worth. As Cali
Drnia was also the producer of the hides,
OF course the whole business was of pc
culiar profit to the State. In the above
years, however, although there were not
over 800 Chinese shoemakers employed
in the business, and wages were wholly
unaffected by these, since they made
only arude and inferior article that did
not compete at all with the many lines of
manufacture, great strike was ordered
simply and avowedly to drive every Chi
naman out of work. This strike so
alarmed hflvnrc FL ,11a
elsewhere, and almost at once trade so
fell off as to nearly ruin the business of
some concerns and compelling several to
retire-one manufacturer taking his
plant to New England. The trade thus
lost. and which made many hundreds of
workmen helpless and homeless for
months before they could get back into
anything like regular or remunerative
employment, never came back in it's for
mer volume and promise to San Fran
cisco. And be it all the while remem-
bered that there was no claim that wages
had ever been reduced by the employ
ment of these few Chinese-only that
they must be driven out anyway. In
fact there. was no complaint as to the
wages.
An account before me mentions anoth-
er case almost like the above, which was
that of the cigar-makers. These men
struck in obedience to the demand of the
League, and in few months the whole
business was thrown out of balance,
which it never fully regained, having
fallen Off from twelve to fifteen per cent.
IN i've years. AS the account states, ''In
vain attempts to crush the Chinese the
shoemkaers and cigarmakers had taken
the bread out of their own mouths
OF course this class of trouble did not
end with these peculiar strikes, but the
curse has followed into every depart
ment Of labor. The great fight of the
lronmolders-one of the most remarka-
BILE in modern times-and which lasted
nearly two years, was begun when wages
were $3.50 per day, with no dispute as to
hours. But the union demanded the
right to regulate certain details of the
shops, and among other things practi-
cally decreed that the slowest workers
should set the pattern of the work done
by the day or piece. The history of this
strike is too recent and familiar to need
recital here. Suffice it to say that the
issue was simply whether capital should
have any rights at all.
Still more recent was the strike of the
stevedores which ended only a few
months ago, and which paralyzed the
W1tCiS 4u1AOOI VI doO lOE d ytdI.
These are given as evidences of the
Brutality of the Professional Labor Agi-
tators.
who have had small cause to work mis-
chief on this coast, since labor of every
sort has been better paid-with the ex-
ception in the late seventies-than in the
crowded centers in the East. And they
are given especially because of their di-
rect relation to the Chinese question and
the natural hatred of quiet workers of
any class or race-for the basic cause of
labor strifes will always be found to be
race haired.
Treating of the Chinese question in a
larger field than San Francisco, in a
broader way than a reference to these
labor strifes would signify, it can hardly
be shown that the Chinese have ever
wronged white labor or lessened it's re-
turns. AS rule they have done work
that white labor could not have afforded
to do, or could not do as well. From the
Californian of April, 1892, 1 quote:
Chinepe cheap labor has always been myth.
The Chinese know the value of labor as well as
any race, and exact the uttermost farthing for
thelr services. In the orchards and vineyards
OF southern California they are more service
able Workmen than the whites, being better
able to stand the climate, and they ask and get
as good, or better, pay. OF the 65, 900 China
men now in California, some so 900 live in San
Francisco. and are chiefly engaged in domestic
service. A competent Chinese cook gets $35 or
$40 month, and makes half as much more by
the percentage he receives ON the house sup
plies he purchases, the perquisite being no Sc
cret, but matter understood all round. The
second boy" who corresponds to the house,
maid of the East, and makes beds, sweeps
rooms, waits on table and answer the doorbell,
gets $25."
These figures for house servants would
beslightly lower in some parts of the
State; but that any Chinaman values his
labor cheaply is great mistake. He is
the best worker in most fields that there
is left to us. He will work all the day
whether you look after him or not He
is honorable in his contracts. If you
want aservant you have only to go to
the employment agency and find help.
He asks ''What you want me to do?"
He is told. ''What you give me?" You
answer. 'When you want me?' You
state the day and hour, and he answers,
Il come" And he does come and works
faithfully. He is not perfect but he is
| willing and generally competent to do
what he undertakes If he cooks the