The record-union., 1893-09-12
IF THE CHINESE GO.


the trick of boycotting from their Amer
lean exemplars. The story is that in and
about San Bernardino the Chinese have
suddenly ceased to serve the whites, have
stopped the delivery of goods. and the
furnishing of supplies for which the peo-
pie have depended upon them.
The reason given for this action differs
widely, however, from the usual motive
for the boycott-the Chinese are fright
ened; they fear personal assault and are
fleeing to San Francisco, where their
number gives them greater protection,
and whence they may depart for China
if they wish.
This gives US a foretaste of the incon-
venienee-to put it mildly-to which we
will be put when the mass of the Chi
nese shall have been deported; assuming
now that the law will be enforced as it
should have been from the beginning,
and that the time for registration is not
extended. No people can for forty-fve
years have close business and serving re-
lations with large class of workers in
their midst, and not suffer by their sud
den withdrawal. The Chinaman has so
largely displaced other labor and skill in
trades, in production and in service, that
to take him out with suddenness must
leave vacancy that cannot be filed at
once. A new condition follows deporta-
ton, one strange to US, and to which we
will not be able TO adjust ourselves with
ease.
The RECoRD-UNIoN has all these years
been steadfastly opposed to non-assimi-
lative population; it believes that there
can be no hope of the Mongolian being
anything more; that the competition be-
tween him and the American in the labor
market means the reduction OF the lat
ter to the civilization level and the
methods of living of the former, and that
these are incompatible with the scheme
of American life, homes, independence
and citizenship.
But while so holding this journal is
not blind to the fact that California now so
leans upon Chinese labor that its sudden
withdrawal will result in graver ills than
inconvenience and compulsion to serve
ourselves. What we may console our
selves with is this, that the punishment
will not be long; the place the Chinaman
vacates must be filled by class more in
sympathy with the American system,
and which, if not already of us, will
have capacity to assimilate with US.
So far as the raising of vegetables is
concerned, the Chinese can be easily and
speedily supplanted. A single season, or
at most two seasons, will probably suffice
to restore the production condition. In
the case of factory hands, where skill is
essential, very much longer time must
elapse in which to fill vacancies and ad-
just the new conditions. Laborers will
also be rather slow in coming, but
eventually we will draw to us sufficient
supply, and be able to select the reliable
from among the worthless and indiffer-
ent. This will be tedious and vexatious
task, but it must and will be accom-
plished; the tramp and the drunkard
who now make feints at labor and in
variably disappoint the employer will as
certainly be classed out by the demands
OF honesty industry, and the reliable and
meritorious laborers be developed, as
that industry will have vigor and not be
supplanted by stagnation.
We do not anticipate any great incon-
venience by the expulsion OF Chinese
Iaundrymen; their places can be easily
filed, and will be, by workers in that in
dustry more capable and willing and
cleanly, and to whom we should be
drawn by sympathy and the commonest
OF instincts.
It is not probable, should the appeal
made by the Chinese for the extension Of
the registration period be taken up by
Congress, that there will be any success
ful opposition from these shores. Pacific
Coast people are fully aware that the
buIh6A VI GdStS1n sSuLlLl6UL VIII De
upon the side of the appeal. and that to
resist it will rather embitter than break
down this sentiment. While the protest
will go up, it is not likely that should
the matter be introduced in Congress the
appeal for extension will be denied. But
until there is some such action the law as
it stands must be respected, and should
be enforced wholly, regardless of our
views of its wisdom or fairness under the
treaty obligations of the two countries.
We cannot afford even by silence to con-
sent to the notification of the expressed
will of the law-making power. 1t is more
than dangerous to enact and then defy: TO
legislare and refuse TO bow to the sover-
eign power of the people. There is but
one way to secure the speedy repeal Of