Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-10-16

10 get cut, when he can no longer support
bis family. So he goes out and Joins the
great army of the unemployed. He goes to
the sand lots and listens to the harangues
OF mischief makers. His usefulness as
citizen Is destroyed He inveighs against
the laws and against the government. He
knows there is something wrong in sys-
tenn which has compelled him to compete
with men who support no families and who
can live on 10 cents day. And when he
hears the sentimentalists in their learned
dispositions say that the fittest must sur
vive. and that in this contest the China
man has shown that he is the fittest, his
breast Is filled with emotions which bode
no good to those who have been more fortu-
nate in the struggle for wealth.
1 nave seen these very men, educated.
respectable Christian men, husbands and
fathers. useful members of society, robbed
OF their employment by this competition
with the Chinese. reduced to penury and
almost to starvation. L have heard them
rail at those conditions which have brought
them to such dire distress.
The peculiar conditions under which the
Chinese race has been developed has made
them especially skillful as bread winners.
AS merchants they have proven them
selves to be the best traders in the world,
and have outstripped all competitors in
fair race. They understand the laws of
trade. of exchange. and the values OF
money. The merchant prince who sleeps
under his counter and lives on so cents
day can drive out of business his white
competitor who has his house in town and
his country seat.
The Chinese laborer is not the ignorant
being he Is sometimes considered. All of
them have the rudiments of their peculiar
education.
Ninety Per Cent Educated.
From my observation, 1 am convinced
that 80 per cent of these people can read
and write their own language. This cannot
be said of any other class of foreign labor
ers who have emigrated to this country.
iaborer in the United States is recruited
entirely from the very lowest strata of
Chinese society, We are filled with wonder
at the patient, plodding methods of this
people, who find time to acquire some edu-
cation while engaged in the fearful struggle
for existence.
They have their virtues. They are indus
triOus, and with the exception Of the use
of opium are temperate. Their chief vice
Is gambling. With this exception they are
very economical This is a paradox. The
very virtues of these strange people make
them the more dangerous to our civiliza-
ton: They can monopolize our labor field
IL allowed to do SO, and destroy our great
middle class. 1t is avoiding the question to
say that these people are no more undesir-
able than some other foreigners That is
no argument, for IL We cannot make a sue
cess of excluding this race We may as well
abandon all hope of excluding any undesir-
able immigration.
VIII Not Assiynilnte.
But there is broad distinction between
this kind of immigration and any other
from which we have suffered. The Chinese
alone will not assimilate. A ChinaInan who
was born in this country thirty years ago
is today just as thoroughly Chinese in
habits, in thought and language, in every
thing. as though he had been born in Can
ton. He knows nothing of our laws or our
form OF government and cares nothing
about them. He knows nothing of our Ian
guage or our religion, and he has con-
tempt for both.
sum they pay for their expenses. goes TO
China, and there at last they go them
selves. The average period of China
mans residence in the United states Is
about five years. In that time they save
enough to maintain themselves III comfort
in their own country. Since their first set
Element in California they have sent out
of that state s3oO,000.009 Of their earnings.
What other state but California, with he-
wonderful resources, could have stood such
drain? Supposing that the laborers of the
state Of Pennsylvania or New York should
persistently send out of the country such
a proportion of their wages, how long
would either of those states avoid bank
ruDtCy? This is no time to relax our Wig
lance against the encrOacnmcnt of this
undesirable immigration Notwithstanding
we have had on our statute books for the
past ten years laws either restricting the
incoming of Chinese laborerS or actually
excluding them the returns of our own
census show an increase in this popula-
ton in the United States. Notwithstand-
ing our vigilance in beating them oil they
have baffied US at every point.
Population IncreaSing.
In 1850 the total Chinese population OF the
United States was los. 465; in California it
was 15.I32. IN 1890 the total population was
in the United States of 2.0lo. The Chinese
population in California is RAP. showing
falling off in our particular state.
They seem to have turned their faces
eastward. In Net York in 1870 there were
only 2s Cinnamon. In 1880. %e: In 1897.
1855. In Pennsylvania in 1910 there were
Il. In 1880. 14s. In 1880. 1,146.
The increase of Chinese in the east al
though not startling in its proportions is
nevertheless suggestive and contains y
potent warning. II eastern capital which
now employs the cheapest labor obtainahie
in Europe. should find public opinion toll
Grant of Chinese labor it would not be long
before the Chinese question would loom up
in dangerous proportions in our eastern
cities and their suburbs. / say dangerous
because experience has shown that the
presence of these non-ass ,milati,-, aliens
is n constant menace to the peace of an
American community.
If the representatives, Of the eastern
states should bring this danger to the
homes OF their people by sentimental fegiS-
lation on this subject they would, in the
disorders that would follow. find no soiace
in the reflection that they had been guided
by gushing emotion when they should have
followed the dictates of common sense.
From every point of view this immigra-
ton Is undesirable, and if we would pro-
serve the American laborer from ruin, If
we would preserve our civilization itself,
we must exclude this peculiar people.
For forty years this conflict between
these rival civilizations has been waged
out on our western slope.
You of the east do not appreciate the
fierceness of the struggle for two noun
in n
rate us. But experience has taught US
| this lesson: The civilZa ton of the orient
and the civilization of the occidert cannot
exist side by side in America.
One or the other must go down.
Which shall 1t be?