Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-10-17

IL - cifncuit to see how the position of the
Chinese in this country-either material or
argumentative-can be STRENGTHENED or
sraended by allegations which have II that
the Chinaman Is fully as desirable a res
Dent as many of the varieties OF European
immigration now fiocking to our shores and
crowdins the cities of the east and middle
west In the first place the statement IL In
correct. Tor although most of the Hungar-
ians and Poles and Italians and others of
that sort are poor material out of which to
m2nur2cture good American citizens, still
the task IL not entirely hopeless. Many
rnpromising specimens have been devel-
oped INTO manhood and womanhood Of the
highest types and others are undergoing the
treatment through which our civilization
can be acquired. That there are TOO MANY
pupils In that school has long been evident
and there Is today crying need for laws that
viii shut out the criminal, the pauper and
the diseased OF other lands who, in spite of
what seems to be rigid inspection, succeed
In securing admission. The European sooner
or later embraces citizenship and loses his
national identity within a few years, but the
Chinaman Is absolutely non.assimilative.
Discussing this phase of complex question,
Representative Hilborn of California said In
. speech delivered In the House few days
since that "a Chinaman who was born in
this country thirty years ago Is today Just
a. thoroughly Chinese in habits, IN thought
ana language. In everything, as though he
had been born in Canton. He knows moth
ing OF our laws or our form Of government
and cares nothing about them. He knows
nothing Of our language or our religion, and
ne has contempt for both" There Is more
danger to the welfare Of the republic in the
nre4enca n "A 81 ba
Assmilativs sort than can possibly result
6om the Incoming Of million men who are
without means. but who are willing to invest
their muscle and their brain-force In the
country that has done 50 much for the I'M
employed of the world, but that now has
Overmany unemployed Of its own. Senti-
mentaEsrs who favor Chinese immigration
once In q while declare that the Chinsman
usually demands and receives for his serv-
ices but little less than the sum for which
white labor may be had. but such afirma-
tons are misleading. The Chinaman Is
shrewd enough to underbid only by the mar
rovest margin, and although his white COM
petitors have again and again brought their
prices down to his level, he continues the
reduction until competition is no longer pos
dble. With ample statutory provisions to
compel good behavior and a majority Of the
people behind the laws and bent on their
enforcement, a reasonable number of eastern
Immigrants may be controlled. but neither
legislation nor moral suasion can convert q
Chinaman to Americanisra. 1t Is such unas-
simulated materialwhich causes blood-poison-
ing IN the body polite. If. however. It were
entirely true that John Chinaman Is better
than some OF the European immigrants
10 our shores. the wise policy would be to
exclude both sets Of Objectionable visitors.
There are hundreds Of thousands Of Euro
peans who wish to come to this country,
and who, being absorbed. VIII add to the
republics growth and strength 1t is time
for the republic to diet itself, to swallow
only wholesome food, and to reject indiges-
dble, unassimilattve. blood-poisoning viands.
whether served up BY Europe or Asia.