Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1896-11-12
NOT A CHEAP COUNTRY.
Where the American Workincman
Differs from Chinese Mandarins.
Il Hung Chang Anudes to a vital Fact
Whieh Is the Corner stone
of American Civil
izatfOn-

When ii Hung Chang, in an interview
with the metropolitan newspaper re
porters, declared that labor is more
expensive in these states because YOU
exclude cheap labor" he alluded to
vital fact which is the corner stone o.
American civilization. II is not strange
that the aged Chinese yIcerey. intensely
patriotic as he is, should regard the
6teary act prohibiting the importation
of his fellow countrymen into the Unit
! ed States as unjust. Locking at the
| questions of labor and of social organi
zation from the viewpoint of a Chi
nese mandarin, Ii undoubtedly believes
| the American people to be supremely
| foolish because they insist on paying
high wages to the great army Of their
workers. To the oriental mind the
masses who labor daily to procure the
necessaries of life are little more than
cattle. whose toll should be gained as
eheaply as possible in order that those
above them may revei in riches and
luxury. Between this conception of So
ciety and the republican ideas OF Frank
lin, Washington, Lincoln and Grant
there is a gulf wider and deeper than
the Pacific itself.
Ii Hung Chang is mistaken in think
ing that the exclusion of Chinese coolie
labor by act of congress is due to the
hostility of Irish americans against
the inhabitants of Chino. or that the
exclusion bill was passed bg hat he
ignorantly calls the 'laboriIlg class
party" There is no such party in the
United States. Practically every able
bodied American citizen belongs to the
"laboring class" We are all workers,
rich and poor alike. and we are ali proud
of the fact. Neither the irish, the Ger
mans, the Italians nor any other type OF
immigrants who have beeome IN GOOD
faith naturalized citlgsns of this coun-
try have any right to he considered as
separate class Of voters. They are az
Americans from the hour when their
naturalization papers are delivered
Their interests are at once MERGED
with the interests which are common
to the nation. The process of assimi-
lation and Americanization goes on
from that hour with astonishing ra-
pidity and completeness.
A nation which holds industry in
honor, and in which the rail splitter,
the tanner, the canal boy and the plain
country lawyer can rise to the presiden-
cy and treat as equals the mightiest
rulers of the earth, has no place within
its boundaries for cheap labor" In
China and in most of the countries Of
Europe the laborer is serf. Here he
is sovereign whose seepter is the bal
lot and whose manhood, unfettered and
unbought, is the basis on which the re-
public securely rests. From the ranks
of labor the great captains of industry
have come almost without exception.
The statesmen, the manufacturers, the
bankers and the merchant princes of
the United States are nearly all men
who were born in moderate circum-
stances. whose earlier years were passed
in the workshop or ON the A4n. and
whose eminence is the result of their
own energy, courage and perseverance
The gate of opportunity is never closed
on this side of the Atlantic. The EN-
ploye of this decade is the employer of
the next.
distinguish the United States from all
other important countries. An oriental
like III Hung Chang cannot be expected
to comprehend them. An active and per
nicious crew of domestic agitators are
going about the land preaching the
devils gospel of anarchy and dishon>
esty and doing their utmost to persuade
the people that they are being plum
dered and oppressed by the fairest sys
tenn of government the sun shines on
to-day. The free silver movement is an
attempt to cheaper labor and degrade
20000,o00 of workers by reducing the
worth of their wages one-half. The
verdict of Vermont foreshadows the
Judgment Of the nation upon the policy
which would lower our currency to the
Chinese level aud pauperize our pro-
ducers TO make market for the output
of a few silver mines.
The cheapness which comes through
depreciation ana deterioration is a
curse which the American people viii
not endure. There is no room under the
stars and stripes for cheap money or
cheap men. The higher aud more stable
the standard Of wages, the greater will
be the prosperity not merely Of tho
wage-earners, but Of the farmers whose
products they consume and the mer-
chants whose goods they purchase. The
fight for the geld standard and an hon
est dollar Is a fight for everything that
makes for civilization, for progress and
for the welfare of American citizenship.
N. \. Commercial Advertiser.
Which
Mr.. Bryan says; Eve contend that
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