Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1899-09-14

as he is concerned, the country can re-
main in pristine savagery, because ne
he would not go TO the trouble of pack
ms around the country. The China
man does. In doing so, the Chinaman
is not competing with the native. be-
cause the native does no such thing.
end could net bs induced to d. it: but
the Chinanan, by doing so. creates
trade where there was no trade before
he came; he creates market for goods
that never penetrated into the remote
regions before. In this consists devel-
oping A country. The up-country dis
tricts obtain through the Chinaman
additional comforts that would be IN
obtainable without the Chinaman. On
the other hand, up-country people get
sale for their produce, which would rot
on their hands if the Oh nese traders
did not come. So much for commerce.
AS for industry, the case is even
stronger. Anybody who has had to
employ labor in the Philippines knows
how difficult it is to get natives ID
WI 7 vi CAdlLIpIt, Il JuGI6 IS IlIDDSf
to be sawed. a Chinaman will saw the
timber a native will not. All the car
pertering work in Manila is done by
Chinese, simply because the natives
will not or cannot DO it. The Filipinos
living in the archipelago number six
or eight or ten millions, according to
various estimates: the Chinese number
possibly a quarter or a half a million.
and yet when a boat is wanted to be
built Chinaman has to be found TO
build it; when a house is to be built
Chinaman is required Even the
trenches and sand-bag breastworks
constructed under the Spanish captain
general for the defense of Manila had to
be made by Chinese Iaborers because
Philippine labor is so worthless. There
are of course, a few Filipinos who can
and do work well, but they are so few
as to be exceptions that prove the rule.
On the other hand, the Chairman has
a mania for work; he is the most will
ing and patient worker in the world.
The objections to Chinese labor are
only when it completes with white
labor; in competition with lazy, dirty
Filipinos the objections to Chinese
cease to exist.
The American authorities here, while
obliged to enforce the order from
Washington against the admission of
Chinese, are giving a practical demon
stration of their disapproval of the
order in the fact that they employ
Chinese extensively in the hospitals, IN
camp, in putting up buildings and in
many other things. The fleet has
Chinese cooks and cabin boys, the
army has also in many cases Chinese
cooks, hospital attendants, carriers and
laborers. Some American officials en-
plOy Chinese house S ~rvants, not for
but in sheer desperation,
because native servants are so unsat-
that it is worth while to pay
a Chinaman three, four or five times
as much. Consul-General Wildman is
quite right; there is hardly an industry
in the country but will be ruined if the
Chinese are excluded. This is a coun-
try where in most lines Of industry
white men cannot work and natives
will not, the alternatives are either to
import Chinese who will work. or
leave the work undone, let things slide,
let the country retrograde and fall 70
pieces. Chinese were used to this
ages ago; when the Spaniards
first came they found Chinese here: in
fact, the islands more then once came
near being annexed by China Since
those days Chinese have always been
permitted tx come, and have done more
to develop the country than anybody
else could do. To stop them now
means to stop the development of The
country, and we trust that the protest
Of ConsuI-General Wildman will be
effective-Manila Times.