Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1906-08-30
THE WHITE MANS BURDEN. !"

sss than two months ago great Amerl-
delivered patriotic address before
ion society Of his fellow countrymen.
occasion was the celebration OF his
*on's birthday, and, laying aside the
tomary self graduation, the speaker
hted cut TO his hearers the duty the
lat republic Of the west and its Anglo
top inhabitants owed to the despOtisms
sshe east and their down-trodden peoples.
william Jennings Bryan's Fourth OF July
#iress has met with the cordial approval
fpress and people in his native land. The
bite man is not going to shirk his burden
be leaders of American thought are di-
ctlng the minds of the people to self
tterment, purifcation, self-efface-
Gent, that there may be unanimous effort
Br the advancement with themselves OF
sheir brothers in yellow and brown and
black.
the American republic, the white mans
government, adyertises for $1,000 Chinese
coolies. For what To complete the most
gigantic piece of governmental work
this nation has eyer attempted.
More than decade ago these United
States forbade by statute the importation
of contract labor, /" and it is to-day i'm
possible to bring into this country workmen
bound by agreement to any set purpose or
specific employer. Only last week a court
decision returned to Mexico several thou
sand ''greasers, who had been brought
over the border to construct two great rail-
ways. Yet the United States government,
the representatives of majority Of whose
people have made it crime for individuals
or corporations to import cheap labor from
other lands, engages with the approval of
our chief magistrate, to bring 1900
Chinese, the cheapest Of laborers, 5000
miles from their homes to labor, maybe to
sicken and die, strangers in a strange land.
The Panama Canal Commission adyer-
tisement for bids for Il, 600 Chinese coolies,
is crime against humanity. The spirit of
our contract labor laws is broken; the spirit
of our Chinese immigration law is broken;
the spirit and the letter Of our eight-hour
law is broken, by this act.
The employment of these Chinese is COM
parable only to the tasks laid upon she
Children of Israel by their Egyptian mas
tiers more than 5000 years ago The
government in high sounding manner
proclaims that these men shall be free, yet
the work they are to be bound to do is
slayisb, and for it's faithful performance
they must be bound as slaves. They can
meyer enter the sacred portals of the repnb-
lie that employs them, and when their work
is ended, those who survive yellow fever
and the tropical climate, will be returned
to their native land with little, if any thing,
to show for their years of wearisome toll, TO
be resold to other taskmasters. Is the white
man in this act bearing the burden of his
yellow brother?
Only a few weeks ago bombastic order
was issued by the President of the United
States requiring that contractors on govern
ment works shall obey that law which re-
quires that employees on government works
shall labor but eight hours day. The
same newspapers that yesterday published
the Canal Commissions advertisements fol-
Is, 900 Chinese collies to work ten hours OF
more a day, published an announcement
from the President Of the United States in
which be declared that the eight-hour Law
would be vigorously enforced. Is it honest
for this same white mans government te
enter into agreements by which yellow mer
in its employ shall be made to work ter
hours or more
The Panama Canal has already heaped
disgrace and scandal upon this government
BY its most recent act the commission in
charge of that work adds unutterable de.
prayity to its record OF misdoings. Il
proves that that oft repudiated doctrine Of
the ends iustifying the means, obtains will
the heads Of our government, despite all
our protestations Of philanthropy and ouI
preachments Of the Golden Rule.
Verify, the Republican administrations
has put the dollar above the man, and
dragged our proud and honored name in ths
mire Of ayarice.
TRUE American, Aug. %, 1906.