Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-10-18
Pilgrims of Necessity

Yet the record of the great republic
north of the Rio Grande in its dealings
with these aliens is not very different
from that of its Mexican neighbor. In
many instances it is worse.
First Came In 184S.
The first of the Chinese pilgrims to
land in the United States arrived in
San Francisco in 1848 on the brig
Eagle. Two men and one woman
braved that unknown land. Two years
later a handful of Celestials worked
their passage north to the same port
from Peru.
Evidently these Orientals managed to
convey word to China that the United
States was a land of silver streets and
of jeweled trees-the gems to be had
for the asking. For by the end of
1852 the Celestial population Of Cali
fornia had grown to $4,000. BY 1850
IS 900 had either joined the gold rush
or had obtained work building the Cen
trail Pacific Railroad.
Here were human beasts of burden
dependable and very willing. The
West was undermined. considering
the many grandiose projects that were
in the air. The Chinese continued to
enter.
Soon, however, storm clouds-not
unlike those that are looming in Mex
leo today-began to gather. The patient
Chinese were showing themselves q
trifle too amenable. 1t was discovered
that they apparently could live on
nothing a year and thrive. Eventually
laws were passed prohibiting Chinese
immigration.
In that island neighbor Of California,
Hawaii. two factors operated that drew
the Chinese; man power was needed
| to work the cane fields, and the
Hawaiians were lazy. These Polynesians
were hardly to be censured for their
dolce far niente outlook. But the
Chinese were as impervious to the
balminess of the trade wind as they
were to the rigors Of the Sierra Nevada
Winters. Their economic conquest OF
Hawaii was swift and thorough.
Financed King Kalakaua-
| One Chinese banker All Fong. at
tanned such prosperity that he had the
pleasure of financing a Hawaiian king
The gay monarch, Kalakaua, was
| troubled by two vices: love Of poker
and an inability to play the game well
In return for valuable concessions, All
Fong kept the wolf from the sovereign's
door.
AS soon as he was financially able,
| All Fong courageouSly broke the cling
| ing web of inherited thrift and built
himself pleasure palace. To the Chi
nese coming over to Honolulu this man
sion must have seemed like a trans
| planted bit of the hereafter.
| And these immigrants began their
careful saving, hopeful that what one
Chinese had done they, too, could &C
complish.
But not long after the death of King
Kalakaua the islands were annexed by
the United States. With annexation
came exclusion. After the act barring
the Chinese was passed those Celes-
tials already in Hawaii either died or
returned to their native land. Their
sons married women of other races.
Their grandchildren today have become
more Yankee than the Yankees, refus-
ing even to learn the Chinese tongue.
Head Tax Checked Horde.
In the British Empire, Canada and
Australia followed a historical pattern
not greatly unlike that of the United
States in their treatment Of their Chi
neSe pilgrims Of necessity. But such was
Canada's need for man power that she
was much slower to exclude the ORR
entails than was her neighbor to the
| South. She attempted to stem the Chi
nese invasion by levying a head tax OF
| $500. That sum-a fortune to Chi
nese coolie-checked the human tide
for a space.
Yet by voting such tax Canada Gre
ated partial monopoly for the ORR
entails already within her borders. Wages
doubled. then trebled. In far-off Can
! ton a tribe of money lenders appeared