been developed to the same extent that they are; but they would have had a more healthful foundation, and their absence would have had a Economic effect. tendency to the distribution of the large landed claims, which can only be worked by their cheap labor; they would have been sub-divided into homesteads and sold to people who wished to settle. There should be some method of checking any further immigration of this people. Employed in tanneries. Mining. In most of the large tanneries Chinamen are employed. The manufacture of boots and shoes by Chinese is a disadvantage to white laborers. Wherever Chinese labor comes in competition with our mechanics they are poor, and growing poorer all the while. If Chinese labor was driven from the manufacture of boots and shoes, instead of their being only 250 girls employed in that industry there would be 2,000 or 3,000 of them. In regard to mining, there are 4,000 Chinese in the neighborhood of Oroville, in one community; and they are to be found from one end of California to the other, even in underground mines. White miners would be glad to work the diggings the Chinamen work, but they will not work for the same hire that a Chinaman does. The gold extracted from the country by Chinamen-many millions goes to China. JACKSON. Chinese culture. Chinese cleanliness or the reverse. Morals of Chinamen. The compradors. THOMAS W. JACKSON, foreign commission agent, formerly a resident in People are very much mistaken as, to the extent of Chinese education. They all understand a few characters, but the written language is so exceedingly intricate and abstruse that it requires a life-time to learn it. A carpenter will know the characters for different kinds of wood and labor, and they all know the figures, etc., the bricklayer will know the character for bricks, and the miller will know the character for flour and wheat; but there are very few of them who are able to read a letter upon any general subject, and even those who profess to have a knowledge have spent years in studying it. If the Chinese require a letter to be written they go to a literary man to have it written for them. They cannot write it. So far from washing themselves habitually from head to foot, they do not even change their clothes generally for several months, especially in winter. Most of them do not wash themselves thoroughly more than three or four times a year. It is customary for them to sleep in their clothes. Their cleanliness and their education are generally very much overestimated. Their morals are such that no English or American family in China having children will allow their children to come in contact with them more than is absolutely necessary, their influence being considered not only injurious but positively dangerous. I cannot recall more than about two Chinamen whom I should consider to be strictly and decidedly honest. In business they invariably tell lies. They invariably falsify, and, as much as possible, use false weights and measures among themselves. In the Canton trade it is not so much the case. Where they are honest it does not arise from conviction, but from the adage "honesty in the best policy." They do not expect honesty among themselves. In China the compradors almost invariably do the whole of the business, do the buying or selling of six or seven establishments, employ four or five house-boys, and seven or eight coolies, and make fortunes besides. They always make money whether the foreign houses do or not, because they get a commission from the buyer and a commission from the seller, on everything bought. The Chinese multiply so rapidly that whenever they get a foot-hold into any country, they almost take possession of it. Polygamy is common in China. Every woman is married, and every woman produces children. They are very prolific, more so than in other countries; and where they Chinese prolific. get a foot-hold in a very short number of years they become the greater part of the population. That is the case in Singapore, which was only In Singapore. founded a few years ago by Sir Stamford Raffles; the Chinese had no footing there whatever, and now there are probably three or four Chinamen to one of the other population. If they were allowed the privileges of citizenship here, the result would be that in two or three years they would outnumber the whites three or four to one. They can get money very much easier here than in their own country. Where they are in any very great numbers and feel very strong they Nearly all the are more dangerous to foreigners than otherwise. The worst classes are Chinamen in California from in the southern part, especially in Swatow and Canton, and all the Chinese Canton-their who have ever come to California so far have come from the province of character. Kwang Tung, excepting about sixty who once came from the neighborhood of Shanghai, some years ago, and who have all disappeared. They have no conception of our government or the principles that underlie it; and I have never met a Chinaman who had a right idea of his own. LEWIS M. FOULKE, supervisor of internal revenue, formerly miner, and FOUlke. collector of taxes, and a resident in the state for twenty-four years, sworn and examined : I do not consider Chinese labor desirable; it has the same tendency to Reasons why a degrade free white labor that slave-labor in the south had. A larger larger Chinese immigration importation would be very undesirable, for the reason that a population undesirable. with ideas of government so utterly foreign to those of ours, and the presence of a vast number of that class of people different in color, habits of thought, traditions and religion, is apt to create caste, and probably would lead to civil war. They cannot assimilate to our institutions. revenue. As supervisor of internal revenue I find that over one-half of all the Chinese as contrifrauds and of all the violations of the law were committed by the Chinese. butors to the The population being 30,000 Chinese against some 225,000 or 230,000 whites. The frauds were committed principally in the manufacture of cigars and cigarettes without the payment of the taxes; the re-use of stamped boxes; the manufacture and sale of friction matches, without paying the stamp-tax on them; also the manufacture of an article called samsony, a sort of Chinese whiskey distilled from rice. A very small number pay the income-tax. The non-payment of these taxes added very much to the injury of those who were engaged legitimately, and compelled to pay their taxes. I have Witness's expe rience as a I have employed Chinese labor in mining but prefer white. never had any difficulty in mining with white labor, and in getting good miner. men. My preference for them is from the fact that they usually have their families and settle in the country. More than three-fourths, I think fully seven-tenths, of the intelligent people of the Pacific coast are opposed to the further immigration of the Chinese, or at least are in favor of restricting the further immigration to Undesirable to a small number. Those who are here it would be undesirable to remove; I think it would be unjust to all parties concerned. remove those who are here. CADIZ. Chinese in Peru. Sold for certain periods. Inferior race. BASSETT. Economic effects of Chinese labor. Public opinion in favor of restriction. Undesirable to give them the franchise. The free white laborers generally consider the Chinese as coolies or slaves. The negro here is far superior to the Chinaman principally from contact with the white race. The effect of elevating a Chinaman to a voter would be fraught with great dangers. JOSEPH G. CADIZ, a resident in California from 1849 to 1854, and from 1865 to the present time, and a traveller during the interim in South America, Buenos Ayres, Chili, and Peru, sworn and examined: While in Peru Chinese were imported there under contract at Hong Kong. They went there for a certain consideration, under parties purchasing them and taking them to Peru. On their arrival they were sold by one, or in lots of tens, twenties, fifties, hundreds, and so on. There were several lines of sailing vessels bringing them out continually, the ships being overcrowded; and on many occasions there had been revolutions on board, risings and mutinies among them. They were sold at $350 to $400 apiece. When deeded to a party, whatever the number might be, they were taken in a mass. This sale or lease was for a term of eight years. These slaves were bound over for that amount of money, and the buyer was to pay each one of them four dollars a month, of their currency, and find him in his clothing and victuals. They were bought and sold as slaves, and recognized by the laws of the country; and they were of the same class that come from Hong Kong to California. In Costa Rica, between 1871 and 1872, the government tried the experiment of a cargo of 800 of them. They were purchased at Hong Kong and taken there and sold. The same system prevails here only under a different guise and form. The coolie-trade is very active now; the same as in Peru. They are ignorant, and stupid, and very dishonest, and, in my opinion, the most inferior race there is existing, the class that is here. JAMES M. BASSETT, journalist, editor of Los Angeles Herald, and a resident in California for twenty-five years, sworn and examined : The Chinese who are here and are coming here tend to make the rich richer and the poor poorer; their labor has been beneficial to a few people and injurious to the masses. Some enterprises have been pushed forward more rapidly than they could have been without the assistance of some such labor as the Chinese. In the common occupations of life their labor has been a disadvantage to the people; and that, I think, is the opinion of the masses. It tends to degrade white labor, the impression prevailing among the laboring classes that the Chinese are brought here as slaves. Public opinion of the state would be in favor of protecting those who are here, and preventing any further immigration. Nine out of ten, outside of the few who are benefited largely by Chinese labor, would entertain that opinion. In regard to the future of the state: politically, if the Chinaman ultimately becomes a voter, and they continue to come, he will hold the balance of power in a very short time; morally, the effect is bad. If the Chinese had a vote in San Francisco it would exceed that of the whites. APPENDIX B. VICTORIA, B. C., October, 1884. NICHOLAS FLOOD DAVIN, Esq., Secretary, Chinese Commission. DEAR SIR, Although I did not seek to be examined before the Chinese Commission while in Victoria, and have not officially received the paper of queries issued on the subject, yet I may be permitted to hope that you will lay before the Commissioners the answers as given, which are appended, together with the following remarks upon the subject of enquiry: The existence of an uncontrolled immigration under any circumstances is full of dangers. The first duty of a Government is the well-being of the governed; and the application of some restraint upon immigration, and a complete control over it, is a primary duty as curative of present as well as preventive of future evils. No one can complain of cruelty or injustice being inherent in the course of action taken in the United States in the matter of white immigrants, who may import diseases, spread poverty, or become burdensome, turbulent and dangerous to society. And the like course of action may be found imperatively necessary in respect of the Mongolian immigration into this province. Now, if any one is acquainted with the effects of a system of poor laws, and of the extent to which the working out of this may press upon the springs of industry, and in particular when the cost is superadded to taxation for the administration of justice and the preservation of the peace, the question of immigration assumes an alarming magnitude. In British Columbia, which has at present no poor laws, and is only slightly taxed for internal administration, the question may seem remote or unreal. But if cheap workers, say Mongolians, come in numbers and thereby exclude the white laborers, it may be asked will this be cheaper in the end and all round, when everything is paid for, and when a Mongolian labor-league may have to be faced? Or again, if these may not prove exclusive absolutely of white labor, then both classes must compete at rates ruinous to the white laborer; and white man and Mongolian alike, after the inevitable depressions and difficulties incidental to every community (nay, even though supposed exempt from them) must go down, sinking into poverty and becoming permanent burdens on capital. But while, in theory, "demand and supply" are correlative, an application of this principle to Mongolian labor in British Columbia is considerably modified by the force of the two following facts:-First, the enormous over-population of China, aggregated on its eastern frontier and on the seaboard open towards our side, with the efforts towards its relief, together with the profits accruing to shipowners from its exportation; Secondly, the restrictions at present imposed in the United States upon this immigration. Now, surely, if an unlimited number of Mongolians may in future be poured out upon our shores, the consequences may be that if these should continue to be smuggled into the states from hence very unhappy and strained relations between us and the states shall But supposing that these immigrants should stay here, then a congestion of the labor market must arise. And this must either consummate the pauperizing of the white laborer, or else involve his final departure, after he has become a burden on the rates and given abroad a bad name to this colony, as having invited him to come so far and then subjected him to an unlimited and ruinous competition with Mongolian hordes to hand. ensue. And looking over the lists of farmers and residentiary owners here, working their own lands, it is a remarkable fact that these are the very men who began as laborers of one sort or another, but have nobly carved out for themselves an independence by their own indomitable industry and hard-handed toil. These then (the very most desirable of colonists), will either pass out or not approach, discouraged by reason of wages being reduced to a minimum. For, the question at the very root of all this contention is not that wages must stand at a maximum, but lest they tumble to a minimum and stay there. But further, if interest binds the colony to the European immigrant, and to the negro too, honest, civil and industrious as he is, also possibly, ere long, to the Japanese immigrant, honor and humanity alike bind our colony to consider well in the case of the Aborigines. Now, it would be a most inconsistent action on the part of the Dominion or Provincial Government, after proving so humane and thoughtful of the interests of the Indian population in many ways, if in the way of cheapening labor to the lowest point, these should become sufferers, just at the time when their old resources by flood and field had ceased to be as productive as before. Then, indeed, would they settle down in disgust and despair of progress or pecuniary resource. But should considerations of this kind be overlooked, what will the final result be? What else but a population of Mongolians, numerically predominant, who will remit their earnings out of the province, who will practice exclusive dealing, and never permanently attach themselves to British Columbia, or become identified with her laws. And then what stronger justification can be given of the current censure of inconsistency, contained in the taunt, that what was once "British was made "Chinese Columbia." And further, an uncontrolled immigration of Mongolians, to any extent, must leave the colony subject to the additional and serious evils, arising from an enormously increased expenditure in administration of justice and police, together with considerable risks to life and property, and a corresponding want of confidence in the colony as a safe place for investment of capital. But it is further submitted, that the rapidly approaching facility for the adequate supply of white labor from Europe through the Canadian Pacific Railway, leaves the question of the adequate supply and the danger of its falling short (apart from Mongolian immigration) altogether answered, and in fact put out of court. Very soon there will be no urgent need at all for them in any numbers at least. Their main occasion of coming being the hurry to finish off the line by many hands crowded on. After this is over there will be no valid excuse for their unlimited invasion of the land. Also, it must be accurately weighed in the scales of a just judgment, whether, while the non-imposition of restriction upon Mongolian immigration may not result in injury and loss, the judicious restriction of it may be found not hurting any interest, but on the contrary tending towards the adjustment of the labor market on a firm and safe basis to the greatest gain of all, and with the least possible danger to any. Further, it may seem a hard judgment to anticipate at some future time projects of uprising with a view to Mongolian ascendency, fed by ambition and an unquenchable greed. But experience in many lands and for ages past (say even in Madagascar in modern times) points to something more than the possibility of this result looming in the future, and as not so unlikely to occur again or prove so easy to be dealt with. Anyway, prevention is better than cure; and this even in the interests of the Mongolians them selves. What is offered in these remarks comes not of prejudice, nor is clothed in terms of offence, nor yet again is aught pressed forward unsustainable in theory or injurious in practice on principles of enlightened humanity and political economy. I advocate neither the clean sweep of expulsion nor the barrier of an absolute exclusion, but only the establishment of a just and wise control over Mongolian immigration, to be clearly defined and exercised as occasion may serve, and in the best interests of British Columbia. Of course the law must be both clear and ample in and its execution bona fide. I have the honor to be, dear sir, Your obedient servant, PHILIP DWYER, A.M., (Some time) Canon of Killaloe Cathedral, Ireland. |