Observations on the Chinese Laborer [pp. 91-99]

Observations on the Chinese Laborer.
talk of the Coast contradicts my own obser
vation. Again, I know, as every one knows,
that a great deal of our apparent unanimity
of anti-Chinese sentiment is due to timidity
and actual suppression of speech. We know
that we are not as unanimous in our offices
and parlors as in print. We know that there
is a mild, but a very real and relentless, terrorism exercised. - No one expects that if
he stands up for the Chinese in public he
will be mobbed or assasinated; but he knows
it will be very unpleasant for him-rather
more unpleasant than to have talked free
trade in Pennsylvania or prohibition in a
German region. No minister, editor, teacher, or other man dependent on public favor
-certainly no politician-feels it wise or safe
to avow any pro-Chinese belief; and yet I
frequently hear in private conversation, or
detect in the reluctant and forced manner of
public expression, more or less such belief.
I know, too, the overwhelming power of pubblic opinion to increase itself; to carry with
it not only the shallow, but the wisp and sincere. It requires some peculiar and very
unusual qualities of temperament to form
judgments contrary to the rush of opinion
about one. Men in our State, who are so respected that any expression of theirs on a
matter of social importance would be considered a strong argument, were secessionists
when they were residents of seceding States.
They and many like them, of ripe judgment
and perfect sincerity, were as convinced of
the wisdom of secession then, as they would
have been of the necessity of union had their
lot been cast in a Northern State, and as
many men of equal intelligence and sincerity
are now of the wisdom of discrimination
against Chinese foreigners. And it is unfortunately true, that in any section where
one opinion strongly prevails, reports and
statistics become untrustworthy; those who
go forth to gather data know that there is
market only for what tells on one side, and
the desired data never yet failed to be forthcoming in such cases.
Making allowance, therefore, for the blind
misstatements of fanaticism, for the timeserving of many papers and politicians and
the tremendous power of public opinion in
moulding the sincere belief of others, for
biased reports and suppressed dissent, some
of us unquestionably feel that it is not
adequately proved that the discrimination
against the Chinese is wise or just; and
that there is need of a reviewing of the
evidence-not (let me repeat) for political
purposes, with any view to reversal of the
policy, but in a scientific spirit, by educated
people, among themselves as it were, with
a view to "clearing our minds of cant."
Toward such a review I contribute something
of my own observation of the Chinese laborer. I offer it for what it is worth; it may be exceptional. It is not exclusively one person's
experience, for I take into consideration the
experience of all others whom I have talked
with. It covers a residence of some twenty
years in a farming neighborhood on this
Coast, where, though myself engaged otherwise than in farming. I have been in a position to observe closely the laborers on the
ranches about me. The farming is much of
it of the more complex sort, known as "the
agricultural industries,"-fruit-growing, vineyards, etc.-and requires semi-skilled labor.
In the neighborhood are a good many Portuguese peasant farmers, who supplement
the incomes of their two-acre to ten-acre lots
by hiring themselves out, and others who are
as yet dependent upon their day-labor, with
the two-acre lot in the future; Italian gardeners; the remnants of an Indian rancheria;
a hamlet of the Irish hands employed in a
mechanical industry near by; and a sprinkling of Chinese farmhands, cooks, and laundrymen. I am, therefore, in a good position for comparative observations. And the
following are a few of those that have impressed me:
In the first place, I have learned that there
are Chinamen and Chinamen. As well
judge the Maine farmer lad by the New York
city Arab, as the well bred, honest, steady
young fellow from the rice-farms up the river
from Canton, by the Hong Kong street coolie
or dock-rat. Most people are quite without
discrimination in selecting a Chinese workman, and seem to think it is pure luck
1886.]
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