The Knights of Labor on the Chinese Situation [pp. 225-230]

THE
OVERLAND MONTH LY.
DEVOTED TO
TILE DE VEL OPMENT OF THE CO UNTRY.
VOL. VII. (SECOND SERIES.)-MARCH, i886.-No. 39.
THE KNIGHTS OF LABOR ON THE CHINESE LABOR SITUATION.
A SHORT time ago the writer of this, acting
as a delegate from a Local Assembly of the
Knights of Labor, had occasion to offer, in
the District or Representative Assembly, a
resolution. This resolution recited the evils
consequent on the employment of Chinese
labor, and suggested remedial measures. In
the debate that followed, a gentleman lately
from the East rather demurred to the spirit
of the resolutions, urging that the Knights
of Labor were a humanitarian organization.
The resolutions were adopted almost unanimously, but the fact of an objection having
been offered in the District Assembly, on the
grounds stated, suggests a public statement
of the stand taken by our Society.
The fundamental principle on which our
organization is based is, that the Almighty
made air, earth, fire, and water for the use of
man. Those who use these agencies incur
an obligation which is best met by a due regard for the rights of others. We believe it
to be reasonable ground to take, that, having
a common interest in these great natural
agencies, no one man has a right to ask or
expect a fellow-being to work for the mere
purpose of continuing existence. Under our
system of popular government, the man and
citizen has a right to expect that he will be
protected from the greed of the avaricious
in the hunt for subsistence for his wife and
family. It does not, therefore, seem absurd
to hold that the working classes have a right
to expect that those in authority shall devise
means by which labor shall be fostered and
protected.
From one thing, especially, should the laborer be shielded, and that is from the operation of the competitive system. Under the
working of this industrial curse, the muscle
of the human being is put up at a kind of an
auction, in much the same way that the old
slave was knocked off the block.
The Knights of Labor Society, as a National Order, cries out against this system, and
urges organization to curb its exactions. We
claim the right to a living compensation for
labor done.
With Caucasians only to confront on this
point, we enjoy a reasonably sure prospect
of eventually gaining a triumph; but with a
horde of people in our midst whose education from the cradle unfits them to mingle
with us as equals in industrial marts, the
outcome is not so encouraging. The Chinese in our midst are the natural product of
VOL. VII. —15. (Copyright, I886, by OVERLAND MONTHLY CO. All Rights Reserved.)