At a time when Chinese Immgriation is likely to form a prominent subject for discussion at the approaching eleotiona it is necessary to enquire what is the reason of the grea t objection to Chinese, aud on lookiug beyond the surface there are far deeper reasons than, those assigned by the London Times, in a long leading article, for the hietility of Americans to Chinese immigration ; it applies equally to English Colonies and to the United States. Not only is the Chinaman, as the writer truly Bays, personally objectionable, bat he is a protectionist and an absentee of the most virulent type at one and the same time. No one gets any " pull " oat of a Chinaman. He buys his clothes from China, he buys his food from China, he brings his opium from China, and he deals exclusively through Chinamen. Thus, whether he is a gold-digger or is working for daily wages neither Americana nor Europpans can make anything out of him. When be has made as much as he thinks will keep him in comfort in Cliini, off he goes with his savings, and the State or the Colony knows him no more. But in bis place there appears another Chinaman, equally indu3triou?, fqually penurious, equally inclined to take low wages, who goes through the same process, and then in like manner he disappears. Thus these thrifty Asiatics, by keeping entirely to their own routes of trade and saving moaey, or digging gold simply to take it out of the country seem to the unsophisticated Americans, and equally dull Australian to be by no means so useful to the country as a less induatriou3, less penurious, and less homesick European, whatever effect their method may have upon the world at large. Thie, at any rate, is the chief reason why men support such movements as those of the Labor party in California, and writers who wish to combat their arguments effectually will littva to taka a wider view of the subject than they take at present.
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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIV, Issue 201, 23 August 1879, Page 5
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338Untitled Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIV, Issue 201, 23 August 1879, Page 5
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