THE

NEW ENGLANDER.

No. CXXXVIII.

JANUARY, 1877.

ARTICLE I-CHINESE IMMIGRATION AND POLITICAL ECONOMY.

THERE are indications that we are on the eve of a movement not altogether unlike the anti-slavery agitation. This time, however, the color under discussion is not black, but yellow. Books and pamphlets, letters and leading articles, begin to appear, the scattered snowflakes that come before the overwhelming storm. Reports from the Pacific coast, at first vague but recently more distinct, make it plain that there at least the agitation is no insignificant matter. A delegation of Californians has already visited Washington to influence Congress; an immense meeting has been held in San Francisco, attended by tens of thousands of citizens, the governor, several exgovernors and members of Congress; and finally a committee of the State Senate appointed to take evidence on the general effect of the presence of the Chinese in America, has made its report, copies of which have been widely circulated at the East. Whatever else may be said of this document, it shows one thing plainly enough: that there are passions aroused that will not be quieted by being disregarded. Already our astute party-leaders have scented political capital from afar, and the platforms of this year are a little varied by the appearance of a

Chinese plank. And really the questions involved are so grave that there is little danger that they will attract too much attention.

As in the anti-slavery times, the first step will be to arouse the feelings of those who are not directly concerned. California is even more remote than the Southern States, and it will be hard at first to awaken a genuine public interest in matters. thousands of miles away. Only by constant and vivid representation are we aroused to the reality of the feelings of those who are far from us. The deplorable condition of the Heathen has always been a cause of distress to the Christian mind; but the uncomfortable sense of personal responsibility slumbers until some returned missionary moves the purse-strings with the recital of what he has actually witnessed. Perhaps in the fullness of time we shall have novels after the fashion of Uncle Tom's Cabin, with Chinese heroes and heroines, and San Francisco "Hoodlums" instead of Legrees. We shall hear comparisons of white horses with bay in place of black, as an argument for the equality of races, and perhaps again the scornful question will be asked as a crushing blow to all opposing reasons: "Would let you your sister marry a Chinaman ?” Yet in the case of Negro slavery, back of all the feelings of wrath at tales of cruelty, and affected contempt at such tales, there was a great underlying sense of right, that revolted against the idea that beings so much like ourselves should be forced to submit to the treatment of convicts; in the case of the Chinese, although the same principle is involved, it assumes the modified form of an enquiry whether all men have a right to settle in our boundaries. Once there was a stern determination that no more Negroes should be forced to come to America; now we must decide whether the Chinese shall be forced to stay away.

Unquestionably it is the feelings of men that will decide in the matter; yet the problem is by no means so simple as that of slavery, and perhaps stands even more in need of thoroughly statesmanlike treatment. The proposition, "Slavery is wrong," passed for self-evident; the proposition, "All men have a right to emigrate to America," does not so directly appeal to the conscience. The majority of mankind are indifferent to what does not affect either themselves or their friends; and

even those who desire to act justly require a certain amount of time to grasp the meaning of the terms of a question before their inward mentor begins to prick them on. In the case of such a problem as we have before us, the strangeness and vastness of the conditions and the remoteness of the scene, cause pardonable hesitation about deciding at once. We need to consider all the bearings of the presence of a Chinese element in our complex nationality before we resolve either to admit or to exclude it. Not the least prominent of the considerations suggested are those derived from Political Economy, and we now proceed to give a brief statement of some of the more important of these suggestions.

The science of Political Economy has from various causes been developed in its economical rather than political aspect. The questions discussed relate to wealth, its production, distribution, and exchange, more than to the conditions of the growth and strength of nations in other respects than commer cial prosperity. The causes most favorable to an immediate increase of wealth in a people may not be those that promote national stability. England is to-day the wealthiest of nations, wealthier because her population has long been engaged in peaceful production, but Prussia, it has been suggested, might perhaps turn the wealth of England to her own account, because she has followed a policy that, although economically speaking wasteful, politically may be economical. We may then depend upon the precepts of this science in considering the economic results of Chinese immigration, but for the political effects we shall have no such trusty guidance.

The factors in the production of wealth are land, labor, and capital, according to the nature and proportion of which elements is a country rich or poor. Under the term land are embraced all the natural materials and conditions of production; under the term capital are included the artificial materials, the results of previous production; while labor signifies the human element regarded mainly as a natural force. If we disregard land, we find that when labor is scarce and capital abundant, wages, or the reward of labor, tend to increase. If capital is scarce and labor abundant, then wages are less. In a new country, however, where land is as yet unlimited in supply,

there may be a rich reward for both capital and labor, both profits and wages may be large. In an old country where all land is under ownership, we find that the production of the land cannot be increased beyond a certain point, except by the expenditure of proportionally greater amounts of labor and capital; that is, for twice the outgo we cannot get twice the return. On the other hand, population, or labor, is restrained by no natural law except that of starvation. Hence, if things took their unimpeded course there would be continually more mouths and proportionally less bread to fill them. This is the celebrated law of Malthus, a doctrine that has been "to the Jews a stumbling-block and to the Greeks foolishness;" a law that is only less remorseless than that of natural selection because it can be suspended by human volition.

Applying these principles to the case in hand, we find that the state of California has a population of about 600,000, of which the Chinese form nearly one fifth, the number having been put as high as 150,000, but reduced by the report of the Senate's committee to perhaps 115,000. There is abundant complaint that the land is in possession of monopolists who demand for its use exorbitant rents, but we must regard the supply as practically unlimited. The supply of capital is of course not great, yet it has increased with remarkable speed. The supply of labor was deficient before the advent of the Chinese. It is only in a general way that the results of their coming can be stated, for the abundance of land renders it impossible to do more than reason hypothetically.

California being a new country both profits and wages are naturally large; capital increases rapidly and labor increases with greater or less speed, but for a long time the rate of profits as well as wages remained high, as the conditions of production would lead us to expect. Suddenly Suddenly a disturbing force appeared; the supply of labor was abnormally increased by the importation of Chinese. The immediate result could not but be to diminish the rate of wages-unless this had been expected the Chinese would not have been wanted. The effect was felt by laborers in all departments where the Chinese could compete, and indirectly in all others, for a certain amount of labor would be, so to speak, forced upward by the intruding

layer. Either all labor must receive lessened wages, or some labor be unemployed. We should expect that production would be greatly stimulated, capital would rapidly increase and wages would soon tend to rise. The price of food would naturally be raised under the influence of the increased demand, but owing to the fact that wheat is largely exported from California, the price would not be affected so violently as it otherwise would be. The higher price would lead to the cultivation of more land, thus drawing off a certain amount of labor and again wages would tend to rise. Without question the aggregate wealth of the community would be greatly augmented. In brief then, after the disturbance caused by the suddenness of the increased supply of labor had ceased, the results would approximately be—a great increase in the wealth of capitalists and land-owners, diminished wages in the hands of those who were laborers before the coming of the Chinese, cheapened products for the community at large, except perhaps in the case of food, and increased development of the country. Possibly if the supply of labor were not further increased wages might finally return to perhaps the point where they were before.

But is there any reason why the supply of labor should not increase? If the Chinese can emigrate at all, there seems to be no assignable limit to the number. If a laborer can earn in China but fifteen or twenty cents, while he can earn in this country a dollar, Chinese labor will tend to come to this country. China having a population of three or four hundred million could easily spare a fraction of one per cent., which fraction might however be greater than unity in California. China may be likened to an immense reservoir of labor, California to a partial vacuum, and communication once opened between them, the current of labor once started, equilibrium will only be reached when the rate of wages is reduced so low in California that the inducements to emigrate are counterbalanced by the annoyances and difficulties. The supply of labor in China is so large that the loss of a million would hardly affect the rate of wages there, even if the natural increase of population did not soon supply the deficiency. The advent of a million Chinese in California, however, would be attended by very noticeable results. All capital would be employed to its