The Employed and the Unemployed.
By Editor
THE “Anti-Coolie League,” of Red Bluff, Cal., addressed a resolution to United States Senator Stanford, asking him to discharge the Chinese employed on his Vina ranch. The Senator replied, giving the league some very wholesome doctrine. One point made by Mr. Stanford deserves especial attention. It is this:— “The unemployed in California are numerous, but I do not think they are unemployed because of the Chinese, or anything other than their own improvident nature. I have fed tramps at a direct expense of over $200 a month, during the past season, on one farm, although there was never a day during that time that we were not short-handed of good men and wanted them.” In that, Senator Stanford has laid bare the whole secret of the labor problem in California. The cry that “the Chinese tend to degrade white labor,” is always loudest from these unemployed gentry whom Mr. Stanford had to feed for nothing when he was in want of men who would work. And because the Senator employs men who will work he is asked, by these “unemployed” boycotters, to discharge them. This is not the only instance. In Santa Barbara the “unemployed” who tend to dignify labor, arose in their might and drove out all the Chinese. Then a gentleman built a steam laundry, and could not find enough men in the place to start it. And thus capital oppressed labor there. Also in Truckee, where was made the strongest boycott on the coast, all the Chinese were driven away, and a steam laundry was built, which is now for sale at half its cost. And so the Chinese degrade labor. California is six times as large as the Kingdom of Bavaria, while Bavaria has more than four times as many people as has California. California is fifteen times as large as Belgium, while Belgium has more than five times the population that California has. California is four times as large as Ohio, while Ohio has more than three times as many people as are in California. California is three times the size of Illinois, whereas Illinois has more than three times the number of inhabitants that California has. California is twenty-two times the size of Massachusetts, while Massachusetts has nearly, if not quite, twice as many inhabitants as has California. France is but one-fifth larger than California, and has more than thirty-six times as many inhabitants. Germany is only about one-fifth larger than California, but it has more than forty-two times as many inhabitants. This simply emphasizes the truth of Senator Stanford’s words, that the unemployed in California are not unemployed because of the Chinese, or any other cause than their own improvident nature.