Page:The Pacific Monthly volumes 1-3.djvu/1043



Vol. III.

HERE are 105,000 Chinese in the United States. Of these some 70,000 are found on the Pacific Coast. To the resident they are such an every-day sight as to attract but little at- tention. They go their quiet, unobtr u s i v e way and we scarcely think of them unless we need a cook or some one to cut the grass, or unless there is a highbinder fracas. But much interest attaches to these aliens, when we remember that they are our neighbors, since the war with Spain.

The first coming of Chinese to the Coast, as an immigration, was due to the demand for laborers on the first transcontinental railroad. Then they were cheap labor as compared with the white man, who had forgotten how a penny looked, and to whom the min- imum of value was a "short bit." To the Chinese, in those days, the Golden Hills, their common name for the United States, were a veritable land of prom- ise. Here a day laborer could earn in one month more than he could hope for in a whole year at home ; while the cook whose services would command $4 or $5 per mensem, not including board,

was worth from $20 to $75 in gold, with board and room provided. And an au- tocracy beyond his wildest dream was yielded him by the housewife, who was charmed with the bland manners, punc- tuality and skill of the domestic who wished no Sundays off. This combina- tion of cheap labor, then needed not only for railroad work but also for clear- ing land, gardening, factory work, and for competent domestic service on our part, with an opportunity for good wages and consequent wealth on the part of the Chinese, lead to what may be termed the rush to the Coast.

At the outset this rush called for no comment. White men were not numer- ous, money was plenty, work was abundant, times were good, and no ob- jection was raised to the presence of the Chinese. They were not regarded as a menace, but as a needed help in our industrial conditions.

But times changed. The railroads were completed. They made it easy for people to come in from the East. Among those who came were many who depended upon day labor for daily bread for themselves and their families. They found the Chinese intrenched in positions which white men filled in the East. They found themselves in com- petition, in the labor market, with men of a different land, who could not vote. Then it was learned that the Chinese were very objectionable. They were heathen, and this was awful. They smoked opium, and this was worse. They gambled, they carried revolvers,