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THE 
 
 CHINESE PROBLEM 
 
 L. T. TOWNSEND, D. D., 
 
 AUTHOR OF "LOST KUREVEK," " CREDO," " GOD-MAN," KTC. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 LEE AND SHEPARD, PUBLISHERS. 
 
 NEW Y o K K : 
 
 CHARLES T. DILLINGHAM. 
 1876. 
 
BY THE SAME AUTHOR. 
 
 LOST FOREVER. i6mo. $1.75. 
 
 THE ARENA AND THE THRONE. i6mo. $1.50. 
 
 GOD-MAN. 
 
 Part I. SEARCH AND MANIFESTATION. $1.75. 
 Part II. STRIFE AND HARMONY. (In press.) 
 
 CREDO. i6mo. Cloth. $1.50. 
 
 THE SWORD AND GARMENT; or, MINISTERIAL 
 CULTURE. i6mo. Cloth. $1.50. 
 
 REAL AND PRETENDED CHRISTIANITY. 
 The Controversy between Real and Pretended Chris 
 tianity. An Essay. i6mo. Paper, 25 cts. ; Cloth, 50 cts. 
 
 LEE & SHEPARD, PUBLISHERS, BOSTON. 
 
THE 
 
 CHINESE PROBLEM. 
 
 BY 
 
 L. T. TOWNSEND, D. D., 
 
 AUTHOR OF "LOST FOREVER," " CREDO," " GOD-MAN," ETC 
 
 BOSTON: 
 LEE AND SHEPARD, PUBLISHERS. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 CHARLES T. DILLINGHAM. 
 1876. 
 
"if 
 
 Jf. . 
 
 Electrotyped at the Boston Stereotype Foundry, 
 19 Spring Lane. 
 
C 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 DURING the summer of 1875, while on 
 the Pacific coast, and while enjoying rare 
 opportunities for gaining information, we 
 made the matters involved in this pamphlet 
 objects of as critical inquiry and study as 
 the case would then allow. 
 
 The recent hostile demonstrations against 
 the Chinese in California induced us to pre 
 pare for the religious press a few articles 
 bearing the foregoing title. At the solici 
 tation of persons interested in these mat 
 ters, also in view of the more recent 
 efforts in the United States Senate to in- 
 
 3 
 
4 PREFACE. 
 
 duce the government to modify the exist 
 ing treaty with China, likewise on the 
 grounds of philanthropy and Christianity, 
 we have been led to this pamphlet-form 
 of publication. 
 
 L. T. TOWNSEND. 
 BOSTON UNIVERSITY, May, 1876. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 I. INTERNATIONAL POLITICS 8 
 
 II. POLITICAL ECONOMY 19 
 
 III. EDUCATION 33 
 
 IV. MORALS 42 
 
 V. CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY 58 
 
 5 
 
THE 
 
 CHINESE PROBLEM. 
 
 THE fevered state of the public mind upon 
 the Pacific coast, induced by Chinese immi 
 gration, and by their alleged monopoly of 
 the various avocations, is such as to engage 
 somewhat our attention upon the Atlantic 
 coast, though our financial and commercial 
 turmoils are of a character to prevent us, 
 at present, from catching, in anything like 
 a violent form, this California epidemic. At 
 a later day, however, we maybe led to listen 
 to the urgent appeals of a sister state, and 
 may therefore now study the case calmly, 
 that we can then act intelligently and ad 
 visedly. That the question may be looked 
 at in detail, we subdivide it into five topics. 
 
 7 
 
8 THE CHINESE PROBLEM. 
 
 I. 
 
 THE CHINESE AND INTERNATIONAL 
 POLITICS. 
 
 IT is not our purpose to enter upon the 
 general question whether or not the policy 
 of unlimited immigration, and of a well-nigh 
 unrestricted franchise, are best for a national 
 government like ours ; these are matters 
 which time must now be left to pass its de 
 cisions upon.* The position we are com- 
 
 * On political grounds, the attitude of Alexander 
 Hamilton, while defending Washington's proclamation 
 of neutrality, might have been better, perhaps, than the 
 course the nation has been pursuing; but upon the 
 broad ground of Christian philanthropy Mr. Hamilton's 
 views need modification. The following is the state 
 ment referred to : 
 
 " Instances of conferring benefits from kind and be 
 nevolent dispositions of feelings towards the person 
 benefited, without any other interest on the part of the 
 person who renders the service than the pleasure of do 
 ing a good action, occur every day among individuals. 
 But among nations they perhaps never occur. It may 
 
THE CHINESE PROBLEM. 9 
 
 pelled to take, however, is this : unless there 
 shall be such a radical reconstruction of the 
 entire genius of our American republican 
 institutions as to make our national policy, 
 if not our entire body politic, essentially and 
 fundamentally different from what it has 
 been during the past century, then it is sim 
 ply impossible for our government to say to 
 any foreign people, You are interdicted, 
 
 be affirmed as a general principle that the predominant 
 motive of good offices from one nation to another is the 
 interest or advantage of the nation which performs 
 them. 
 
 " Indeed, the rule of morality in this respect is not pre 
 cisely the same between nations as between individuals. 
 The duty of making its own welfare the guide of its 
 actions is much stronger upon the former than upon 
 the latter, in proportion to the greater magnitude and 
 importance of national, compared with individual hap 
 piness, and to the greater permanency of the effects of 
 national than of individual conduct. Existing millions, 
 and for the most part future generations, are concerned 
 in the present measures of a government; while the 
 consequences of the private actions of an individual 
 ordinarily terminate with himself, or are circumscribed 
 within a narrow compass. 
 
 " Whence it follows that an individual may, on numer 
 ous occasions, meritoriously indulge the emotions of 
 generosity and benevolence, not only without an eye to, 
 but even at the expense of, his own interest. But a 
 
IO THE CHINESE PROBLEM. 
 
 and cannot dwell within our borders. Should 
 such a mandate be issued by the general 
 government, and should such prohibitory 
 attempts be made and become successful 
 during the present year, American republi 
 canism, with her boasted free institutions, 
 would be just one hundred years old at its 
 death. 
 
 The United States, as now constituted, 
 with our historic announcements and prece- 
 
 government can rarely, if at all, be justifiable in pursu 
 ing a similar course ; and, if it does so, ought to confine 
 itself within much stricter bounds. Good offices which 
 are indifferent to the interest of a nation performing 
 them, or which are compensated by the existence or ex 
 pectation of some reasonable equivalent, or which pro 
 duce an essential good to the nation to which they are 
 rendered, without real detriment to the affairs of the 
 benefactors, prescribe, perhaps, the limits of national 
 generosity or benevolence. 
 
 ," It is not here meant to recommend a policy abso 
 lutely selfish or interested in nations ; but to show that 
 a policy regulated by their own interest, as far as justice 
 and good faith permit, is and ought to be their prevail 
 ing one. This conclusion derives confirmation from 
 the reflection that under every form of government rul 
 ers are only trustees for the happiness and interest of 
 their nation, and cannot, consistently with their trust, 
 follow the suggestions of kindness or humanity towards 
 others to the prejudice of their constituents." 
 
THE CHINESE PROBLEM. II 
 
 dents, will not therefore, we trust, make the 
 grave political blunder of saying to the na 
 tions as a whole, You are forbidden ; still 
 more, if we mistake not, will the govern 
 ment hesitate to say to any nation in partic 
 ular, You are forbidden a home upon this 
 soil. If we are in peril, as perhaps we are, 
 we are to escape by other means than through 
 international interdiction, especially when 
 such prohibition is in the least discriminat 
 ing. To admit Englishmen and exclude 
 Chinamen from our country without a defi 
 nite or adequate provocation, which cer 
 tainly does not now exist, would be a 
 violation of international rights sufficient to 
 bring upon us the just condemnation of all 
 people on earth. 
 
 But applying this principle more directly 
 to the case in hand, it will be found that dis 
 crimination against the Chinese would be 
 wrongful in the extreme. They were a home- 
 loving and exclusive people. They had no 
 desire to overrun either Europe or America ; 
 nor did they wish to be overrun by us. 
 Such was the condition of affairs up to with 
 in about twenty years. 
 
12 THE CHINESE PROBLEM. 
 
 At this point certain facts may be stated 
 briefly. The East India Company had a 
 trading-post at Canton, China, the most 
 profitable article of sale being opium. The 
 Chinese government, seeing the damage to 
 the morals and health of her subjects re 
 sulting from the use of that tempting and 
 pernicious drug, wisely sought to put a stop 
 to the trade. Finding that all other efforts 
 were ineffectual, they destroyed a large 
 amount stored in Canton. Then followed 
 one of the most unprovoked and iniquitous 
 wars on record. The East India Company, 
 for the purposes of hoarding money, backed 
 by the British government, seeking to in 
 crease her revenues, was the prime mover, 
 compelling China, at length, to make a 
 treaty such as would open that country to 
 all English subjects. France and Russia 
 joined England. But that those govern 
 ments might have no advantage over us, 
 we, through Mr. Burlingame, were included 
 under the same treaty, the terms of which, 
 bearing especially upon the subject before 
 us, are found in the following articles : 
 
THE CHINESE PROBLEM. 13 
 
 " ARTICLE V. 
 
 "The United States of America and the Emperor 
 of China cordially recognize the inherent and inaliena 
 ble rights of man to change his home and allegiance, 
 and also the mutual advantage of free migration and 
 emigration of their citizens and subjects respectively 
 from the one country to the other, for purposes of cu 
 riosity, of trade, or as permanent residents. The high 
 contracting parties therefore join in reprobating any 
 other than an entirely voluntary emigration for these 
 purposes. They consequently agree to pass laws 
 making it a penal offence for a citizen of the United 
 States or Chinese subjects to take Chinese subjects 
 either to the United States or to any foreign country, 
 or for a Chinese subject or citizen of the United States 
 to take citizens of the United States to China, or to any 
 other foreign country, without their free and voluntary 
 consent, respectively. 
 
 "ARTICLE VI. 
 
 " Citizens of the United States visiting or residing 
 in China shall enjoy the same privileges, immunities, 
 and exemptions, in respect to travel or residence, as 
 may there be enjoyed by the citizens or subjects of the 
 most favored nation : and, reciprocally, Chinese sub 
 jects visiting or residing in the United States shall en 
 joy the same privileges, immunities, and exemptions, in 
 respect to travel or residence, as may there be enjoyed 
 by the citizens or subjects of the most favored nation. 
 But nothing herein contained shall be held to confer 
 naturalization upon citizens of the United States in 
 China, nor upon the subjects of China in the United 
 States." 
 
14 THE CHINESE PROBLEM. 
 
 We may add that the treaty in general 
 also stipulates that " any person, either citi 
 zen of the country with which the treaty is 
 made, or Chinese convert to the faith of the 
 Protestant or Roman Catholic churches, who, 
 according to the tenets of said churches, 
 peaceably teaches and preaches the prin 
 ciples of Christianity, shall in no case be 
 interfered with nor molested." 
 
 No one denies that the involved obligations 
 have been kept as sacredly by China as by 
 America ; nay, it has been safer for Ameri 
 cans to travel through China than for Chi 
 namen to travel the Pacific coast. 
 
 Our treaty with the Chinese government, 
 therefore, w r as an arrangement not sought 
 by the Chinese ; it is a table not of their set 
 ting, but of our own. Though repugnant 
 to them, they have faithfully complied. 
 Their dominant instincts, however, remain. 
 Their desires are still to be let alone. It is 
 already a standing reply of intelligent Chi 
 nese to complaints made against them, "We 
 will leave your country, if you will leave 
 ours. The United States joined in breaking 
 down our walls and opening our ports and 
 cities for commerce. You cannot complain 
 
THE CHINESE PROBLEM. 15 
 
 if we pass out through the breaches which 
 3 r ou have made." 
 
 They have been trying, with not a little 
 success, to make the best of measures they 
 were compelled to adopt. And now that 
 these people are seeming to reap substantial 
 benefits from those riational contracts and 
 compacts, which we expected would chiefly 
 subserve our own interests, is it very becom 
 ing and manly in us to sicken of the trade 
 and attempt to throw up the bargain? Such 
 conduct may be overlooked among unfledged 
 boys, but not among men, and especially 
 not among nations whose people are num 
 bered by millions. 
 
 When, therefore, a United States senator 
 pleads for the prohibition of Chinese immi 
 gration upon the ground, for instance, that 
 adjoining pieces of real estate are unfavora 
 bly affected by Chinese ownership, he will 
 hardly help the cause he is attempting to 
 maintain, especially in the minds of thinking 
 people. All reasonable men will ask, What 
 if real estate is thus damaged? What if it 
 is worth literally nothing after a Chinaman 
 receives his deed therefor? Is the national 
 
l6 THE CHINESE PROBLEM. 
 
 government to interfere when real estate 
 owners and brokers become sick of their 
 transactions? and is it to demand the abro 
 gation of a treaty, or stop immigration, be 
 cause Washington Street, San Francisco, is 
 no longer a promenade for aristocratic la 
 dies ? Apply the reasoning for a moment. 
 Our American people quickly retire from 
 localities which are densely populated by 
 the lower class of Germans ; they also aban 
 don streets where negroes are numerous. 
 The pleasanter parts of Boston the north 
 ern and western slopes of Beacon Hill 
 are thus affected. Likewise Irish settle 
 ments are as exclusive, and the sections as 
 much under bane by their presence, as is 
 any street in San Francisco by reason of the 
 Chinese. Therefore, Germans, Africans, 
 Irishmen, and indeed the down-trodden of 
 every nation on the globe, are to be excluded 
 from American soil ! We sincerely hope 
 that our government has other interests to 
 engage its legislation, and will leave these 
 matters where they belong. 
 
 If, however, Californians ask us what is 
 to be done to prevent San Francisco from 
 
THE CHINESE PROBLEM. 1 7 
 
 becoming an "Asiatic city," we reply that 
 there is no difficulty, in the way. They are 
 to do there as people sometimes do in New 
 England simply not sell their property to 
 undesirable neighbors. The government 
 of the United States cannot, and should not 
 attempt to prevent San Francisco from be 
 coming completely Asiatic, if the people of 
 San Francisco are so thirsty for money and 
 so eager for speculation as to dispose of their 
 property to Asiatic immigrants.. 
 
 Looking upon this subject from almost any 
 point of view, especially when considering 
 it in the light of a cultivated and ennobled 
 manhood, there remains nothing for the 
 general government to do, politically, but to 
 lawfully enforce the provisions of the treaty, 
 if not already complied with, and await the 
 issues. At all events, upon the broad 
 grounds of international rights and integri 
 ty, we are fast held ; our political blundering 
 and shortsightedness, if we are guilty, are 
 not to be corrected in the way proposed by 
 Californians. International questions, in 
 which Great Britain, France, and Russia 
 are deeply interested, are involved. There- 
 
 2 
 
l8 THE CHINESE PROBLEM. 
 
 fore, when there comes up this, which we 
 regard as an exaggerated alarm-cry from 
 California, with the request to abrogate the 
 Burlingame treaty and forbid Chinese im 
 migration, we are forced to answer that the 
 American people as a body and, as we 
 hope, the nations of the earth will not for 
 a moment countenance such a manifest act 
 of injustice and such an unwarranted breach 
 of international obligations, though the 
 whole Pacific coast has to be abandoned to 
 Chinese immigration. Our national honor 
 is worth immensely more than all the gold 
 and wealth of California. 
 
THE CHINESE PROBLEM. 19 
 
 II. 
 
 THE CHINESE AND POLITICAL ECONOMY. 
 
 IT is upon the grounds of political econ 
 omy that opposition to the Chinaman has 
 taken its deepest popular, though perhaps 
 not its only root. They are not charged 
 with engaging in political issues. Of the 
 nearly one hundred and fifty thousand on 
 the Pacific coast, but one has as yet asked 
 the rights of franchise ; and upon him those 
 rights were conferred because they could not 
 be refused. They do not meddle with our 
 religious nor with our educational methods ; 
 they neither ask to have the Bible removed 
 from our schools, nor do they attempt to 
 propagate any of their peculiar views or 
 vices. They are simply aggressive in the 
 menial employments and in the purchasing 
 of real estate. The chief iniquities that are 
 charged upon the Chinese by the people of 
 California and Oregon are, that they have 
 
2O THE CHINESE PROBLEM. 
 
 come to us in greater numbers than we like ; 
 that they are crowding from certain locali 
 ties American citizens ; that they have re 
 duced the price of labor ; that they are sharp 
 competitors in the various industrial occupa 
 tions ; and that they ship some. part of their 
 earnings, and, at last, their bones to their 
 native country. Upon repeated inquiries 
 on the route from San Francisco to Port 
 land, Oregon, these were the principal 
 charges maintained or attempted against 
 this people. 
 
 We are free to admit that their ways may 
 be annoying. That they enter the shop and 
 underbid the mechanic, that they then enter 
 the market and underbid the manufacturer 
 and jobber, may give offence to both capital 
 and labor. But we are to bear in mind that 
 such procedures are neither treason nor any 
 other form of crime. The entire case, when 
 reduced to its simplest terms, on the ground 
 of political economy, is merely a matter of 
 successful competition in industrial pursuits. 
 Californians, of all people in this country, 
 ought, therefore, to know better than to at 
 tempt the impeachment of these industrious 
 
THE CHINESE PROBLEM. 21 
 
 Mongolians upon the ground of such frivo 
 lous complaints. 
 
 But this phase of the subject will bear still 
 more critical examination. It is admitted 
 by all parties that no people on this conti 
 nent are more patient, economical, and in 
 dustrious than Chinamen. Laded with their 
 large market-baskets and vegetables, they 
 may be seen in the early gray of morning, 
 under the hot sun of midday, and late in 
 the evening, trotting through the streets of 
 towns and cities with the quiet and humility 
 of pack-loaded mules. There is scarcely a 
 house in San Francisco or Sacramento which 
 has not its Chinaman domestic. They do 
 not, however, herd themselves exclusively 
 in cities, though this is the tendency of all 
 foreigners. The Chinaman is met in the 
 more quiet rural districts, as well as in 
 crowded city marts ; in ravines, in swamps, 
 and on mountain-sides, from the coast to the 
 summits of the Rocky Mountains, where- 
 ever there is anything for him to do, there 
 he is found. In the deserted -placer dig 
 gings of Mariposa, in the streams flowing 
 down from the melting snows of Mount 
 
22 THE CHINESE PROBLEM. 
 
 Shasta, in the sands at the Dalles on the 
 Columbia River, we have seen these China 
 men digging for gold, at a season when, for 
 lack of water and owing to excessive heat, 
 all the other miners were seeking rest and 
 shelter. Among diggings worked twice or 
 thrice and abandoned by white men, this 
 olive-colored face is now finding an average 
 of between two and three dollars per day. 
 
 In several sections of California they have 
 taken up swamp lands, digging in water, 
 through mud and slime where no white man 
 would be tempted to go, and by ditching 
 and leveeing have made those lands among 
 the most productive in the state. At first, 
 they reclaimed swamps on shares, but of late 
 they have made extensive purchases ; nor 
 will it surprise us if the day comes when, 
 by labor and irrigation, the alkali plains of 
 the great American desert along the lines of 
 the Union and Central Pacific Railways shall 
 be made, under the thrift and skill of these 
 Chinamen, to bud and blossom as a garden. 
 
 In the building of roads in difficult and 
 dangerous places they have been found will 
 ing, and well-nigh indispensable. No one 
 
THE CHINESE PROBLEM. 23 
 
 can tell what would have been the result in 
 the building of the Central Pacific Railroad 
 but for Chinese labor ; and now some of the 
 difficult sections of that road, both on the 
 Sierra Nevadas and in the alkali plains, are 
 under the care of Chinamen, whose faithful 
 ness to their employers is proverbial. 
 
 In Oregon they do nearly all the work in 
 the salmon fisheries, which constitute one 
 of the most productive industries of that 
 state. Three thousand Chinamen are em 
 ployed between Portland and the mouth of 
 the Columbia River. They work for one 
 dollar per day and board, the average cost 
 of which is but twenty cents per day. Their 
 diet is for the most part the simplest. They 
 less frequently cause their employers trouble 
 than any other class of laborers. There are 
 with them no strikers nor demands for high 
 er wages than those at first agreed upon ; 
 though when the terms of a given contract 
 are complied with, they, like other people, 
 if possible, make more advantageous terms. 
 They work patiently, expeditiously, and 
 skilfully from daylight until dark. They 
 accomplish more for a day's work than either 
 
24 THE CHINESE PROBLEM. 
 
 a negro, Irishman, or than the average 
 American laborer. They have to be told or 
 shown but once, and the details in almost 
 any employment are mastered. They are 
 rarely sick ; and when sick, use chiefly for 
 remedies salt and water. No class of peo 
 ple in California indulge less in wine and 
 whiskey than Chinamen. Not one of the 
 three thousand employed in the Columbia 
 fisheries is allowed to use either liquor or 
 opium in any form during the hours of work, 
 nor when the day's work is done ; if an 
 opium-user is found, he is immediately re- 
 shipped to San Francisco. 
 
 Such are the facts, as gleaned during sever 
 al days spent among the fisheries of the lower 
 Columbia, and during a week or more passed 
 overland on the road between central Cali 
 fornia and northern Oregon. Now, there 
 fore, the true state of the case appears to be 
 this : by their industry and economy, by 
 their ability to master the details of any oc 
 cupation, and by their willingness to engage 
 in any form of employment, these China 
 men have succeeded ; in their success they 
 have reduced the price of labor. But can 
 
OP THK 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 THE CHINESE PROBLEM. 25 
 
 this be looked upon as a just ground of ob 
 jection against any class of immigrants? 
 or are these sufficient reasons why foreign 
 ers should be forbidden a home in this 
 country? Greater economy in living, great 
 er industry in productive employments, and 
 reduction in the price of labor, on entirely 
 different grounds from those existing in Cal 
 ifornia, are already necessitated in Europe 
 and in our eastern states. Do the Pacific 
 states, in these times, reasonably count on 
 exemption? These results must come in 
 some way ; and we suspect the present New 
 England method is no easier to bear than is 
 the Californian ; and, besides, as the price 
 of day labor is the basis of all values, the 
 laborer gains nothing by the advance of 
 wages beyond a given figure, and in the 
 long run suffers nothing by reduction in the 
 price of labor. 
 
 When wages decline, after undue infla 
 tion, the laborer is not the only sufferer ; for 
 when he is unable to make his purchase, 
 the manufacturer and the merchant lose not 
 only their profits, but, as at the present time, 
 their entire capital also. 
 
26 THE CHINESE PROBLEM. 
 
 The way from hard to good times lies in 
 the conversion of the non-producers of soci 
 ety into producers ; in this matter the Chi 
 nese stand less in the way of general pros 
 perity than multitudes whom we could 
 mention. 
 
 Let the indolent crowds who throng the 
 streets and shops of Boston, New York, and 
 San Francisco scatter over our unoccupied 
 territories, and become wheat or stock rais 
 ers, and good times will knock at all our 
 doors. 
 
 The county of San Bernardino, Califor 
 nia, has a population of eleven thousand, 
 and an area which would allow every man, 
 woman, and child one thousand acres of 
 land. Here is ample territory for the idle, 
 unskilled laborers of San Francisco.* 
 
 * Senator Sargent, in his recent speech, thus alludes 
 to the employment of Chinese in North Adams, in this 
 state : 
 
 "The Chinaman is a constant threat to the unskilled 
 laborer, and is gradually becoming a threat even to the 
 skilled laborer. He is very imitative, and soon acquires 
 sufficient art to compete with the best workmen and to 
 supplant them. The operation of these principles has 
 been seen on a limited scale in Massachusetts. The 
 only protest thus far devised by labor against supposed 
 
THE CHINESE PROBLEM. 27 
 
 Decided service would be rendered Cali 
 fornia if measures could be adopted to 
 
 wrongs by capital perhaps not a wise one is the 
 * strike,' where the employes combine and refuse to 
 work except on conditions proposed by themselves. 
 Such a strike occurred at North Adams, upon which a 
 large manufacturer imported enough Chinamen to 
 carry on his establishment, refused thereafter, and still 
 refuses, to employ white men, and the latter were com 
 pelled to go elsewhere for work. The effect of this 
 movement was to overawe the labor leagues. What 
 had been done in one case could be done in many, un 
 til there would be no employment for white men in 
 Massachusetts." 
 
 Now the truth is that the " strike " was scarcely known 
 in New England until the majority of the employes 
 came to be foreigners. And we protest against the in 
 sinuation that, in this controversy between capital and 
 labor, capital is altogether in the wrong. The remarks 
 of Gladden in " Working-People and their Employers " 
 are worthy of consideration. 
 
 "I have known cases in which workmen have resist 
 ed a reduction of wages when that was the only condi 
 tion on which the business could be carried on without 
 disaster. As a mere matter of policy, this is suicidal. 
 For workmen tt> exact a rate of pay that shall destroy 
 the business by which they get their living, is simply 
 to kill the goose that lays the golden egg every day, be 
 cause she does not lay two every day. . . . Grave 
 wrongs are often in this way inflicted upon employers; 
 their business is paralyzed, their credit is impaired, 
 their property is swept away, and, in the destruction 
 of the enterprises which they are carrying on, their 
 
28 THE CHINESE PROBLEM. 
 
 thus rid her cities of the " hoodlums " in 
 stead of the Chinese. Says Mr. Sargent : 
 " The term ' hoodlum ' has a terrible mean 
 ing^ with us in San Francisco. It means 
 the wildest kind of boys, made such by ab 
 sence of employment, as testified to by this 
 policeman. We do not know what to do 
 with them. We do not know what to do 
 with our own boys, and cannot control 
 them. They get vicious from the mere fact 
 that they have no employment." A few 
 
 power to help and serve their fellow-men is crip 
 pled. For nothing is plainer than that a man who 
 organizes and carries on any honest business, in which 
 he gives employment and fair remuneration to laborers, 
 ought to be considered a public benefactor. . . . This 
 is a free country. You have a right to refuse to work 
 for less than a certain rate, and you have a right to in 
 fluence others to join with you in this refusal ; but you 
 have no right to use force or intimidation to keep any 
 man from working for less. Nobody has any right to 
 force you to work ; you have no right to compel any 
 body to be idle who is satisfied with less wages than 
 you demand. He may be a poor workman ; but that is 
 his employer's concern, not yours. If you can persuade 
 him to join you, very good; but you have no right to 
 lay a straw in his way if he refuses to join you. We 
 believe in free labor in this country, do we not? And 
 that belief implies that no laborer ought to be enslaved 
 or coerced by his employer or by his fellow-laborers." 
 
THE CHINESE PROBLEM. 2p 
 
 such like confessions, and the senator will 
 have completely strangled his pet congres 
 sional measure. 
 
 At this point we may add, that one of the 
 greatest drawbacks to the prosperity of Cal 
 ifornia the senator passes in silence : it is 
 the land monopoly, by which certain per 
 sons, to the helpless exclusion of all poor 
 men, are each in possession of agricultural 
 territory almost sufficient to form a state. 
 
 We cannot help the conviction, therefore, 
 that our California friends are entirely 
 wrong in their views as to the causes of 
 their present prostration and demoralization, 
 and that they are utterly at fault while in 
 veighing against the Chinese people on 
 the ground of political economy. The only 
 permanent relief for California is to be found 
 in greater industry, in less drinking, in less 
 stock and other -forms of gambling, and in 
 vital competition through our own native 
 American superiority. If the Chinaman 
 can teach the people of California, and for 
 that matter the whole country, that we must 
 be less speculative and extravagant, and 
 more industrious and provident, he will be 
 a God-send and not a curse. 
 
3O THE CHINESE PROBLEM. 
 
 As to the objection that the Chinese send 
 their wages and their bones back to China, 
 only a word need be said. Any man ought 
 to have the right to say what disposition 
 shall be made of his bones, provided they 
 are not left where they will be nuisances or 
 frights. We must not forget that Joseph, 
 when he died, gave commandment to the 
 children of Israel concerning his bones 
 (Gen. 1. 25), and his request was complied 
 with (Ex. xiii. 19). It seems laughable 
 that the wealthy state of California, on the 
 ground of political economy, should huck 
 ster for the bones of the Chinaman, espe 
 cially after he consents to have the flesh 
 scraped off and left behind. It would be 
 wise not to mention this Oriental peculiarity, 
 for we of New England have too great re 
 spect for the custom of the patriarchs, and 
 also are not sufficiently economic, even in 
 our straitened circumstances, to appreciate 
 the point raised. 
 
 The additional objection, that the Chinese 
 make money returns to their native country, 
 seems, at first thought, to have greater 
 weight ; but, politically, any man who 
 comes to this country has that right, be he 
 
THE CHINESE PROBLEM. 31 
 
 Chinaman or Englishman. Nor is this all ; 
 for it must be borne in mind that when a 
 Chinaman works from daylight until dark, 
 and receives one dollar, even if that one 
 dollar, with no deductions, which is not 
 the case, goes out of this country, there 
 is still left, for the one dollar sent, an equiv 
 alent, and more than an equivalent, judging 
 from the present California trouble and dis 
 cussion. 
 
 Indeed, the very fact that a Chinaman is 
 regarded a profitable laborer, also the fact 
 that he is complained of because he has 
 reduced the price of labor, and that he ren 
 ders more service for a given compensation 
 than other employes, are overwhelming 
 evidences that the real wealth of the coun 
 try is increased by his presence. No one 
 can fail to see that the construction of the 
 Central Pacific Railway, that the swamp 
 lands made arable, that the gold dug, 
 washed, and presented at the United States 
 mint, and that during the present year four 
 hundred thousand cases of salmon, forty- 
 eight pounds to the case, caught, cut, 
 canned, cooked, boxed, and shipped by 
 Chinamen, besides thousands of barrels 
 
32 THE CHINESE PROBLEM. 
 
 salted, are standing and incontrovertible 
 evidences that when a Chinaman takes one 
 dollar from this country, he leaves two or 
 more in place of it. 
 
 We sincerely believe that the equivalents 
 in labor received for the money sent home 
 by Chinamen, dollar for dollar, add more 
 substantial wealth to the United States, ten 
 fold over, than the money we send to any 
 other country on the globe for merchandise 
 received in exchange. In the light of po 
 litical economy, therefore, but one answer 
 is returned, an answer which should si 
 lence completely this piteous wail which 
 comes up from the golden state. We insist 
 that the state of California is far too vig 
 orous and enterprising, rich and marvellous 
 in its resources, to wince in these times of 
 universal depression. Especially should 
 the people of the Pacific slope hesitate in 
 dealing with this their peculiar problem, to 
 dim the lustre of our universal welcome to 
 the peoples of the earth to make their home 
 with us, or to ask us to deny the grand 
 principles upon which rest all our theories 
 of national resources, and of true political 
 economy. 
 
THE CHINESE PROBLEM. 33 
 
 III. 
 
 THE CHINESE AND EDUCATION. 
 
 THE face of a Chinaman is matter-of-fact 
 and stolid. There is no flash of fancy nor 
 gleam of imagination. But there is intelli 
 gence ; curiosity and ingenuity are seen in 
 every feature. They are slow to depart 
 from ancient customs. As a rule, innova 
 tions are met by constitutional or hereditary 
 aversions. But it is found that whatever 
 their stolidness, and however intense their 
 antipathies, they do not apply to our Amer 
 ican educational methods and measures. It 
 is also above dispute that the Chinese are 
 eminently a literary, in the sense of being 
 a reading people ; their system of making 
 competitive examinations the only royal 
 road to posts of honor and emolument, and 
 the law which throws these open to every 
 body who chooses to compete, have caused 
 3 
 
34 THE CHINESE PROBLEM. 
 
 a wider diffusion of book-information among 
 the Chinese, probably, than is to be found 
 among any other people. 
 
 But what applies to Chinamen in their 
 native country applies to them also when 
 they make America their home. 
 
 To put this statement in an exact form, 
 we unhesitatingly state that no one can be 
 found who questions the ability and the en 
 thusiasm of the Chinese in acquiring the 
 English tongue, and especially in learning 
 religious hymns and songs. The Vallcjo 
 Chronicle, in a recent article, says that the 
 Chinese in the schools of that place mani 
 fest a ^perfect mania in the pursuit of 
 knowledge. 
 
 Owing to a scarcity of funds, Rev. Mr. 
 Pond has been obliged to diminish the num 
 ber of schools in certain places, but says : 
 " I do not have very good success in trying 
 to cut down the work. Even Antioch 
 school did not close at my bidding, but re 
 ported itself alive, and more flourishing 
 than ever." That is, so eager are these 
 people in their^ school work, that even with 
 out teachers or pecuniary aid, schools once 
 
THE CHINESE PROBLEM. 35 
 
 opened are not suffered to be closed, but 
 the pupils continue the organization and 
 their studies as best they are able. 
 
 This enthusiasm is far .from being local 
 or sectional ; it is national. The same in 
 tense application and marked success are 
 witnessed in San Francisco, Los Angelos, 
 San Jose, Stockton, Sacramento, and in the 
 towns and cities of Oregon. In and about 
 San Francisco alone there are twenty flour 
 ishing schools taught in the English tongue. 
 During the month of November last, four 
 hundred and eighty-three Chinese attended 
 the schools under the exclusive patronage 
 of the American Missionary Society. They 
 showed great interest, mastered their tasks 
 easily, and were unexceptionable in their 
 deportment. Of the Presbyterian mission 
 school of San Francisco, which does its 
 teaching in the Cantonese dialect, a recent 
 visitor says : " The house was densely 
 packed. I should say there were eight 
 hundred Chinese, mostly young men, who 
 invariably expressed interest in the services, 
 which were conducted without sensational 
 effort to excite wonder at the cost of solem- 
 
36 THE CHINESE PROBLEM. 
 
 nity. Printed hymns, part in English and 
 part in Chinese, hung on the walls. My 
 eyes beheld with astonishment the earnest 
 ness displayed by these naturally undemon 
 strative Chinese as they applied themselves 
 to their books." 
 
 An American-Chinese school-room is uni 
 formly found to be a veritable hive of in 
 dustry and activity. The rooms we visited 
 in August last were comfortable, but far 
 from pretentious. The teacher passed bus 
 ily from one pupil to another, giving ten or 
 fifteen minutes to each. Often voluntary 
 assistance is rendered by Christian gentle 
 men and ladies. Those pupils who have 
 made considerable progress, especially if 
 converted, are at length placed in charge 
 of small classes of beginners. 
 
 The method of instruction is almost ex 
 clusively that of our public primary schools, 
 in which the alphabet of the written lan 
 guage is placed in the hands of the begin 
 ner, instead of teaching him to translate 
 from one language to another. The Chi 
 nese display wonderful aptitude in acquir 
 ing correct pronunciation ; and it is gen- 
 
THE CHINESE PROBLEM. 37 
 
 erally understood that an educated China 
 man, owing to certain similarities of Eng 
 lish and Chinese sounds, will pronounce 
 English, after an equal amount of instruc 
 tion, more perfectly than any other foreigner. 
 The home methods of education are such 
 that those who have been in the schools of 
 China become easily proficient in those 
 English studies in which the verbal or 
 technical memory is called into special 
 requisition. Two or three lessons of an 
 Hour each are ample to enable such scholars 
 to master completely the "a, b, c's," and 
 "a, b, abs." 
 
 In the matter of singing, it is worthy of 
 note that the Chinese learn by ear; with, 
 but little practice, they sing the more com 
 mon tunes and words with commendable 
 accuracy, and take such pleasure in the 
 exercise, that the denominational schools 
 which have the more singing will win the 
 larger number of scholars. While not much 
 has been attempted besides teaching them 
 to read the Bible and to sing religious 
 songs, though limited instruction has been 
 given in geography and arithmetic, still the 
 
38 THE CHINESE PROBLEM. 
 
 report from every quarter is that the China 
 men are thoroughly awakened by what they 
 have learned, and are knocking at the doors 
 of all sorts of information. As Mr. Pond 
 has recently said, "the spirit of general 
 inquiry is permeating the whole Chinese 
 population." Such are the facts and the 
 basis upon which those interested in the 
 education of the Chinese have to build. 
 
 Now it must follow that this desire to 
 come into possession of knowledge will be 
 come more and more intensified. It is safe 
 to say that the time is not far distant when 
 no Chinaman of average ability will be long 
 in this country without at least mastering 
 the rudiments of an English education ; 
 others will enter our higher schools and 
 universities. Thus, when general informa 
 tion is added to their native intelligence and 
 instinctive shrewdness, they certainly will 
 not return to China to make their homes in 
 that over-crowded country ; rather they will 
 return to America, or never leave it, and 
 will make here their homes and their in 
 vestments. Precisely as the Irish masses, 
 immigrating to this country, at first living 
 
THE CHINESE PROBLEM. 39 
 
 in squalor beneath that in which the average 
 Chinaman is found, have passed from slab 
 and mud huts to respectable homesteads, so 
 the Chinese, as they the better comprehend 
 their advantages, and as their wealth accu 
 mulates, will abandon their crowded city 
 quarters for such separate and comfortable 
 homes as bespeak industrious and .thrifty 
 populations. 
 
 Nor is this all. With an increase of 
 information, and with their desires for 
 wealth, also upon grounds of personal de 
 fence and safety, if for no other or higher 
 reasons, they will ask the privileges and 
 rights of naturalization. We, therefore, 
 predict, in view of all these considerations, 
 also upon the ground of their instinctive 
 patriotism when awakened, that the day 
 will come when these Mongolian voters will 
 stand among the stanchest friends of our 
 republican institutions, and will be an in 
 valuable corrective at the polls in settling 
 some of the conflicting and impending 
 issues which are shortly to involve the 
 American people. 
 
 Therefore, in view of existing facts and 
 
40 THE CHINESE PROBLEM. 
 
 manifest probabilities, namely, the probable, 
 nay, the inevitable enlightenment of the 
 Chinese, with these political results that are 
 sure to follow, it must be perfectly apparent 
 to one who gives the matter a candid hear 
 ing, that in their civil capacity there is but 
 one course for the Pacific states to adopt in 
 the settlement of this problem : it is not to 
 close their doors against the Chinaman, for 
 that is manifestly impolitic and in violation 
 of a solemn compact ; it is not to lay upon 
 them the burdens of excessive and discrimi 
 nating taxation as has been proposed, for 
 that is unjust and a violation of our Consti 
 tution ; it is neither to burn, nor in any way 
 to damage the buildings in which their 
 schools are taught, as in some instances has 
 been the case, for that is a blind and reckless 
 lawlessness which every respectable citizen 
 must condemn ; not in any of these ways ; 
 but those states must rid themselves of these 
 heathen, and, in fact, of all ignorant and 
 illiterate foreigners, by infusing them with 
 intelligence, and this is to be done by insti 
 tuting the most vigorous and generous edu 
 cational measures and provisions possible* 
 
THE CHINESE PROBLEM. 4! 
 
 It will make no difference what other meth 
 ods are attempted or adopted ; it makes no 
 difference how many remonstrances are 
 sent from the Pacific to the Atlantic coast ; 
 it makes no difference how many public 
 meetings are held, nor how many " anti- 
 Cooly secret societies " are organized, nor 
 howsoever savage their threats, nor barbar 
 ous or brutal their abuses, nothing else will 
 succeed permanently except the lifting of 
 these Chinese emigrants on to the plane of 
 an intelligent and thoroughly enlightened 
 American citizenship, 
 
42 THE CHINESE PROBLEM. 
 
 IV. 
 
 THE CHINESE AND MORALS. 
 
 THE positions taken in the United States 
 Senate are not those in every instance 
 ordinarily occupied by the enemies of Chi 
 nese immigration; for instance, the moral 
 aspects are not so often set forth on the 
 Pacific coast, but are at the present time of 
 sufficient importance, judging from the 
 turn the debate has taken to demand atten 
 tion. The argument is, that the Chinese 
 are debasingly filthy and corrupt, grossly 
 demoralized and demoralizing, and should 
 therefore be prevented from coming to this 
 country. 
 
 The subject of cleanliness belongs more 
 properly under the head of sanitary meas 
 ures rather than within the realm of morals ; 
 but, in order to avoid the multiplication of 
 topics, and as cleanliness, in the minds of 
 
THE CHINESE PROBLEM. 43 
 
 many people, is a kind of morality, and is 
 said to be next to godliness, we are led to 
 consider in this connection the charge of 
 uncleanliness made against the Chinese. 
 
 We admit, for argument's sake, that the 
 filth and squalor of these people is tenfold 
 greater than is represented. But what of 
 it? It must be clear to every one, that 
 while such conditions may make such peo 
 ple exceedingly disagreeable neighbors, 
 they are not thereby deprived of the rights 
 of citizenship. These matters doubtless 
 require attention, but not the attention of 
 the national government. It is clearly the 
 duty of every city, or of every state, to 
 employ health commissioners ; it is mani 
 festly their duty to enforce sanitary measures 
 for protection against disease and epidemic. 
 But evidently these are municipal rather 
 than congressional matters. If, therefore, 
 what is said respecting the filth of the Chi 
 nese is true, California and San Francisco 
 ought first of all to be self-condemned that 
 they have recklessly allowed the health and 
 lives of their people to be thus imperilled ; 
 still more ought they to blush that they have 
 
44 THE CHINESE PROBLEM. 
 
 permitted or encouraged their represen 
 tative to parade these facts in the national 
 senate. While it is true that the popular 
 and Christian sentiments of this country 
 will not justify the abuses which have been 
 lately heaped upon Chinamen in San Fran 
 cisco, they will justify even extreme sani 
 tary measures whenever enforced in the 
 Chinese, as well as in every other quarter 
 of the city. 
 
 But, on the other hand, these charges 
 which have been made require not a little 
 qualification. "Dickens's genius described 
 very graphically," says Mr. Sargent, w a 
 scene of squalor in Tom All-alone's Alley 
 in London. Even his pen would fail to do 
 justice to the Chinese alleys in San Fran 
 cisco, where these people are packed into 
 rooms and improvised hovels reeking with 
 the slime of nastiness, breathing a tainted 
 atmosphere, their clothing infected with 
 unwholesome odors and the germs of disease 
 and death. It is almost a miracle that a 
 pestilence has not ere this raged in the city." 
 This closing sentence is a remarkable ad 
 mission if Chinamen are the filthiest people 
 
THE CHINESE PROBLEM. 45 
 
 in Christendom. Such statements and other 
 considerations lead us to say, that Mr. Sar 
 gent in his zeal has extravagantly exagger 
 ated the facts he represents. 
 
 After having explored, midday and mid 
 night, under the protection and guidance of 
 experienced policemen, every place spoken 
 of in Mr. Sargent's appeal, the under 
 ground opium and gambling dens, and other 
 dens ; the narrow passages and the rickety 
 stairways ; the "joss houses" and the " chop 
 houses," we unhesitatingly affirm that they 
 are not so unexceptionably slimy and filthy 
 as represented. The odor of burning opium 
 is unpleasant ; the air of closed apartments is 
 likewise disagreeable ; but has Mr. Sargent 
 forgotten the smoking-car of the eastern states 
 whose atmosphere is dense with tobacco 
 fumes, and whose floor is intolerable to every 
 one save a tobacco user? The fact is also, 
 that the stench of some of our foreign quar 
 ters in eastern cities, and the offensive im 
 purity of some of our crowded and unventi- 
 lated halls and churches, will not fall far 
 below the average of the corresponding 
 places found in the Chinese quarters of San 
 
46 THE CHINESE PROBLEM. 
 
 Francisco. The important admission that 
 the average health of Chinamen on the Pa 
 cific coast is higher than that of any other 
 class, affords grounds for an inference ; as 
 also does the fact that during the prevalence 
 of small-pox and other epidemics in certain 
 parts of San Francisco, the Chinese quar 
 ters have, in some instances, been entirely 
 exempt. It is not that a miracle has been 
 wrought, as Mr. Sargent suggests, but be 
 cause much of the dirt spoken of has no 
 actual existence, but is the invention of prej 
 udiced politicians, and of persons having 
 violent national animosities. 
 
 We venture a step further, and say that 
 if there is anything as to her people which 
 arrests the attention of strangers visiting 
 San Francisco, it is the almost unexcep- 
 tionably neat and cleanly appearance of the 
 Chinese met upon the streets ; the face 
 smooth shaven, the hair never dishevelled, 
 the frock smooth as if just from under the 
 iron, and the unsoiled white stockings, is 
 the picture of the Chinaman, nine cases in 
 ten, which the visitor encounters in his 
 strolls about town. If one would see per- 
 
THE CHINESE PROBLEM. 47 
 
 sonal degradation in these respects, let him 
 go, not among the Chinese, but among the 
 " hoodlums." Persons who have travelled 
 extensively in China, likewise those who 
 for a long time have been acquainted with 
 the Chinese on the Pacific coast, speak 
 unqualifiedly as to their general sanitary 
 habits. In the matter of- bathing, we were 
 repeatedly told that none, as a class, are 
 more frequent and systematic. 
 
 The conclusions as to this subject are 
 therefore very brief: First, the Chinese are 
 not the filthy people represented ; second, 
 if they were, and if they were tenfold more 
 so than is represented, that would be none 
 of the general government's business, nor 
 any ground whatever for either interdicting 
 or ostracizing 'them. To exclude a man 
 from American soil because his face and 
 hands need washing is, to say the least, 
 carrying our national fastidiousness to ex 
 treme limits. 
 
 Passing more directly to the question of 
 Chinese immorality, we have to confess that 
 we are not prepared to deny manv charges 
 made against them. In the 
 
 OF TMB 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
48 THE CHINESE PROBLEM. 
 
 referred to we are told of certain Chinese 
 practices in their native country, and of the 
 rigorousness of their home laws. There 
 are given us quotations from Wermuth, 
 L'Abbd, Huck, Berncastle, and Barrow, 
 showing the extreme cruelty of the Chinese 
 modes of punishment, which a,re said to be 
 so unmerciful " that the knife severing the 
 head is waited for with- anxiety." But we 
 are compelled to ask again, What of all 
 this? Granting everything said to be true, 
 we have to reply, that no issue is brought 
 thereby before the American people. Nay, 
 we say more : it is possible that we can 
 learn a profitable lesson from the stern ex 
 ecution of law in China. If the Chinese 
 were as lax in the matter of inflicting pen 
 alties as we have been in America, China 
 would be a universal slaughter-house. 
 Whereas the facts are, that, in proportion 
 to the number of people, there are fewer 
 civil crimes in Canton than in San Fran 
 cisco in China than in California. But, 
 aside from this, though their methods of 
 punishment are far more abusive than they 
 need be ; though worse than those of any 
 
THE CHINESE PROBLEM. 49 
 
 other nation now existing, which is not the 
 case ; though more cruel than those of any 
 historic nation, which also is not the fact, 
 we say, though all these charges are true, 
 still they have no bearing whatever upon 
 the question of Chinese immigration ; other 
 than this, that if their home government is 
 thus cruel and brutal towards its subjects, 
 we as Americans ought, in the name of hu 
 manity, to give those poor creatures a home 
 and protection. Our Lord tells us of a 
 traveller who was struck down and robbed, 
 and left half dead. He tells us without 
 comment, but with terrible significance, of 
 a priest and Levite who passed by neglect 
 ing the abused and wounded sufferer. The 
 senator from California would better urge his 
 people not to fall under like condemnation, 
 but rather persuade them to embody the spirit 
 of the good Samaritan, if they would gain 
 the commendation and praise of all ages. 
 
 There is another fact which is employed 
 to prejudice our government against the 
 Chinese, but the use of which, as it seems to 
 us, only betrays the weakness of the case 
 seeking defence. We refer to the horrors 
 
 4 
 
50 THE CHINESE PROBLEM. 
 
 of coolie traffic. The account, as given in 
 Mr. Sargent's speech, is the following : 
 
 "The cooly (all laborers are called coolies) goes to 
 the rulers or elders of his town or village, and, with the 
 consent of those interested, gives security on the per 
 sons of his family for such a sum as will secure his 
 passage to the United States. The elders go to the 
 mandarin, and give him their united bond for the 
 amount. The mandarin, in turn, gives his note to the 
 ticket-brokers, who furnish the cooly with his ticket. 
 The bond, by which all the persons are bound, given 
 to secure the cooly's note held by the brokers, stipu 
 lates that in case the cooly fails to pay the sum charged 
 for his ticket, including the fees of brokers, mandarin, 
 and elders, within the specified time, then the indorsers 
 will pay the same without question. The sum charged 
 to the cooly for the ticket, which costs the brokers but 
 forty dollars, is often as high as three or four hundred 
 dollars. In five instances out of ten he will fail to 
 meet his obligation. If he fails to pay, the brokers 
 here demand payment of the 1 mandarin at once. The 
 mandarin pays the note, charging a heavy fee for so 
 doing. The elders pay the mandarin, charge another 
 fee, and demand the amount from the cooly's family. 
 They being unable to pay, are sold off, one after an 
 other, beginning with the youngest girl, until enough is 
 realized to cancel the debt. In this way, whole fami 
 lies are often reduced to slavery to pay for a forty-dol 
 lar ticket. 
 
 " Two families were sold here in Canton last week 
 to satisfy such a debt. One of the notes was for three 
 
THE CHINESE PROBLEM. 51 
 
 hundred and fifty dollars. Two unmarried girls, each 
 thirteen years old, were purchased by an Italian profli 
 gate at seventy-five dollars apiece. One boy was sold 
 for fifty dollars. Six persons, in all, were sold, before 
 the requisite amount was raised. Girls, however, often 
 bring higher prices,'and sometimes the sale of a hand 
 some daughter will be sufficient. It is not unfrequent 
 for different members of a family to urge that they may 
 be sold, instead of some loved one that is offered. The 
 heads of families sell themselves into servitude to save 
 their families. It has sometimes happened that after 
 the sale of a family, the cooly returning finds a por 
 tion of the claim still unsatisfied, and he himself is 
 sold for it." 
 
 Now, the barbarism of these transactions 
 is not a subject of debate. Let Californians 
 use the strongest condemnatory terms possi 
 ble, and we will add one still stronger, if the 
 English tongue commands it. But the fact 
 is, that all these matters are side issues, and 
 are utterly irrelevant. That the privileges 
 growing out of a treaty between two great 
 nations may be abused by certain individ 
 uals is doubtless true ; that such individual 
 abuse of privilege is a reason why the gov 
 ernment should immediately seek to correct 
 an abuse which has not yet, in the case be 
 fore us, been attempted, is also true; but 
 
52 THE CHINESE PROBLEM. 
 
 that such wrongs are a proper reason for 
 abrogating a treaty until all other efforts 
 have been tried, is manifestly absurd. 
 
 But aside from this, a nice sense of pro 
 priety would lead us to use somewhat tem 
 pered speech, when charging these crimes 
 upon Chinamen, inasmuch as our own skirts 
 are not perfectly clean. We have not to 
 go back far in the ages to find that the bru 
 tal horrors of American slavery in some 
 instances could not, in the nature of things, 
 be more than equalled in the cooly traffic 
 of China, or of any other part of the world. 
 And the senator from California knows 
 there are those sitting upon the floor with 
 him who are thirsting to have those days 
 and scenes of barbarism reinaugurated. 
 Our Lord commands first to cast out the 
 beams, then can we the better see how to 
 aid these heathen slaves. 
 
 Chinese prostitution is likewise a subject 
 much insisted on by opponents of Chinese 
 immigration. The story is no doubt a sad 
 and revolting one. American boys are said 
 to enter Chinese brothels and come out dis 
 eased boys from eight to ten years of 
 
THE CHINESE PROBLEM. 53 
 
 age, according to the testimony of Dr. 
 Toland before the commission. But then 
 the effect is found to be precisely the same 
 in Boston and New York, where the houses 
 of ill repute are not Chinese, but American. 
 Were it worth our while, we could give 
 facts respecting our cities of the North and 
 of the South, which would lead the Cali 
 fornia senator to parade this consideration 
 far less prominently. The remedy there, 
 as well as here, is not the prohibition of for 
 eign immigration, but rather for boys to be 
 taught, by precept and example, to give 
 distance to such places, and also for munici 
 pal authorities to instantly close every dis 
 reputable house within their jurisdiction. 
 
 We shall be pardoned for adding that if 
 what we have heard is true, the enforce 
 ment of such measures in San Francisco 
 would extend considerably beyond the limits 
 of China-town. 
 
 The final charge of this class is, that the 
 Chinese are " dangerous infractors of the 
 peace, and violators of the law." Says Mr. 
 Sargent : " I have seen a hundred or two 
 Chinese lining each side of a narrow street 
 
54 THE CHINESE PROBLEM. 
 
 violently gesticulating at each other, and 
 apparently casting insults, as if each party 
 sought to provoke the other to the first blow, 
 when like a flash came the clashing of 
 swords and knives, and half a dozen men 
 were in the dust with mortal stabs. These 
 feuds among the Chinese are frequent and 
 notorious." That these cases occur some 
 times ', no one denies ; but that Chinamen are 
 thereby proved to be unexceptionable " vio 
 lators of law," is not a correct nor fair rep 
 resentation. They have feuds ; what people 
 do not? Words, gestures, blows, deadly 
 weapons, more than once have been used in 
 New England at political elections, and 
 blood has been shed. That the Chinese 
 are worse than all other people in this re 
 spect, we deny ; but that they are not so 
 bad as some other people, we assert. In a 
 recent conversation with a returned mission 
 ary, who has spent most of his time in 
 China since 1862, we were told that riots 
 are rare, and that most encounters between 
 parties at variance go no further than words 
 and gestures ; wordy, but bloodless, is a 
 correct representation of their conflicts. 
 
THE CHINESE PROBLEM. 55 
 
 Such are the facts. But for the moment, 
 allowing that all this published irregularity, 
 and much worse, stands charged upon the 
 Chinese, we still have to insist that the uses 
 to which such statements are put by the op 
 ponents of Chinese immigration are utterly 
 fallacious. The reasoning proves altogether 
 too much. For instance, Irish Catholics 
 and Irish Orangemen cherish towards one 
 another hostile feuds ; they have met in 
 deadly encounter ; therefore the general 
 government should interfere, and immigra 
 tion from Ireland henceforth should cease.* 
 These feuds and all others, those between 
 the whites and blacks of the Southern states, 
 the great feud between North and South, 
 whose magnitude made it rebellion and war, 
 spring from the same source as the feuds 
 between Chinamen, and are to be managed 
 in precisely the same way ; they spring, 
 
 * There are other cases of lawlessness mentioned by 
 Mr. Sargent, which involve no new principle. He may 
 multiply such instances, and we will match them all by 
 the attitude and conduct of the Molly Maguires, who 
 take upon themselves oaths binding them to murder 
 any person who is obnoxious to them or to their organ 
 ization, or by the Ku Klux, whose defiance almost needs 
 national correction on the scaffold. 
 
56 THE CHINESE PROBLEM. 
 
 usually, from an unsanctified and selfish hu 
 man nature ; and when the peace of a given 
 state is disturbed thereby, there should be 
 the exercise of state authority ; and when the 
 safety of the general government is imper 
 illed, then the nation is to interfere and 
 subdue the lawless. But to return to the 
 definite thought before us. 
 
 We speak in all kindness, but we can 
 hardly expect that the Chinese will be free 
 from intemperance, licentiousness, and all 
 forms of corruption, when such vices and 
 crimes are popularized by those regarded 
 as respectable. If the state of California 
 does not improve the morals and religion of 
 its native citizens, it can hardly expect its 
 foreign populations to be very high-toned. 
 If these Chinamen, for instance, meet noth 
 ing but sharp practice, they cannot be ex 
 pected to learn anything higher ; especially 
 since, in these matters, they seem able al 
 ready to match most men with whom they 
 deal. 
 
 On these grounds, we cannot feel other 
 wise than that it is unfortunate for the Chi 
 nese that California seems destined to be 
 
THE CHINESE PROBLEM. 57 
 
 their American centre. We shall be glad 
 to be corrected, if overstating the case, when 
 saying that there is probably no other city 
 in the Union where known immorality and 
 impurity go unrebuked as in San Fran 
 cisco. Though the politician is known to 
 practise the gravest forms of domestic infi 
 delities, he is none the less eligible to office. 
 The present state government is irreligious 
 to an extent that must be astounding to all 
 Christian people. The governor, in his 
 Thanksgiving proclamation, could not have 
 ignored the name of God more completely 
 had he been an avowed atheist. The state 
 senate not only refused to elect a chaplain, 
 but sent a committee of senators to San 
 Francisco to spend the Lord's day in inves 
 tigating the tide and salt-marsh land grants ; 
 the committee held, during the day, an open 
 session at the City Hall for the purpose of 
 hearing claims and complaints. Such defi 
 ance to the moral and religious sentiments 
 of the rest of the country is more dangerous 
 to the public weal than would be the arrival 
 of a hundred thousand additional Chinamen. 
 
58 THE CHINESE PROBLEM. 
 
 V. 
 
 THE CHINESE AND THEIR CONVERSION 
 TO CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 JUDGING from the present bitter complaints 
 against the Chinaman, it would seem that 
 our friends of the Pacific States are able to 
 see under that "rat-and-tan complexion" 
 merely an animal of " sly " and " peculiar 
 ways." The estimates thus far made by 
 those offering complaints appear something 
 like the following : There are already 
 nearly one hundred and fifty thousand of 
 these debased heathen Chinese on the Pacific 
 coast ; there are one thousand five hundred 
 additional arrivals monthly ; and these are 
 only the vanguard of an army whose reserves 
 amount to nearly five hundred millions. 
 We confess that upon grounds purely pru 
 dential and political, these figures are at 
 first sight somewhat appalling. There is, 
 
THE CHINESE PROBLEM. 59 
 
 by way of relief, however, the working of 
 the great law of demand and supply, though 
 there may be some local crowding before 
 the day of perfect adjustment and equilibri 
 um shall come. 
 
 We likewise admit, looking upon the 
 condition of the Chinese at their arrival, 
 unimproved by our civilization, education, 
 and Christianity, that they are far from 
 being the most desirable companions. As 
 they touch these shores they are, as a race, 
 cool and cynical, corrupt and corrupting 
 heathen. More than once we have started 
 back from that sort of deceptive physiog 
 nomy whose smile, with its set teeth and 
 parted lips, seemed to go through us like a 
 blade of steel. 
 
 But, on the other hand, we are led to 
 reason thus : if they are human beings, they 
 can be Christianized ; and when they are 
 Christianized, they will become valuable and 
 desirable citizens in any State or country. 
 Hence the most vital thought connected with 
 this Chinese question is the one which 
 relates to their conversion to the Protestant 
 Christian faith. This, indeed, is a matter 
 
6O THE CHINESE PROBLEM. 
 
 of paramount importance, not only to Cali 
 fornia, but equally to every State in the 
 Union ; not only with reference to China 
 men, but equally is it true of all other 
 nationalities. There are, for instance, fewer 
 Chinamen in California than there are Irish 
 men in either Massachusetts, New York, or 
 Pennsylvania. An Irish Catholic, who is 
 pledged to his faith as he appears to us, 
 is a more dangerous foe to Republicanism 
 than is a Chinese heathen ; his loyalty is 
 ecclesiastical rather than civil. A temperate 
 and industrious Mongolian is scarcely more 
 objectionable to a New Englander than is an 
 atheistic, intemperate, and Sabbath-breaking 
 German. Now, can we successfully and 
 correctly develop these and other immigrants 
 intellectually, morally, and religiously? If 
 so, all minor considerations and difficulties 
 vanish. As this question presents itself to 
 the case in hand, we are at once met by a 
 previous inquiry, What ( has as yet been 
 accomplished? We reply, that if great 
 multitudes have not been converted since 
 missionary work commenced among the 
 
THE CHINESE PROBLEM. 6l 
 
 Chinamen of San Francisco, it should be 
 neither surprising nor discouraging. 
 
 While making these investigations we are 
 not to lose sight of the fact that ages of 
 heathenism stand between this people and 
 their conversion to Christianity. If we are 
 correct in our information, the first English 
 missionary to China labored fourteen years 
 before he could confidently say he had 
 gained a single convert. In every great 
 enterprise there are preliminary efforts 
 which are apparently fruitless, but which 
 are none the less needful. God himself 
 hurries not, and was ages in fitting the 
 earth for human abode. Hence, when told 
 that efforts to Christianize the Chinese have 
 not been very successful, we reply, Yes. 
 When told that Chinese are superstitious 
 idolaters, we also reply, Yes ; but add, So 
 were our own ancestors. The Romans, 
 with far better reason for it, looked upon 
 Britons with something of the contempt and 
 aversion felt by some of our people towards 
 the Chinese ; nevertheless, in the processes 
 of history, and perhaps under a subtle law 
 
62 THE CHINESE PROBLEM. 
 
 of nations, the Roman is not, and the Eng 
 lishman is. 
 
 We are also aware that the State Commis 
 sioners of California have made decidedly 
 unfavorable reports ; but we have grounds 
 for the statement that the most we have 
 thus far heard is ex -partc. Says Rev. Mr. 
 Pond, in a recent note to his friends east : 
 " A committee of the senate of this State is 
 just now engaged in taking testimony in 
 this city in relation to the Chinese question. 
 They seem to regard it as within their 
 province to inquire into the results of mis 
 sionary labor. And so, when they have 
 the right sort of witness on the stand, a 
 sea-captain, perhaps, who boasts of admin 
 istering discipline among his Chinese pas 
 sengers with red-hot pokers ; or a police 
 man who, for a consideration, has known 
 how to shut his eyes or to be somewhere 
 else when Chinese gambling and prostitu 
 tion came too clearly into view upon his 
 beat ; or the heathen presidents of the ' Six 
 'Companies' (Chinese), or others like- 
 minded, then they inquire if there are any 
 Christian Chinese, and if so, what sort of 
 
THE CHINESE PROBLEM. 63 
 
 men they are, and whether missionary labor 
 amounts to anything or not. And by-and- 
 by you will have an elaborate report, prov 
 ing that the Chinese cannot be elevated by 
 missionary effort, and that immigration is 
 attended with no hope of benefit even to 
 the Chinese themselves." 
 
 We should likewise bear in mind, while 
 prosecuting these inquiries, that many need 
 less obstacles have been thrown in the way 
 of rendering the highest moral and Chris 
 tian service to the Chinese. Aside from 
 pernicious examples, they have received 
 treatment such as can give them but slight 
 respect for a people professedly Christian. 
 The reports that come to us from reliable 
 sources are such, as has been recently said, 
 " as would make Americans blush for shame 
 if the long training under the caste-hate 
 engendered by slavery had not rendered the 
 mass of the white people indifferent to such 
 outrages when practised upon despised 
 races." 
 
 We are informed by the superintendent 
 already quoted, that " the tempest of abuse," 
 very little of which is reported in the 
 
64 THE CHINESE PROBLEM. 
 
 secular press, and none of it by politicians, 
 is such as to greatly diminish for the past 
 month school attendance. " Our pupils," 
 says Mr. Pond, " have been stoned and 
 struck and kicked as they have returned 
 from school. Their hats have been snatched 
 from their heads, and some of our hoodlum 
 crews exhibit their trophies of stolen Chi 
 nese hats much as the Sioux or the Pawnees 
 do the scalps of their foes. Connected with 
 the Methodist mission are about twenty Chi 
 nese girls, who have been rescued from the 
 prostitution to which they had been doomed, 
 and are taught to read and to work, and 
 in about every case have been brought to 
 believe in Jesus. Under the protection of 
 American ladies they went out, one after 
 noon, to walk. When at some distance 
 from home, they were set upon by a gang 
 of men and boys, pelted, and then struck, 
 their clothes rent, their ear-rings torn from 
 their ears ; and when an Irish woman (God 
 bless her !) gave them refuge, her house was 
 stoned. It is no pleasant thing to record 
 such facts, to the reproach of a city where 
 one has made his home. But it is fair 
 
THE CHINESE PROBLEM. 65 
 
 that you, and our other friends in the East, 
 should know our difficulties, and should 
 judge our work accordingly." * 
 
 Nor is this all. Within three days after 
 those lawless acts of violence, at Antioch, 
 California, which have been fully reported 
 in the secular press, and which resulted in 
 the entire destruction of the Chinese quarters 
 and homes, the South San Francisco Anti- 
 
 * Other statements of Mr. Pond, which will appear in 
 the next issue of the American Missionary, will throw 
 needed light upon certain matters involved in this 
 controversy. The following, for instance: 
 
 "The resolutions adopted at the monster meeting at 
 Union Hall were adjusted for meridians on the Atlantic 
 slope, and are comparatively moderate in tone. The 
 talk at the numerous ' Anti-Coolie ' clubs organized in 
 various parts of the city is less guarded. And the 
 conduct to which our ' hoodlum ' element now feels 
 itself set free is more shameless and disgraceful still. 
 Some parade has been made of the fact that on the 
 evening of that great meeting, notwithstanding the 
 intense excitement of the people, no Chinaman suffered 
 violence. This is not true, as one, at least, of our 
 teachers could feelingly testify; but that it is so nearly 
 true, is due in part to the fact that the Chinese kept 
 closed doors and themselves within the doors. They 
 have felt the need of doing this, more or less, ever 
 since." 
 
66 THE CHINESE PROBLEM. 
 
 Cooly Club and the Young Men's Universal 
 Reform Society passed resolutions indorsing 
 the destruction of the Chinese quarters in 
 Antioch, and advocating a similar course in 
 San Francisco, unless the federal govern 
 ment take immediate steps to abate Chinese 
 immigration. 
 
 Bitter, insane, almost murderous must be 
 the intent when a limited part of this country 
 threatens death or ruin to human beings un 
 less the general government complies with 
 certain sectional demands. Considering 
 these matters merely in a political light, 
 such behavior and expressions are enough, 
 it would seem, to fever the blood of any re 
 publican ; while, looking upon them from a 
 Christian point of view, there can be no 
 ground for division of sentiment. We can 
 not be Christians, and go on our way to our 
 temple service or merchandise indifferent to 
 these claims for defence and help. Blind 
 ness and indifference are sins. Can anyone 
 doubt what would be Christ's course respect 
 ing this unfortunate people, struck down in 
 our very path, moaning and bleeding? The 
 Christian is a Christ-man ; he is to speak as 
 
THE. CHINESE PROBLEM. 67 
 
 Christ would speak, and do by those unfor 
 tunates as He would do. Recall, therefore, 
 his words to the lawyer, and draw the infer 
 ence. "Which now of these three, think- 
 est thou, was neighbor unto him that fell 
 among the thieves ? And he said, He that 
 shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus 
 unto him, Go, and do thou likewise." 
 
 Thus far nothing is found standing in 
 the way of attempting the conversion of the 
 Chinese, while our Christian obligations are 
 found to be unquestionable and imperative. 
 But did we pause at this point, an incorrect 
 impression would be left, for, in spite of all 
 the difficulties and hinderances recounted, 
 something worthy of note has been accom 
 plished in the way of the conversion of these 
 slandered foreigners. In San Francisco 
 alone, Christian Chinese are now numbered 
 by hundreds ; and what is especially encour 
 aging is, that the progressive increase, as to 
 the lapse of time, has been with more than 
 geometric ratios. 
 
 During the year ending December, 1875, 
 there were more conversions than during 
 the whole twenty years preceding. We 
 
68 THE CHINESE PROBLEM. 
 
 have before us a report of a church in San 
 Francisco, which for two years, ending 
 August, 1874, received thirty-one Chinese 
 converts, but for the six months ending 
 August, 1875, thirty-nine were received; a 
 larger number during six months than dur 
 ing the preceding two years. 
 
 A few words at this point as to the meth 
 ods of missionary labor among the Chinese 
 will pave the way for certain deductions we 
 desire to make. As early as 1852 or 1853, 
 Rev. S. V. Blakeslee proposed to introduce 
 the Chinese of California to the truths of the 
 Scriptures by teaching them English, in 
 stead of teaching their teachers Chinese. 
 The times not being ripe for such a move, 
 efforts were abandoned, in the main, until 
 1870, when General C. H. Howard visited 
 California under the direction of the Amer 
 ican Missionary Association, and established 
 several schools upon essentially the same 
 plan as that originated by Mr. Blakeslee. 
 If we are not mistaken, this method is the 
 one also employed in both the Baptist and 
 Methodist mission schools. A late number 
 of the American Missionary, in an article 
 
THE CHINESE PROBLEM. 6p 
 
 by their California superintendent, states the 
 ground for adopting this method : " The 
 Scriptures in Chinese are not as useful 
 among the common people of China as we 
 had at first supposed. The number who 
 can read in their own tongue is compara 
 tively small ; and even of those who can 
 pronounce the characters, very few compre 
 hend the ideas which they represent. Read 
 ing, as taught in the primary schools of 
 China, is mechanical and almost meaning 
 less. Among those of our converts who 
 can read in Chinese, the majority would 
 turn from their Chinese translation to our 
 English version, to learn what they had been 
 reading about." 
 
 When these American-speaking evening 
 mission schools were opened, the Chinese 
 were invited to attend for the purpose of 
 learning the English language. They en 
 tered the schools on the ground of such in 
 ducements, in order especially the better to 
 qualify themselves to engage in traffic ; yet 
 it was with the known fact that the Bible 
 was to be the text and reading-book, while 
 the chief purpose on the part of the Chris- 
 
7O THE CHINESE PROBLEM. 
 
 tian teachers was to give religious instruc 
 tion. 
 
 It often happened that there sprang up a 
 warm personal friendship between the pupils 
 and the teacher ; they listened with sincere 
 respect to every testimony concerning Chris 
 tianity. Two evenings of the week, with 
 out objection on the part of the Chinese, 
 were devoted to special devotional exercises* 
 Such have been, in the main, the methods 
 adopted in the mission schools. 
 
 Chinese performing domestic service like 
 wise, in many instances, have received re 
 ligious instruction at the hands of the mem 
 bers of the families in which the service is 
 rendered ; so that we at present have this 
 result : The Chinese enrolled in mission 
 schools, and consequently under religious 
 training, and those who are receiving re 
 ligious instruction in private families, are 
 already numbered by thousands. Those 
 who have faith in the power of Christianity 
 are not, therefore, surprised when told that 
 there are at the present time hundreds of as 
 earnest and devoted souls among the China 
 men as can be found among any other peo- 
 
THE CHINESE PROBLEM. fl 
 
 pie who bear the Christian name. These 
 darkened souls are thus finding " something 
 better than they sought, even the eternal 
 riches of righteousness." 
 
 It may be of interest to our Christian 
 readers to have a few practical illustrations 
 of the kind of converts that are developed 
 from these Chinese while under mission- 
 school instruction and influence. We clip 
 the following from a California daily : 
 
 " A Chinaman had set down his basket to rest him 
 self near the corner of Mason Street. Three well- 
 dressed boys, aged from twelve to fifteen years, came 
 along on their way to school. Unable to resist the 
 temptation to commit a crime, they each stole what 
 vegetables they could take conveniently in their hands, 
 principally tomatoes, ran off a short distance, and 
 pelted the Chinaman. A gentleman who gave us the 
 incident went up to the Chinaman, and said, ' Why do 
 you stand still and permit such a thing ? Why did you 
 not throw one of those rocks, and punish the young 
 rascals?' He replied, 'Me no punishee him now. 
 Byrne by we alee go up here (pointing heavenward) ; 
 God punishee him for me alee same.' Astonished at 
 the reply, the gentleman asked 'John ' where he learned 
 that. ' O, me go Sunday school and mission school. 
 Good teacherman show me hdw I makee good man.' " 
 
 What better illustration of the spirit en- 
 
72 THE CHINESE PROBLEM. 
 
 joined upon the Gentiles by Paul could be 
 desired "If it be possible, as much as 
 lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. 
 Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but 
 rather give place unto wrath ; for it is writ 
 ten, Vengeance is mine ; I will repay, saith 
 the Lord" (Romans xii. 18, 19). 
 
 We quote the folio wing. from the Oakland 
 (California) Transcript : 
 
 " There was a very remarkable incident on Christmas 
 night, which ought not to escape local record. It was 
 humble in conception, but grand and impressive in its 
 association of ideas ; and we shall not presently forget 
 the strange sensations produced. A number of reli 
 gious and other well-disposed persons had collected 
 under the awning on the corner of Ninth Street and 
 Broadway, where they raised a revival hymn, which 
 was succeeded by prayer and brief exhortations by 
 various persons. It was dark and rainy, and the faces 
 of the worshippers were hardly recognizable, there be 
 ing no street lamp on that corner, and the stores being 
 closed. The voices of the extempore preachers re 
 sounded far up and down the street, and the rich melo 
 dy of the ' Missionary Hymn ' rolled through the oaken 
 groves. 
 
 " Presently a strange voice was heard, harsh, discor 
 dant, with a distinctive foreign accent, yet pronouncing 
 the English words with tolerable fluency and correct 
 ness. A little boy ran and lit the stump of a candle, 
 
triSTIVERSITY 
 
 THE CHINESE PROBLEM. 73 
 
 and stuck it up on an awning-post for the man to preach 
 by ; and when the feeble rays were shed abroad, lo ! it 
 was a Chinaman ! a common laborer in his blue blouse, 
 and with his long queue twisted round his shaven head, 
 in short, precisely such a Chinaman as good little Chris 
 tian boys throw stones at. He stood upon a store-box, 
 and spoke forth the words of truth and soberness with 
 wonderful vehemence and power, gesticulating vigor 
 ously and rapidly, after the manner of his people when 
 they are in great earnest, and with his swarthy face all 
 aglow with the inspiration of his emancipated soul. He 
 quoted passage after passage from the Scriptures accu 
 rately and with appositeness to the subject of his dis 
 course, referred to the great occasion which was that 
 day being celebrated by his American countrymen ; told 
 how his own heart was lighted up and overflowing with 
 joy and love of Christ, of whom he had heard only a 
 few years ago ; and earnestly pleaded with the uncon 
 verted to come and drink of the waters of salvation. 
 He related that he had been a house-servant up on 
 Puget Sound, in Washington Territory ; that the lady 
 had taught him to read, and had told him the story of 
 redemption, and that he and his mistress had long and 
 earnestly debated the relative wisdom and goodness of 
 Confucius and Jesus Christ. At length the good evangel 
 ist prevailed over heathen darkness, and a blessed light 
 was kindled and shed abroad around the poor China 
 man, who would after a while return to his heathen 
 countrymen, laden, not with gold, but the more precious 
 burden of salvation. 
 
 " At the conclusion of this brief but most eloquent 
 sermon, another Chinaman stood upon the box, 
 
74 THE CHINESE RROBLEM. 
 
 held his hand over his face, like Moses before the 
 burning bush, and made an earnest and impressive 
 prayer ; so concluding such a street scene as we had 
 never before beheld. So, indeed, the echoes of the 
 gospel trumpet have at length returned to us." 
 
 Surely these heathen, too, are included 
 in the final invitation of Revelation : " And 
 the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And 
 let him that heareth say, Come. And 
 let him that is athirst come. And whoso 
 ever will, let him take the water of life 
 freely" (Rev. xxii. 17). 
 
 A Chinese convert, by the name of Gee 
 Gam, in a letter to Rev. Mr. Pond, gives the 
 experience of one of his companions thus : 
 
 " Another has been believing in Jesus for some 
 months, and has given up everything to serve Christ 
 except one thing, and that was the worship of ancestors, 
 for he said that he was the only child of his mother, 
 and it would surely break her heart if she knew that 
 he had forsaken the worship of his forefathers ; and he 
 also said that it would be very dishonorable to give it up. 
 But this stumbling-block was finally removed by the 
 Holy Spirit of God, and he is now a sincere Christian." 
 
 It thus appears that the Lord's method 
 with the Chinese is much the same as with 
 all other Gentiles. As He saith, "Think 
 
THE CHINESE PROBLEM. 75 
 
 not that I am come to send peace on earth ; 
 I came not to send peace, but a sword. For 
 I am come to set a man at variance against 
 his father, and the daughter against her 
 mother, and the daughter-in-law against her 
 mother-in-law. And a man's foes shall be 
 they of his own household. He that loveth 
 father or mother more than Me, is not worthy 
 of Me ; and he that loveth son or daughter 
 more than Me, is not worthy of Me " (Matt. 
 
 x. 34-37)- 
 
 Says Wong Sam, in a published letter : 
 
 "When I first came to this country, I did not think 
 Jesus was a benefit to our souls. But now I know He 
 is the true God, because it was said, ' Whosoever be- 
 lieveth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.' 
 I hope that all our countrymen will try to learn it. But 
 in China those who live in the villages don't know Jesus, 
 and never heard of Him. I am sorry I cannot go home. 
 If I could fly, I would go home immediately, and tell 
 how good and how kind Jesus is." 
 
 Here is the same spirit that thrilled and 
 inspired the poor woman of Samaria, of 
 whom we read : " And upon this came his 
 disciples, and marvelled that he talked with 
 the woman : yet no man said, What seekest 
 
76 THE CHINESE PROBLEM. 
 
 thou? or, Why talkest them with her? The 
 woman then left her water-pot, and went 
 her way into the city, and saith to the men, 
 Come, see a man which told me all things 
 that ever I did: is not this the Christ?" 
 (John iv. 27-29.) 
 
 A Chinese lad, Lee Gim, connected with 
 the Harvard Presbyterian Mission Sunday 
 School, was converted, and shortly after 
 sickened and died. His mind was clear to 
 the last, and he died singing religious hymns 
 and urging his companions to become 
 Christians. Eight of his friends were so 
 affected by the beauty and strength of his 
 devotion, and by the glory of his death, that 
 they gave their hearts to Jesus, and are 
 hopeful and devoted converts. 
 
 These are representative of testimonies 
 and experiences which are now numbered 
 by hundreds. Can any person who has 
 been regenerated, and has come into pos 
 session of a Christian consciousness, fail to 
 quickly interpret these countersigns and 
 pass-words of our religious faith? 
 
 Now we are to bear in mind that these 
 converts were but lately completely shroud- 
 
THE CHINESE PROBLEM. 77 
 
 ed in their heathen superstitions. In the 
 words spoken recently at the anniversary 
 of a Chinese Sunday school in San Francis 
 co, by Fung Affoo, a convert : 
 
 " All these who have been converted were the haters 
 of Christianity. Many of them had threatened their 
 Christian countrymen with death on account of forsaking 
 idolatry and the worship of their ancestors ; but God's 
 Holy Spirit came upon them and changed their mind 
 and heart entirely. They turned away from idolatry, 
 and came to Jesus, and now they ' love the things which 
 once they hated, and hate the things which once they 
 loved.' This is a wonderful work of God, accomplished 
 through Christian teachers. The propagation of Chris 
 tianity has a bright prospect in the future, though it 
 may seem dark to some persons. With God there is 
 nothing impossible. He knows how to- accomplish his 
 great and wise purposes. Therefore, kind teachers, 
 work on ! in due season you will see the results of your 
 labors upon us. We do sincerely thank you for the 
 good you have done to us. We hope you will continue 
 to teach us the Word of God. When your mission is 
 done on earth, God in heaven will have a place prepared 
 for you." 
 
 We may add that what we personally have 
 seen and heard, the earnest shake of the 
 hand, the glistening eye, the expressions, 
 "Me a Christian," "Jesus take all my sin," 
 
78 ' THE CHINESE PROBLEM. 
 
 and the like, lead us to indorse without qual- 
 cation the statement of one of the teach- 
 rs and preachers to this people : " I do not 
 hesitate to say that, in the light of my ob- 
 servation'thus far, I have less reason to be 
 doubtful in these cases than in a like num 
 ber reported as converts among my own 
 countrymen." 
 
 After their conversion, the Chinese of 
 Congregationalist missions join the Associ 
 ation of Christian Chinese, whose constitu 
 tion is much like that of our eastern Chris 
 tian associations.* They remain there on 
 
 * The following are the Regulations of the Congrega 
 tional Association of Christian Chinese. They were orig 
 inally written in the Chinese language, and in that form 
 adopted unanimously, framed, and hung on the wall in 
 the room of the association, so as to be read and un 
 derstood by every one proposing to join the associa 
 tion. They were translated by Fung Affoo. 
 
 " i st. The organization of this society is to encour 
 age morals and Christianity among its members. Each 
 member is bound to respect the honor of the associa 
 tion, and live, as far as possible, so as not to bring re 
 proach upon its good name. The members are pledged 
 to love one another, and to watch over, care for, and 
 help one another. 
 
 " 3d. Any one who desires to become a member of 
 this association must forsake idolatry and all bad habits, 
 
THE CHINESE PROBLEM. 79 
 
 trial for six months, and then if, after a care 
 ful examination before a church committee, 
 they are found worthy, they are baptized and 
 received into the different American Congre- 
 gationalist churches. Such are the efforts 
 and methods employed to Christianize the 
 Chinese, and such the results. 
 
 It is in view of these facts and possibili 
 ties, also in view of much additional data, 
 to which reference could be made, that we 
 seem prepared for certain important and 
 comprehensive deductions. The first is, that 
 God's purpose in giving this American con- 
 
 and prove himself to be a follower of Christ. He must 
 bring references from one or more of the members. 
 His name must be brought before the society a week 
 before he can be admitted ; and he is received upon a 
 vote of two thirds of the members. He must himself 
 sign his name, and pay the sum of two dollars as en 
 trance fee, and twenty-five cents every three months, his 
 money being used to defray the expenses of the associ 
 ation. He is expected to do all he can to bring in new 
 me.mbers, and to lead his countrymen to Christ. 
 
 "3d. The members are expected to take part in the 
 meetings for worship, giving counsel and encourage 
 ment to one another. If any member does wrong, he 
 is to be kindly entreated, and led back to the right. 
 
 " 6th. If any member continue in the violation of the 
 
8O THE CHINESE PROBLEM. 
 
 tinent to the English-speaking people was 
 not that they should monopolize it ; it was 
 not that they might' have opportunities 
 merely to engage in land speculations or 
 traffic and become rich, nor to be rocked in 
 cradles or sent to bed, but that they might 
 have the grandest opportunities ever given 
 to any people to instruct the nations of the 
 earth in those sublime methods that " make 
 for righteousness " and peace. 
 
 Consider for a moment the marvellous 
 natural superiorities of our land in its posi 
 tion, physical features, and extent, over 
 
 regulations of the association, after three successive re 
 monstrances, he must be expelled from the association. 
 If he afterwards repent and desire to come back, he is 
 admitted without an entrance fee, his admittance de 
 pending upon the sincerity of his repentance, as judged 
 by the members of the association. 
 
 " 7th. If any member become engaged in serious 
 quarrel with an outsider, and injure him, the offender 
 shall be sent to court by the members of the associa 
 tion. 
 
 " 8th. If any member desires to go back to China, he 
 must give notice to the association one month before 
 hand. He must not go until he has paid all his debts 
 here ; if he is really obliged to go before he can pay his 
 debts, he must find some one who will be security for 
 him." 
 
THE CHINESE PROBLEM. 8l 
 
 those of the old world.* America, on the 
 one hand, is a narrow continent, and hence 
 is better watered by the ocean winds than 
 the old world, which, on the other hand, is 
 wider, and contains in many places rainless 
 interiors. The mountains on our east are 
 low, while the eastern ranges of the old 
 world are high, and thus make possible a 
 Sahara. We have in each year one hun 
 dred and fifteen inches of rain, the eastern 
 world has but seventy-seven. 
 
 Our western continent has greater river 
 systems, and its flat plains lie neither under 
 the northern snows nor in the tropics. The 
 mountain ranges of America run north and 
 south, giving us the sun on both sides of the 
 mountains ; those of the old world, east and 
 west. Our great ocean inlets are in the trop 
 ics, and our arable soil in the temperate 
 zone ; thus our land is narrow where the sun 
 is most scorching, while the old world is 
 wide on the equator ; yet the little land that 
 we have at this place is high, where, in the 
 
 * We are largely indebted to Rev. Joseph Cook for 
 the accompanying statements respecting our terri 
 tory. 
 
 6 
 
82 THE CHINESE PROBLEM. 
 
 old world, it is low. Surely we are a chosen 
 people, having a chosen inheritance. - 
 
 The extent of the arable soil in the United 
 States transcends conception. It is more 
 than that of Europe, Asia, and Africa com 
 bined. It is so immense that, should China 
 empty her five hundred millions of people 
 upon our shores (of which there is no dan 
 ger) , we could still find room for more ; 
 according to the estimates of those who have 
 given attention to these matters, our country 
 has ample capacity for thirty-six hundred 
 million human beings, a number five 
 times greater than the present population of 
 the globe. Who are we, therefore, that we 
 should block our ports, put down fence- 
 posts, and interdict immigration to these 
 favorite and vast domains? 
 
 But again, as it appears to us, we as a 
 nation stand in a somewhat similar relation 
 to the rest of the world as that in which 
 Jerusalem stood on the day of Pentecost to 
 the Roman empire. At that time, God by 
 a wonderful providence had united in one 
 mind, under one authority, almost in one 
 language, Italy, the two Gauls, Great Brit- 
 
THE CHINESE PROBLEM. 83 
 
 ain, Sicily, Greece, Africa, and Asia ; He 
 had thus also prepared those great military 
 roads over which Christianity could travel 
 to " the ends of the earth ; " He then waited 
 until the popular heart was ripe. Then it 
 was that Christ came ; He taught the multi 
 tudes at every great feast during His min 
 istry ; He was crucified during one of the 
 feast occasions ; and on another feast-day, 
 when multitudes were gathered in the city, 
 "Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and 
 the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judea, 
 and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia, Phry- 
 gia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the 
 parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers 
 of Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretes and 
 Arabians," was the Spirit poured out upon 
 the multitudes ; and every man returned to 
 his own people proclaiming the wonderful 
 things of God. Such was the divine method 
 at the first Pentecost, and at the great reli 
 gious^ conquests that followed. 
 
 The United States, with a most liberal 
 form of government, which has given a 
 welcome to all nations, have not sprung 
 into being by accident, any more than did 
 
84 THE CHINESE PROBLEM. 
 
 the Roman empire. From the earliest 
 stages of our civil and political develop 
 ment can be seen the shaping and interfer 
 ence of divine Providence. The Infinite 
 One, in all these years, if we mistake not, 
 has been preparing events for a second 
 Pentecost in harmony with the prayers that 
 have been offered since the first; He is 
 waiting until the ripe moment ; then, when 
 men think night has come, the morning of 
 a world's redemption will dawn, and nations 
 will be born in a day ; not, if we rightly 
 judge, through the agency of distinctively 
 foreign missionary efforts and methods, but 
 by the method and with the results of the 
 day of Pentecost; 
 
 It is in the light of such a view that the 
 Chinese in this country are to be regarded 
 by the Christian world. They are not here 
 by accident, nor merely by human policies 
 and contrivances. The treaties of 1858, 
 brought about by the East India Company, 
 resulted, it is true, in sending to our shores 
 these multitudes of Chinese, but there were 
 also divine methods ; the same year that the 
 treaty was formed witnessed the death of the 
 
THE CHINESE PROBLEM. 85 
 
 East India Company. The Pacific Mail 
 Company, purely for the purposes of pe 
 cuniary profits, has brought the Chinamen 
 to California ; there are reasonable grounds 
 for the supposition that when this kind of 
 transportation stops, the Pacific Mail Com 
 pany will likewise find its grave. The Chi 
 nese were at first welcomed, simply because 
 their labor was needed ; but they will re 
 main long after their labor is not needed by 
 the parties who first gave them employment. 
 God meanwhile has been maturing His 
 plans ; to thwart which, or to check Him, 
 is impossible. King Canute placed his 
 royal chair in the way of the rising tide ; 
 but the tide rose notwithstanding. The 
 great military roads of the Roman empire 
 were no more necessary for divine pur 
 poses, nor inevitable, than is the ocean line 
 of steamers between San Francisco and 
 Hong Kong. w Man proposes, God dis 
 poses." 
 
 As it appears to us, therefore, of all the 
 grand movements going forward in this 
 world, nay, the grandest to be found on any 
 page of history, is the one which is now 
 
86 THE CHINESE PROBLEM. 
 
 transpiring upon our shores, and if the Pa 
 cific states attempt to arrest these majestic 
 developments of Providence, they will find 
 that their remonstrances are of but trifling 
 account in the councils of Heaven, and that 
 they will be smitten or crushed if they offer 
 persistent and violent resistance. 
 
 Let our entire country arise from its im 
 moral and unchristian practices ; let Cali 
 fornia adopt liberal educational measures, 
 and infuse intelligence into her heathen 
 masses ; let her instruct them by example 
 and precept in the simple yet eternal truths 
 of Protestant Christianity, then we shall 
 have heard the last bitter complaint and 
 curse against this donation of one of the 
 oldest civilizations of the world to our own 
 populations, and the peculiar and perplexing 
 Chinese problem will be solved in harmony 
 with the principles of our Christian faith, 
 and, if we mistake not, in accordance also 
 with the sublime purposes of Him who is 
 now preparing to give the light of the Gos 
 pel to all nations of the earth. 
 
PROF. L T. TOWNSEND'S BOOKS. 
 
 Dr. Townsend's several worksJBpj%ligious topics have justly acquired 
 for him a very high reputation IHEsi^aearnest and vigorous evangelical 
 writer. Boston Coiirier. \ 
 
 CREDO. Cloth. $i.H 
 
 A bold and vigorous cliscu- ;cn rf'u Disputed doctrines of evangelical 
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 "Credo" meet.; the scepticis^^Bfche day with brave and powerful 
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 LOST FOREVER **2ino. Cloth. $1.75. 
 
 This work is intended to coin vert the tenets of the Universalist 
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 The essays deserve to be read ana pondered carefully by an easy-going 
 public. Ne.iv Haven Courier. 
 
 THE ARENA and THE THRONE. 121110. 
 
 Cloth. $1.50. ^ 
 
 A religious disquisition, in which, the earth is considered first as the 
 arena wherein was fought the battle between the forces of good and evil ; 
 and second, as the throne, whereon man sits as king in the person of Jesus 
 Christ, exalted to entire supremacy. Detroit Tribune. 
 
 Very much in earnest, and very direct, terse, and straightforward in 
 style and statement. Hearth and Home. 
 
 TRUE AND PRETENDED CHRISTI- 
 ANITY. An Essay originally read before a Mass 
 Methodist Convention. i6mo. Cloth, 50 cts. ; Pa 
 per, 25 cts. 
 
 As a keen investigation of the dangers of modern Unitarianism it has 
 no equal. Independent. 
 
 The circulation and perusal of this Look will prove a hea thy stimulus 
 and a powerful corrective ot erroneous beliefs. Delhi Gazette. 
 
 SWORD and GARMENT, i-mo. Cloth. $1.50. 
 
 Bright with thought, keen and original. Webster Times. 
 
 A vigorous and plainly-worded discourse on ministerial education, 
 which aims to overthrow the notion tlr.t preachers are born such, and 
 need no special professional training. .V. J ". Post. 
 
 GOD -MAN. i. SEARCH AND MANIFESTATION. 
 I2mo. Cloth. $1.75. 
 
 Another valuable addition to the catalogue of works which mark the 
 present as an era in theology, in the revival of interest in the person and 
 work of Christ. It shows extensive reading, successful grouping, and 
 bold logic. Our Monthly, Philadelphia. 
 
 Like all of Dr. Townsend's works, the volume before us is clear 
 scholarly, and candid. The work has in it very singular flashes of fresh 
 truth, many a thrilling paragraph, and as a whole is a rich and cheerful, 
 and a profitable survey of the subject, -*- Pulpit and Pen, New York. 
 
 Sold by all Booksellers, and sent by jitail, postpaid, on receipt of price. 
 LEE & SHEPARD, Publishers, Boston. 
 C. T. DILLINQHAM, New York. 
 
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