08
TIIK DAKOEU.
VOIi. VIH,
is not iiblc to protect himself from the
encroachments of the while nice, more
disciplined, more arrogant, more aggies
sive, and, on our western shores, the fan
atical watch word is the expulsion of the
"leperous Heathen," "the groveling Chi
nee," the Asiatic slave, etc. These by
names arc the buttresses that seemingly
support the Cathedral of State; the real
solid foundation on which it rests, is, tual
the old civilization of Asia is able to do
the same work at a less price than is pos
sible for the younger develomncnt ofEu
rope or America. The Indian question is
easy. Let them be starved, cheated,
hunted to death. The Negro question is
not much more ditlloult to solve. Tney
also can die out, mix with the white race,
or move to states where they are allowed
to live in their own way, but the Asiatic
question is growing day by diy.
For a mom?nt consider the material ad
vance of the world in the last lew decades.
Before the year 1,800, the interior of
France ahd Germany in Europe, scarcely
produced enough for the local demand.
The people were in abject destitution and
misery, and there were, comparatively,
neither manufactures nor trade. A few
years passed, and Loudon became the
commercial capital of the world because
h:r ocean highways brought to her doors
the products of every sea coast. A decade
or so more, and railways made every Eu
ropean city a seaport, and we find the
lands of northwestern Europe, supplying
the world with cloth, linen, iron, silks
and watches. An era of prosperity com
menced that was never to cease!
Scarcely a score of years pass and
Switzerland's industries are ruined. Ger
many, Austria and England arc in a
struggle of despair, because American
machine-made watches supplant the
Swiss in their own market, because New
England hills supply the markets of the
world cheaper than Europe can ; because
the Western prairies of the Mississippi
valley send abroad all the products of
agriculture for less than it will pay to
produce them in Europe. The lloodtide
of prosperity has reached us, but woe to
the individual, the: nation, or the race
that is not prepared for the ebb. The
population of the world does not increase
rapidly, yet the next few years will bring
into competition with America the large
and fertile tracts of Hungary, Turkey and
Russia. Development has but frilled the
edges of Arabia and Africa. The Suez
canal, the Panama railroad, and the count
less lines of steamers have made Asia
n next door neighbor; yet in this Asia,
there are nations with a civilization older
in centuries than we arc in years. 'Al
ready, beyond competition, they supply
the world with opium, tea, silk, delicate
porcelain, basket ware and fans.
Japan, China and India hare as yet few
railroads, few river steamboats, but they
have countless mountains of iron and
other metals, countlesss tracts of coal,
and they have almost five hundred mil
lion laborers, ready and willing to work
for a few cents a day, when European
and native schools shall have developed
the intelligence that is to lead this host
or skilled labor, The question of Asiatic
competition cannot be met by denuncia
tion, persecution and fanatical hale, for
if the fabric of Arian, of Anglo Saxon, of
American civilization is threatened and
endangered by the presence of a hundred
thousand ignorant Chinamen, ten thou
sand mlies away from their home, the ed
ifice must be rotten indeed.
While yet the sun of prosperity shines
let us prepare. If in wisdom, knowledge
and economy, we keep but thirty years
ahead 01 the rest of the world, we arc
safe forever. The force now spent in
denunciation and hate, the wealth and
energy wasted iu vice, the saving yet
possible through co-operation and ma
chinerj is the great reserve from which
we may draw for years to come, and the
qualities which are to make this reserve
available are enlightenment, character
and knowledge. . jj.
