Y T ol. LXV. No. 2934. 
NEW YORK, APRIL 21, 1906. 
WEEKLY, SI.00 PER YEAR. 
THE CHINESE AS FARM LABORERS. 
Would They Help Solve the Help Question? 
Without doubt the help problem is harder now than it 
has ever been in the history of the country, being hardest on 
t he men who need one or two hands during the Summer. 
The larger growers who do a big business do not seem to have 
much trouble in supplying themselves. It is argued by some 
that if the Chinese were admitted they would make excellent 
hands for work upon our farms, thus relieving for a time 
the present trouble. Are you, as a farmer, in favor of ad¬ 
mitting the Chinese freely? In your judgment do you think 
that tlie Chinese would make helpful farm laborers? Do you 
think they will be willing to go to the smaller farms and 
work, so as to relieve the present labor situation, or do you 
think such free admission would help more particularly the 
larger growers and corporations who require gangs of men? 
J . H. Hale says “Let Them Come." 
T have believed in the free admission of Chinese farm 
laborers for many years, having carefully noted their 
work as house servants, all-around handy men about the 
place, and as farm laborers on the Pacific coast. I 
have found many of them working alone, only a single 
man on the place, and am satisfied they would fill any of 
the small situations here in the East with great satis¬ 
faction. Possibly their only weak point would be that 
they are not particularly handy in the care of animals, 
and might not make good stable men, milkers, etc., but 
for market gardening and fruit growing where careful 
and painstaking work is needed I know of no race, un¬ 
less it be the men from the north of Italy, who would 
be so valuable to the American farm at the present time 
as the Chinese, and I am for the open door and a cor¬ 
dial hand, provided they come free and independent as 
individuals and families, and not in large bodies as con¬ 
tract laborers. j. h. hale. 
Connecticut. 
In Favor—With Restrictions. 
T feel safe in saying that if we had an abundance of 
cheap labor, even a reduction of 20 per cent, and not 
many farmers would call that cheap labor, we could 
with our present knowledge of soils and feeding, very 
rapidly multiply our output. I hope that evil day will 
not come again when we shall be able to get labor on 
the farm for 50 to 75 cents a day. On the other hand, 
it seems to me unless some new labor channel is opened 
or the efficiency of a man through scientific and mechan¬ 
ical means not now in sight very greatly augmented, 
that we shall be unable to supply the demand for foods 
and clothing. In no quarter is there congestion, but a 
good healthy demand. If farmers could have this labor 
come to them as fast as it could be assimilated, in 
other words, if our immigration laws were sufficiently 
flexible so that an embargo could be placed upon these 
people whenever they became a surplus and drug, or 
interfered with our own American labor, I should say 
yes. It would give a wonderful impetus to our devel¬ 
opment. We shall probably never get away from the 
time when men like to work in a community, and they 
would no doubt work cheaper in gangs. But at the 
same time the employer who hires but a single man or 
perhaps two, nearly always works with the men, increas¬ 
ing their efficiency fully 20 per cent, and he could al¬ 
ways afford to pay an increased wage which would se¬ 
cure the men. Let us have what Chinese we can safely 
absorb. H. e. cook. 
New York. 
A Grape Grower is Opposed. 
f rom all I have read I should think the Chinese would 
be about the least desirable of any addition we have to 
our population. From what little knowledge I have 
of the situation I am certainly opposed to any relaxa¬ 
tion of the Exclusion Act. My great objection is that 
>t appears to me they will never or can never become 
Americans. With people of other nations it is different. 
Italians, when they first arrive in this country, seem to 
be useful only to large contractors, corporations, fruit 
growers or canning factories, where a considerable 
number can find employment together, but their children 
all go to school, are apt scholars, and the second and 
third generations will spread out. becoming good Amer¬ 
ican citizens, Italians only in name. The gangs of Irish 
laborers brought over 50 years ago were in all above 
points much like Italians to-day; everybody knows now 
that their coming was a good thing for this country. 
I am opposed to the coming of any people who cannot 
be expected finally to become American citizens, 
whether their coming would be at first helpful to the 
small farmer or not. I believe in time the remedy 
would be much worse than the disease is at present. 
What now seems a serious problem is the congestion of 
new-comers in the large cities. I believe time will 
remedy that, but it may have to get considerably worse 
before it gets better. When times are good then we 
AN INTELLIGENT CHINESE LABORER. Fig. 135. 
always hear complaint about scarcity of labor; every¬ 
body knows the reason for this. I do not believe any¬ 
one would want to give Uncle Sam a dose of “hard 
times” as a remedy.- In my opinion the labor question 
is like some imaginary troubles of our physical bodies, 
the less dosing and doctoring the better. There are 
plenty of laborers in the Lhiited States at the present 
time if they were properly distributed. In our little 
strip of grape country, the Chautauqua-Erie belt, 50 
miles long and two to four miles wide, a good many 
farm laborers are employed throughout the Summer 
season, and in the Fall for 40 to 00 days an additional 
amount is needed, consisting of more than 5,000 women 
and girls, besides a good many men and boys. There is 
never any scarcity of help here. A little larger price 
will get the help. If the farmer cannot afford to pay 
more, possibly something is wrong with him. Farming 
to-day does not consist entirely of being able to plow 
a straight furrow. 1 he educational advantages offered 
by agricultural schools and experiment station bulle¬ 
tins are taken by far too few farmers of the present 
day. I think the admission of Chinese could only help 
the large growers and corporations, and to the best 
of my knowledge they do not need help in this way. 
Pennsylvania. a. i. loop. 
Opposition from the Hudson Valley. 
Without entering into any discussion on the Chinese 
question, I will say that I am unequivocally opposed 
to any modification of the present laws, that will admit 
the Chinese coolies into this country. I think we are 
receiving at the present time altogether too much un¬ 
desirable immigration and believe the opening of our 
doors to the Chinese would make bad conditions worse. 
I do not believe from my limited knowledge of them, 
that they would prove of value to the general farmer, 
but would be used more by contractors and in work 
where numbers could be congregated together. A large 
influx of them would mean in my opinion a Chinatown 
in every city and town of importance in the country, 
and we all know what that means. While I recognize 
the importance of the labor problem on the farm I think 
we should look elsewhere for the solution of it. As a 
suggestion, why not make it possible for the thousands 
of unemployed English workingmen, who are on the 
verge of starvation, to become self-sustaining and use¬ 
ful members of society, not only to their benefit, but 
ours also? We would welcome immigration of this 
character, and believe it could be obtained, if efforts 
were made in this direction. j. r. Cornell. 
New York. 
Break Up a Laundry Trust. • 
We are shorter of all labor in the South than I have 
ever known Tt In 25 years, and what we have is very- 
inferior and unsatisfactory. I believe, however, that 
most of the Chinese labor would go to cities and small 
towns and do laundry work, but even this would help 
us. as we have all our laundry done by colored women, 
and it has got to be so high that a few colored women 
can support a lot of worthless negro men on what they 
make in washing, and this would somewhat correct 
this evil. I certainly think Chinese would make fine 
farm help if we could in any way be assured they 
would go to the farm, I cannot see why it would help 
larger growers more than smaller, only from the fact 
larger growers employ an overseer, and of course could 
handle a squad as well as two or three. I also think 
it would help our export trade with China. My ex¬ 
perience with Chinamen is that they are quiet, sober, 
honest and industrious. d. a. saunders. 
Mississippi. 
Condition in Central Illinois. 
I have had no personal experience with the Chinese, 
so am not competent to answer. A brother-in-law who 
lived in Oregon once told me that the Chinese made 
excellent help for the farm, and he regretted the agi¬ 
tation which finally debarred them from coming here. 
As I see it—in consideration of the enormous popula¬ 
tion of China and contiguous parts. I would not favor 
an unrestricted immigration from China, nor any other 
populous country, where there was great danger of 
non-assimilation. I believe we would be safe by re¬ 
stricting the number of Chinese to one hundred thou¬ 
sand of the most desirable workers yearly. We do not 
want any “highbinders” here, nor do we want any of the 
Italian “Mafia,” and I believe in strong measures to 
prevent them from coming. Now, whether the Chinese 
will flock to cities, and hang to the laundry and “chop 
suey” business or not, is the question. We can use a 
million or two in the country to advantage—the cities 
are populous enough now. Here, all of our farm help 
is in the shape of young fellows from 16 to 30 years old 
from the “moonshine districts” of Kentucky. Thou¬ 
sands of them come up each Spring, and most go back 
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