Our American Letter.

Otago Witness, Issue 1586, 15 April 1882, Page 14

Our American Letter.

OM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

San Franoisoo, March llth.

Congress has been in session since my last, but nothing sensational occurred in politics. Public interest, and a great deal of it, haa centred in the debate on the Chinese Immigrajiion Bill in the Senate. It was a remarkable debate in many respects, but in nothing more so than in bringing a mass of rubbish to the surface, and stripping the mask off the canting hypocrisy underlying "the brotherhood of man and fatherhood of God " theory of human government. It was demonstrated past a peradventure that this plea is set up by time-serving people in the interest of capii talists, who have invented a tariff to protect their own monopolies, for the purpose of breaking down wages by flooding the country 1 with contract coolie labour. This is all there is in it. These people wear the livery of benevolence while serving at the board of avarice and Mammon. Of all manner of men who masquerade as philanthropists and the "friends of the whole human family," Massachusetts sends the most accomplished specimens to Congress. They are true to their traditions, however. As long aa money could be made by importing slaves, Boston was to the fore as a proslavery centre, and William Lloyd Garrison was almost tern to pieces by " gentlemen of property and standing" in Boston for advocating free-soil opinions 40 years ago. But when the European Powers forcibly suppressed the slave trade, and there was no longer any money in the traffic for New England shipowners, they suddenly discovered the vitality of " the brotherhood of man and fatherhood of God" doctrine, and they never let up until civil war ensued, and the slaves were emancipated. Why ? Because they wanted to reduce the wages of labour in their factories by the competition of the coloured race with the white labour of the North. They imagined that the negroes would emigrate bodily to the North if emancipated. In this they have been disapEointed, although the most unscrupulous means aye been employed to keep the freedmen and their former owners apart. A negro exodus was got up two years' ago, but it failed. The negroes cling to the soil. They love their old traditions, and as freeamen they tread very nearly the path followed by them in slavery. They are tenants and labourers, living perhaps a more careworn life than in servitude, while slowly raising themselves in the plane of social being ; but they are very far from falling into the industrial groove which self-seeking abolitionist' manufacturers had prepared for them. .Failing in securing a Home supply of cheap labour, Sew England factory-owners saw in "the little brown man" — the heathen Chinee"— the industrial tool they required. In him .they had a human machine, capable of much more sustained labour than white men, under conditions of existence which would be impossible to men of the Caucasian sace. Their keen business instincts suggested . unlimited' possibilities of gain from an unlimited Bupplyvof contract labour of this tenacious character, and therefore they fought tooth and nail in favour of Chinese immigration. They cared nothing for the grievous injury ifc was doing the Pacific Slope, tnejr hope being that what with European emigration 1 East, and Chinese emigration West, they might' be able to cinch labour and reduce wages. I regret that I must write this, but it is the record of truth. I regret also that so unworthy and unpatriotic an object should be advocated under the guise of universal benevolence and brotherly love. But so it is. Sentimental morality seems to be synonymous with hypocrisy and rascality, and unless your little Colonial world is altogether different from our big Republican onejvou.may.lay it down as a rule that the stronger the professions of universal brotherhood the more intolerant the spirit of the party making them. In this country professors of flatulent benevolence are usually pillars of the Church, and reflect its morality and purposes ; but you never hear of any great patriotic or social movement having for its object the amelioration of the condition of mankind at large originating with' the Church. All reforms, all progress, all methods of -practical righteousness, originate^ outside and independent of churches or religious corporations. And, per contra, the Church, being the most conservative of all social, and intellectual forces, naturally allies itself to that which haa been most considerate of its interests, and adapts itself to its methods.' This 13 especially marked in so-called "voluntary" countries— that is, in countries where the Church is dependent wholly upon private benefactions. The poor cannot give as largely aa the rich j therefore the Church, in its corporate capacity, is the friend of the rich and adviser of the poor— to be " content with the position in life m which it hath pleased God to place them," — which is at once an insult to human intelligence and a serious bar to human progress. Our New England type of religious philanthropy is moulded in this pattern, hence the attitude of its senators, Press, and, pulpit on the Chinese question. GREAT FLOODS IN THK MISSISSIPPI VALLBY.

I have given considerable space to the Chinese question because it affects us most, and also because it is one upon which New Zealand must yet take extreme measures of self-protection. But the residents along the line of the great rivers in the Mississippi oasin are suffering from a terrible calamity. Tho Ohio and Mississippi Rivera have overflowed their banks, covering the face of the country, converting all the low land into a vast inland sea. The people are crowded on the levees and upon high spots out of the reach of the flood, suffering great privations. Many have been drowned, and a great many more must succumb to exposure and hardship. The livo stock and crops have been destroyed, and unless the water drains off soon it will be impossible to plant this season. Great present distress, therefore, is likely to be followed by greater future privation and sickness. Congress promptly voted supplies, and the War Department has been entrusted with the distribution of rations, clothing, and blankets. Distribution is exceedingly difficult owing to the necessity for using small vessels to navigate the overflowed tevritory, carrying supplies to those sheltered on mounds. The season has been bitterly cold, which adds to the misery of the people. The freedmen in many localities are ruinod. They were making a little headway and getting out of debt, but this great calamity completely overwhelms them. Louisiana is also a sufferer, but not yet to any appreciable extent; but the Red River is rising, and worse may follow. Kentucky anJ Arkansas aro great sufferers, tho latter especially so. The Arkansas River, a tributary of the Mississippi, has submerged Arkansas City ftnd Little Rock. The States of Tennessee and Mississippi arc in evil plight. .It is impossible to give anything 1 like a detailed account of this flood, nor indeed is its extent fully known. Suffice it that it extends from Cincinnati southward, but is much worse in tho cotton bottoms of the old slave States. The yield of cotton was short last year owing to

the drought; this year it will probably be shorter, owing to too much moisture. In either case tho people suffer. It may be well to remark in this place that the sufferers by the Michigan forest fire, to the number of 14,000, are still supported by State appropriation and private contributions. It was a dreadful calamity, but' it is hoped that next season s crop will give the poor people a fresh start. The land has been seeded for them. Congress did nothing for the Michigasders. It was not in session, however, when the fire took place.

ODDS AND ENDS. The public debt was reduced in February by 9,783,511d0L. This is a considerable sum, but it is the smallest amount noted in any month for more than a year. An issue of 3 per cent, bonds, having a currency of five years, redeemable at pleasure, will probably be made. This would materially aid in reducing the interest account. The establishment of postal savings banks, a bill for which is before Congress, will still further provide cheap funds for the Government. I have already stated the export value of the Canadian trade last year, and a statement of American trade will not therefore be out of place; In 1881 the United States exported domestic produce w0rth[814,161,573d01., against 875,564,075d01. in 1880, or f !a decrease of 8 per cent. The imports showed a falhng-off. lne figwes-.'ar & 4Bßl, 670,199,654d0f. : 1880 696, 807,176d01. : decrease, 4 per cent. The total foreign trade of the Union therefore footed up 1,484,361,227d01. during 1881, which was 6 per cent, less than the total trade of the previous year. The decrease was owing to short wheat and corn crops, 'and failure of cotton in many fJaces. There was also an absence of specuative tisade, and railroad iron did not figure' bo largely among .imports as formerly. We have patched up our trouble with Chile, and are now the best of ' friends. Minister Trescott is at present hunting after a responsible government in Peru to which he can submit Chile's ultimatum j if he can find none in 90 days, Chile is to go on and administer the country. It would be well for Peru if it were annexed to Chile. Startling developments are promised on the Congressional inquiry into the speculative diplomacy of the United States in Peru, about wnich I wrote last month ; but it is not well to anticipate. Minister Hurlbut has been called home to explain, and so also has Minister Morton at Paris. When the evidence comes out it will form an interesting chapter m modern'diplomacy. The power and influence of this great country appears to have been deliberately traded off for the chance of plunder by its accredited representatives. ■ . ... . , Jacob Terry.