[Editor: This article, regarding a Chinese boycott of American products, with a minor mention of Australia regarding cheap Chinese labour, was published in The Literary Digest (New York, USA), 26 August 1905.]
A French justification of the Chinese boycott.
The Chinese boycott of American goods is a retaliatory measure, actually justifiable on the ground of Chinese self-protection. Such is the position taken by Pierre Leroy-Beaulieu in the Économiste Français (Paris). He maintains that China has long been the victim of Western tyranny and oppression, but now the worm has turned. In the first place, Chinese labor has been excluded from the United States while American capital has claimed and exercised the right of circulating freely in Chinese territory, exploiting the resources of the land — mining, building railroads, and navigating inland waters by steam-power. Now the United States interdicts the entrance of Chinese, excepting in the case of certain classes of the population who are not likely to compete with American labor and introduce an unwelcome element into American social life. Yet the Chinese have practically just as good right and reason for excluding Occidentals from their dominion. To quote this author:
“The Chinese, we are told by Australians and Americans, compete with white labor in an unfair manner. Their wants being few, they accept wages of contemptible insignificance, so that the whites can not compete with them and are left without employment, altho the white has a right to live; he has the right to resent the appearance on the scene of a foreigner who will deprive him of the fruits of his efforts, and a right to expel the interloper.”
Among other objections made against Chinese immigrants is the fact that they do not assimilate with the American people; they take money out of the country; they are often opium-eaters, and people of vicious life, corrupting society. But Mr. Leroy-Beaulieu says that precisely the same or analogous charges may be justly made by the Chinese against the whites who settle in China for purposes of exploitation, and what is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. The yellow man, he goes on to say, has need of emigration to relieve the pressure of a teeming population and of fresh fields for multiplying his financial resources. The Chinese have been denied the advantages of reciprocity, and it is quite natural that they should have recourse to retaliation. The writer proceeds to explain that a new feature has been brought into the question of Eastern and Western relations by the recent victories of Japan. He says:
“Asia has woke up. She must be treated with prudence. The East is not longer to be managed by brute force, which must give way to measures of persuasion, and a policy of mutual concessions such as characterize the diplomatic intercourse of the European Powers. If the legitimate requirements of China are persistently ignored, it will be found that Japan, in some form or other, will be ready to support her, and matters may end in a series of incidents disagreeable, damaging, and possibly humiliating. … In their relations with Europe the empires of the Extreme East have more often had right on their side than is generally allowed. It is melancholy to reflect that the justice of their cause has not always been of any advantage to them. At this present day they are in a position to maintain their rights with formidable power. It will be prudent not to compel them to exert this power in maintaining what is genuinely their own.”
— Translations made for THE LITERARY DIGEST.
Source:
The Literary Digest (New York, USA), 26 August 1905, p. 285 [also at Unz.com]
Also published in:
The China Mail (Hong Kong), 27 September 1905, p. 5
Editor’s notes:
altho = an abbreviated form of “although” (i.e. despite the fact that; even though; however; but)
East = the Eastern world; the Orient; Asia, including East Asia (China, Japan, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, etc.), Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, etc.), South Asia (Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, etc.), and West Asia (Iraq, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, etc.); of or relating to the Eastern world, the Orient, or Asia
Eastern = of or relating to the Eastern world, the Orient, or Asia
Extreme East = the Far East (East Asia)
interloper = someone who interferes, intrudes, meddles, or becomes involved in the affairs of others (especially regarding someone who does not belong, or who is not welcome, in a particular area, circle, field, or place); someone who interferes in am issue, matter, or situation which is considered to be none of their business; an intruder or trespasser; an illegal, illegitimate, or unlicensed trader
Occidental = of or relating to the Western world (i.e. the nations of Europe and America; the Western Hemisphere); a Westerner (someone whose ethnic background is from the Western or Occidental world)
opium-eater = an opium addict; a recreational opium user (someone who uses opium as a recreational drug)
Powers = the main powers, i.e. the countries, empires, and kingdoms of the world which possess significant economic or military power (usually, but not always, a reference to the European powers); the major world powers were also known as the “Great Powers”
United States = the United States of America
Western = of, relating to, or characteristic of the Western World [see: Western World]
Western World = (also known as: “the West” and “the Occident”) in a collective sense, those countries whose people, culture, ideas, prominent philosophies, and way of life are mainly derived from, or associated with, Western Europe; the countries of Western, Northern, and Southern Europe, along with Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States of America; there are also some other countries which can arguably be included in an expanded definition of the Western World, being: 1) those countries of Europe which were previously under Communist rule (mainly Eastern Europe), which were formerly excluded from the definition of the Western World (although, since the fall of Communism in Europe, Eastern Europe is commonly included in a wider usage of the terms “the West” and “the Western World”); 2) those countries of Latin America with a significant part of their population derived from Portugal and Spain; 3) Kenya, Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), and South Africa, being ex-colonies of the British Empire (commonly excluded from the definition of the Western World since the advent of black rule); and 4) Israel, due to its sizable population of European Jews, Western-style democracy, and close connections to various Western countries (especially the USA)
See: “Western world”, Wikipedia
what is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander = a saying which means “what is good for one is good for another”, i.e. if one person can do a particular action, then another person should be able to do the same or a similar action (regarding an equal right or moral right to do something)
yellow man = an East Asian man (especially a Chinese man), i.e. a man of East Asian ethnic or racial background; in a wider sense, can refer to the countries, cultures, or populations of Eastern Asian (especially China)
[Editor: Inserted two line breaks before “— Translations made for”.]
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