[Mongolian vs.  Caucasion in America.] One of the most interesting of the many questions of large comprehensiveness which connect themselves with the penetration of the Mongolian race into America, which up till now it had been the fashion to regard as the inheritance of the Caucasians, is the relative capacity of labor possessed by both these two great races, who in the Western States of America have for the first time measured their mutual strength in friendly rivalry.  Both are there represented in their most energetic individuality; [254] and every nerve will be strained in carrying on the struggle, inasmuch as no other country pays for labor at so high a rate.

[Efficiency and reliability of Chinese labor.] The conditions, however, are not quite equal, as the law places certain obstacles in the way of the Chinese.  The courts do not protect them sufficiently from insult, which at times is aggravated into malicious manslaughter through the ill-usage of the mob, who hate them bitterly as being reserved, uncompanionable workers.  Nevertheless, the Chinese immigrants take their stand firmly.  The western division of the Pacific Railway has been chiefly built by the Chinese, who, according to the testimony of the engineers, surpass workmen of all other nationalities in diligence, sobriety, and good conduct.  What they lack in physical power they make up for in perseverance and working intelligently together.  The unique and nearly incredible performance that took place on April 28, 1859, when ten miles of railway track were laid in eleven working hours along a division of land which had in no way been prepared beforehand, was accomplished by Chinese workmen; and indeed only by them could it have been practicable. [255]

[Chinese cleverness and industry.] Of course, the superiority of the European in respect Chinese of the highest intellectual faculties is not for a moment to be doubted; but, in all branches of commercial life in which cleverness and perservering industry are necessary to success, the Chinese certainly appear entitled to the award.  To us it appears that the influx of Chinese must certainly sooner or later kindle a struggle between capital and labor, in order to set a limit upon demands perceptibly growing beyond moderation.

[Chinese problem in America.] The increasing Chinese immigration already intrudes upon the attention of American statesmen questions of the utmost social and political importance.  What influence will this entirely new and strange element exercise over the conformation of American relations?  Will the Chinese found a State in the States, or go into the Union on terms of political equality with the other citizens, and form a new race by alliance with the Caucasian element?  These problems, which can only be touched upon here in a transitory form, have been dealt with in a masterly manner by Pumpelly, in his work Across America and Asia, published in London in 1870.

Letter of the Commissary-General of Chinchew to Don Pedro De Acuna, Governor of the Philippines