Strangers From A Different Shore: Chapter 3

To what extent were chinese labourers "proud" of the praise received for their exceptional work ethic?

Without the introduction of chinese labour to San Francisco, how would it have developed?  It seems that the presence of foreign labour was critical to the fostering of large-scale manufacturing and industrial production in California, with white labour simply not being able to satiate the requirements for the rate of expansion observed with the introduction of foreign labour and the establishment of the urban Chinese community.

It seems that the strike movement was largely reactionary.  As seen in this chapter, the Chinese labour at first seemed to have little problem with the low wages and poor conditions.  Given the perspective of the US as "giving" them better opportunity, many first generation immigrants would not have been so inclined to organize and participate in strikes.  Only after the transition from "sojourner" to "settler" took place would labour movements manifest themselves.

The presence of chinese labour, particularly in the south, may have offset the evolution of more humanitarian policies regarding labour.  Seen as ample replacements for the then-emancipated negro workforce, a gap recently created could now be filled, which would have impeded progress in the establishing of fair policies for business and labour management practices.  This is also seen in the use of chinese labour to deter striking cooperatives such as the Secret Order of the Knights of St. Crispin.  Had large corporation not had access to such readily available labour forces, the union cooperatives would have had a significant advantage over big companies in labour management.