Captain Clement P. Blethen: The Maritime Heritage Project

Died: June 25, 1880, San Francisco

C.P. Blethen of Shanghai, China, is listed as an eastern passenger departing Ogden, Utah, on August 6, 1870 on the west-bound Overland Train, arriving at the Oakland, California wharf on August 8, 1870.

The Call The Last Will of the Late Capt. Blethen

The will of Clement P. Blethen, the capitalist who dropped dead of apoplexy on California street last Sunday, has been filed for probate. The will is dated Shanghai, February 13, 1878, and bequeaths to the widow of deceased, Mary Craig Blethen, all his household furniture, plate, pictures, books, etc., and 1,000 Mexican dollars. The residue is the estate is bequeathed, in trust, to Geo. F. Broman, Wm. N. Olmstead and Clark Blethen and the said Mary Craig Blethen, the income of its proceeds and his stocks to be paid to his wife, without anticipation and free from the control or engagements of any husband with whom she may intermarry, and upon her death to their children upon their reaching their majority . . .

The following is part of a much longer publication with the unfortunate title of: China's Menace to the World. It was handwritten in 1878 in Washington D.C. by a man named Thomas Magee, who, with some foresight ended his diatribe against Chinese industriousness with: "The Chinese are all-day runners, and those who compete with them will need to rise early and sit up late. China has untiring industrial ability, unsurpassed staying powers, and a degree of patience which no other nation can pretend to equal. Friend and enemy of China should know these facts. Few do know them." -- Thomas Magee.

A Captain Blethen, who died in San Francisco recently, lived in China for twenty-two years previous to 1880. He kept a large ship-chandlery store at Shanghai, and owned a dry dock there, but sold his business because he was being forced out by Chinese competition. Said he to me: The trouble with you here in California is that you do not appreciate the staying powers of the Chinese. When a Chinese laborer comes here, he may, with his be st efforts, save only a few dollars the first year; but, let him save little or much, he does and will save, and he will work in and out of season. Here is a letter I received by the last steamer from China. It is from the Chinese house th t bought me out. It contains an order for some American goods in the ship-chandlery line. This letter manages the firm's business. I gave the man who filled a similar position for me $3,000 a year. This young Chinaman gets but $10 a month, his rice, and a place to sleep in. The hands in the store gets no wages, only rice and a bunk. How could I live against such competition? I had either to remain in business there, and thereby loose all I had made, or to sell out at a good price and leave. White men employed and taught the Chinese, and the Chinese drove them out. We could no more compete with them than we could overcome death and fate.
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