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That's not the point, the point is people weren't flocking to these jobs as you claimed. > The Central Pacific hired some Canadian and European civil engineers

That's not the point, the point is people weren't flocking to these jobs as you claimed. > The Central Pacific hired some Canadian and European civil engineers and surveyors with extensive experience building railroads, but it had a difficult time finding semi-skilled labor. Most Caucasians in California preferred to work in the mines or agriculture. The railroad experimented by hiring local emigrant Chinese as manual laborers, many of whom were escaping the poverty and terrors of the war in the Sze Yup districts in the Pearl River Delta of Guangdong province in China It's like saying Bangladeshi workers flock to hard labour in Qatar because, sure because working in Bangladesh might be worse, not because the terrible conditions of working on infrastructure in Qatar as a Bangladeshi is some kind of standard for labour conditions or rights we should all aspire to.

WalterBright 5y ago
> the point is people weren't flocking to these jobs as you claimed Of course they were. Otherwise they simply couldn't have built it. They could not round people up, chain them together, and force march them to the construction site.
- IkmoIkmo 5y ago
  Sure, just like there's girls flocking to become prostitutes in parts of Thailand, and Bangladeshi to become construction workers in Qatar. Not because of desperation, no, out of free will in search for great jobs, they're not slaves you see... The way you completely miss this point and imply we should compare today's construction standards to that of the past and look at the past favourably due to all the potential efficiencies in taking shortcuts on labour conditions ("after all, desperate immigrant impoverished workers showed up freely, it must not be a problem) makes me glad you're not driving public policy today. I'm sure you're just as eager to give up your own comfy labour conditions for the sake of the project. I'm quite done arguing with someone who's not discussing in good faith.

WalterBright 5y ago

> the point is people weren't flocking to these jobs as you claimed Of course they were. Otherwise they simply couldn't have built it. They could not round people up, chain them together, and force march them to the construction site.

IkmoIkmo 5y ago
Sure, just like there's girls flocking to become prostitutes in parts of Thailand, and Bangladeshi to become construction workers in Qatar. Not because of desperation, no, out of free will in search for great jobs, they're not slaves you see... The way you completely miss this point and imply we should compare today's construction standards to that of the past and look at the past favourably due to all the potential efficiencies in taking shortcuts on labour conditions ("after all, desperate immigrant impoverished workers showed up freely, it must not be a problem) makes me glad you're not driving public policy today. I'm sure you're just as eager to give up your own comfy labour conditions for the sake of the project. I'm quite done arguing with someone who's not discussing in good faith.