LABOUR

One cannot leave a thing alone if it is thrust under the nose at every

turn. I had not quitted the Quebec steamer three minutes when I was

asked point-blank: 'What do you think of the question of Asiatic

Exclusion which is Agitating our Community?'

The Second Sign-Post on the Great Main Road says: 'If a Community is

agitated by a Question--inquire politely after the health of the

Agitator,' This I did, without success; and had to temporise all across

the Continent till I could find some one to help me to acceptable

answers. The Question appears to be confined to British Columbia. There,

after a while, the men who had their own reasons for not wishing to talk

referred me to others who explained, and on the acutest understanding

that no names were to be published (it is sweet to see engineers afraid

of being hoist by their own petards) one got more or less at something

like facts.

The Chinaman has always been in the habit of coming to British Columbia,

where he makes, as he does elsewhere, the finest servant in the world.

No one, I was assured on all hands, objects to the biddable Chinaman.

He takes work which no white man in a new country will handle, and when

kicked by the mean white will not grossly retaliate. He has always paid

for the privilege of making his fortune on this wonderful coast, but

with singular forethought and statesmanship, the popular Will, some few

years ago, decided to double the head-tax on his entry. Strange as it

may appear, the Chinaman now charges double for his services, and is

scarce at that. This is said to be one of the reasons why overworked

white women die or go off their heads; and why in new cities you can see

blocks of flats being built to minimise the inconveniences of

housekeeping without help. The birth-rate will fall later in exact

proportion to those flats.

Since the Russo-Japanese War the Japanese have taken to coming over to

British Columbia. They also do work which no white man will; such as

hauling wet logs for lumber mills out of cold water at from eight to ten

shillings a day. They supply the service in hotels and dining-rooms and

keep small shops. The trouble with them is that they are just a little

too good, and when attacked defend themselves with asperity.

A fair sprinkling of Punjabis--ex-soldiers, Sikhs, Muzbis, and Jats--are

coming in on the boats. The plague at home seems to have made them

restless, but I could not gather why so many of them come from Shahpur,

Phillour, and Jullundur way. These men do not, of course, offer for

house-service, but work in the lumber mills, and with the least little

care and attention could be made most valuable. Some one ought to tell

them not to bring their old men with them, and better arrangements

should be made for their remitting money home to their villages. They

are not understood, of course; but they are not hated.

The objection is all against the Japanese. So far--except that they are

said to have captured the local fishing trade at Vancouver, precisely as

the Malays control the Cape Town fish business--they have not yet

competed with the whites; but I was earnestly assured by many men that

there was danger of their lowering the standard of life and wages. The

demand, therefore, in certain quarters is that they go--absolutely and

unconditionally. (You may have noticed that Democracies are strong on

the imperative mood.) An attempt was made to shift them shortly before I

came to Vancouver, but it was not very successful, because the Japanese

barricaded their quarters and flocked out, a broken bottle held by the

neck in either hand, which they jabbed in the faces of the

demonstrators. It is, perhaps, easier to haze and hammer bewildered

Hindus and Tamils, as is being done across the Border, than to stampede

the men of the Yalu and Liaoyang.[5]

[Footnote 5: Battles in the Russo-Japanese War.]

But when one began to ask questions one got lost in a maze of hints,

reservations, and orations, mostly delivered with constraint, as though

the talkers were saying a piece learned by heart. Here are some

samples:--

A man penned me in a corner with a single heavily capitalised sentence.

'There is a General Sentiment among Our People that the Japanese Must

Go,' said he.

'Very good,' said I. 'How d'you propose to set about it?'

'That is nothing to us. There is a General Sentiment,' etc.

'Quite so. Sentiment is a beautiful thing, but what are you going to

do?' He did not condescend to particulars, but kept repeating the

sentiment, which, as I promised, I record.

Another man was a little more explicit. 'We desire,' he said, 'to keep

the Chinaman. But the Japanese must go.'

'Then who takes their place? Isn't this rather a new country to pitch

people out of?'

'We must develop our Resources slowly, sir--with an Eye to the Interests

of our Children. We must preserve the Continent for Races which will

assimilate with Ours. We must not be swamped by Aliens.'

'Then bring in your own races and bring 'em in quick,' I ventured.

This is the one remark one must not make in certain quarters of the

West; and I lost caste heavily while he explained (exactly as the Dutch

did at the Cape years ago) how British Columbia was by no means so rich

as she appeared; that she was throttled by capitalists and monopolists

of all kinds; that white labour had to be laid off and fed and warmed

during the winter; that living expenses were enormously high; that they

were at the end of a period of prosperity, and were now entering on

lean years; and that whatever steps were necessary for bringing in more

white people should be taken with extreme caution. Then he added that

the railway rates to British Columbia were so high that emigrants were

debarred from coming on there.

'But haven't the rates been reduced?' I asked.

'Yes--yes, I believe they have, but immigrants are so much in demand

that they are snapped up before they have got so far West. You must

remember, too, that skilled labour is not like agricultural labour. It

is dependent on so many considerations. And the Japanese must go.'

'So people have told me. But I heard stories of dairies and fruit-farms

in British Columbia being thrown up because there was no labour to milk

or pick the fruit. Is that true, d'you think?'

'Well, you can't expect a man with all the chances that our country

offers him to milk cows in a pasture. A Chinaman can do that. We want

races that will assimilate with ours,' etc., etc.

'But didn't the Salvation Army offer to bring in three or four thousand

English some short time ago? What came of that idea?'

'It--er--fell through.'

'Why?'

'For political reasons, I believe. We do not want People who will lower

the Standard of Living. That is why the Japanese must go.'

'Then why keep the Chinese?'

'We can get on with the Chinese. We can't get on without the Chinese.

But we must have Emigration of a Type that will assimilate with Our

People. I hope I have made myself clear?'