THE JAPANESE IN BRITISH COLUMBIA.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 32, 1 November 1907, Page 10

THE JAPANESE IN BRITISH COLUMBIA.

. As one gctn nearer to the Pacific Coast of Canada one-is struck by the numbers of Japaneso employed on the railway, as miners and in hotels. . At Field, the station in the heart of the ; Rockies j where, passengers dine hurriedly, with snow-capped l giants .'peering down oil them, all the servants are' Oriental, and most of them wear a dignified Eastern dress. It seems an outrage to hear hungry tourists call "Waiter!" to these mild-eyed intelligent creatures, clad in rich and bcauti-. fill silk robes and endowed yith the stately niiuvnnrs of a mandarin. I had not been in Vancouver an' hour (wrji.es H. IJlimilton Fyffc, in tho "Daily Mail") before, I realised how near the city is to, the Far East. . Slanting i-'ycbr'ows.are as common as turned-up.- noses/ TheV Mongol type of face, with its cleir.ure expression' seeming to hint that "it could an', if it. would, meets one at every tiirn. In the hotel the lift-boys, the boot-cleaning boys, and the "bell-boys," who sit in the hall ready to run errands, were all Japanese. Several of thorn seemed to be recent arrivals, and could scarcely speak or understand any English. Irritating Success. I noticed, however, that most of the lift-, boys had books over which they bent their shiny black heads whenever they had , a minute's leisure.. I asked one of them .to lot me see waht he was reading. With a pleasant grin and deferential eyebrows he showed me a Japanese-English phrase-book. Stowed away under the seat he had a dictionary and grammar too. So had-they all, I found. No need to preach to these boys on the value of knowledge. They made me feel ashamed of my school days. Boys like that are bound to get on. ' ' : ■'>■■■■■ What .the British Columbians object to is their "getting on" in British Columbia. There are already several thousands of them in Vancouver; other thousands aho scattered about the'province; and more are being added every week;' I sec that during the riot a shipload of 400 came alongside the wharf. If they were of the same typo' as a party with whom T crossed : from Victoria- to'themainland in June, I do not greatly wonder at the mob resenting their arrival. ' _My fellow passengers had been shipped to Victoria from' Honolulu, where an active agency exists for encouraging Japanese'immigration into Canada. .'' They were by no' means a prepossessing lot. Peasants most of them, heavy-limbed, heavy-browed j "quite "a' different.type from the silky, polite, highly : civilised Japanese oiie'meets in . Europe.' : Their features were cast in a repellent, mi-' coutli mould. Their tiny'eyes', sot in, brown,"' sun-baked faces,' gave them an; animal .look.? Their features were cast,in■ a repellent,"uri-' , easy to understand a constant stream of immigrants exciting.uneasiness'-amoiig the'British' Columbians, whose affection for Eng-'\ land is intense, and who are 'anxious; "above/ all things, that their splendid ! province) 1 ' 'so ' richly dower'ed> by nature, .shall remain i . white man's country.' ' : ' ' ,". ■ ' Useless Exclusion Act.- - - ;■<;; ■ A few. years ago it was against' the" "Chin-'• ese' danger" that the: anti-Asiatic ,agination" on the .Pacific Coast ! wa's;-chiefly directed.' As a result the Chinese' Exclusio'n Act was passed, which, refuses admittance .to Celestials unless they are in pps , sessipn--of.'£loo.' Iso'.vthe people of Vancouver' say,' they arb worse off than.before; for the Japanese are pouring- in faster' than ever the '''Chinks" , ' did. ' ■■■■•■-.•. : ■

• So_ far as my own observation went,:each of the Oriental races appeared'to be'quiet, hard r working and content'. ; I investigated both the Chinese, and Japanese quarters, quite separate districts, where they have their own dwellings apart, "with their shops, places' of entertainment, and joss-houses. Tho : Japanese seemed cleaner and ■more European. The narrow streets of the Chinese location, with their closely curtained windows,- and -tlie creepy feeling that unseen eyes- were watching all.the-timei gave much more the suggestion ' of- , th'^'-Ea's^ife'-insbrUtable : features' and. strange,'exotic,sins. . ' ■ i "-- , ' In oneV'larte^whe'fe■■'Fall houses'werc-crushed' together.! so as■ almost .to ■■ shut out the sky, I stood on the boarded sidewalk,, high'above the niud on the roadway, andlistenedto'the. haunting-music of torii-tfims from" a lighted' upper room. A high,-wailing voice gave the monotonous melody, while the tap-tap of the" drums went on with ■ mechanical precision.' It was interesting to find a slice of Chins only a few hundred yards from the brightly-' lit anil handsome thoroughfares of -a completely English town. But, as I snuffed the enorVating. perfume of a jess-stick .and 6aw the cringing, loose-robed figures flit- herd and there on.cat-like feet,: I could not help sympathising with the British Columbian view. There is no: changing the' Oriental. The country which admits-him'admits also his habits and his point of view.-. ■' ■' '' The Chinese are valued as" servants:' The cooking at the hotel was so goo'd that I"ihi quired-; tho nationality "of the-chef. He was ,n "Chink" ; had bepn there■ sovehteeri years. 1 Of the Japanese as servants'l; heard'np good' wor.d at: all. .-■ "Lying,".- "grasping," '"impudent,",, "indolent," , -, "untrustworthy"—these aresamples of tho' 'epithets'.'applied to'them. And as business men they were equally, disliked. ;-. :"A Chinaman,"- •'.■ said a' Vancouver" mercliant-'to ; me,""wiir try to get ; tho: 'bettor of you in a bargain, but once-it is strucklie will fulfil -'it whatever .happens." The 'Japanese trader cannot bo relied upon to keep his engagements."'' , '-'' ". ~ :■■ , ; . ■'■ - I '- , "Supreme Contest" Approaching.' .;;>;)' :;',

1 expect that was too sweeping a charge; just as I find it hard to believe, that all Japanese servants-are."ab black-as they ■.■■'■■worn painted. I could see that one,cause;of grievance against thorn was their quickness .■■ to seizo overy chance of demanding higher wages, though they will work for very little when there is no hopo of getting more. Thus tho omployers , iir Vancouver dislike thorn. bV eauso they puslr the cost of domestic labour up, while the white working men are infuriated with thorn for. keeping ■ the price' of other kinds of labour down. The lieutenantgovernor of the province : musty therefore, , ' liavo been-prepared for demonstrations, when he refused to sanction a fresh, exclusion measure directed equally against Japanese and , Chinese. There is no question about the heat of fooling on the subject. Only a:-grievance very near thoir hearts could incense the easygoihgv ease-loving population of the Pacihb slone to the rioting point. ■ ■ : .■-■■■ British Columbia and California have the same problem- to puzzle . over. Professor Goldwin Smith is almost-certainly right, when he predicts that "bofore many years; there , must be a supreme contest, between Euro-, neans and Asiatics for supremacy, on tho Pacific Coast." How that contest-will finish we cannot tell. One thing is- certain, however j no good can bo;done by-mob-violence: :Howover,- great her provocation, J3ritislv Columbia has everything to gain by being patient. And. let us in this country, do all wo can , to help her by sending- as many Britons as possible to tho Canadian Far-West'. > If the-province could be-.filled up-with,-white people: there ; would be no room for the" Oriental! The "Asiatic, danger'.' would .come.-automatically ! to an end.. .- '.. . ... ••■ ; '.