PATER'S CHATS WITH THE BOYS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2814, 19 February 1908, Page 85

PATER'S CHATS WITH THE BOYS.

.» THE COLOUR PROBLEM. Last week I referred to the uniest in Europe, and 4 n f paragraph 01 tuo to the pioblems of Empiie. The iigurcs I gave show dearly that when .nee the Traiives of China and India and Japan f<,d their strength, it will be unreasonable to expect them to keep within such ciowded areas when Australia has such a large unoccupied area suitable to people of tiopical and subtiopical climates. Whit J<ipan has accom])lishect and to what extent she influences the woild's politics in general, and the politics of Asia and the Pacific ir particular, many of us ha\e strong opinions upon ; and what the L inted States think is shoun by her despatch of v large fleet from Hampdon Roads, in Virginia, to S;tn Francisco, a distance of 14,000 miles, the longest , ciuise a l.irge fleet has ever undertaken. A glance at the map shows* that the j white man owns very 'aige aieas of unoccupied lands which he says no yellow or brown man t.hall inhabit. The United States bars their entrance to her territories, and no doubt would bar them fu.m settling in South Ameiica if they wished to do so. Even the Philippines and the Hawaihn Islands make them unwelcome. British Columbia, South Africa, Austiaha, and New Zealand shut them out -. and all these areas- are ideal countries for Jajvnese, Chinese, and Indians to fettle in. At the sime time, we are keenly anxious to capture theii trade. Doe& our conduct appear one-sided ? What are the reasons advanced for excluding AsiatiCo? Colquhuon gives three: Fiist. there is the moral argument. Asiatics aie iot only aliens and of another colour, hut we regard them as of an inferior tivnisa.ion. " There presence is a canker. ;md their individual influenct; is bad." On this point Colquhoun is very emplntic : "I ba\e no hesitation in characterising this argument as a piece of unblushing hypocrisy. It arose in the very eountiy which welcomts the riff-iaff of ,Southeastern Europe, and among people who. politically, socially, and e\rn lnor.im . might learn valuable lessons tiom Japan, or even China. Individually, the O: ental immigrant has proved himself a giod workman, thtifty ;md law-abiding. He has vices, but he is disHked not ror his vices, but for his viitues." Second, there is Uie patriotic argument. Asiatics would swamp the whites. "Australia," says Colquhoun. "sounded this i patiiotic note the most loudly, and. it must be owned, with some jiistificaM'jn, tor she alone, among the Continents, is m the possession of a homogeneous white race, winch owns the livid by right ot disco\ery, and has developed t v ith nit OiienUl'aid. She. also, is most t!neat^v;<i by hei contiguity to the teeming centies jf population in Asia." In this ixtwiit Colquhoun has in mind the thous'inde ot Chinese imported by the United bU.tt^ as cheap labour to construct the i.ulwa\ from the Atlantic to the Pacific: an* 1 I have an idea that Canada uees Uunese too. Third, there is the economic argument. The rise of Democracy, which may be tianslated as "the rule of the pivi.le, by the people, for the people," and the spread of Socialism have introdured r.cw factors. Foimerly the privileged cisses made laws and controlled all capital; now the one man one vote— in mir cisc, the one womar one vote, too,— gives the vast majority something that can be opposed to the domination of the landed and wealthy classes. Whethei this powe is used wisely or not, I am not roing to express an opinion upon : it largely depends, I suppc«e, upon the point of \iew. This democracy has two objects in v.v: | to- lessen competition among its members, land so laise wages; and to oxclu c the 1 inexhaustible of cheap ? labour ! which the eiisht hundred to a thousand ' million* «f blacks, biowns. and j ellows can i bung into the maiket | Put anotkvi- way, the pioblcm is both a , ic ial— or colour— and a soci.tl one. I WhiUe object to the interman;, i.ig ot ! colour, and, socially, whites regard the i colouied K.ccs .s cheap 1..b0«r U \ n 'S the standaid of conuort appieKi.in el> I to the. Eastern one. I But i-.rr the white man siKCf-V-ilh oppose ihe coloured man* Colqunoiiii s;.\s.- "There is no qiiestioj thdt the of Japan over Russia f.nd tie ! An»lo-Japancse alliance raised the question of relations between white and yellow In an entirely .new form, and, moreo\er, that a spirit of renascence is at woik tlnoughout Asia which is destnird to challenge the vaunted supremacy of the white man. This spirit is £S sUong,

in its way, as the spirit of democracy now rising to the surface in Europe is in another. Japan, .has demonstrated the efficiency and energy of a yellow race. China is awakening, and no one can [ redict what that amoiphous giant will be wkn thoroughly aroused. India, where orws fifth of the' population is living, is stuad uneasily to her depths by all scits oi 1 new clocti-uies and ideas. The MohamIV dan countries of the world are < njoying S. spiritual levival. Africa is a seething .jiass of unrest, and the black "an is seeking an outlet foi that long snppr-jsed energy which he Übod to woik off in mtertnbaf wais." Then, in a final summingup, he says that if the white man <<oesu t mend his ways, especially the Socialist who talks anti-militarism, '" then the v.ai- | like nations of the East will soon be ' able to defy him. to lepeat ttrcir ancient history, and to sweep across the s. is. as once across the continents of Asia i.r.d Europe." GREAT BRITAIN'S PECUIIAR POSITION. It is said that '"London contains more Scots than Edinburgh and move Inoh than Dublin; and we ca add that Edward VII luies more Mahommedans tlnn the Sultan of Turkey. But Pan-lslnmism, which *" is generally held to mean a combination oE all the Moslems throughout the world to defy and to resist tre Chubtian powers," is now being organised throughout the Mohammedan world; end this combined with the spint of nationality which lias passed right through Asii. and ;s; s strong in Eg\pt. If t. iehoous jehad be pieached as a lesult of the organisation of Mohammedans how w til England act ? At the present moment wo have a. league offenshc and defenshe with Japan — a°nition we treat on teims of equality. — vet Great Britain is unable to protect ■ Japanese from mob mle in British Columbia ■ and if war were to eventuate betv.eer the United State* and Japan she ' might be placed in the position ot fightin° witl' a coloured r.ic? against a white one Indians fight foi Great Britain on the frontier, helped to make Xatal, and I assisted British forces— by doing imbu- , lance and other work— in the wai against ! the Boers : but she cannot defend them ' acainst insult in South Ahica, though " the commercial morality of the Indian is so hioh that wholesale merchants give ' them "credit when they will refuse it to white men. Again, Gieat Britain cannot break down the prohibitive laws against Asiatics passed by the Common1 v°ealth of Australia and the Dominion of New Zealand. British statesmen and manufactuieis are complaining that the •Vustialasian exclusion policy is lousing a spirit of letaliation and endangering ' ei"htv-seven millions of Butish trade with | \tl\.' They say that colonists ought to take a wider, a moie Imperial view of-the finest ion. ,T,, T , , The Colonist says in effect: We must thirfk of ourselves first— forgetting, perhaps, tint thinking impenallj may be the bt«t way of doing so. But they also add "We hay no say in the making ot ■treaties with nations, though we have I often had our interests invohtd and sacrificed and foi this rea6or we also teluse tr subscribe more liberally to ihe navy. Where and how will it encF how long 'will it be before gieat .hanges take place? ________« I