CANADA'S RACE PROBLEM.

Taranaki Daily News, 18 May 1918, Page 3

CANADA'S RACE PROBLEM.

HUMANITY'S MELTING POT. DARK CLOUD OF THE FUTUBE. (By A. W. Packard.) What sort of a man is the Canadian? It is courting disaster in the shape of endless refutation to attempt to answer this (juestion with one sweeping generalisation. If one considers the whole of Canada it will be found that there !» no distinct type of the genus "Canadian.'' Her generous plains shelter so many different races that it is too early a stage in her development for any definite species to have evoked. Diverse in character, customs, and nationality, lh<> whole of her peoples liken the big Dominion to humanity's me!t> ing-pot. The racial question raises tremendous issues which are fraught with grave problems. Take, for instance, the western province of Saskatchewan. There are forty different nationalities within her border, practically all of whom have come to stay, for they are on the land. Pride of race is one of the dominant characteristics of the Anglo-Saxon, and it is not to be wondered at that out West he lias got into the fixed habit of referring to all natural-born English-speaking pe!~ sons as "the whites'' aud the rest as foreigners. He goes further, and draws a somewhat finer distinction, and so anything that smacks of Russia and the other Slav States is contemptuously dubed "Bohunks." Italians are labelled "Dagoes," Hindus rejoice ia the appendage "Specs," and all else of Nigerian hue are icalled "Shines" >or "Crows." Germans are. universally known as "Dutch." The West presents a very interesting study in things human. The line-up includes Russians of numerous blends —Bulgarians, Finns, Greeks, Icelanders, Norwegians, Swedes, Turks, Poles, 'Persians, Servians, Chinese, Japanese, Syrians, Egyptians, Germans, Swiss, French, Belgians, Italians, and Austrians, and there are others the denomination of some of whom would puzzle the most travelled. The presence of many thousands of French-Canadirfns and the aboriginal Indians tends to further complicate matters. All of these are citizens of the Dominion—what is the Canadian like? French-Canadians, Germans, Russians, Scandinavians, and Austrians bulk largest in this variegated tally of humanity. After an observation extending over four years, the writer is inclined to the opinion that the Norwegians represent the finest and best all-round type of foreign immigrants that Canada has attracted in such large numbers in recent years. That range of mountains which cuts off the hardy little kingdom of Norway from the rest of Europe counts, it would seem, for much. Judging from the magnificent build and general physical beauty of both the men and women, still must there be left in Norway much of that .grand old Viking stock, directly descended. Quite apart from these attributes the Norwegians have readily adapted themselves to their new-found homes. They rapidly become Anglicised, and morally they are second to none.

RUSSIA'S CHILDREN, One appreciates this all the more after rubbing shoulders with some of Russia's children. The land of many revolutions is well rid of some of the tribes she has sent overseas. Big framed, but ungainly, ignorant and superstitious, they may well be likened to overgrown children possessing none of the childish virtues, and all of the vices of their elders. Take the Mennonites and the Dukubors as samples. Their religious scruples forbid them to fight in defence of their country, yet they will fight amongst themselves in their drunken brawls art infinitum, for as ii, race they are much addicted to liquor. The consequence is that even though conscription is in force in Canada none or these people have been forced into khaki. To-day they are living on the. fat of the land—for their numbers are legion—while the Anglo-Saxon, the Gauls, and the Scandinavian races are sacrificing their lives at the front, In fact, it has been one of the set-backs to enlistment in the Dominion that the Government early in the war announced that the Mennonites and Dukubors would not lie called upon to bear and since then it has persisted in this attitude. The Russians all herd together in tribes, and many of them live in villages on strictly communal lines. They have their own schools and churches, and retain their own language, and many of their peculiar custom's and deep-rooted prejudices. They live in a series of "little Russias''—all to themselves. What termed the "low Dutch," or peasant Germans, are not much better in this respect. TURKS, AND OTHER THINGS. In many towns of fair size in Saskatchewan nothing but German is spoken. An English-speaking person feels like he is in a German colony when he is among them. Tho FrenchCanadians are also very parochial. In this respect they are if anything worst than the Germans. They simply will not talk English. They also run their own schools, churches, and th« /like, and herd together for the great part in their own villages and towns. They carry their clannishness and hatred for anything English to a marked degree, as is seen in their miserable showing in the matter of recruiting. The Turk has the reputation of being the biggest rascal on the prairie. There are one or two other choice tribes from the same select corner of the globe who are also entitled to this invidious distinction. They are loose-moralled, treacherous, dirty, crafty, shiftier, ancV thieving. In fact, they have the genuine Eastern flavor. They seem tcUiave inherent criminal tendencies, and are bad citizens and indifferent farmers. Incidentally they have a .great penchant for knifing one another.

NEW ZEALAND, BEWARE!

For Canada the racial question is a big problem, around which lie many pitfalls. Sooner or later it will have to he faced. Any drastic move would only leart to turmoil, however. Up to the present the powers that be have let the matto drift along in a vain endeavor to stave off the inevitable. Some dav the issue may be forced, and if ever it does come to a "show-down" it will be the irreconcilable French-Canadians who will take the initiative. "It is a wretched business,'' lamented a prominent Westener to the writer a short time -ago. "You in New Zealand cannot appreciate the enormity of the problem, but you can thank God, or rather the foresight of your nioneer statesmen, tnat New Zea-

land is a white man's country. And keep it white!" One of the drawbacks in Canada is that the Governments of the past have greatly hindered the process of natural assimilation of the foreign element by their foolish aud misguided policy of fostering communal settlements. In its fervid anxiety to divert the tide of immigration from the United States to its own shores the Canadian Government held out all sorfs of concessions to the Slav races. Some of these the authorities now bitterly regret notably the immunity from military service and the bi-lingual schools. Before they attack the problem in earnest they will have to undo much of what they have done. Meanwhile each race eyes the other askance. The AngloSaxon is, if the truth were really known, the least conservative and most reasonable of the population. If ha had not been so easy-going in the first place he would not have stored up such a heap of trouble for himself in the future.