L xrrE RS TO TII i i DITO R.
THE SITUATION IN BRITISH COLUMBIA.
[TO TIIB EDITOR OP TUB .SPECTATOR.'] SIR,-Mr. William Templeman, recently returned from Ottawa, where he holds the official position of the Minister of Inland Revenue for the Dominion of Canada, expressed the feeling of the whole of Canada when he stated the other day in Victoria, B.C., that his conception of Canada was "one great homogeneous people." Therefore the type of immigrants to be encouraged were such "as would assimilate, marry, and intermarry with the people of Canada."
• Sir Wilfrid Laurier in his speech in the House of Commons in Canada on the memorable day of January 15th, when he carried out his "open door" policy against the wishes of the people of British Columbia, further complicated matters by stating that "if we are to trade with Japan, we must treat Japan as a civilised nation." With these words the whole civilised world will agree. But Sir Wilfrid went on to state that the Japanese are a European and a civilised community. Such a statement was as unnecessary as it was inaccurate. It corre- sponded with his definite assertion that there was no danger of Japanese immigrants overrunning a small community of two hundred thousand people, a seventh of whom are native Indians. The Indians in British Columbia are more than a quarter of the whole race in the Dominion of Canada, and are, moreover, being more and more employed on the railways and in other capacities, and in places becoming skilled agricul- turists. The native tribes are an economic factor in the development of British Columbia. Therefore Sir Wilfrid should have foreseen that ,not only the white man, but the native Indian, in British Columbia would be affected by any injudicious act having for its object unrestricted Oriental immigration.
The history of the United States shows that the secret of her success is the fusion of the European races effected through the agencies of education and marriage. Canada has more or less effected this fusion of the races in the past, is doing BO to a greater extent at the present moment, and will continue to do so in the future. The Mother-country is the last country in the world to interfere with the most cherished and states- manlike policy of her most progressive Colony. Canada in this matter will be true to herself. To the Canadian mind, in view of her national policy, this unreasonable, because unrestricted, tide of immigration is an unworkable Proposition: How can the fusion of the Oriental races with the European be effected ? How can there be, even with the most advanced state of education and civilisation, created a homogeneous race from an Oriental stock ? Must there, then, exist in the one province two racial classes with divergent aims and ambitious, when by a wise provision at the present time complications can be prevented from arising which Would tend materially to frustrate the policy of the founders of Canadian prosperity ? • Therefore to endeavour to force on British Columbia, an integral part of the Dominion of Canada, unrestricted, and in coneequence unreasonable, Oriental immigration would be to interfere with the firmly established and most approved traditions of the Dominion of Canada,—the fusion of the races into a homogeneous people. There is no necessity to discuss the bearings of the present situation in viewi of possible complications with America. That is only one of the many side-issues of the present problem.
There is, however, another point which may also be alluded to, but not discussed. Victoria. Vancouver, and Seattle form
geographical triangle. They are Commercial neighbours. In progressiveness Seattle comes first, Vancouver second, Victoria third. Seattle employs white labour for domestic service and for commercial and industrial purposes. British Columbia can do the same when she possesses the capital. Cheap. labour will not hide the fact of, but rather disclose, her
real necessity. She is now prosperous. . American, and an increasing amount of British, capital is being used in the development of her resources. Capital can always command white labour and success in British Columbia when rightly directed so as to provide permanent employment to the labourer, as well as to return constant dividends to the investor. As Mr. W. D. Matthews of Toronto, well known in financial circles in Canada, said to the writer, "there is every indication of a rapid development on a solid commercial basis taking place in British Columbia • It was to the labourers' own interest to do all in their power to induce labourers to come into the country, because the country's growth was permanent." These words are those of a Canadian Pacific Railway, a bank, and a great industrial director. Labourers of the class fitted for the work of British Columbia have not hitherto been encouraged to come.
A striking development, from various accounts in 'the Report of the Minister of Mines, is taking place in British Columbia. The province i9 in a 'transitional stage. The individual miner and the small "prospecting' miners are giving place to huge companies. The smaller industries or enterprises feel that this is so. They are in . consequence responsible to a certain degree for the cheap-labour cry. Financial leaders have no anxiety, although at first they may feel a temporary embarrassment. It is overcome when their demand for labour is made known. British labour must be jealously guarded from receiving a check at this critical period in the history Of the province: The question to be asked is : "Are the wages earned by even the Trade-Unionists [they are limited] in British Columbia out of proportion to, say, those of the North-West' of Canada ? " They are certainly not out of proportion to those in the United States, for they are actually lower in British Columbia. Allowance being made for the difference in the cost of living, it must be admitted that wages are not excessive.
Therefore it may impartially be stated that the result of an unrestricted system of Oriental immigration will be the possible emigration of the white population of town labourers to a white country,—the United States; and that at a moment when on the prairies and in British Columbia Canada is receiving them back to work under "the dear old flag " ! Of the Hindus who came last year, many were in want. It was pitiable to see them going about unable to obtain work when there was none even for many whites during the winter. The white man has in many cases to live on his summer savings during the winter in British Columbia when he returns from the mines and the camps. This lowers his average of wage.
Space will not permit me to discuss the system of Unionism pursued by the Orientals;' nor will it allow me to show their methods of overreaching the European in pursuits which the European has always made his own ; nor to show how the Hindus, with certain exceptions, are not very desirable workmen, except in cases where there is a pre- ponderance of Europeans around. The Japanese are also not of the best class of immigrants. They are fitted for railway construction work, and are more or less in demand for the Grand Trunk Pacific, but only in rare cases 'for domestic work. True, on the other hand, they are orderly and law- abiding. Hawaii has seventy-five thousand of them, the majority of whom are now seeking for fresh fields of work. Again, in commercial circles it is stated that the greater the social standing of the Chinese, the more is his word to be trusted ; but the greater the business operations undertaken by a Japanese, the less are his intentions able to be grasped. The one, in other words, is understood; the other is not.
The points at issue, then, are these. From the point of view of the internal policy of the Dominion of Canada, the present crisis has threatened the homo- geneousness of the race. From the native Indian side of the question, bluntly stated, it threatens their future existence. From a capitalist or financial point of view, it rather retards than advances the ultimate development of the province. From a white labourer's point of view, it tends to make him leave his own country to work in the States. From a domestic point of view, it will leave the wealthier classes where they were in the old days before the Canadian Pacific Railway was constructed,—dependent upon the Oriental. From an economic point of view, it is a loss of wealth to the
community at large, because money earned is not circulated or invested in the country, but is sent abroad to India, China, or Japan. British Columbia, although anxious to protect herself from the effects of a measure not as carefully con- sidered as it should have been, is nevertheless anxious to keep on friendly terms with the ally of her King, the friend
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