Los Angeles herald., 1907-09-11
As1AT1c EXCLUSION


outbreak against the Japanese. but tn
following clause in the treaty just rati
fed by the Canadian parliament will
the Japanese government may be helC
to be CHIEF Of all:
"The subjects of each of the two higl
contracting parties shall have ful
liberty to enter. travel or reside in an,
part of the dominion and possession'
of the other contracting party and shal
enjoy all and perfect protection To-
| their persons and property"
Manifestly this clause bears the i'm
perial impress and is consonant witt
the policy which made Japan an ally
of Great Britain; but the real interests
of the men who make Canada pos
sible integer in British power are su'
perciliously passed by in this clause
and the workingmen's resentment finds
vent in riotous demonstrations.
OF course Canada will be compelled
to make good on all losses under such
a treaty stipulation, and will do so, but
the causes which led to the trouble Will
not have been removed till the treaty
is abrogated and the people of Canada
permitted to draft one more in con-
sonance with local demands and wholly
free from imperial influence.
The Pail Mall Gazette is reported as
commenting on the outbreak as fol-
lows: 1.-The Asiatic (sic) makes his entry
into Canada under the auspices of the
great god of cheapness. He comes with
an offer to take work at half the rate,
or less, than paid for white mans
labor. Popular animosities of the
racial type are not necessarily the OUT
come of mere wanton, unprovoked de-
pravity. 1t can scarcely occur to the
housekeeping Englishman how slight
an expansive effort on the part of the
swarming populations of the far east
would suffice to swamp the western
states and provinces of the American
continent. If an unrestricted flood of
Asiatics were allowed to occupy these
vacant hospitable areas it would re-
quire but few years to produce an
oriental predominance in the fairest
and richest possessions of the British
empire and perhaps defect the whole
course of its civil destiny. The incl
dent will not permit of indefinite pro-
crastination. Failing exclusion, the
situation demands an alternative policy
that will promptly and efficiently cir
cumscribe the dangers so vividly real
lied by these prospective victims"
That the Times, the "thunderer" of
British official opinion, dare say next
to nothing on the subject serves to give
force to the words of the Pail Mall
Gazette and shows the imperial gov
ernment must be alive to the fact that,
while an offensive and defensive al
lance with Japan is a good thing for
British foreign policy it was hardly
wise to purchase 1t at the expense of
the loyalty of her colonies.
The Bellingham riots and all other
racial disturbances this coast has
known are traceable to causes identical
with that at Vancouver. When this
coast was sparsely populated it was an
imperative need that labor be had from
some source, and transpacific steam
ship travel opened the way. Through
the formative years of the history Of
the coast and during the opening up
process of the millions of acres to cul-
tiyation sthe demand for labor was so
great that those who had individual
enterprises in the balance, true to a
common human instinct, lost sight of
the interests of the many in nursing
their own till, in the course of years,
millions of white people covered every
available acre of tillable land. and then
the inevitable came.
If wise craftsmanship then had been
invoked and the causes removed in
time through judicious legislation all
the bloody history of Asiatic racial
troubles would never have been writ
ten; but greed, born of unparalleled
opportunities, that made poor men mil
lionaires in a few months or years,
manipulated legislation in its favor and
the national welfare was sacrificed on
the altar of Mammon.
Intermittent outbreaks have come,
through all the years since 1857, grow
ing in virulence till now the nation is
CAGE to face with condition which
must be met and settled right or
graver and farther reaching conse-
quences must ensue. Vancouver and
Bellingham differ only in name-the
causes of their troubles are identical.
The Herald is free to state the case in
the exact words of the Pail Mall
Gazette: That If an unrestricted flood
of Asiatics are allowed to occupy these
vacant hospitable areas it will require
but few years to produce an oriental
predominance in the fairest and richest
possessions of the great American re-
public, and perhaps defect the whole
course of its civil policy.
Exclusion laws, bearing equally on
all Asiatic peoples, are the only safe,
certain and sane solvent of the present
troubles.
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