Albuquerque citizen., 1908-04-02
BRITISH OPPOSE
AS|AT|C
LABOR
The Importance of Protection
Against Cheap Labor
Emphasized.

London, April 2.-The question Of
the increasing employment of Chi
nese labor on English trading ships,
II which Mr. Fenwick drew attention
in the House of Commons last week,
! is one of vital Importance. 1t is urg-
ed that ship owners are evading the
! law and escaping their liabilities un-
| der such measures as the workmen's
compensation act. Havelock Wilson,
| who recently exposed the dangers OF
| Chinese immigration, went so far as
| to state that during the past year
something like so per cent of either
Chinese or Lascars had taken the
| place of British labor on tramp
stee mers very strong protest, too,
was made by John Ward, who said
that organized labor in this country
would most strenuously oppose the
ousting of British labor by Asiatics,
a sentiment which was freely endor-
sed by the various speakers. The
government however, does. not seem
to take so serious a view of this mat
ter as the labor members claim il
should do. The parliamentary sec
retary TO the board of trade explain
ed that his department had already
made inquiries into the subject, and
he had been informed by port OFF,
cials that there was undoubtedly a
J tendency toward the employment of
, Cinnamon in home ports. The re-
quest for a select committee to inves-
tgate the question made by Mr.. Fen
wick he hoped would not be pressed
/ as he was quite certain that the
board of trade would be able to dea
| with the matter The resolution was
withdrawn and the matter ended for
5 the time being. But unless some
firm and effective, steps are taken now
to check the steady and growing in
fluX of Chinese sailors on British
5 ships, the matter may easily become
, too big to handle effectively. Th'
I reason for the employment of Asia.
I tics in the place of British labor /:
obvious. They accept lower wages
I and they also submit to mucl
7 cheaper scale of diet, and. further
! the owners have not the same re
sponsibility toward them as the!
would have to British seamen. II
= these days of cutting rates, ship own
: ers have every incentive to economic
: at the expense of the seamen.
Depression I'm Shipbuilding
An English shipbuilder, whom ne
q cessity compels to keep a pretty sen
!, | sitive finger on the pulse of trade
says that the current depression
the worst in twenty years. Man
=. causes of this deplorable state of mat
ters could, he admitted be cited, bu
in spite of the arguments that wer
urged for the majority of them, tw
most disquieting facts of the situa
ton persisted in worrying him. TIL
= average man inclined to laugh a
- foreign competition in shipbuildini
That was because the average ma
did not care about looking facts /
= the face The first fact which dis
quieted this shipbuilder was that
10 1907 more ships were built in tn
Is United Kingdom for foreign owner
= than in 1906, and the second wa
l. that more ships were built abroad /
> 1907 than in 1906. Not only wei
1 foreign shipbuilderS cutting into Ems
Il lands business to a larger eXten
Is but the British were more and MOI
=, equippng foreign shipowners who!
! economic advantages were alread
% numerous with the means Of maxim
~ British shipownlng less and less pro
d, table. British Shipbuilders were N
"' to be blamed for this, of course, bl
people who talked lightly about TO
eign competition could not be ALLOW
ed to ignore this reacting effect. Fo
~ eigr competition was a stern realit
IL Dutch and German builders we
IN actually quoting better prices Il
CT cargo steamers than the EngliS
C. were. Germany was cutting Englar
ht out for river craft in South AmeriC
- and elsewhere. Even England's pra
e. teal monopoly of the construction
III torpedo craft was menaced, as u
III tenders for the Portuguese boats r
dt Gently went to show. Not only we
there German and French concer
- in this competition but Italian ar
American as we'll.