Los Angeles herald., 1908-05-17

TeIfldln uOWn.
Just at this time the main agitation
in British Columbia is over the right
of the Japanese to vote. There are
some 5000 Japanese in the province,
and half of them have become natural
lied and are British subjects. One
seventh OF the population of Vancouver
itself are Asiatics. Shall they be al
lowed to vote when they are natural
lied? And shall any more of them be
naturalized? 1t is the old, old race
problem over again. a problem that
shows itself wherever alien races aspire
to domination. The anti-Japanese
point out that an oath is meaningless
to the Japanese workingman. They
say that 1t represents no more to him
than the changing of his costume, the
changing from the currency of Nippon
to that of Canada, or the changing of
the style of his necktie. They claim
to have discovered evidence that the
Japanese government keeps a careful
record of the whereabouts of every
Japanese in foreign lands and that
whether naturalization has taken place
or not they will ever be ready to re-
spond to the call Of their native land.
Vancouver is a composite city. Here
you may be surrounded with every
evidence of being in the heart OF an
up to date twentieth century city of
10000 Americans. Then walk two or
three blocks and you viii find yourself
apparently in the very heart of Picking.
A few more blocks will take you into
what might be a part of Toxic. So
far as the foreign element Is concerned
it shows the heaviest proportion of
Chinese and Japanese OF any city on
the American continent.
Located on the southwestern shores
of British Columbia at the western
terminus of the great Canadian Pacific
49, ~
jective of the second transcontinental
line, Vancouver is a city of progress.
1t is the northern gateway from the
eastern to the western world. Tribu-
tary to ii is the vast undeveloped ter
ritory of British Columbia. Canada is
looking forward to the completion of
the Panama canal. when It can load
ships at Vancouver and send them to
the food centers of the world. Perhaps
three fourths of the wheat grown on
Canadian soil lies tributary to the Pa
cifc rather than to the Atlantic. A
new country with only 100000 people
on 100000 square miles of land what
wonder is it that the Japanese. the
Chinese and the Hindus should desire
to leave their crowded lands where a
bare living is the most laborer can
hove for and go to a land of so much
promise.
For years there had been a small
stream of immigration from Asia to
Canada, but II was not enough to dis
turb the people of the western half
of that country into fears for their
final supremacy. A few years ago
England made a treaty with japan
whereby the Japanese laborer was as
free>to go to the United Kingdom as
the British workingman is to come to
America But this treaty did not in
clude Canada and the other self-gov-
erniug colonies immigration of jap
anese was restricted to about 600 cool
les a year. When the Russian Japan
csc war was over Canada began to see
prospects for a great commerce with
the orient and her ministry wanted to
make the most of those opportunities.
So they entered into diplomatic corre-
spondence with Japan, Offering In re-
turn for certain trade advantages to
become a third party to that English
Jananese agreement.
japan. seeing that she would have
everything to gain and nothing to lose.
promptly accepted the proposition, and
at once the Japanese began to come in
droyes. Not only did Japan itself send
its thousands. but owing to the cheap
wages in Wawaii, the Japanese half
way house to America. there were as
MANY more coming from there. Then
the Chinese were coming in at a rapid
rate. and to make matters worse, Hin
dus from India began to come in herds.
The people of British Columbia began
to have a close-range view of the yell
low peril. Long before the outbreak
at Vancouver the Ottawa ministry had