The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1908-06-19
THE PROBLEM
Of THE AS|AT|C

| white mans country One hears II
from Seattle to San Diego, proof OF
the fact that the Pacific Coast states
are wrestling with a race question.
Unlike the South, the West shares its
problem with countries in all ports of
the world. The conflict between the
civilizations and the institutions Of the
Orient and the Occident has become q
worldwide issue. 1t has already caus-
ed the bloodiest. war of modern his
tory, it may yet be the cause of war,
the wrecking of empires and the max
ing over of the maps of the world
The letters of religion and age-long
custom which have held Asia in leash
for centuries are being broken. The
Chinese are cutting off their queues.
The Hindu no longer believes that his
soul is eternally damned if he crosses
the ocean. The Japanese has adopted
every progressive method known to
the world. The Asiatic is taking his
place in world affairs, and wherever
he goes he insists upon maintaining
certain moral and racial ideas which
are so radically different from those
of Europeans and Americans that fric-
ton is inevitable. The Chinese, Japa-
nese and Hindus, taken together, out
number all the white people on earth
by considerably more than two to one.
But the white man has the advantage
over the Asiatic in wealth and health,
and the means for acquiring the one
and protecting the other
Wherever Asiatic laborers have gone
into a white community there has
been trouble. 1t is more than thirty
years since the Chinese question be-
came acute on the Pacific Coast. The
Japanese and Hindu question is now
paramount, the Chinese issue having
been settled by exclusion. But there
is a great difference between the prob
lem of thirty years ago and that now
being worked out. Then Asiatic emf
grafton was exceptional and depended
upon stimulation from outside by labor
contractors. Now Asiatic emigration
is constant and comes from the desire
of the Asiatics to find a place to work
where the struggle for existence will
NOT ba CO W., t,ono1oee
SO it comes that our own Pacific
Coast is in the same box with Canada,
Australia, New Zealand, South Africa,
German Africa, Chile and Brazil The
British Empire is torn by a dissension
more serious than it has known for
half a century-its white colonial sub
jects absolutely refusing to admit
their Asiatic fellow subjects to their
colonies. New Zealand, Australia and
South Africa bar the Hindu as we'll
as the Chinese. Western Canada has
protested forcibly against Japanese
and Hindu. The fact that the Hindu
is subject of King Edward VII is
no argument at all to the British |
colonial. He demands the credentials |
of a white skin. The ancient kinship |
of India and Europe does not mean /
anything to the Australian who stands |
up and swears: "This is a white
mans country" !
With India bubbling with revolt,
with English colonies at dagger's
points with Englands ally, Japan:
and with English oriental trade being
by oriental competition-it
is apparent that this worldwide race
question is of the utmost Importance
to the future of the British Empire.
The English people understand the
gravity of the situation, and they are
working with characteristic caution
and skill toward a solution of its more
vexing phases. The British have had
enough experience to understand that
ace questions are never finally set
led, northumberland the fact that Lon
Ion never draws the color line. :,
The American public, as a whole, by
10 means understands the problem on
he Pacific Coast. 1t is to be doubted
( the people of other sections of the
ever will come to look upon
he question as the people out her. do.
rhe South has very positive ideas on
is race question which are rejected
n other parts of the country, but
which are accepted and emphasized by
he citizen of another section who re-
moves to the South. Party politics,
# course, has had much to do with
he general attitude toward the south
I'm race question, but even aside from
hat. the people of North and West do
Tot understand the Southerner's point
# view.
The Westemer is in the same cate
rory. He fears the encroachment of
he Asiatic and he resents II with the
instructive force of self-protection. He ,
nay reason the question with a show ,