Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1909-02-19

employers Of labor are much to blame
They are never tired Of extolling The
virtues OF the little brown man and
holding him up as a model for imita.
t"n. or course they have not got TO
work alongside him and only know
him IN his invariably defercntial atti.
tnde toward his employer and pay
master. People who recollect their
school days will remember how very
cordially hated was the model boy of
the class, who was always praised and
held up for imitation. The Pacific
coast wage Garner has much the same
sort of feeling about the Japanese,
only. being Il grown man instead Of a
schoolboy. he has Ii worse, and, be-
licving that he is master Of the situa-
tion, he means TO get rid Of the brown
invader, 10y constitutional means, II
possible, but, failing these. by. other
less desirable methods which are GOV.
cred by the phrase that is often heard
making the coast too mighty un.
healthy for laps to live on It,"
When people are living from day to
day with this rancorous feeling deep
down In their hearts 1t wants only
some trifling incident to occur that
will in Il moment transform 1t into
overt action that would have far.
reaching and very deplorable conse-
quences. 1t is not the business of the
present writer to offer theoretical
vi 70, e;t
denunciations of the wage earners Of
the Pacific coast. This is q simple
chronicle of facts as they cxist-facts
which have TO be looked in the face,
facts that every man familiar with
the coast must admit unless his in
formation is obtained solely in club
smoking rooms, expensive hotels or
the Offices and private homes of lead
ing merchants, shipowners and en-
ployers of labor There is n large and
highly respectable and influential
class of people who come little in con-
tact with the japanese except in the
capacity of servants. In which walk
Of life they are admirable This class
of people are largely tolerant Of the
little brown men and In many cases
enthusiastic about them. This en-
thusiasm, iniudiciously displayed. is
often the means of adding fuel to the
existing fires of hatred.
In a large hotel a German waiter
brought n new revolver to the writer's
bedroom to ask his opinion as to its
merits. 1t was a cheap but deadly
little gun. obtained from Il firm in the
east by mail order. Asked as to his
motive in purchasing the weapon. the
German waiter cheerfully answered,
'To shoot JanS when we drive them
out" He added that many men Of
his class were buying guns.
Inquiry among the new and second
hand dealers in firearms in the coast
cities elected the fact that sales dur
ING last year had been unprecedently
large. and particularly was this the
case in British Columbia. There are
now no british soldiers In Canada
The garrison at Esquimalt is manned
bv mon of the Canadian permanent
force T-r'waIt IS about four miles
from Y. ur,a 1aa capital Of British
rp,nm'.t a.d the mem jU g1rrlsou
ar. G,M.lnd upon to Qucll any anti
japanese or other riot that may break
out.
The men spend much Of their time
IN Victoria, fraternizing with the peo-
pie there. and in the event Of an anti
japanese riot they could not be de-
pended upon TO take an active part
against their white fellow subjects,
fact which is perfectly we'll known to
their officers and to the department OF
militia at ottawa. In all the coast
cities the symrathies of the police are
with the people against the Japa-
neSe.
News as 1t reaches the east comes
mainly from the large cities. but It is
| not in these. with the exception OF
Vancouver, that the anti-Japanese feel
inc is strongest. There is little of 1t
| TO be discovered in Los Angeles. There
IS more in San Francisco but 1t Is con-
| fined in measure to certain parts OF.
the city and to certain classes. A
study Of the situation, however, IN
places like Stockton. San Jose, Sacra-
mcnto. Merced, Fresno. and SO on, Is
something of revelation. In these
| localities the anti-Japanese attitude
has been taken up by a different class
of people principally the younger gen
Grafton who want the old association
| of vigilantes resurrected.
| There are many reasons why BRUSH
Columbia should feel the Japanese In
vasion more than the American states
on the Pacific coast. First. the Jap en-
ters the Canadian province as an ally
of Great Britain with more assurance
and swaggcr than he ventures to put
on in landing on United States soil;
| second. the British Columbia of today
dates practically, as regards Its pros
| nerity, from the time OF the mining
boom in the Kootenays. ten or twelve
years ago Attention was then drawn
TO British Columbia as desirable held
| for British emigration in way that
had never happened before. Crowds
of well to do Britishers have fiocked
into the province since the beginning
of the present century, and it is these
very desirable settlers who are most
bitterly opposed to the japanese. rake
| fruit growing. f0r-instance. Unlike the
| ,hiraman- the Jap does not propose to
work as a wage Garner. He proposes
70 be a fruit grower on his own ac-
count and employ other labor, and,
while that is no doubt praiseworthy,
his Canadian neighbor does not Tx IT
a little bit. He proposes to go into
| salmon canning. not as laborer, Dut
| - amman on n larre scale for which