The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1910-05-06

! remain in their menial positions. and
along this steel highway they wan tered
| seeking the material achievements of
| peace. The line of the Canadian Pacific
| reveals Japs working ON the tracks.
| holding positions in the repair shops.
| and as Calgary has a japanese business
man on the main street so Regina has
little brown cafe, Altogether the most
| efficient. cleanly and suave of orientals.
| the effort of the Japs to triumph with
ont offense is remarkable. The Jap
does not possess the Chinese notion of
returning to his native land, because
even with a competence he realizes that
the soil of the empire Is overcruwded
| this leads him to seek title to the soil.
and as the business Jap wants to own
his own building in Vancouver and Vic
toria his compatriots are equally de
sirous of securing Alberta lands upon
which to employ japanese workers in
raising sugar beets. Actuated by
common diplomatic motive, the Japan
ese seek residences in the better portion
| of their adopted cities. and they are
| given to little acts of agreeable patrio-
| tie devotion, as evidenced by the Jap
anese fireworks display to welcome the
| fleet when it steamed into the waters
of Puget Sound.
| The Chinaman keeps his place with all
the stolidity of an Ancient Aztec fol-
lowing the footsteps of his father. He
is still washing in Seattle. Vancouver
and Victoria. The West needs him;
washing is not in the high wage line of
the native population; and were his
habits other than Oriental the door
would not be shut entirely to the Chi
nese. The worst complaint about the
Chinese came from a negro barber at
Reyelstoke who had deserted the Metho
dist church because Chink has been
allowed to enter the choir.
But the ostracized Hindu has not been
given place by the whites, nor has he
made a place for himself. as in the
fluous. He is of tropical temperament
and training and manifestly untitled
for the competitive life of We%ern
nations. a burden to himself, he is an
eye-sore to the native population. The
docks at Vancouver and the short line
} at Victoria, the railroad station at Cal
] gary and the river front at Nelson and
Westminster reveal the Hindu without
! property, position or possibilities. He
j huddles in the merest shack, not know
ing how to work for warmth. The best
thing for the Hindu is for the white
man to pay his fare home. But there
are complications, and the least of
these is the fact that a Hindu. unlike
the Japs and the Chinks, is a citizen
of the Empire, a fellow subject of the
same king.
Capital thought it had the upper
hand when it welcomed the oriental
with his low wage standards to intim-
date by his presence the position of
white organized labor Perhaps the
]
and the farm owners in need of efficient
help sympathized with the railroad
magnates. The leaders of organized la
! Dor made the mistake of rioting against
the Oriental and in defense OF their
! Western wage standards they should
have adopted the more peaceably eff
fective method of inducing large num-
bers of orientas to seek admittance to
the public schools Anyway the ori-
entail attended to the factor, and as the
prosperous japanese business men
sought to locate their postoffice ad-
dresses in the best residential districts
so the humber orentals presented
themselves to learn the language whose
letters run from left to right across the
copy book Then when the oriental Sc
cured admittance to the same class at
school as the daughters of the business
man the latter changed front This
shows the futility of class divisions in
American life; it demonstrates the
unity of interest which must prevail
/
ing the oriental.
The presence OF the Japs in the Unit
ed States and Canada, coupled with the
existence of alliance between the Mikado
and the King, adds interest to the
mutual aspects OF the problem. The
alliance must be considered in the ar
rangements which Canada makes for re
stricting Japanese migration. But the
existence of that treaty with the moth
er country is counterbalanced by the
presence of 100000 Yankees in Western
Canada, This meeting of the races on
the other side of the border is the surest
possible guarantee that in Canada. as in
Continued on Page SiNl