Malays control the Cape Town fish business - they have not yet
competed with the whites; but I was earnestly assured by many men that
there was danger of their lowering the standard of life and wages. The
demand, therefore, in certain quarters is that they go - absolutely and
unconditionally. (You may have noticed that Democracies are strong on
the imperative mood.) An attempt was made to shift them shortly before I
came to Vancouver, but it was not very successful, because the Japanese
barricaded their quarters and flocked out, a broken bottle held by the
neck in either hand, which they jabbed in the faces of the
demonstrators. It is, perhaps, easier to haze and hammer bewildered
Hindus and Tamils, as is being done across the Border, than to stampede
the men of the Yalu and Liaoyang.[5]
[Footnote 5: Battles in the Russo-Japanese War.]
But when one began to ask questions one got lost in a maze of hints,
reservations, and orations, mostly delivered with constraint, as though
the talkers were saying a piece learned by heart. Here are some
samples: -
A man penned me in a corner with a single heavily capitalised sentence.
'There is a General Sentiment among Our People that the Japanese Must
Go,' said he.
'Very good,' said I. 'How d'you propose to set about it?'
'That is nothing to us. There is a General Sentiment,' etc.
'Quite so. Sentiment is a beautiful thing, but what are you going to
do?' He did not condescend to particulars, but kept repeating the
sentiment, which, as I promised, I record.
Another man was a little more explicit. 'We desire,' he said, 'to keep
the Chinaman. But the Japanese must go.'
'Then who takes their place? Isn't this rather a new country to pitch
people out of?'
'We must develop our Resources slowly, sir - with an Eye to the Interests
of our Children. We must preserve the Continent for Races which will
assimilate with Ours. We must not be swamped by Aliens.'
'Then bring in your own races and bring 'em in quick,' I ventured.
This is the one remark one must not make in certain quarters of the
West; and I lost caste heavily while he explained (exactly as the Dutch
did at the Cape years ago) how British Columbia was by no means so rich
as she appeared; that she was throttled by capitalists and monopolists
of all kinds; that white labour had to be laid off and fed and warmed
during the winter; that living expenses were enormously high; that they
were at the end of a period of prosperity, and were now entering on
lean years; and that whatever steps were necessary for bringing in more
white people should be taken with extreme caution. Then he added that
the railway rates to British Columbia were so high that emigrants were
debarred from coming on there.
'But haven't the rates been reduced?' I asked.
'Yes - yes, I believe they have, but immigrants are so much in demand
that they are snapped up before they have got so far West. You must
remember, too, that skilled labour is not like agricultural labour. It
is dependent on so many considerations. And the Japanese must go.'
'So people have told me. But I heard stories of dairies and fruit-farms
in British Columbia being thrown up because there was no labour to milk
or pick the fruit. Is that true, d'you think?'
'Well, you can't expect a man with all the chances that our country
offers him to milk cows in a pasture. A Chinaman can do that. We want
races that will assimilate with ours,' etc., etc.
'But didn't the Salvation Army offer to bring in three or four thousand
English some short time ago? What came of that idea?'
'It - er - fell through.'
'Why?'
'For political reasons, I believe. We do not want People who will lower
the Standard of Living. That is why the Japanese must go.'
'Then why keep the Chinese?'
'We can get on with the Chinese. We can't get on without the Chinese.
But we must have Emigration of a Type that will assimilate with Our
People. I hope I have made myself clear?'
I hoped that he had, too.
Now hear a wife, a mother, and a housekeeper.
'We have to pay for this precious state of things with our health and
our children's. Do you know the saying that the Frontier is hard on
women and cattle? This isn't the frontier, but in some respects it's
worse, because we have all the luxuries and appearances - the pretty
glass and silver to put on the table. We have to dust, polish, and
arrange 'em after we've done our housework. I don't suppose that means
anything to you, but - try it for a month! We have no help. A Chinaman
costs fifty or sixty dollars a month now. Our husbands can't always
afford that. How old would you take me for? I'm not thirty. Well thank
God, I stopped my sister coming out West. Oh yes, it's a fine
country - for men.'
'Can't you import servants from England?'
'I can't pay a girl's passage in order to have her married in three
months. Besides, she wouldn't work. They won't when they see Chinamen
working.'
'Do you object to the Japanese, too?'
'Of course not. No one does. It's only politics. The wives of the men
who earn six and seven dollars a day - skilled labour they call it - have
Chinese and Jap servants. We can't afford it. We have to think of
saving for the future, but those other people live up to every cent they
earn. They know they're all right.
