THE CONFLICT OF THE COLOURS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 96, 16 January 1908, Page 6

THE CONFLICT OF THE COLOURS.

— . ', ; In to-day's cable news there appears ( a New York dispatch ,of unusual in- ! terest. Although anxious to inform . Japan that her proposed measures, of restriction upon the coolie immigration ' into America are not considered suffi- j cient, the Washington authorities are experiencing some difficulty in draw- .• ing up a Note upon the subject. The j officials, it is said, " feel that it is not easy to convey to Japan,-even by'suggestion, the desirability of amending ] her plans without wounding her ' pride," and hence proceeds the delay in ' preparing the Note to, the Mikado's Government. Very much more than is J apparent' will: depend upon the manner in which this delicate Business is car- 1 ried through. So far as the Empire is concerned, the colour problem has ; come -to stay, and all responsible publicists have decided that it is no longer possible to treat it as a passing trou- 1 ble. Every week the British, Canadian, and American newspapers that pour in upon us contain increasingly volumin- • ous. discussions 'of the question, couched in a tone that is_ increasingly ; grave and earnest. Public opinion as a whole is taking the matter out of the hands of local excitement, and an attempt is being made to arrive at the principles which must govern the policy of the : Empire. Hitherto a considerable body of British opinion, headed by the London " Times," has denounced the " exclusionist" tenden- , cies of Australia and Western Canada as blind " race-prejudice," based, not upon any 'high race ideals, but upon "economic jealousy." "Economic jealousy" is not the mainspring of _ the whito Dominions' objection to Asiatic immigration: it is one of many emotions emanating from the fundamental conflict between the genius of the East and the genius of the West. It will not be long, in these days of free Imperial discussion, before it is fully realised that this is the real position. The peculiar importance of the Note which America will send to Japan depends upon the influence which it may exert upon Japanese opinion. We believe that the question can be finally settled through a mutual understanding of just principles. To this end a proper appreciation of the Asiatic viewpoint is urgently necessary. At present Japan has much to _ learn, and many suspicions to get rid of. The "Japan Times," one of the most influential and 1 responsible of Japanese newspapers, discussed the question the other day. At first, our Tokio contemporary contends, it was considered sufficient for white men to say " Orientals were of an inferior race,_ of low morals." Then " a labour fiction that Orientals went to white peoples' land 1 to rob the latter of their bread was invented." The Russo-Japanese War ; came and " badly shook „the original prejudice about race inferiority." And now, says the " Japan_ Times," the tenacious racial prejudice is " seeking to live by the cry of dissimilarity 5 of civilisation and the unassimilative 2 powers of East and West." In rebutl tal of this plea of immiscibility, it is ] 1 urged that the East is " falling in line 9 with the West in the march of the 3 same civilisation," as everybody knows who is aware of " the tremendous wave of social and political changes rolling s over the Ear East." In conclusion, the r paper declares that Japan cannot, and will not, " alter her treaties, pr bind i herself with new stipulations, just bet cause the unreasonable exists h, on the American continent." Eair, and e honest, and temperate as the Tokio r journal's article certainly is, it is none r the less a darkening of counsel, since n it is the statement of an honest man s steeped in suspicion of his opponent's ,s fairness. y What the whito Dominions contend ,f is that the Asiatic is racially incapable e of becoming a useful and helpful part

£ a white democratic community.. The oint is, not that the Oriental is_ racilly inferior to the white—that is not point at. issue just now—but that he i different from the white. " East .is last, and AVest is' West, and never the ivain shall meet." _ The difference isi noted in ethical soil. It will be very 1 ifficult to say this to Japan, of course,; ut it must be said. The " Japan 'irnes" puts the Japanese view very onestly, but in terms that advertise lie,' difficulty of ati honourable coinromise.,So long," it says, " as meii a responsible positions and'newspapers f influence, continue to" keep': aliye heir misguided prejudice'against our ieople . . . and however; covertly J r under whatever pretext it may be, hey carry on their crusade, it is diffiult to'see how Japan can consider any iroposition to solve the difficult probemV The prejudice is oil their side; et there be coming some assurance hat it will lie fought out until it iually disappears." The reception aciOrdea- to the American Note will _be upremely important, for it will decide whether or not a, peaceable settlement :an or cannot be reached by the dip-; omats. In. the. meantime every just nan will llope that the prospects of ettlement will not now, or hereafter, )C prejudiced by malice, fanaticism,' or ■ecldess violence.