SHALL WE BECOME CHINESE?

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 290, 1 September 1908, Page 11

SHALL WE BECOME CHINESE?

At.-iiiiervajs a strong; anti-Chinese wave of sentiment sweeps over the' Dominion., One indiyidtiitl at least, narrowly escaped paykgj.iiwtli.his lifo as penalty, for an attack In Wellington wo have a which stands above the refit illi the ptbnoiihcemeht of .the erroneous and .misgiiide'd idea, that the ' preseneti t>f.' the " Chow" is a disgrace to otir country, and atjjhehace to* the white race. AVe say that contemporary, is utterly mistaken. We aver that our' 11 Ohinkies " are a grand object.lesson in tho art and 'science.of making both meet on the minimum, and stand to the. world, as a shining esampie of what a. people dan become, when forced to d' low standard of living. ..Once/ 'the Chinese were a progressiva nation; *'•. noted for scientific enterprise and knowledge—and evory bit as fond of 'the good things of this world as w'o are to-day —but,; untofl'ard circumstances—capitalists fcmoiig; the, number—reduced this' once fine race'to .the caricature'of humanity, morally and.physically, wo see them at present. Our .prohibition friends din it into our ears;• that -wo .are .in danger of . falling into the bailie'morally low state as the " Chows, throughVdiir.'habits of drunkenness.' IJ; seems passifig strange that tho Chinese have had .prohibition of .liquor for hundreds of yeari—the majority of Asiatics likewise. There jieems,. then, to be something strangely at. variance with tho no-license cry of " poverty through drink." Will anyone arguo that ' tho 'poverty of the Asiatic—which, by the way, is appalling—is caused by ovor-in-dulgcnce in alooholio liquor? Wo state, and can confidently await events to. prove our contention,' that prohibition is the thin edgo of the wedge that will certainly reduce the standard of living from what it is at the present timo. We would ask our trades'and labour agitators,' if tho measure of a worker's living has been raised; or if' the prohibition paradiso which is painted so alluringly has yot materialised in any "dry '.' district of either New Zealand or elsewhere. C 905