LABOUR IN CANADA

New Zealand Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 5802, 20 January 1906, Page 13

LABOUR IN CANADA

Mr John A. Hobson, the well known British author ami journalist, hits been contributing a .series of articles on Canada to the •'Daily Chronicle." From tho latest of these we extract the following ; LABOUR v. CAPITAL. Nowhere else in Canada is the labour question so prominent, nowhere else i.the class sentiment of employer and employed so much embittered. This is often lightly imputed to the proximity to the socialistic-labour movement in the Pacific Coast of the United States and to agitators who count up from Yi'indiingtou State ; hut the true causes aro deeper-seated. for British Columbia, lying 3,UOU mile;; from the Asiatic, fails to draw its needed snare of European immigration: though a certain number of British miners find their way, the broader stream of foreigners is sucked dry in trailed. On the other hand, the national obstacle prescribed in the West by me broad Pacific Ocean lias been strengthened by tho restrictive legislation against tho one great migratory race, tho Chinese. Here one touches the one great issue in Far Western American politics, an iasuo which recent happenings in the Far East are ripening fast. If tho trivial population of this great province, some "<•(),(XIO nil told, is to grow into the millicnn required to give body to its industrial ambition*, thus can only come by giving an open door to Asia. For the llocHy Mountains, not to mention the populated parts of Canada, convert British Columbia from what may bo called bv courtesy t tie populated puts of Canada, convert British Columbia into a definitely Pacific country, and if nature lias her way. both commerce and population must, tend more and more to become Asiatic, and, in fact, predominantly Chinese. ’ -Native population there’ is none, it otto except tho few thousands of Imlftamed Indians, who do n little fishing and lumber work: most of the Eastern Canadians and Americans who como have no intention to make n permnent fcttlemont. A large shnru of tinactual work is already done by Asiatics; the greatest industrial achievement of the province, the Canadian Pacific Railroad, was c’mfiy built !>v Clhr.oe labour. EXCLr-K X !;]' ,tw{ tries. For manufacturers tor roa.ii, for frnifc-gro-vuig. and for domestic ferrav it. is natural that employers here should look longingly to the East, and should feel exasperation m tho policv which shut;; out this ihi-mtriblo hind of cheap labour. Ivj.i.dlv it is : t that • >... handful of white irajs'-csrncrs •aid jenioimly guard the gates ngain«t. ;his ■specie; ci foreigner. Tne harrier here take; the shape of ;m entrance duty. in ISifd with fit) dollars, was raised hist tear to the prohibitive amount cf 500 dollars pm head. Even under this burden a few find their way in, wliile thorn who Imd gained, ah earlier entrance, ‘'beati possidentee,” suited the occasion of tho new law to demand a considerable riao of wages.

This exclusion policy is usually explained as expressing the domination of tho wago-enmore, but there is reason to belkiro that the smaller traders of tho towns, fearing tho oompotition of the Chinese merchants, lent assistance to tho passing of tho law. Indeed, there is no reason to giro much credence to the talk about tho “tyranny of labour”' or “the prevalence ot Socialism 11 which prevails in managerial circles. Wagn? for while men are undoubtedly high, as measured in money. More in Vancouver comjNkatars got 22 dollars a week for a 7J hours' day, os compared with 1(5.50 dollars for *n nine hours day in Toronto; and other skilled wage* for union men, though not quite so high as -liL, exceed JOiurtern rates. But ■■l wages am high, ,-e are prk.se, and v. orkmen complain that they have no fi-ftirity of steady employment. Sonson trades predominate: now it is work in a lumber camp, now on a farm, followed by precarious city occupation in winter, ottering no settlement and no homo life. _ Nowhere is the absurdity of Proto* tiou more patent than iioro in British Coloumbia. Every effort of tho busk iivs men and their Governments Is directed towards keeping down trade with the great city of Seattle and tho imluatnnl towns of tho United States just aoro-s tlie border. Instead of trying to develnji cltM> commercial relations with their natural markets they sock to draw the foixis and manufactured articles they need from tho far oast of Can mill, at enormous expense of car. riage and long delays. Tim animosity against America is a constant theme of their Pre.-s, which never tires of jprd. mg at .Seattle ns a “barbarian city," »’here crime and every sort ot disorder are rampint. But geography is too powerful for political artifice: trade along the line of the Pacific coast grows apace, and labour at any rate knows littie distinction of Government. If ampul d.-velupment of British Columbia® iinJiiMiie; and commerce is desirable iv,o iitorus are dearly noeowary— to thror. do,; n the tariff barrier ngatnut the ( i, tied .v.-ite;. aml an easy adnitw sion n: (i, 11.- r e it it; no qww turn <■! “eon,pou mis" or indentured I a hour; many thousands of Chinese are a heady 'her,., living a free and onierly •i.'" ln tho town*; Vancouver hue iu- ( h.: qu.ator, quiet, clean, and roMiectable. a itli its own slioiis and restaurants. That a huge country like this, with all it* vauntx-d possibilities, should Ik? cramjxd in its development by a dog-m-lhe-iiKuiger policy is a monstrous ex. hibitioii ot monopoly, v*a :h<-r p v cloaked under tho ns tne of racial iriu-g. ruy. protection of labour, or any otiiio