"CONTENTdm"@en . "http://resolve.library.ubc.ca/cgi-bin/catsearch?bid=2737963"@en . "Wallace B. Chung and Madeline H. Chung Collection"@en . "Kawakami, Kiyoshi Karl, 1875-1949"@en . "2016-01-05"@en . "[1913]"@en . "https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/chungpub/items/1.0056361/source.json"@en . "pages 193-198 ; 24 cm"@en . "application/pdf"@en . " Q 4&U. iHt%\nWHITE CANADA\nA JAPANESE VIEW30F CANADA'S ORIENTAL PROBLEM\nBY KIYOSHI K. KAWAKAMI\nAUTHOR OF \"AMERICAN-JAPANESE RELATIONS\"\nLIKE other British colonies, Canada regards its territory as closed\nto Oriental races. The watchword is \"White Canada.\" That mystifying yet singularly appealing expression has been industriously exploited,\nespecially by those affiliated with the\nlabour unions on the Pacific Coast.\nAnd yet Canada's treatment of\nAsiatic races cannot be said always\nto have been severe. True, it raises\nagainst the Orient a barrier as insurmountable as that erected in other\nexclusive countries, but those Asiatic\nimmigrants who were allowed to enter the country in accord with the\nprovisions of the immigration law\nCanada has as a rule treated with\nconsideration and even leniency. She\nhas extended to the Orientals the privilege of naturalization and even of\nsecuring homesteads. Even in British Columbia, the stronghold of the\nanti-Oriental agitation, no such discriminatory laws as have been proposed and enacted in California have\nbeen introduced in its Legislature.\nThere the Japanese and Chinese are\npermitted to conduct business and\ncultivate land, not only unmolested,\nbut enjoying all privileges enjoyed\nby British subjects in Canada. They\ncan own land, both urban and rural,\nand in Provinces other than British\nColumbia they even enjoy voting privileges.\nThe question arises: \"Why of all\nProvinces and Territories does Bri-\n193\ntish Columbia alone discriminate\nagainst the Orientals in the matter of\nfranchise ? \" In the Yukon Territory\nthere are about a hundred Japanese,\nmost of whom are naturalized, while\nin the Provinces east of the Eockies\nwhat small number of Japanese there\nare have also sworn allegience to Canada. All these naturalized Japanese\nexercise the franchise just as though\nthey were native Canadians. But in\nBritish Columbia the Japanese,\nthough free to become Canadian subjects, are not allowed to cast a ballot.\nThe reason for this discriminatory\nmeasure is not far to seek.\nBritish Columbia does not issue\nfishing licence to aliens. When Japanese fishermen were brought into the\nProvince they found it necessary to\nsecure naturalization certificates in\norder to obtain fishing licence. Thus\nit came to pass that almost ninety per\ncent, of the naturalized Japanese in\nBritish Columbia are fishermen, many^\nof whom are uneducated, if not illiterate. The wisdom of naturalizing\nsuch immigrants is open to question,\nbut in as much as the Province had\nto rely upon them for the exploitation of one of its most important economic resources, it had to give them\nnaturalization certificates. Naturalization in such circumstances means\nlittle more than the granting of fishing privilege. It does not necessarily\nmean that the recipients of citizenship certificates are ready to become 194\nTHE CANADIAN MAGAZINE\nfaithful subjects of the Empire, nor\nthat they intend to reside permanently in Canada. Not a few of such\nJapanese do not see much difference\nbetween the fishing licence and the\nnaturalization paper.\nUnder such circumstances we can\nfully understand, and even sympathize with, British Columbia when it\nover-rode the Dominion law and deprived naturalized Japanese within\nits jurisdiction of the right of casting the ballot. Certainly those Japanese fishermen who are not bona\nfide citizens of the Dominion have no\nmoral right to protest against this\nProvincial measure.\nAnd yet the fact remains that this\ndiscrimination is in obvious contravention of the naturalization law of\nthe Dominion. Besides, it wrongs\nthose Japanese who have obtained naturalization certificates in good faith,\nand are to all intents and purposes\ndesirous of remaining loyal subjects\nof the British Empire. It is estimated that up to 1911 some 3,091\nfishermen were naturalized. Granting\nthat some of these men have since returned to their native country or passed into the unknown shores, there\nmust still be more than 2,000 naturalized Japanese engaged in fishery. It\nwould be unjust to presume that all\nof these fishermen are ignorant and\notherwise unqualified to vote, for my\npersonal observations lead me to believe that some of them are intelligent and are sincerely desirous of\nswearing allegiance to their adopted\ncountry. Moreover, there are in British Columbia some five hundred naturalized Japanese who are not fishermen, but who are, in intelligence\nand moral character, the equal of the\naverage immigrant from any European country. The interest and welfare of this class of Japanese it would\nbe the duty of British Columbia and\nCanada to safeguard, especially since\nthe naturalization law obviously\nmeans to extend the franchise to all\nnaturalized aliens.\nAt the same time British Columbia\nhas the right to prevent the injection\nof undesirable elements into its body\npolitic. How, then, can the Province\nfind the way out of this dilemma ? To\nme the way is clear. Issue fishing licence quite independently of naturalization paper; in other words, extend\nfishing privilege to aliens, so that no\nignorant fisherman, whether Oriental\nor European, need be naturalized simply because he is needed for the perpetuation of the salmon industry.\nThis is the policy adopted by most\nStates in the United States. California, for instance, issues fishing licence to any alien upon the payment\nof an annual fee of $10. I do not see\nwhy British Columbia cannot adopt\na similar policy. On the other hand,\nall aliens, naturalized in conformity\nto the laws of the Dominion, should\nbe allowed to enjoy all privileges,\ncivil and political, enjoyed by the citizens of Canada, This British Columbia can afford to do, once she has\nfound the way to secure labour for\nthe promotion of the salmon industry\nwithout at the same time admitting\nignorant fishermen into citizenship.\nBritish Columbia's peculiar manner of dealing with the naturalization\nquestion naturally created a grievance among those Japanese who secured citizenship certificates in good\nfaith. A few years ago these Japanese sought redress through legal channels. In the Provincial courts their\nclaim was upheld, but the Privy\nCouncil at London, to which the Province carried the case, virtually overruled the decision of the courts by\ndeclaring that the franchise can be\nexercised by naturalized foreigners\nonly when the Provincial Government\nrecognizes their fitness as voters.\nProm the purely legal point of view\nthere is still room for the Japanese to\nurge their contention, but the real\nremedy\u00E2\u0080\u0094a remedy satisfactory to\nboth parties\u00E2\u0080\u0094should be found, I believe, on the line suggested in the foregoing passages.\nAt present Canada has within its\nboundaries 12,000 Japanese, as against\nO WHITE CANADA\n195\n40,000 Chinese. The cry of \"White\nCanada\" was first raised in the eighties against the Chinese. In 1885 the\nfirst anti-Chinese law was passed, imposing upon each incoming Chinese\na poll tax of $50, and permitting the\nsteamers to bring only one Chinese\nimmigrant per each ton of the capacity of each vessel. In 1901 the poll\ntax was raised to $100, and in 1904\nto $500; yet during the past several\nyears Chinese have been coming in in\nmuch larger numbers than Japanese.\nThe restriction of Japanese immigration follows a line totally different from that followed in dealing with\nChinese immigration. The Japanese\nare not required to pay any poll tax\nwhich is not imposed upon European\nimmigrants. In accord with the pro-\nvisons of the general immigration law\nthey must possess upon their arrival\nin Canada at least $25 during the\neight months from March to October,\nand from November to February,\nwhen demand for labour becomes less,\nat least $50. But there is between\nCanada and Japan, as between the\nUnited States and the Mikado's Empire, a sort of \"gentleman's agreement.\" This understanding, entered\ninto in 1908, admits Japanese only of\nthe following classes:\n1. Settled agriculturists.\n2. Parents, wives, and children of\nresident Japanese.\n3. Those coming back to Canada to\nresume their residence or business.\nThis agreement was the immediate\noutcome of the unscrupulous act of\nsome self-seeking Japanese and Canadians who brought Japanese from\nHawaiian plantations by the shipload. Prior to 1907 the Japanese\nGovernment of its own accord restricted the emigration of its subjects\nto Canada, and thus prevented the\nimmigration question from interfering with the cordial relations existing\nbetween Canada and Japan. But in\nthat year a body of Japanese in Vancouver, in complicity with their Cana-\nadian associates, broached the idea of\nimporting Japanese labourers in\nHawaii in order to supply the unprecedented demand for labour created\nby the general prosperity then prevailing in Canada and the United\nStates. For this specific purpose these\nmen chartered a steamer and began\nimporting Japanese on a large scale.\nThe result was that during the twelve\nmonths from July 1, 1907, to June 30,\n1908, there were 7,601 Japanese immigrants, showing an increase of\n5,500 as compared with the figures\nfor the preceding year.\nThis sudden influx of Japanese\nlabourers naturally aroused among\nthe labouring class a hostile feeling\nagainst the Japanese. About this\ntime the Exclusion League of San\nFrancisco, having established a\nbranch office in Seattle, was striving\nto extend its influence to British Columbia. Fowler, the man in charge\nof the Seattle office of the League,\ncame to Vancouver, instructed by his\nchief, O. A. Tveitmoe, to fan the anti-\nJapanese sentiment alrealy stirred up\nby the influx of Hawaiian Japanese.\nThe result was the Vancouver riot of\nSeptember 7th, 1907. On the evening\nof that day several hundred labourers\nmarched through Powell Street to\ndemonstrate their hostility against\nthe Japanese. On the whole, these\nmen were orderly and apparently had\nno intention to resort to violence. But\nsome of them, under influence of liquor, uttered vile epithets and attacked some Japanese, and broke the\nwindows of a few Japanese stores.\nThe Japanese readily accepted the\nchallenge, and the scene that followed\nwas one of violence and disorder.\nWhen the scuffle ended several men\nof each group were seriously wounded.\nAlarmed by this outbreak, the Dominion authorities sent special com-\nmissoners to Japan to negotiate an\nagreement for the restriction of Japanese immigration. The result was\nan exclusion agreement much of the\nsame nature as that between Japan\nand the United States. Before 1907\nJapanese immigration to Canada was 196\nTHE CANADIAN MAGAZINE\nnot very large. In 1904 there were\nonly 354 immigrants, in 1905 1,922,\nand in 1906 2,042. In 1907, as we\nhave already noted, the figures suddenly increased to 7,601. Then came\nthe immigration convention, as the\nresult of which Japanese immigration\nsuddenly declined to 495. In 1909 it\ncontinued to decline, the figures for\nthe year being 271. In 1910 there\nwrere 437 Japanese immigrants, and\nin 1911, 765. It must be borne in\nmind that the majority of Japanese\nimmigrants now seeking Canadian\nshores are not fresh immigrants, but\nthose who were in Canada before and\nare coming back to resume their residence or business there. In the following table we observe that Japanese immigration since the conclusion\nof the \"gentleman's agreement\" is\nmuch smaller than Chinese immigration:\nYear. Japanese. Chinese.\n1908-1909 495 1,887\n1909-1910 271 2,156\n1910-1911 437 5,278\n1911-1912 765 6,247\nNot only has \"White Canada\"\nerected a barrier against the Chinese\nand Japanese, but it is even more\nstrictly excluding the Hindus, who\nare, like the Canadians themselves, the\nsubjects of His Britannic Majesty.\nUp to 1905 Hindu immigration to\nCanada was a negligible quantity, but\nin the year following there are 2,124\nimmigrants from East India, and in\n1907, 2,623. Then Canada took immediate steps to check the further influx of Hindus, as the result of which\nthere were only six immigrants in\n1908. Since that year the figures\nhave remained almost stationary, the\nnumber for 1911 being only three.\nThe treatment accorded the Hindus\nin Canada is much the same as that\ngiven them in the United States. This\nis undoubtedly due to the fact that\nthe East Indians are in their religious\npractices, customs, and appearance,\nfar more exotic than the Japanese,\nand even the Chinese. Even as the\nChinese used to regard the queue as\nthe inalienable appendange to the\nhead, so the Hindu clings to the turban almost with reverence, and is furthermore wedded to peculiar ideas\nand habits born of the religious conceptions and practices of his native\ncountry. Such ideas and habits, when\nbetter understood, may be found\nharmless and unobjectionable, but as\nyet they are a puzzle to the Occidentals, and in consequence the cause of\naversion and repugnance. In the\nUnited States, and especially on the\nPacific Coast, I saw Hindu immigrants, unable to secure a lodging,\nsleep in deserted, ramshackle buildings and unoccupied barns. It is\nprobably much the same story in British Columbia.\nIn Canada the Hindus are not only\nrefused the franchise, but are forbidden to bring their wives or children\nwith them and establish family relations. At one time the Canadian\nGovernment went so far as to form a\nscheme for the wholesale deportation\nof East Indians to Honduras. The\nscheme was not carried out, as the\nHindus refused to go, but the Parliament at Ottawa adopted in 1911 an\nimmigration law providing a clause\nwhich made it virtually impossible\nfor the Hindus to enter the Dominion. That clause provides that no immigrants \"who have come to Canada\notherwise than by continuous journey\nfrom the country of which they are\nnatives or citizens, and upon through\ntickets purchased in that country or\nprepaid in Canada\" shall be admitted. Innocent on the face of it, the\nclause is to all intents and purposes\ndirected against the Hindus, who consider it \u00E2\u0080\u00A2' cruel, vexatious and tricky.''\nTo understand the Hindu point of\nview one need only recall that there\nis no direct steamship service between Canada and East India, and\nthat no steamship companies in India\nwill issue through tickets to Canada.\nThis discriminatory measure has been\nthe cause of bitter complaint on the\npart of the Hindus. \"The Canadian\nImmigration Law,\" says a Hindu\no\n0 WHITE CANADA\n197\nwriter, \"has laid a clearly defined\nline between His Majesty's subjects\nof Canada and that of India, in the\nface of the bold and clear proclamation of our late Queen Victoria. It\nis a puzzling riddle to be solved that\nin India we are British subjects, in\nEngland we are British subjects, but\nin Canada, to legalize our British\ncitizenship right, we have to secure\nanother deed to that effect.\"\nCanada is \"white.\" Oriental immigration as compared with that\nfrom Europe is insignificant. In the\nfiscal year 1911-1912 immigrants to\nCanada totalled 354,237, of whom\nonly 1,845 were Orientals\u00E2\u0080\u00946,247 Chinese, 765 Japanese, and three Hindus.\nAnd yet there are plenty .of alarmists\ntrying to conjure up the phantom of\nan Oriental domination. Through the\nactivities of such alarmists various\nanti-Oriental bills have been occasionally introduced in the Legislature,\nboth Dominion and Provincial. Some\nof such bills are no doubt put forward for the purpose of wooing the\nlabour vote and need not be taken at\ntheir face value. The Province of\nSaskatchewan, for instance, adopted\ntwo years ago a law prohibiting the\nOrientals, keeping stores and amusement places, from employing white\nwomen.\nAnd yet when I was travelling in that Province last year I\ncame across in the City of Moose Jaw\ntwo Japanese young men operating a\nprosperous restaurant where all waitresses were Canadians of English or\nFrench descent. I found the establishment one of the best restaurants\nin the city, and patronized by the\nleading business men and the best\nclasses of residents. The city authorities were fully informed of the\nenactment of the new law with regard\nto the employment of white women\nby Orientals, but they could see no\nsense in applying such a law to a respectable Japanese restaurant. Its\nproprietors, educated, intelligent\nmen, were themselves married to\nCanadian women of respectable families, and were among the best citizens of the city. Why molest their\nlegitimate business simply because\nsome politicians wanted to curry favour with a radical segment of the\nlabouring class? So these Japanese\nwere permitted to conduct their restaurant as if the employment law had\nnever been passed. Yet the existence\nof such a law was highly repugnant\nto the Japanese, and it was but natural that the Japanese Consul at\nVancouver requested the authorities\nof Saskatchewan to exempt the Japanese from the scope of this law. The\nProvincial Government graciously responded to the request, and the Japanese merchants and business men are\nno longer subject to that discriminatory law. So far as other Oriental\npeoples are concerned, that law still\nremains valid.\nThe story of the Japanese restaurant-keepers in Moose Jaw is but one\nof many instances of the fact that the\nJapanese are possessed of essential\nqualities to make good citizens. A few\nyears ago these Japanese donated\n$500 to the Young Men's Christian\nAssociation of Moose Jaw, and find\nstaunchest supporters among the religious workers of the city. In Vancouver and Victoria there are a number of public-spirited, intelligent Japanese, who should be allowed, as\ntheir brothers in other parts of Canada, to exercise the voting privilege,\nas do other Canadian citizens.\nThe principle represented by the\ncatchword \"White Canada\" is not\nnecessarily a wrong one, but Canada\nwould do well to reflect that all\n\"whites\" are not \"good whites.\"\nMoreover, while Canada is admitting\nthe Chinese by the thousand, it is barring out the subjects of the most advanced and enlightened country in\nthe Orient, an allay of the British Empire. Again, in the fiscal year 1911-\n1912, Canada admitted South and\nEastern European immigrants as follows: 198\nTHE CANADIAN MAGAZINE\nBulgarians 3,295\nHebrews 5,322\nPoles 5,060\nRussians 9,805\nTurks 632\nGreeks 693\nItalians 7,590\nRoumanians 793\nServians 209\nSyrians 144\nIn the United States many authorities on the immigration question are\nbeginning to realize the danger of admitting without restriction immigrants of the races represented in the\nabove .table. If Canada's enormous\nnatural resources cannot be developed\nwithout recourse to immigrants it\nwould seem the part of wisdom on\nher part to conceive her laws so as to\nreceive only desirable immigrants,\nboth from Europe and Asia.\nIt is much to be hoped that Canada and the British Empire will not\npermit the shibboleth of \"White Canada\" to be exploited by those pseudo-\npublicists and self-styled patriots who\nhave their own axes to grind. It is\njust such publicists and patriots who\nconstantly raise the hysterical cry of\n\"Japanese domination.\" They say\nthat the Japanese have placed in their\npolitical programme \"the occupation\nof British Columbia,\" when in reality, Japanese immigrants are merely\npeace-loving, law-abiding, unobtrusive souls, desirous only of improving\ntheir lot in life in this new world of\nopportunity. They say that the Ja\npanese have \"settled down in British Columbia in solid phalanxes of\n10,000 or more at a time and place,\"\nwhen the entire Japanese population\nin Canada does not exceed 14,000, of\nwhom less than 4,000 are in Vancouver.\nAll such alarmist notes are sounded\nchiefly, if not merely, for the purpose\nof creating a powerful Pacific fleet of\nwarships for the Dominion. One can\nwell understand why so many of the\npoliticians of British Columbia are\neager to conjure up the bogey of Japanese domination, when one recalls\nthat men-of-war are far more liberal\ncustomers of coast-wise cities even\nthan men-of-commerce.\nTo indicate the extent of patronage\nwhich a naval fleet bestows upon a\nseaport city, let me cite the case of\nSan Francisco. In 1912 $5,000,000\nwras expended in the City of the Golden Gate by the Commissary for Supplies. In the fiscal year 1913 the expenditure increased to $8,000,000. As\na writer in a recent military journal\nstates, '' ninety cents out of every dollar of this not inconsiderable sum will\nswell the bank accounts of San Francisco merchants, civilians, mechanics,\nlabourers, and others to wThom the\nUnited States pays living expenses.\"\nIs it any wonder that Vancouver\ncraves \"defence\"? It wants to see\nDreadnoughts frequent its harbour\nnot because of any fear of Oriental\ninvasion, but because the navy is notoriously \"a good spender.\"\nO"@en . "Caption title. Detached from: Canadian magzine. Dec. 1913"@en . "Miscellaneous Documents"@en . "SPAM5672"@en . "10.14288/1.0056361"@en . "English"@en . "Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library"@en . "[Toronto] : [Canadian Magazines Ltd.]"@en . "Rare Books and Special Collections"@en . "These images are provided for research and reference use only. Written permission to publish, copy or otherwise use these images must be obtained from Rare Books & Special Collections http://www.library.ubc.ca/spcoll/"@en . "University of British Columbia. Library. Rare Books and Special Collections. SPAM5672"@en . "Japanese--British Columbia"@en . "British Columbia--Race relations"@en . "White Canada : a Japanese view of Canada's oriental problem"@en . "Text"@en . ""@en .