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