BRITISH COLUMBIA, PROVINCE OF. 



91 



general manager of Le Roi and other mines, made 

 the following statement: "One thousand two 

 hundred men are working peacefully on this hill. 

 Less than half of their number are members of 

 the union. The wages paid average over $4.25 

 for miners and are $2.50 for common labor. The 

 pay-roll average for all our wage employees is 

 $3.55, which is a higher average than in other 

 mining districts of the West. The eight-hour law 

 for all underground men has been accepted by 

 these companies without any attempt to lower 

 wages. On the contrary, these have been volun- 

 tarily largely increased throughout the schedule 

 for miners and various classes of labor, with the 

 single exception of common labor, which was 

 maintained at the figure which has always pre- 

 vailed." 



But 258 men had called out 700 union members 

 and affected 600 other men engaged in the mines. 

 The Board of Trade at Rossland, British Colum- 

 bia, declared the strike illegitimate. The Car- 

 penters' and Joiners' Union also went out, and 

 the various organizations formulated their de- 

 mands to Mr. MacDonald. He referred them to 

 the London directors of his mines, and replied 

 finally that they could not be granted. Toward 

 the end of September, after the mines had been 

 closed down more than two months, the strike 

 was settled on a basis very similar to that of 

 April. 



Transportation. When the Premier and Mr. 

 Eberts visited Ottawa, early in the year, they 

 asked the Dominion authorities, in view of the 

 contributions of British Columbia to the Federal 

 exchequer, to assist certain railway enterprises 

 in the province at a ratio of two thirds to one 

 third. Otherwise, owing to overlapping jurisdic- 

 tion and the peculiarly heavy requirements of the 

 province, it was contended that proper progress 

 would be impossible. The following lines were 

 strongly recommended for immediate cooperation: 

 From Midway, in the Boundary Creek district, 

 to the coast, at some point south of the Fraser 

 river, having a ferry connection with Vancouver 

 island. From the present terminus of the Esqui- 

 malt and Nanaimo Railway to some point on the 

 north end of Vancouver island. From some point 

 on the British Columbia seaboard, say at Kiti- 

 maat, to some point on the northern boundary of 

 the province, to form part of an all-Canadian line 

 to the Yukon. 



" Throughout the center of British Columbia," 

 Mr. Dunsmuir said, " extends a great and com- 

 paratively level plateau, admirably adapted for 

 a trunk line of railway, from which would ulti- 

 mately radiate branch lines to the coast through 

 easy passes, everywhere tapping localities capable 

 of remarkable development and of creating im- 

 mense traffic a wonderful natural system of com- 

 munication, of which a parallel is not presented 

 in any other province of the Dominion." 



Nothing came of this at the time, but, during 

 the session of the Legislature, the Government 

 embodied its railway policy in what was called 

 the loan bill, which authorized the borrowing 

 of $5,000,000 for giving aid to about 1,000 miles of 

 necessary railway. It was new and advanced 

 legislation. It discarded the principle of direct 

 grants or bonuses, and put the matter in the 

 form of a loan repayable at the discretion of the 

 company receiving it, and bearing 2 per cent, in- 

 terest for five years and 3 per cent, thereafter. 

 It secured to the Government control of rates and 

 supervision of contracts, and overcapitalization 

 was one of the evils its terms were pledged to 

 check. The charge upon the revenue for aid given 

 under the act was to be H per cent, for the first 



five years after the subsidy was paid, and \ per 

 cent, thereafter. The measure finally passed on 

 May 12, after prolonged debates in which the great 

 point was the question of competitive lines under 

 American control or Canadian lines under what 

 was declared to be Canadian Pacific Railway con- 

 trol. Other matters complicated the issue, and 

 the Government W r as supposed to stand by the 

 Canadian Pacific Railway, and there the subject 

 rested after the disposal of the loan bill legisla- 

 tion. The passage of the following resolution by 

 the Associated Boards of Trade of Eastern Brit- 

 ish Columbia was one of the important phases of 

 the controversy: 



" Whereas, several applications have been made 

 to the Dominion Parliament and provincial Legis- 

 lature for 'acts incorporating railway companies 

 to build lines of railway into the province of Brit- 

 ish Columbia from the United States; and whereas 

 interested parties are strenuously endeavoring to 

 create the impression that such railways, if con- 

 structed, would be inimical to the mining and 

 smelting interests of this province; and whereas, 

 in furtherance of their designs, the opponents of 

 the competitive railways have proclaimed that 

 those interested in mining and smelting in British 

 Columbia are opposed to the granting of said 

 charters : 



"Therefore be it resolved, that the Associated 

 Boards of Trade of Eastern British Columbia, rep- 

 resenting every town in the metalliferous portion 

 of eastern British Columbia, and every enterprise 

 whose success depends upon the development of 

 its mineral resources, emphatically declare for 

 free trade in railways, and believe that every 

 bona-fide railway company desirous of building 

 railways in the province should be allowed to 

 do so. 



" And be it further resolved, that this associa- 

 tion is strongly of the opinion that cheap freight 

 rates are essential in building up the mining and 

 smelting industries, and, in the absence of Govern- 

 ment ownership of railways, these can be secured 

 only by competition and the control of rates 

 through a railway commission or other effective 

 instrument." 



Oriental Immigration. This question came 

 up for much discussion, and the competition of 

 the Japanese and Chinese was keenly felt. In 

 his appeal to the Dominion Government on Oct. 

 9, 1900, Mr. Dunsmuir declared that " without 

 lowering the general standard of living necessary 

 to meet the decrease in wages, it is not possible 

 for white labor to exist in the face of a system 

 that has grown up under conditions entirely for- 

 eign to Anglo-Saxon communities." The Domin- 

 ion Government had, however, disallowed the 

 provincial legislation of 1900 on the ground of 

 imperial interests being affected by the attempted 

 exclusion of Japanese. They increased the per 

 capita tax from $50 to $100 a head, but this was 

 not considered sufficient ; $500 was asked for, and 

 the laboring interests of the province steadily re- 

 fused to separate the Japanese from the Chinese 

 in any proposed legislation. The latter the Do- 

 minion authorities were reasonably willing to deal 

 with as requested. It was pointed out that these 

 alien workers numbered 15.000 in a population of 

 150,000 and were steadily increasing, while trouble 

 arose, not only in labor circles over competition 

 in the salmon canneries and the mines, but in 

 politics, through the naturalization in 1900 of 

 1,166 Japanese and Chinese. On March 13 an 

 Oriental Labor Commission, appointed by the 

 Dominion Government and composed of Messrs. 

 R. C. Clute, K. C., Christopher Foley, D..J. Munn, 

 and F. J. Deane, met in Victoria, and thereafter 



