WAGES, EDUCATION, AND THE JINGO 175 



possess small or moderate means, is not a 

 factor in the ever-increasing wail concerning 

 want of work. Theorists, and others of that 

 ilk, may throw scorn on the insinuation ; but 

 numbers of private families, as well in Cali- 

 fornia as in New Mexico, would, if questioned, 

 give this as their principal reason for dis- 

 pensing with hired help. Those able to 

 pay the wages demanded prefer Chinese or 

 Japanese labour both in house and grove, 

 for reasons best set forth in the words of an 

 employer of both : * When I put a Chinaman 

 or a Japanese in my house, for the high 

 wages he demands he gives full value, more 

 or less. He goes about his work steadily, 

 not fancying much interference, I allow, but, 

 on the other hand, seldom requiring much. 

 When I put him into my orange-grove, he 

 comes early and stays late, obeying the direc- 

 tions given him about the picking, and never 

 shirking or cheating. Of the average white 

 labourer, the exact contrary would have to 

 be said. Yet the latter boycott and in every 

 way outrage and abuse the Chinaman or 

 Japanese, while declining to provide labour 

 as satisfactory. Our reason for preferring 



