PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 455 
but at the same time it may affect its direction. Certainly it introduces many 
fresh problems; and sometimes these are very difficult problems. Taken as a 
whole, it leads to a very rapid or sudden development, an aspect of peculiar 
importance where what we call native races are concerned. Quite apart from 
certain evils often associated with such alien intrusion or dominance, and apart 
too from the shock occasioned by the introduction of foreign standards and 
customs alongside of or in substitution for old usages, such people often have 
manifested an inability to stand the mere pace of modern progress. Even when 
we come to white races, the results of the rapid progress which occurs when 
natural resources are rich are open to adverse criticism. Again, it may lead to 
too great a concentration on particular methods of production and particular 
occupations, to the exclusion it may be of other methods and occupations which 
ultimately may be more advantageous. Again, stable customs and social ties 
are more difficult to form when industrial development is hurried. In addition 
to these, other special difficulties manifest themselves in the respective cases 
of alien capital and alien labour in new countries. So far as capital is concerned, 
the case varies according as the introduction of foreign capital is or is not accom- 
panied by the introduction of those who control the employment of the capital, 
and so the industries in which such capital is used. Even when alone an interest 
on the part of outside nations is often awakened which is not wholly healthy, 
extending sometimes to attempted political influence, though this, it should 
he said, is not of frequent occurrence except in the case of countries largely 
native or semi-native or occupying a very backward position in the scale of 
civilisation. Sometimes, too, it may occasion the premature exhaustion of 
particular sources of wealth, or at any rate rather in the interests of foreign 
capitalists than of the inhabitants themselves. But in the case of the more 
backward countries, and especially of countries where climatic conditions preclude 
a white population occupied in manual work, it has usually meant the intro- 
duction of a class, controlling capital and organising industry, and yet entirely 
alien to the main body of inhabitants. Such a situation undoubtedly imposes 
a great responsibility on those in whose hands lies the social and political govern- 
ment of ie country, a responsibility still greater when the organising class 
does not settle down, but comes and goes in a_ bewildering proces- 
sion. British India and the Dutch Indies furnish illustrations; and, to some 
extent, the effect of such a tendency is to be perceived in certain parts of South 
America. Nor is the immigration of labour from other countries Jess complex 
or less potent in its results. Such labour comes from many sources and varies 
ereatly in kind. A clear distinction, however, must be drawn between white 
labour not essentially different from the existing white population and 
more or less skilled or otherwise adapted to good manual work, and, on the other 
hand, labour of a lower type, often racially distinct and in some cases brought in 
owing to its climatic suitability. So far as the former is concerned, immigration 
as a rule is attended with few difficulties other than those of a simple economic 
character and more or less temporary in their nature. A ready means of stimu- 
lating industrial development is provided, and the country is supplied with 
skilled adults without the cost of education and upbringing. But the results of 
immigration of the second type of labour are less simple. The general question 
of immigration, indeed, may be looked at from three points of view. From 
the aspect of economic employment, immigration often involves immediate com- 
petition with the labour already in the country or coming forward with the 
normal increase in the population. But in a new and progressive country with 
many openings for new developments such competition is seldom harmful. In 
the long run the labour creates its own field of employment and contributes 
towards the general progress. At times, it is true, the supply may be in excess of 
the demand, and any particular kind of labour may continue to stream in long 
after the need for it has ceased. But this can be remedied best by the wider 
diffusion of accurate knowledge as to the conditions and necessities of the place 
in question. Positive restriction, if attempted, may do harm by obstructing 
supplies of labour when needed in the future. When, however, economic 
standards of living are considered, the kind or type of labour in question is all- 
important. Ordinary white labour entering a country already peopled with white 
men offers little difficulty. But nearly all nations have encountered difficulties - 
