Chinaman Being Displaced

Japanese Labor at Fish Canneries Now Said to Be Preferable

The Chinaman is gradually being displaced at the canneries by new and improved machinery and by Jap and white labor, says the Pacific Fisherman for June. This is becoming more and more evident every year. The number of Chinamen is becoming less and less every year. Stringent operation of the exclusion laws has prohibited any more Chinamen from coming to this country, and as there are very few Chinese women in this country the number of able-bodied men is becoming less every year. This is becoming very noticeable around the canneries. Chinamen who were in their prime when the exclusion laws were passed are getting old and the younger Chinamen are taking their places, and it looks as if it will only be a matter of a few years before expert Chinese labor will be very scarce. A prominent canneryman in speaking of the matter a few days ago said:

"Gradually Chinese labor has been diminished for several years, until at present there is more difficulty experienced in securing sufficient help than at any previous time. One of the big canneries on the Columbia River endeavored to use white labor alone last year, but found it impossible to employ as many persons as were required for the operation of the plant, and finally succeeded in getting Chinese. But the scarcity of the labor is opening a new field of profitable employment for boys and women. This is the best class of labor to be had, because of the extreme care exercised by white labor in cleaning and handling the fish. There has been a scarcity of white labor because people do not understand that the work is really not disagreeable and pays quite well.

"Cannery employment certainly seems to offer the most promising opportunity to youths and women for employment, quite as healthful and in most respects as desirable as the field work done by the same sort of workers in the sugar beet fields. While considerable Japanese labor has been employed recently, there is a preference for white men, women and boys about the plants that is influential in making sentiment favorable to paying prices for the more desirable class of workmen."