So far as contracts were concerned, such as they had, entitled the Canadian Nippon
Supply Company to act as sole agents for the supply of labour to the companies with
which the agreements had been effected, the door being thus effectively barrred against



26 ORIENTAL IMMIGRATION COMMISSION

all possible competitors. Through a unique arrangement whereby the Canadian Nippon
Supply Company agreed to pay a commission of $1 per head to labourers supplied by
Japanese employment agencies in Vancouver, and to insert advertisements at its own
expense in the name of four of these companies, whenever there was a special demand,
the jealousy of the Boarding House Keepers' Union and other rival agencies was
averted, and their attention withdrawn from the manner in which the supply of
Japanese labour in the city was being augmented through the secret manoeuvres of thL
large concern. On the other hand, in Japan, the Tokyo Emigration Company, with
whom the Canadian Nippon Supply Company had concluded an arrangement for the
sending out of Japanese to Canada, was able to silence the activities of the five other
largest Japanese emigration companies by representing that any serious competition
between the several companies in Canada would probably lead to public exposure and
criticism of their plans of operation, and destroy the opportunity which all held in
common. This company, moreover, represented to its rivals that the Canadian Nippon
Company with which it was connected was aU powerful in the matter of obtaining the
most important contracts, and it was tacitls^ agreed that in the event of the other
companies remaining silent, a division between the several companies would be made
of any contract which the Canadian Nippon Supply Company might, be able to secure
for the employment of labourers in connection with the construction of the Grand
Trunk Pacific Railway.
