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ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
By Kiyoshi K. Kawakami, M.A. 
 
 AMERICAN-JAPANESE RELATIONS 
 
 An Inside View of Japan's Policies and Purposes. 
 
 Net $2.00. 
 
 "Mr. Kawakami treats of these questions 
 with vigor, clearness and judicial breadth of 
 view. ... The book is the ablest and most 
 exhaustive on the theme. . . . The author 
 threshes out facts concerning Japanese im- 
 migration, coming to the same conclusion that 
 scientific inquirers, the best business men and 
 the statesmen, whose eyes are not on votes, 
 have long held. . . . Mr. Kawakami's argu- 
 ments are sound because based on everlasting 
 righteousness and common sense." — New York 
 Times, 
 
 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 A Study of the Japanese Question in Continental 
 United States, Hawaii and Canada, Net $1.50. 
 
 ff^iih a Prologtie by Doremus Scudder and an 
 Epilogiu by Hamilton W. Mabie. 
 
 In this new book the author gives a graph- 
 ical account of Japanese life in contact with 
 Caucasian, as well as vivid descriptions of 
 his personal experiences and observations thus 
 injecting intense human interest into a seri- 
 ous discussion of a vital problem confront- 
 ing the Occident in general, and in particu- 
 lar the American people. He presents his 
 facts in a lucid, fascinating style. In a 
 sense the book is an interpretation of the 
 Orient to the Occident, and a plea for the 
 fraternity of the races and for international 
 peace based upon justice and humanity. 
 
. ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 A Study of the Japanese Question in Continental 
 United States ^ Hawaii and Canada 
 
 BY 
 
 KIYOSHI K. KAWAKAMI %^ 
 
 I ■ 
 
 Author of "American-Japanese Relations " 
 
 WITH A PROLOGUE BY 
 
 DOREMUS SCUDDER 
 
 AND AN EPILOGUE BY 
 
 HAMILTON W. MABIE 
 
 New York Chicago Toronto 
 
 Fleming H, Revell Company 
 
 London and Edinburgh 
 
Copyright, 1914, by 
 FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY 
 
 New York: 158 Fifth Avenue 
 Chicago: 125 N. Wabash Ave. 
 Toronto: 25 Richmond St., W. 
 London: 21 Paternoster Square 
 Edinburgh: 100 Princes Street 
 
TO 
 
 282217 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Prologue by Doremus Scudder . 
 
 I. The Meeting of Two Worlds 
 II. Mutual Disillusionment 
 
 III. Can We Americanize Them? 
 
 IV. Can We Americanize Them? — II . 
 V. Their Humble Achievements 
 
 VI. " They Are Taking Our Farms ! " . 
 
 VII. The Japanese in Our Cities . 
 
 VIII. "Hewers of Wood and Drawers 
 
 Water" 
 
 IX. California and the Japanese 
 
 X. The California Land Imbroglio . 
 
 XI. In the Melting Pot of the Races . 
 
 XII. " They Have Usurped Hawaii " . 
 
 XIII. The Japanese in Hawaii 
 
 XIV. The Japanese in Canada 
 XV. "White Canada" 
 
 Epilogue by Hamilton W. Mabie . 
 
ACKNOWLEDGMENT 
 
 Acknowledgment is due to the editors of The Forums The 
 American Citizen, and The Canadian Magazine, for permission 
 to incorporate in this volume the articles contributed to those 
 publications. I am also indebted to The Outlook for permission 
 to use as an epilogue to this book Mr. Hamilton W. Mabie's 
 article on " America and the Far East," appearing in its issue of 
 August 2, 1913. 
 
 It gives me great pleasure to state that the encouragement and 
 co-operation of my friend, Mr. Frank Putnam, of the St. Louis 
 Post-Dispatch, as well as the sympathy of my wife for the 
 cause for which I am labouring, has been largely responsible for 
 the preparation of this humble book. 
 
 K. K. K. 
 
 New York. 
 
PROLOGUE 
 OUR NATION'S DUTY TO JAPAN 
 
 NO other nation stands so close to the Japan of to- 
 day as America. One reason for this is the funda- 
 mental cosmopolitanism of both. Fundamental 
 because racial elements are fundamental and both the 
 American and the Japanese are racial mixtures.' In Japan 
 three great human stocks are blended, the Malayan, the 
 Mongolian, and the Aryan. Our own blend is more dis- 
 crete perhaps in that there are more blood strains repre- 
 sented, yet also more homogeneous because the Aryan 
 stock so largely predominates. Thus on either side of the 
 Pacific we have the two most composite peoples facing 
 each other. Because most composite, therefore most 
 largely human and as a consequence more vitally related. 
 Another reason for the natural intimacy of these two 
 great peoples exists in their love of peace. Since the 
 United States became an independent nation it has had 
 three foreign wars, and all of them of minor nature, 
 though of large importance in their outcome. These wars 
 were forced upon us and were not of our choosing. We 
 have been the great arbitrating world-power. Our situa- 
 tion, our traditions, and our line of development make 
 for peace. 
 
 Peace-Loving Japan 
 
 Japan's history also has been remarkably pacific. Since 
 the emergence of the nation upon the arena of Eastern 
 
 7 
 
8 ' ' ' PROLOGUE 
 
 Asiatic history its foreign wars have been almost neg- 
 ligibly few. Way back in the third century of our era 
 Korea was subdued by the Japanese, who later were ex- 
 pelled. In the thirteenth century a Mongolian invasion, 
 the only occasion when Japanese soil was violated by for- 
 eign foes, was beaten back. Though Japanese freebooters 
 ravaged Asiatic commerce, no further war occurred un- 
 til the sixteenth century, when Hideyoshi conquered 
 Korea a second time. Then from 1624 until 1853, when 
 Commodore Perry landed, Japan kept herself absolutely 
 free from all foreign intercourse, except with the Dutch 
 in the harbour of Nagasaki. In 1894 and again in 
 1904 Japan was forced into war, first by China and then 
 by Russia. So much for external relations, how about 
 domestic history ? Ages of bloody conflicts, first between 
 the Japanese and the aboriginal peoples, next between 
 rival clans, marked the story of the development of 
 Japan's feudal system, but from 1600 until 1868, when 
 the Emperor was restored to power, the nation enjoyed 
 internally nearly three centuries of profound peace. 
 There is in the history of mankind no brighter narrative 
 of tranquillity than this in connection with a people of 
 abounding virility and enterprise. Japan's record is be- 
 yond question not that of a war-loving nation. This race 
 certainly resembles our own in devotion to peace. 
 
 Young World Power Aided 
 
 A third reason for deep friendship between these 
 neighbours lies in America's great services to Japan. 
 In 1854 Commodore Perry returned to Yokohama on his 
 second visit and opened the country to intercourse with 
 the world. Our nation followed up this kindly office by 
 showing every possible consideration to the new-born 
 child in the family of Powers. We sent as our repre- 
 
PROLOGUE 9 
 
 sentatives the noblest we had — men like Townsend Har- 
 ris and John A. Bingham. They dealt justly. We re- 
 turned the Shimonoseki indemnity. We negotiated fair 
 treaties and stood with Japan against all Europe in sup- 
 port of her demand to be relieved from the injustice of 
 extra-territoriality. We opened our schools and col- 
 leges freely to her young men and treated them like 
 brothers. We poured our missionaries unstintedly into 
 her cities and lavished large sums in establishing all 
 manner of educational institutions. No step of the young 
 giant toward adulthood among world Powers was un- 
 greeted by the encouraging plaudits of America. In the 
 dark day of war with Russia we were her nearest friend 
 and our President helped more than any other single 
 force in securing the brilliant settlement. Up to the 
 conclusion of that peace not a cloud had darkened the 
 intimate, noble, and unselfish friendship of these two 
 great peoples. 
 
 "A Nations Gratitude 
 
 And Japan appreciated it. No such ardent gratitude 
 has ever gripped the very heart and life of a nation as 
 love for America has the soul of Japan. Whatever Eu- 
 rope might do in its selfish schemes, America could be 
 depended upon to be both fair and kind. The belief of 
 this people in us has been one of the ideal things in 
 the realm of international relationships, unique in human 
 history. Its depth was reflected a few years ago by Ad- 
 miral Togo in a speech made in one of the Pacific Coast 
 cities, where he exclaimed that his nation would sooner 
 commit harakiri than fight America. That is a senti- 
 ment which only one acquainted with Japanese hon- 
 our can understand. It belongs to the realm of the 
 Cross. 
 
10 PROLOGUE 
 
 Sinister Interests 
 
 But with the conclusion of the Peace of Portsmouth, 
 America began to change. It is now openly charged that 
 this change has been deliberately engineered by commer- 
 f cial interests which would profit by war — those terribly 
 I sinister interests that throughout the European world 
 ; also are goading the nations on to ever larger arma- 
 \ ments. This charge seems plausible. It is the only ex- 
 V planation that adequately accounts for the strange 
 growth of suspicion in America during the past eight 
 years. Events have followed fast. First came, seem- 
 ingly from nowhere, the suggestion that Japan was sure 
 to menace America and that a war was inevitable. Next 
 the California school excitement, a press-fanned blaze, 
 scorched both nations. 
 
 Peace Dove Versus Battleships 
 
 Here President Roosevelt faced the greatest moment 
 in his career. As a threat to coerce California, he de- 
 clared that he would champion a measure admitting 
 Japanese to the privilege of naturalization upon equal 
 terms with Europeans. Whatever be the opinions of our 
 fellow-citizens concerning Colonel Roosevelt, on one thing 
 all must agree, that he has rare political vision. He saw 
 with unerring insight the one inevitable solution of the 
 difficult and delicate situation between the two nations. 
 Japan with admirable patience had borne the unjust and 
 irritating implications that our law, making her people 
 ineligible to American citizenship, carries. Her states- 
 • men refused to raise the question, trusting to the Chris- 
 tian character of our people as certain to right the wrong 
 some time. But the injustice was there and its sting was 
 felt, though borne in the spirit of the friendship that ani- 
 
PROLOGUE n 
 
 mated the nation. It was the one seed of possible dis- 
 cord between the two peoples, and President Roosevelt 
 knew it. He also knew both that its removal would ce- 
 ment the two great Pacific powers as no other one thing 
 could and that the opening of the privilege of citizenship 
 to Japanese would forever end the troublesome California 
 question. A stroke of world statesmanship of the high- 
 est order lay in his power. If he had dealt it, he would 
 have won a name in Asia that would never have been 
 dimmed. It was the greatest miss of a great career in 
 the history of our country. But instead of this dove 
 of peace he sent a battleship fleet, and Japan responded 
 by expending a million dollars in friendly welcome. Will 
 Mr. Bryan grasp the like opportunity? 
 
 We need not review the occurrences of the past few 
 years nor the present anti- Japanese-Pacific Coast legis- 
 lation which have so complicated the situation. That 
 which faces us on Peace Sunday as a Christian people 
 is a single question, What is our nation's duty to Japan ? 
 
 An Old Story 
 
 In striving to answer this question we must remember 
 that we confront a situation demanding fair considera- 
 tion. The people of California have something to urge 
 upon their own side. Many of the Japanese who go there 
 act in a manner of which their countrymen are heartily 
 ashamed, exactly as numbers of our own fellow-citizens 
 have done in Asiatic ports. They are without doubt a 
 somewhat disturbing factor in labour circles, though by 
 no means so largely as popular clamour would have us 
 believe. Unquestionably some of them have squeezed em- 
 ployers when they could, and have depreciated property 
 by moving next to it. So have the Jews in many a city. 
 In fact, the arguments used by Californians sound 
 
12 PROLOGUE 
 
 strangely like pleas I have heard in Eastern States against 
 Greeks, Syrians, Italians, Bohemians, Hungarians, and 
 other strangers. The trouble is that California has had 
 little experience with masses of down-and-out Europeans, 
 and when faced with the foreigner problem is able to 
 make her grumblings tell for the simple reason that the 
 nation has treated the Asiatic unjustly in denying him 
 the means to refute all these charges by growing into 
 a fine public-spirited American citizen. Look at Massa- 
 chusetts with thousands of acres of her valleys and up- 
 lands owned by people with unpronounceable European 
 names, whose habits are dirt plus industry. These peo- 
 ple, however, can become citizens and in a few years by 
 proving their honest Americanism not only knock hostile 
 argument to flinders, but win the friendship of their 
 former detractors. 
 
 Three Articles of Faith 
 
 Then, too, many Californians really believe three 
 things about Japanese : First, that they will never become 
 Americans if given the chance; second, that if any of 
 them should become naturalized, they are so patriotic 
 that they never would be loyal to their new government, 
 but in an emergency would turn traitors ; and third, that 
 they are utterly unassimilable and must always remain 
 un-American. 
 
 Mark, these are all a priori arguments. They exist, 
 like old-fashioned theological dogmas, only in the mind. 
 There is not one scintilla of evidence to back them up. 
 To say to a hungry-eyed boy, " You won't eat this choco- 
 late cream if I give it to you," and then go on munch- 
 ing it yourself is poor logic. Try the Japanese with the 
 privilege of naturalization and see whether he will take 
 it. In some communities more liberal than California 
 
PROLOGUE 13 
 
 here and there a Japanese has been naturalized. I know 
 of cases where Japanese would give anything to become 
 Americans, because they have fully identified themselves 
 with the country. So far as experience goes, this first 
 plea, that Japanese will under no circumstances consent 
 to American citizenship, is untrue. 
 
 "Japanese! Become Americans" 
 
 As for the second argument, listen to the delegate of 
 the National Party sent to investigate conditions in Cali- 
 fornia, Hon. A. Hattori, who passed through Honolulu. 
 Advising his countrymen in Hawaii to secure American 
 citizenship if possible, he said : " Some Japanese think this 
 would be disloyalty to Japan and that they would sacri- 
 fice their national individuality by becoming American 
 citizens. On the contrary, they would enlarge their na- 
 tional individuality, becoming in effect world citizens. 
 This need not interfere with loyalty to one's mother 
 country. Mr. Carnegie in becoming an American citizen 
 does not lose his loyalty to Scotland. Did he not give 
 to Scotland the most magnificent of all the libraries he 
 has endowed ? Indeed, by loyalty to his mother country 
 does not a man prove his Witness for citizenship in a new 
 country? But in case of war, what? What would be 
 the duty of a loyal Japanese in case of war between 
 America and Japan? Let me answer this by an illustra- 
 tion from our own history. The retainer of a Daimyo 
 became the adopted son of the Daimyo of another prov- 
 ince by marrying into his family, and according to custom 
 assumed allegiance to the new lord. Later on war arose 
 between the two clans.. The young Samurai was in a 
 quandary. How could he take up arms against his for- 
 mer lord ? How fight his own father ? Yet, on the other 
 hand, how could he be untrue to his new lord ? He fought 
 
H PROLOGUE 
 
 it out thus : ' To be untrue to my new lord would be an 
 act of treachery unworthy of the respect and name of 
 my former master. I will fight for my present chief and 
 by my valour add to the glory of the Daimyo who trained 
 me in the principles of the samurai.' Japan has ever ap- 
 plauded that hero as true to the spirit of Bushido." 
 
 That was a splendid refutation,* here in Honolulu, of 
 this baseless charge against Japanese honour, that we 
 cannot trust the loyalty of any of these people who decide 
 to become American citizens. Those of us who have 
 proved the mettle of that honour know how false to 
 Yamato-damashii, the spirit of Japan, any such argu- 
 ment is. 
 
 As for assimilability, we who have lived in the Eastern 
 States have heard this worn-out plea with reference to 
 almost every South European nationality. The Japanese 
 is just as human as any other kind of man and after 
 years of study of him I will back him for adaptability 
 to conditions and for harmonious response to environ- 
 ment against any racial specimen of genus homo pro- 
 ducible. In my experience his forte par excellence is 
 to land on his feet in any emergency. That he cannot 
 and will not make a good American is all moonshine, 
 and not the Kentucky mountain brand, either. 
 
 ♦This remarkable address of Hon. A. Hattori before a vast 
 throng of enthusiastic Japanese had four main points: first, 
 be loyal to Japan and your Emperor (this point was fully re- 
 ported in the American press : the others were not) ; second, 
 become American citizens if you can; third, by becoming 
 Americans you do not lose but enlarge your national indi- 
 viduality, you become cosmopolitan; fourth, after becoming 
 Americans if war should break forth between the two nations, 
 justify your Japanese nobility of nature by fighting right loyally 
 for your new country against the old. 
 
PROLOGUE IS 
 
 Naturalization the Crux 
 
 It is singular how this entire question revolves about 
 that inevitable privilege of naturalization. Governor 
 Johnson is right enough. The California law is not so 
 much at fault, though the motive for it may be. Other 
 states have a like law. Aliens who will not become citi- 
 zens have no inherent right to own land in a community 
 with which they refuse to amalgamate. The trouble is 
 with the national law that will not let the Eastern Asiatic 
 become a citizen. What right has President Wilson, with 
 a beam in his eye as big as a third of the continent of 
 Asia, to scold Governor Johnson for cherishing a mote 
 the size of a score thousand acres of California land? If "^ 
 the nation is honest in not wanting to make enemies of 
 the two best friends, — ^yes, I think I am entirely within 
 the truth in saying the two best friends we -have, Japan 
 and China, — let it stop treating these two peoples as 
 though they were a different species of human animal 
 from the godlike Caucasian and his black man Friday. 
 
 All this talk of Mongolian descent is laughable. We 
 welcome the Hungarians to citizenship, yet their an- 
 cestors were pure Mongolians, and many of the Russians 
 have far more Mongolian blood than the Japanese. The 
 distinction will not hold water. In this day of human 
 solidarity, when we are learning how intricately races 
 have blended and how truly alike physically and spiritu- 
 ally we all are, it is impossible to draw such lines as Mon- 
 golian or white or black. No supreme court could do 
 it with scientific accuracy, even though its members were 
 the first experts on blood analysis in the world. In fact, 
 the papers tell us that a Hindu has just passed muster 
 as a candidate for American citizenship, though he is as 
 brown or yellow as many a Mongolian, on the score of 
 
l6 PROLOGUE 
 
 his being an Aryan, a white man, with white blood, I 
 suppose. 
 
 The Christian Way Out 
 
 No, the question can be treated by Christian America 
 only in one way. Jesus Christ pointed out the way. 
 " One is your Master, even the Christ, and all ye are 
 brethren." God waited long to demonstrate this truth 
 on a grand scale. He prepared a suitable locus, a broad 
 continent beautiful as Paradise, fertile as Eden, rich as 
 the fabled gardens of the Hesperides. He entrusted it 
 to a handful of pioneers who accepted it in trust for all 
 peoples. Your fathers and mine were numbered in that 
 God-handful. As descendants of such sires, are we will- 
 ing to prove false to that trust or deny the only guaran- 
 tee of human liberty, firm as the Rock of Ages, " One 
 is your Master, even the Christ, and all ye are brethren " ? 
 
 The noblest utterance on this question of Japan and 
 America which I have heard was not spoken by our 
 preacher President Roosevelt, nor our lawyer President 
 Taft, nor our scholar President Wilson. It came from 
 no American prophet. It was uttered by a man whom 
 our grandfathers would have called a heathen. Unpro- 
 fessed disciple of Jesus though he be, I think of him as 
 one of those other sheep whom the Great Shepherd is 
 bringing to that one flock whither we all are tending. 
 Count Okuma, the grand old statesman of Japan. He 
 said in Tokyo lately, calming the excited minds of his 
 countrymen : " Diplomacy or law or statesmanship will 
 not work in this case: the power of Christianity — the 
 teaching of the brotherhood of all men and universal 
 peace — alone will save the threatening situation. Chris- 
 tianity is stronger in America than in any other country 
 and the concerted efforts of the Christian workers here 
 
PROLOGUE 17 
 
 and in America will achieve what we all have at heart." 
 In the face of that appeal re-echoed from myriads of 
 hearts of the noblest men of the Orient, the Church of 
 Jesus Christ in America has only one answer to the 
 question, What is our nation's duty to Japan? It is, 
 apply that word " all men are brethren " to our dealings 
 with the man whom our nation calls Mongolian. Open 
 our privilege of naturalization to him on equal terms 
 with the European. By all means stiffen these terms 
 until they insure the granting of our citizenship to no 
 alien who has not passed a creditable examination in the 
 English language upon American civics, but let them 
 apply impartially to the man of Eastern Asia as to all 
 others. Treat him justly and honourably as a brother and 
 the future of this great ocean will be mirrored in its 
 prophetic and beautiful name, Pacific. 
 
 Rare Hour for Real Men 
 
 And whence should the plea to President and Congress 
 thus to cement the lasting peace and friendship of three 
 great nations arise if not from Hawaii, to whom the 
 Asiatic has meant so much? We have been engaged in 
 an earnest campaign at the nation's capital to save the 
 hard-earned prosperity of scores of years of strenuous 
 endeavour. Good! Let that work go on. Now we are 
 faced with a missionary opportunity of real greatness, an 
 opportunity for exercise of world statesmanship, a chance 
 to utter an unselfish appeal for justice and brotherhood. 
 It will not long be ours. Why not show Washington 
 that we care for some things besides sugar dividends, 
 that we stand for the humanity of those who have helped 
 us swell our fortunes? It is a rare hour for real men. 
 Is it a judgment day for this mid-sea commonwealth? 
 
 DOREMUS SCUDDER. 
 
I 
 
 THE MEETING OF TWO WORLDS 
 
 "Over the gate of the twentieth century shall be written the 
 words: 'This is the way to virtue and to justice and to peace."* 
 
 WHEN Johann Gottlieb Fichte uttered these pro- 
 phetic words the German philosopher was yet 
 upon the threshold of the nineteenth century. 
 Between him and us lies a vast stretch of time, and in 
 the intervening period many momentous events have oc- 
 curred, each contributing its quota to the progress o£ 
 human society, but the new era into which we have 
 entered is yet far from the desired haven, where wrongs 
 are righted and oppressions relieved in accord with jus- 
 tice and humanity. Like the pot of gold at the end of 
 the rainbow, the golden age, the vision of the seers and 
 the hope of the prophets, has persistently eluded the men 
 who have followed it with panting eagerness. Again and 
 again has it flashed its fire of hope, and again and again 
 has that very fire danced the will-o'-the-wisp fantasy 
 of mirth, leaving the weary pursuers helpless and hope- 
 less in the dark. 
 
 The French Revolution terminated the arbitrary rule 
 of the aristocracy and declared all men equal before the 
 law. The abolition of slavery afforded men a truer sense 
 of justice. Schools opened their doors alike to the rich 
 and to the poor. Taxes were imposed upon exalted 
 princes as well as upon humble toilers. Official posi- 
 tions were no longer the monopoly of a privileged few. 
 
 19 
 
20 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 The franchise was extended to the populace, freedom 
 of speech was guaranteed, while the church was forced 
 to surrender the imposition of her dogmas and her arbi- 
 trary authority before the onslaught of reason and lib- 
 erty. It was as if sky and earth, after an Arctic winter, 
 had become suddenly effulgent with a glorious burst of 
 sunshine, and men once again fancied that the world 
 was at last being lifted out of the darkness of oppression 
 and injustice, and transported into the lighted realm of 
 freedom and fraternity. 
 
 Yes, the old political system was gone, taking with 
 it the old social order and much that had inevitably re- 
 sulted from both. And yet the day of salvation had not 
 come. Scarcely had the Western States emerged from 
 the tempests of political revolutions when the cloud of 
 economic unrest began to darken the social horizon. The 
 great inventive geniuses of Europe and America — New- 
 comen and Watt, Hargreaves and Crompton, Kay and 
 Arkwright, Fulton and Whitney — ^had contrived to har- 
 ness the forces of nature, making them the co-workers 
 of mankind in the production of commodities and in the 
 pursuit of commerce. The invention of the spinning 
 jenny, the power-loom weaving, the steam hammer, and 
 the locomotive engine, brought in its train the recon- 
 struction of the industrial system. And the advent of 
 the new system of industry precipitated the war between 
 the bourgeoisie and the proletariat, a social war which 
 is yet being waged in all modernized countries, and to 
 which we know not when the end will come. We have 
 rung out the old day of political oppression, but the day 
 that has dawned upon us is equally full of alarms and 
 fraught with equal dangers. 
 
 Nor is this all. Steam and electricity, having on the 
 one hand revolutionized the system of industry, have on 
 
THE MEETING OF TWO WORLDS 21 
 
 the other inaugurated a new relationship between the 
 Orient and the Occident. The vast expanses of water 
 separating continent from continent were at last spanned 
 by means of cable and steamship. From East and West 
 merchant vessels and warships approached Asia, while 
 railroads and telegraph lines penetrated the solitudes 
 of Siberia. That sense of space which dismayed our fore- 
 fathers no longer baffles us. Thus for the first time in 
 history Asia stood face to face with Europe and Amer- 
 ica. Did they meet each other on terms of good-will 
 and friendship? Was it a helping hand that the strong 
 West extended to the weak East? 
 
 Asia, which had already known something of the 
 modus operandi of the Portuguese and Spanish conquis- 
 tadores, naturally looked askance at the new visitors 
 from Europe and America who came on Leviathan-like 
 warships armed with monstrous guns. Especially were 
 the Japanese sceptical of the Occidentals, because the 
 Dutch, from the selfish motive of monopolizing Japanese 
 trade, had deliberately poisoned the leading minds of 
 Japan by misrepresenting other Western nations. Nor 
 can it be denied that some of these newcomers did not 
 deserve the welcome which they expected from the Ori- 
 entals. That their intentions were not always holy their 
 subsequent activities in the Far Eastern countries suffi- 
 ciently attest. Even Japan might have ceased to exist as 
 an independent nation had she not quickly aroused her- 
 self from her lethargy and fallen in line with the ag- 
 gressive, strenuous West. 
 
 In the meantime, the new industrial system increased 
 the productive capacity of the Occidental nations to such 
 an extent that they were eager to find outlet for the 
 manufactures which they could not consume at home. 
 Moreover, the same industrial revolution begot financial 
 
22 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 magnates and captains of industry who came to exert 
 potent influence not only in the world of trade and traffic, 
 but in the arena of politics and diplomacy. These men, 
 not content with controlling the finances and commerce 
 in their own countries, stretched their hands across the 
 seas, intent upon grasping whatever might come within 
 their reach. The enormous fortunes they built up were 
 in themselves formidable enough, but when they knew 
 that their governments, with all the force of their navies 
 and armies, were ready to back them, they showed no 
 hesitation in embarking upon a scheme of exploitation in 
 countries whose doors had just been opened by the im- 
 pact of foreign cannon-balls. So from the four winds 
 of heaven their representatives came East with ships 
 laden with gold and merchandise. The merchandise they 
 were determined to sell to the natives whether the na- 
 tives would have it or not; the gold they loaned to the 
 natives, securing in exchange various concessions — rail- 
 road, mining, telegraph, and what not. 
 
 Commerce, which we are wont to call an ambassador 
 of peace, is often a cause of enmity and trouble, espe- 
 cially when a strong, aggressive nation comes to trade 
 with a backward, inefficient nation. The Orient, when 
 brought by the intermediary of trade face to face with 
 the Occident, had not yet awakened from a torpor of 
 centuries. Isolation and the consequent lack of compe- 
 tition had arrested its progress and incapacitated it to 
 meet the Occident on terms of equality, whether in arms 
 or in the arts of peace. What more natural than that 
 the Occidental, misled by external evidence, should re- 
 gard the Oriental as inferior to the Western races? 
 What more natural than that he should come to think 
 that in dealing with Asiatics he could dispense with all 
 ceremony and disregard all dictates of justice and fair- 
 
THE MEETING OF TWO WORLDS 23 
 
 ness? He was there mainly for the purpose of filling 
 his purse at the expense of the pocket of the Oriental. 
 His insolence, his overbearing manner, his assumption of 
 superiority were enough to set the blood of the Oriental 
 patriot boiling. It was the acts of such men which Pro- 
 fessor Sydney L. Gulick fitly terms the " White Peril " 
 in the Far East. But for the ameliorating influence 
 of a handful of those Westerners who came to the East 
 with sympathy and for loving service, the Oriental esti- 
 mate of the Occident would have been less friendly than 
 it is. 
 
 The Occidental came to the East with the confirmed 
 idea that he was of a superior caste, of a race which 
 Providence had ordained should rule the world. So long 
 as his dark-skinned neighbours recognized his claim for 
 superiority and acquiesced in his condescension and con- 
 nived at his swagger, he had little to complain of. His 
 pretensions, however, were not long permitted to remain 
 unchallenged. Japan, having acquired some knowledge 
 of the arts and sciences of Europe and America, cast 
 aside the cloak of mediaevalism, and boldly stepped into 
 the arena of strenuous competition. She reconstructed 
 her government, adopted modern laws, and administered 
 them successfully; she reorganized her industrial system 
 and her finances; she built up a powerful navy and or- 
 ganized a formidable army; and with these records to 
 her credit she determined to force the recognition of 
 the West as a civilized nation and assert her legitimate 
 rights as an independent state. 
 
 Acting upon this determination, Japan set out to re- 
 gain the rights and prerogatives which she had been 
 forced to resign in favour of the foreign residents within 
 her jurisdiction. First, she undertook the revision of 
 the treaties which the Western Powers had wrested from 
 
24 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 her when she was yet totally inexperienced in matters 
 of diplomacy. This led to the abolition of exterritori- 
 ality, an imperhim in imperio, which exempted the for- 
 eigners from the jurisdiction of Japanese law courts. 
 Then she proposed to impose taxes upon the foreign 
 property-owners on the same basis on which the natives 
 were taxed. To this proposal the foreign residents in 
 Yokohama strongly objected, and the matter was referred 
 to the Hague Tribunal. Again, the foreigners demanded 
 extensive tracts of land in and about Yokohama for a 
 race track, club sites, golf links, and so forth, without 
 offering any compensation for the concession. With the 
 growth of the city, the golf links thus obtained by the 
 foreign community became a great obstacle to the traffic 
 and the development of its business district. Conse- 
 quently, the municipal government of Yokohama humbly 
 requested the foreign community to return the land to 
 the city, offering in its lieu a desirable site with ample 
 means of communication. Did the foreigners accept this 
 reasonable proposition with grace if not gratitude? Of 
 course not. They demurred and grumbled, and not un- 
 til the municipal government paid for all the improve- 
 ments upon the old ground as well as for all the im- 
 provements that had to be installed on the new, did the 
 foreigners agree to vacate the golf links which they had 
 been using for many years without paying a single cent 
 for the privilege. Would any Western nation tolerate 
 such arrogance and such disregard of fairness? 
 
 While the government, central and local, was striving 
 to regain the rights which had been surrendered to sat- 
 isfy exacting foreigners, the native merchants and traders 
 began to see the advantage of opening direct trade with 
 firms in Europe and America. This naturally resulted 
 in the elimination of many of the foreign commission 
 
THE MEETING OF TWO WORLDS 25 
 
 merchants whose methods of operation were not always 
 honourable. How much has the story of the Japanese 
 lack of commercial honour been exaggerated by the dis- 
 gruntled foreign merchants whose fortunes began to de- 
 cline with the awakening of the native traders! Then, 
 too, the Japanese firms, financial or trading, having ac- 
 quired sufficient knowledge and experience in the busi- 
 ness in which they were engaged, no longer felt the need 
 of Western tutorage, and gradually discharged foreign 
 advisers and employes at the termination of their con- 
 tract terms. Then the Japanese were charged with in- 
 gratitude. 
 
 These are but a few of the many instances showing the 
 general attitude of the Westerners towards the Asiatic 
 people. I am not blind to the fact that, amid the greed 
 and vulgarism displayed by the fortune-seekers from 
 the West, there were of course a number of men whose 
 visions were clear, whose minds were noble, and whose 
 sense of justice and honour could not condone the 
 ignoble conduct of their short-sighted brothers. For the 
 invaluable services rendered by these men Japan owes a 
 debt which she will never be able to pay in full. 
 ** Whether in Japanese pay or not, as hirelings, or as 
 guests, or as forces healthfully stimulating, who from 
 their own governments or societies received stipend, 
 or self-impelled wrought for Japan's good, their work 
 abides." Between 1869 and 1900, no less than five thou- 
 sand Americans and Europeans were invited to Japan 
 to assist her in the rehabilitation of her aflFairs, political, 
 economic, social, educational. A few Dutchmen taught 
 the Japanese the rudiments of anatomy and of a rational 
 system of medicine. A coterie of Englishmen undertook 
 the mint, and also laid a foundation for the powerful navy 
 which in later periods annihilated the Chinese fleet and 
 
2^ ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 sent the Russian Armada to the bottom of the Japan 
 Sea. To a Frenchman was assigned the task of codify- 
 ing laws. Germans took the army in hand and formed 
 a nucleus of what was destined to become a formidable 
 military power. Germans also directed the whole higher 
 medical instruction of the Empire. And most important 
 of all, Americans, whether as missionaries or engaged by 
 the Government, undertook the reform of the entire 
 educational system. Beginning probably with Professor 
 Raphael Pumpelly, who went to Japan in the seventies, 
 almost twelve hundred American school-teachers were 
 directly or indirectly engaged in educational work in the 
 Mikado's Empire. The New Japan, then, is as much the 
 creation of foreigners as it is the product of the native 
 patriots. Such names as Satow, Aston, Gubbins, Wag- 
 ener, Boissonade, Hepburn, Verbeck, Griffis, and Clark 
 are still dear to all Japanese of the educated class. 
 Japan has not yet forgotten either the singer or the 
 song. 
 
 And yet the attitude of such well-wishers of Japan 
 was not the attitude of the Occident in general. The 
 Occident, in short, expected of the Orient little but ser- 
 vility and submission. To the European Asia was a land 
 which he was by right divine at liberty to exploit for his 
 own benefit. The moment the man of Asia stands on 
 his own rights and tries to deal with the European on 
 reciprocal terms, the latter feels chagrined and even out- 
 raged. The vicissitudes and hardships which Japan ex- 
 perienced in her efforts to abolish exterritoriality offer 
 eloquent testimony to this statement. How many Cabi- 
 nets foundered upon the rock of treaty revision ! What 
 tragedies, what episodes marked the history of exterrito- 
 riality in Japan ! A diplomat, one of the greatest states- 
 men of New Japan, almost sacrificed his life in his ef- 
 
THE MEETING OF TWO WORLDS 27 
 
 forts to cut the Gordian knot. It was only after the 
 Mikado's Empire displayed a military skill and prowess 
 of a superior order in the war with China that the West- 
 ern world rubbed its eyes and began to take Japan seri- 
 ously. As a matter of fact, the Chinese war added noth- 
 ing to the strength of the Empire, much less did it 
 contribute to its culture and civilization. The same holds 
 true in regard to the war with Russia. Indeed, the two 
 mighty conflicts made the island empire materially weak, 
 as wars always must. And yet the Japanese was virtu- 
 ally given to understand that, unless he spoke in the 
 language of shot and shell, the Western nations would 
 never listen. We of the West are fond of calling our- 
 selves civilized and intellectual, but to what e:^tent have 
 we purged ourselves of our primitive love of brutal force ? 
 We admire nations that battle and men who deal blows 
 in order to chastise the unjust, making but lukewarm 
 efforts to right wrongs and relieve oppression before the 
 wronged and the oppressed are compelled to appeal to 
 force. The Russo-Japanese War could have been averted 
 had England and America, to whom Japan earnestly 
 appealed for assistance, exercised their influence in good 
 season to check the Muscovite intrigue to rob the Japa- 
 nese of the Liaotang Peninsula, which they had secured 
 from China. 
 
 Aside from the conflict of capital and labour, the great- 
 est problem of the age, and of ages to come, is that 
 resulting from contact between the East and the West. 
 Of this great problem the Japanese question in America 
 is but a small fragment. The complete solution of the 
 Japanese question, therefore, seems hardly possible with- 
 out a complete readjustment of relations between the 
 Eastern and the Western world. It requires the removal 
 of mutual misconceptions not only with regard to po- 
 
28 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 litical and commercial affairs, but also in connection with 
 the deeper problems of the spirit. It requires on each 
 side a better understanding and a higher appreciation by 
 each of the culture and civilization of the other. Most 
 of all, it requires on the part of the stronger and more 
 aggressive West a stricter observance of the principles 
 of justice and fairness in dealing with the weaker 
 East. 
 
 Viewed in this light, the question of the treatment of 
 the Japanese in America is a question infinitely more 
 important than it may appear at first glance. It is a 
 question of the contact of two great worlds, the collision, 
 if you will, of two great civilizations. This contact, this 
 collision is not unlike the meeting of two mighty glaciers. 
 That the mingling should at first be attended with up- 
 heavals and grindings is inevitable, and yet the conflu- 
 ence soon turns into one stream in which trace is no 
 longer discernible of two glaciers which a moment since 
 dashed against each other. Will not the mingling of 
 two civilizations present much the same aspect? Will 
 not the suspicions, the jealousies, the enmities, the dis- 
 criminations which yet mar relations between the Orient 
 and the Occident eventually give way to harmony and fra- 
 ternal feeling? As we learn from the Koran, '' God alone 
 knows the hidden mysteries of days to come, and to Him 
 alone are the gates of the secrets of the future revealed." 
 Yet, if we walk in the light in which God ordained hu- 
 manity to walk, may we not rightly hope that the con- 
 flict of the two worlds will ultimately end in friendship 
 based upon mutual understanding of each other's culture, 
 civilization, and institutions? 
 
 The point is that the West must first of all divest itself 
 of its age-long prejudice against the East. The past few 
 centuries placed the Caucasian race in the forefront of 
 
THE MEETING OF TWO WORLDS 29 
 
 civilization, but in the life of the universe a period so 
 brief is little more significant than a bubble on the face 
 of an ocean. In the years to come Asia may again attain 
 an eminence of civilization which will overshadow the 
 civilization of Europe. In the meantime, let us deal with 
 it in sympathy. If sympathy is not the forte of the busy 
 West, let us at least act in accord with the spirit of fair 
 play and a square deal. " People are afraid," says the 
 Hon. James Bryce, " of a conflict of races ; people 
 think that some of the great ancient races of the East 
 may be led into mortal struggle with the European peo- 
 ples. If our attitude to them were governed by Chris- 
 tian principles, there would be no risk of any such con- 
 flict. I hope and I believe that it will be averted if we 
 try to apply in our national policy those Christian princi- 
 ples which we profess. The sense of human brotherhood 
 was never more needed than now, at this precious, this 
 critical moment. It is needed not only by all who come 
 in contact with these races; it is needed by men who 
 come there for business; it is needed by soldiers and 
 sailors; it is needed even by private travellers in these 
 lands." 
 
 In the early days of our intercourse with China and 
 Japan — the days of Anson Burlingame, of Commodore 
 Perry, and of Townsend Harris — our policy towards the 
 Orient was based upon the Christian principles of justice 
 and righteousness. It was disinterested and humane ; it 
 sprang from a sincere desire to help backward peoples 
 towards the path of modern civilization. 
 
 In the fall of 1852, President Fillmore despatched to 
 Japan an expedition commanded by Commodore Perry. 
 The oflicial letter which Perry was entrusted to deliver 
 to the court of the Sunrise Empire opened with these 
 felicitous words : 
 
30 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 ^' Great and Good Friend : — I send you this public 
 letter by Commodore Matthew C. Perry, an officer of the 
 highest rank in the navy of the United States, and com- 
 mander of the squadron now visiting Your Imperial 
 Majesty's dominions. I have directed Commodore Perry 
 to assure Your Imperial Majesty that I entertain the 
 kindest feelings towards Your Majesty's person and gov- 
 ernment, and that I have no other object in sending him 
 to Japan but to propose to Your Imperial Majesty that 
 the United States and Japan should live in friendship and 
 have commercial intercourse with each other." 
 
 The letter was delivered in July, 1853, and a treaty 
 of amity and commerce soon followed. Describing this 
 memorable event, one of our popular historians of some 
 three decades ago penned a passage which may be taken 
 as a fair expression of the generous and broad sentiment 
 which still seemed to animate the America of his age. 
 " Providence having bestowed the whole earth on the 
 children of men/' says this historian, " such isolation 
 [as was maintained by Japan] is defeating altogether 
 that beneficial purpose; for should other nations follow 
 the example of Japan, and refuse to communicate with 
 their neighbours, there would be an end of all commerce, 
 of all progress, of all civilization, — industry would be 
 smitten with paralysis, and men would regard the in- 
 habitants of adjoining countries as enemies." 
 
 It was this optimism, this breadth of view, this un- 
 feigned love for what is right and just, springing from 
 the eternal principles embodied in our Declaration of 
 Independence — it was this peculiarly noble characteristic 
 which placed us in a position totally different from that 
 of scheming empires and self-seeking monarchies, and 
 thus won us the respect and friendship of Oriental na- 
 tions. Yet, in the light of our Oriental policy in more 
 
THE MEETING OF TWO WORLDS 3I 
 
 recent years, can we conscientiously say that we have 
 not receded from that enviable position ? We have come 
 to allow our national policies to be too greatly influenced 
 by the selfish desires of great business interests and by 
 the irrational clamours of the purblind masses. The 
 enormous opportunities for which this country is noted, 
 coupled with the influence of the great Industrial Revo- 
 lution, have rapidly created a sort of financial oligarchy 
 which, though holding no ostensible political or social 
 privilege, wields a formidable power by virtue of the 
 money which it controls. 
 
 We have become a nation so engrossed in the pursuit 
 of gold and in the desire to satisfy material wants as 
 to hold most other things secondary to that one consid- 
 eration. It seems as if these significant lines of Matthew 
 Arnold's, 
 
 "What shelter to grow ripe is ours? 
 What leisure to grow wise?" 
 
 were written especially to describe our present condition 
 of life. In such an age it is but too natural that the 
 ordinary citizen, upon whose shoulders rests responsi- 
 bility for public welfare, should allow his private busi- 
 ness interest to wean him from the conduct of public 
 aflPairs. Is it any wonder that vital questions of na- 
 tional policy should come to be relegated more and more 
 to the hands of professional politicians, who are either 
 the cat*s-paw of financial cliques or the mouthpiece of 
 the trade unions? Even the dignified doctrine of James 
 Monroe, that we should be the commanding arbiter of 
 our own affairs and protect against the intriguing mon- 
 archs of Europe those infant republics to the southward 
 which had just shaken off the yoke of Spanish despotism, 
 has been turned at the hands of the manipulators of 
 
32 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 money and of the oligarchy of labour into a tool with 
 which to frustrate the peaceful bona Me undertakings of 
 an Oriental people in Mexico and South America. 
 
 When we ponder our present attitude towards Japan, 
 that classic letter, which Commodore Perry delivered to 
 the ruler of Japan some sixty years ago, becomes almost 
 an anomaly. We forced open the doors of Japan : now 
 we close our doors to the Japanese. Even students are 
 no longer admitted to our country unless their expenses 
 of living and education are sufficiently guaranteed by the 
 wealth and standing of their parents. Would that money 
 and talent might go hand-in-hand ! That we are anxious 
 to remain friendly with Japan it is needless to say, but 
 how can you expect two nations to be friendly towards 
 each other when either nation persistently assumes the 
 attitude of a provocateur towards the other? We must 
 not allow ourselves to be deceived by the polite etiquette 
 of diplomacy. The war which is waged with powder and 
 ball is often less jeopardizing to true peace than the en- 
 mity which is secretly nurtured under the outward sem- 
 blances of peace. 
 
 We are bidding for Japanese trade, but we ignore the 
 fact that trade follows friendship more certainly than it 
 follows the flag. We invite Japan to utilize the Panama 
 Canal so that our Gulf and Atlantic States might de- 
 velop closer trade relations with the rising empire in 
 the East, but we are oblivious to the fact that we are 
 throwing a great obstacle in the path of the Japanese ves- 
 sels by forbidding their crews to land where our flag 
 flies. To any one who knows something of life on sea 
 it is obvious that a voyage of 19,500 miles is a great, 
 almost unbearable, strain to the mind and body of the 
 sailor when he is not permitted even once in the course 
 of the voyage to tread the solid earth. 
 
THE MEETING OF TWO WORLDS 33 
 
 It is well to remember that fully half the foreign trade 
 of our Pacific Coast is with Japan. San Francisco, with 
 all the annoyances it caused the Japanese, could in 191 1 
 export to Japan merchandise to the value of $12,380,000, 
 while its exports to other leading countries — England, 
 Germany, Canada, Australia, China, etc. — ranged in value 
 only from one to five million dollars. In the same year 
 Japanese imports to San Francisco amounted to $24- 
 095,000, while those from other trading nations varied 
 in value from one to seven million dollars. To be sure, 
 no nation should fix its national policy solely with its 
 commercial interest in view, but it is foolish to try with- 
 out sufficient reason the patience of a country with which 
 it has, and hopes to maintain, close trade relations. 
 
 That the United States has the right to decide who 
 shall be admitted to these shores and who barred is de- 
 nied by no one. Japan has never challenged that right 
 from a legal point of view. But what would this world 
 be if all nations were to strain every nerve to assert 
 their legal rights without mitigating them with mag- 
 nanimity and the common dictates of courtesy? A man 
 has the right to tell his neighbour not to enter the portal 
 of his home, even when the neighbour has never inter- 
 fered with his welfare and has always observed every 
 canon of gentlemanly conduct. But is such an injunc- 
 tion justifiable from the point of view of expediency, so- 
 cial etiquette, and above all the good-will which is the 
 foundation of human society? As with the individual 
 so with the nation. The restriction of immigration is no 
 doubt one of our sovereign rights, but in exercising such 
 rights we must not single out a nation, a civilized and 
 progressive nation, which has established its right to a 
 place in the comity of Great Powers, as the object of dis- 
 crimination. Perhaps we are justified in discriminating 
 
34 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 against those peoples which are not yet admitted into 
 the circle of civilized nations and whose mental training 
 is such as to prevent them from comprehending and 
 adopting our ideas and customs. Certainly the Japanese 
 are not such a people. " We must," says Colonel Roose- 
 velt, " treat with justice and good- will all immigrants who 
 come here under the law. Whether they are Catholic 
 or Protestant, Jew or Gentile; whether they come from 
 England or Germany, Russia, Japan, or Italy, matters 
 nothing. All we have a right to question is the man's 
 conduct. If he is honest and upright in his dealings with 
 his neighbour and with the state, then he is entitled 
 to respect and good treatment. Especially do we need 
 to remember our duty to the stranger within our gates. 
 It is the sure mark of a low civilization, a low morality, 
 to abuse or discriminate against or in any way humiliate 
 such stranger who has come here lawfully and who is 
 conducting himself properly. To remember this is incum- 
 bent on every American citizen, and it is of course 
 peculiarly incumbent on every government official 
 whether of the nation or of the several states." 
 
 One of the favourite arguments advanced by the advo- 
 cates of Japanese exclusion is that, if Americans were 
 to immigrate to Japan in large numbers, the Japanese 
 Government would set up a barrier against us, just as 
 we have erected a wall against the Japanese. It might, 
 and yet it might not. For my part, I prefer to believe 
 that Japan would welcome American immigration, if she 
 had such enormous natural resources and such a vast area 
 of lands yet little exploited as are found in the United 
 States. But, if she should feel obliged to restrict immi- 
 gration, she would apply such restriction equally to all 
 nations. It is, however, idle to indulge in such conjec- 
 tures. The point is that Japan's probable, we may as well 
 
THE MEETING OF TWO WORLDS 35 
 
 say improbable, intention to restrict American immigra- 
 tion should furnish us no ground for excluding Japanese 
 immigration. We must do what is right and avoid what 
 is wrong, no matter what our neighbours may do or 
 think. It was this sense of justice which inspired our 
 forefathers and which made our country unique and spir- 
 itually great in the concourse of nations. If Japan should 
 attempt to exclude our immigrants without plausible rea- 
 son, it should be our duty to oppose such arbitrary meas- 
 ures. To acquiesce in them would be to run counter 
 to the tradition which has been our life and inspiration 
 in the past. It has been our mission, self-imposed yet 
 none the less noble, " to teach men in all parts of the 
 world what- freedom is, and thereby institute other 
 Americas in the very strongholds of oppression." Japan, 
 civilized as she is, has yet much to learn. Her Govern- 
 ment has not yet freed itself from superfluous red-tape 
 and many another legacy of the oppressive past, while 
 her people are not yet fully awake to the idea of personal 
 rights and freedom essential to a constitutional govern- 
 ment. In the words of Count Okuma : " The spirit of 
 blind obedience and involuntary submission that we care- 
 fully taught and fostered under the feudal regime and by 
 Confucian ethics no longer finds any trace in the coun- 
 try's laws, but its inherited influence still remains, and 
 injuriously affects the social well-being of the people 
 in ways direct and indirect, intentional and uninten- 
 tional." 
 
 If we mean to remain true to the spirit in which we 
 first entered into intercourse with Japan, we should con- 
 tinue to exert our wholesome influence to help her to- 
 wards a greater freedom and a truer enlightenment. In 
 order to do this we must acquit ourselves in accord with 
 the principles of humanity. Heretofore those Japanese 
 
36 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 immigrants who were allowed to avail themselves of the 
 enormous opportunities which our country offered, and 
 who drank of our fountain of liberty, have proved a 
 potent leaven in the social evolution in the Mikado's land. 
 Especially have those poor but resolute young Japanese 
 who worked their way through our colleges been influen- 
 tial in the subtle yet none the less powerful movement 
 for the democratization of their country. And for this 
 great assistance Japan never ceases to be thankful. But 
 now our doors are closed alike to the students and to 
 the ordinary immigrants. 
 
 It should be borne in mind that the removal of the 
 ban put upon Japanese immigration does not necessarily 
 mean the reopening of our doors to unrestricted immi- 
 gration. Japan, proud and sensitive, has no intention to 
 embarrass the United States by sending emigrants in 
 large numbers. She deems it her duty, a duty not only 
 to her own people but to all the civilized world, to re- 
 strict immigration where her emigrants are not welcome. 
 What she wants is merely an equal treatment, the treat- 
 ment which we have accorded to all other civilized na- 
 tions. Should the United States of her own accord 
 remove the restriction put upon the Japanese in the mat- 
 ter of immigration and naturalization, Japan, on her part, 
 will voluntarily and willingly see to it that her subjects 
 of " undesirable " class will not seek these shores. This, 
 we may be sure, the Japanese will be impelled to do by 
 the sense of gratitude and obligation which magnanimous 
 conduct on our part cannot fail to arouse in their hearts. 
 For there are but few peoples on earth so appreciative 
 of kindness and sympathy as the Japanese. " There is 
 something painful," says Mr. Don C. Seitz, the manag- 
 ing editor of the New York World, in the North Ameri- 
 can Review, " about the childlike faith and grateful good- 
 
THE MEETING OF TWO WORLDS 37 
 
 will manifested toward the American visitor by the peo- 
 ple of Japan, in perpetual acknowledgment of their debt 
 to the United States. This is no shallow sentiment, but 
 a deep feeling bred of the belief that but for Commodore 
 Perry and Townsend Harris that country would have 
 dwelt in mediaeval helplessness until too late.'* This sen- 
 timent of gratefulness which is so deep-rooted in the 
 Japanese mind will be infinitely intensified when once we 
 deal with that nation on a basis of absolute equality. 
 
 Yes, Japan will restrict emigration to the United States 
 of her own accord, once we approach her in the proper 
 manner. At the same time, the United States must 
 plainly admit the injustice of interfering with the bona 
 fide enterprise of the Japanese in countries outside of our 
 jurisdiction, whether Canada or Mexico, Peru or Brazil. 
 And yet, as if it were not enough to have excluded the 
 Japanese from our own territories, we are now pursuing 
 him, or rather the shadow of him, in Mexico and in 
 South America. The spectre of Japanese invasion in 
 Mexico was conjured up, it seems, as a scheme of boost- 
 ing a real estate enterprise by those American interests 
 holding immense tracts of land in Lower California. Of 
 this the Magdalena Bay incident is an apt illustration. 
 As President Jordan, of Leland Stanford University, 
 says, " The whole Magdalena Bay business is a creation 
 of the Hearst newspapers." It is understood that Mr. 
 Hearst himself has an extensive real estate interest in 
 Lower California, and it is not improbable that he thought 
 he could boom the country by directing the attention of 
 the nation towards that region. It is all very well for 
 men of Mr. Hearst's calibre to spread wild talk of Japa- 
 nese designs upon Mexico, but how are we to account for 
 the action of such an enlightened statesman as Senator 
 Lodge, when he takes up such wild talk in all his earnest- 
 
38 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 ness and makes stirring speeches on the floor of the 
 Senate ? A Japanese steamship concern may or may not 
 have tried to secure a coaling station in Magdalena Bay. 
 The question is immaterial. What is essential is that, 
 in making a great ado about the supposed Japanese de- 
 signs on Magdalena Bay, we forgot that the very expedi- 
 tion of Commodore Perry of 1852 had as one of its 
 missions the establishment of a coaling station in the 
 Far East, possibly in Japanese v^aters. But for the out- 
 break of the Civil War in our midst this scheme of ours 
 would have been carried out. Suppose Japan objected 
 to our securing a coaling station in or close to her terri- 
 torial waters. Would we have heeded her protest ? Not 
 likely. We would have lectured Japan pretty severely, 
 and, what is more, we would have got what we wanted, 
 anyway, had not the war of secession disconcerted us. 
 For my part, I believe that any trading nation, whose 
 intentions are peaceable, should be free to secure coaling 
 stations wherever it will. 
 
 The Monroe Doctrine, as interpreted to-day by our 
 politicians and press, virtually makes it impossible for 
 Japanese to launch in Mexico or in South America any 
 enterprise, however innocent such enterprises may be. 
 I have no sympathy for those entrepreneurs, Oriental or 
 Occidental, who emulate the methods of what the muck- 
 raker calls " predatory wealth " and stoop to grasp con- 
 cessions and privileges in foreign lands, but I believe that 
 we should not raise a hue and cry against those innocent, 
 honest toilers of Japan who, crowded out of their small 
 and densely populated country, emigrate to South Amer- 
 ica or Mexico in search for wider fields of activities, 
 agricultural or commercial. Yet many of our politicians 
 and journalists are indulging in wild speculations and 
 are declaring that Japanese immigration to South Amer- 
 
THE MEETING OF TWO WORLDS 39 
 
 ica will prove to be an encroachment upon the Monroe 
 Doctrine. If the meaning of this doctrine must be 
 stretched so wide, may not Japan be justified in setting 
 up a Monroe Doctrine of her own and declaring that 
 henceforth Americans must keep off the shores of East- 
 ern Asia? The Western nations, America not excluded, 
 persistently taught the Japanese the dangerous doctrine 
 that might is right, and yet when the Japanese are ready 
 to translate that doctrine into their policy would we con- 
 nive at such affronts? I think not. What, then, will be 
 the outcome? As an English writer in the Fortnightly 
 Review puts it : " Let the sense of the common grievance 
 among Oriental nations rise steadily and dominate; let 
 it be asserted that there shall be white men's countries 
 in every other continent, but that brown men and yellow 
 men, no matter how much they increase or how far they 
 progress, shall never have any countries but their own; 
 let the conception of Asia contra mundum gradually 
 arouse all its races for a colossal crusade; let Japan be 
 invoked by China as a leader and by India as a liberator ; 
 and let the black races feel that the white man is likely 
 to be swept back at last, and then indeed the strangest 
 dreams of the eclipse and extinction of Western civiliza- 
 tion might come true." 
 
 The " strangest dream " is not likely to come true, for 
 Japan clearly realizes the impossibility of casting her lot 
 with the huge, inert mass of humanity that inhabits the 
 Asian continent. She believes that her interest is more 
 closely interwoven with that of the Occident than with 
 that of the Oriental races, that in temperament and in- 
 clination she has much more in common with the West- 
 ern peoples than with those of Asia. But some day in 
 the remote future huge Asia may bestir and come to its 
 own. And here lies the point of danger. Such a day of 
 
40 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 danger will not come in a hundred years or even in two 
 centuries, certainly not "before the opening of the Panama 
 Canal/' in spite of all the horoscopes of Mr. Hearst and 
 his associates. In the meantime let us do all we can for 
 the removal of all factors which are liable to estrange 
 East and West. 
 
 Let us frankly admit that the Monroe Doctrine has lost 
 much of its strength. What some publicists and jour- 
 nalists are pleased to call the Monroe Doctrine of to-day 
 is not the Monroe Doctrine; it is something brand-new. 
 The real Monroe Doctrine lost its raison d'etre when Eu- 
 ropean despotism and its offspring, the Holy Alliance, 
 sank into the limbo of oblivion; and we forfeited our 
 claim to that doctrine when we reached our own hands 
 across the Pacific and seized the Philippines, and con- 
 trived to become a predominating factor in the finance 
 and railway enterprise in China, even at the expense of 
 those rights which another nation had acquired at the 
 cost of billions of dollars and a hundred thousand lives. 
 It will never do for us to be beguiled into believing that 
 the dollar is almighty, that it can do everything and undo 
 everything. In this age of enlightenment, when the arbi- 
 tration movement is gaining strength and the Hague Tri- 
 bunal has become a permanent institution, no nation need 
 cling to the legacies of a departed world and a bygone 
 age such as the Monroe Doctrine. " America for Ameri- 
 cans " is as absurd as " Asia for Asiatics." The more 
 diligently the United States harps upon the Monroe Doc- 
 trine in its distorted form, the less cordial and sympa- 
 thetic will the leading republics in Central and South 
 America become towards her. For are they not just as 
 proud of their independence and integrity as ourselves ? 
 
 It is indeed sad to think that even Christianity has done 
 comparatively little for the razing of the barrier which 
 
THE MEETING OF TWO WORLDS 41 
 
 we have erected in our midst against the Orient. The 
 sense of human brotherhood is no less needed by men 
 whose profession is the propagation of the Gospel than 
 by men of the lay world. We send missionaries to Japan 
 and tell the " heathen " natives of love and universal 
 brotherhood ; but when Japanese, converted to the teach- 
 ings of the great Nazarene, come to these shores they 
 are denied admission into the greatest fraternal institu- 
 tion to which those great teachings have given birth — I 
 refer to the Young Men's Christian Association. It was, 
 I presume, this sort of proselytizing which the Master 
 sternly rebuked in these words, " Woe unto you, hypo- 
 crites, ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte." 
 
 The world is troubled and the age is critical. Per- 
 haps we are, like the Greek of old, 
 
 "Wandering between two worlds — one dead, 
 The other powerless to be born." 
 
 How soon that other world will see the light God alone 
 knows. We are souls loosed upon the sunless seas of 
 doubt and wearily scanning the dark horizon for a haven 
 for which our forefathers have striven these many centu- 
 ries but which is not yet even in sight. The hour is full 
 of anxieties and forebodings. And yet in such an hour 
 " it is bliss to be alive," and be able to contribute a 
 widow's mite towards the solution of the great problem 
 that confronts us. 
 
II 
 
 MUTUAL DISILLUSIONMENT 
 
 1HAVE often wondered why I can never bring my- 
 self to feel indignant at the American censor of the 
 Japanese. Considering the vituperations and slanders 
 which he heaps upon the Japanese, I ought to be able 
 sometimes to let myself go and accept the challenge like 
 a man, if I had a grain of pride in the race to which 
 I belong. For the life of me I cannot. Am I cowardly 
 or indifferent? 
 
 The truth is that I can never fully grasp his point of 
 view, and, failing to comprehend him, I also fail to take 
 him seriously. As George Meredith says of Mrs. Caro- 
 line Grandison, he " runs ahead of my thoughts like nim- 
 ble fire." I follow him with panting eagerness, but the 
 moment I seem to be catching up with him he suddenly 
 disappears or shifts his position, only to crop up again, 
 God knows in what direction. 
 
 The American censor is so versatile and flexible that 
 he appears at times whimsical. His line of argument is 
 tortuous, full of sharp curves and backward bends. Only 
 a short while ago he harped upon the popular notion of 
 the inferiority of the Japanese. The Japanese strove 
 might and main to vindicate their ability. Now he holds 
 out the bogie of Japanese domination, and argues that 
 the " brown men " must be excluded and even expelled 
 because of their superior abilities. He complains that 
 the Japanese are clannish and cannot understand the hail- 
 
 42 
 
MUTUAL DISILLUSIONMENT 43 
 
 fellow-well-met manner of the Occident, but when the 
 Japanese try to mingle freely with Americans, why they 
 are accused of being " too eager to push socially." He 
 tells the Japanese to learn something of the amenities of 
 conventional society ; woe betide the Japanese if they take 
 him at his word and don black frock coats and high silk 
 hats. " The Japs are cocky and like to put on airs " 
 is the immediate rebuke. He blames the Japanese for 
 sending money out of his country, but when they begin 
 to invest their hard-earned dollars in real property in- 
 stead of sending them home, he calls them a " menace." 
 What does he want them to do with their savings? He 
 used to argue that the Japanese must be kept away be- 
 cause they lower the economic standards of the American 
 labourer; now he charges them with demanding exorbi- 
 tant wages. For some time he has diligently exploited the 
 old theory of the unassimilability of the Orientals; now 
 he admits that the Japanese show a capacity for assimi- 
 lation much greater than that of the Chinese, Mexicans, 
 and some of the South and East European races, and yet 
 he concludes that, inasmuch as some native inhabitants 
 of the Pacific Coast cherish prejudice against the Orien- 
 tals, the Japanese should neither be admitted nor allowed 
 to own land in this country. 
 
 I have followed him far enough, and I must pause to 
 save my breath. Such a dull mind as mine has but little 
 craving for such intellectual gymnastics. I can see only 
 the comical side of his strategy. He snatches weapons 
 from the hands of his opponents and utilizes them to 
 strengthen his own position. As frequently he forges 
 his own weapons, which to my untrained eyes appear so 
 bizarre that I think they should remain in fairyland, there 
 to be put in the hands of imps and clowns. 
 
 And yet such grotesque missiles seem to be effective 
 
44 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 in beguiling an unthinking public. " The Japanese are 
 so dishonest that most Japanese banks have to employ 
 Chinese cashiers," says one critic, and another adds: 
 "Unblushing lying is so universal among the Japanese 
 as to be one of the leading national traits/' The third 
 informs that " the Japanese are so unmoral that indul- 
 gence sexually before marriage is a common practice of 
 both sexes." And the fourth corroborates the idea in 
 these words : " There is no word in Japanese correspond- 
 ing to sin, because there is in the ordinary Japanese mind 
 no conception of its meaning. There is no word corre- 
 sponding to the word home, because there is nothing in 
 the Japanese domestic life corresponding to the home as 
 we know it." 
 
 Such fairy tales are unessential, for we are dealing 
 with this prosaic, matter-of-fact world. What is essen- 
 tial is the state of mind which causes the public to listen 
 to such stories with avidity and without discrimination. 
 What created such a state of mind? The question is 
 pertinent, considering the generosity and indulgence with 
 which America up to a decade ago viewed Japan and the 
 Japanese. The Americans are not naturally addicted to 
 fault-finding, and I find the average American remarkably 
 tolerant. How comes it that of late his innate leniency 
 seems to have made way for censoriousness ? I do not 
 pretend to possess any magical power enabling me to 
 unveil the mysteries which have shrouded the alienation 
 of American sympathy from Japan, but the following few 
 facts may furnish a clue to this enigma : 
 
 During the Russo-Japanese War many American and 
 European newspaper correspondents came to Tokyo, all 
 eager to proceed to the front. The Japanese Government, 
 much as it was anxious to accommodate them, could ill- 
 afford to expose its plan of campaign to the outside 
 
MUTUAL DISILLUSIONMENT 45 
 
 world, for the stake it was playing for was the very ex- 
 istence of the empire. To the impatient correspondents, 
 however, the life or death of Japan was of no greater 
 consequence than the rise or decline of their fame as 
 writers, and when they found themselves virtual prisoners 
 in luxurious hotels attended by courteous officers, they 
 were in no mood to compliment Japan. That was quite 
 natural, and it is unreasonable to blame them. Nor is 
 it reasonable to censure the Japanese General Staff. 
 
 When the plenipotentiaries of Japan and Russia met 
 at Portsmouth to negotiate peace, the tide of public opin- 
 ion began to flow against the Japanese. By the time the 
 conference came to a close Russia had been virtually sub- 
 stituted for Japan in the sympathies and good-wishes of 
 the American newspapers. Not only had Witte defeated 
 Komura within the walls of the historic " storehouse " 
 utilized for the conference, but he had outwitted the 
 Mikado's envoy by befriending the press of the world, 
 whose representatives were gathered at the Hotel Went- 
 worth. The late Marquis Komura, with all his shrewd- 
 ness and foresight, never fully realized the power wielded 
 by the press. He was always so cocksure of the just- 
 ness of his stand that in adhering to it he never recog- 
 nized the necessity of having editorial sympathy on his 
 side. Most of all, he disliked the corrupt means so fre- 
 quently employed by those statesmen who with Robert 
 Walpole believe that " every man has his price." What 
 wonder that almost simultaneously with the triumphant 
 exit of Count Witte from the great diplomatic stage at 
 Portsmouth, American newspapers began to publish all 
 manner of insinuations with regard to Japan? 
 
 This new turn of public sentiment was at once seized 
 upon by those great interests whose business was and is 
 to make capital out of the war scare often created by 
 
n/ 
 
 4€> ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 themselves. They manufacture war talk in order to in- 
 crease demand for the warships and guns and powder 
 which they manufacture. There is no doubt that the 
 clandestine activities of these interests greatly assisted in 
 the alienation of American sympathy from Japan. 
 
 With the termination of the war Japan was admitted 
 into the family of Great Powers. This exaltation of pres- 
 tige naturally demanded of her the fulfilment of all con- 
 ditions requisite in the making of a first-class power. 
 Henceforth the world had the right to measure Japan 
 by new standards of judgment — standards which it had 
 been accustomed to apply to the foremost nations of Eu- 
 rope and America. She was no longer to be patronized 
 and admired like a precocious youth achieving extraor- 
 dinary feats, but was to be treated as a man who had 
 attained the maturity of judgment and wisdom. And, 
 judged by these new standards, Japan has proved a dis- 
 appointment both to herself and to Western critics. The 
 disappointment of the Japanese means little more or less 
 than a healthy aspiration for perfection, but the disap- 
 pointment of the Westerners is attended with a mingled 
 feeling of disgust, distrust, and contempt. The Japa- 
 nese were disappointed merely because Japan did not, like 
 other vigorous, ambitious nations, permit the halo of her 
 achievements to obstruct her discernment, but was eager 
 to learn more and accomplish worthier deeds. The for- 
 eigners were disappointed chiefly because their mental at- 
 titude had already been influenced by certain unhappy 
 circumstances. The entrance of the Japanese into the 
 arena of commercial competition was in itself sufficient 
 to arouse suspicion on the part of Westerners. 
 
 In a word, the West is passing through a period of dis- 
 illusionment in its attitude towards Japan. Nor is it the 
 West alone that has been disillusioned. While the Japa- 
 
MUTUAL DISILLUSIONMENT 47 
 
 nese was under Western tutorage, he knew but little of 
 the seamy side of Occidental life. Like a docile pupil, 
 the Japanese frankly admitted and recognized the supe- 
 riority of not only Western civilization, but also the West- 
 ern race. When I was in school in Japan as a small boy, 
 my text-books taught me that " the people of the Occident 
 are exceedingly industrious, always rising early in the 
 morning, and never taking a noon-day nap." They told 
 me that the Westerners were " our superiors physically, 
 mentally, and morally." It was not only the school chil- 
 dren but their teachers and parents who believed such 
 sweeping statements with unquestioning simplicity. The 
 whole nation was thoroughly in earnest to bring itself up 
 to the standards of the Western people. 
 
 Then there were missionaries who held out before their 
 bewildered pupils the picture of an idealized Christendom. 
 With a few lamentable exceptions, these disciples of 
 Christianity were worthy of the mission entrusted to 
 them. Not only by words but also by deeds they con- 
 firmed the belief which had been instilled in the Japanese 
 mind by the imposing presence of the warships on which 
 the American commodore made his advent in Yeddo Bay, 
 and by the wonderful wisdom displayed in the miniature 
 railway and telegraph, the sewing-machines, and diction- 
 aries which he unpacked at Yokohama in i860. 
 
 Yes, the Japanese worshipped the Occident, especially 
 America, with all the ardour of a youthful mind and the 
 devotion of a pilgrim. He heard of our Puritan fore- 
 fathers, who braved the rough seas and tjie wilderness 
 infested with savage Indians for the sake of the free- 
 dom of conscience. He read the Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence, whose noble ideas thrilled his heart with admi- 
 ration. He was told of Washington and Lincoln, of 
 Franklin and Webster, and he thought America was a 
 
48 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 land where petty politicians and intriguing demagogues 
 had no place. He heard of the universal prevalence of 
 Christianity in America, and fancied that every home 
 and individual there must be guided by Christian princi- 
 ples of purity, honesty, and uprightness. He was re- 
 minded of his lack of business morality, in contrast with 
 the high standard of commercial honour prevalent in 
 the West, and he imagined that all American merchants 
 must be incapable of imposition and chicanery. Much 
 to his disgrace, he was rebuked for what his Western 
 teachers believed to be immodest, even immoral, conduct 
 of both his sisters and himself, and he had reason to 
 expect the American men and women to be impeccable 
 in character and faultless in demeanour. 
 
 Poor Japanese! He allowed his imagination to soar 
 too high. His castle in the air shot up like a rocket; 
 when it came down, it was sudden, abrupt, like the 
 stick. 
 
 Let us illustrate this sudden disillusionment with the 
 experience of a Japanese immigrant. The moment he 
 lands at San Francisco he receives his first baptism in 
 liberty in the most bewildering manner. " Poll tax ! poll 
 tax ! " shouts an evil-visaged man, who has no more au- 
 thority to collect poll tax than the man in the moon. The 
 innocent soul, helpless among strangers, obeys the man- 
 date of the dubious tax-collector, and the rascal disap- 
 pears with an additional five-dollar gold piece snug in his 
 trouser pocket. But no sooner does the Japanese re- 
 lease himself from the clutches of the bogus tax-collector 
 than he finds himself a captive in the hands of two or 
 three savage-looking men, who tell him to get into their 
 carriage (which is nothing but a common dray- wagon) 
 so that he may be safely conducted to a Japanese hotel 
 Decline the offer, and the reward is a black eye or a 
 
MUTUAL DISILLUSIONMENT 49 
 
 bruise in his face; accept it, and they take him where 
 they will, charging four or five dollars for the service. 
 
 So is the Japanese initiated into American freedom. 
 No longer is he dismayed by showers of oaths which 
 come mixed with the unholy odour of whiskey and chew- 
 ing tobacco. No longer is he afraid to penetrate into 
 the mazes of American life and to explore its wonders. 
 And there are plenty of wonders awaiting his discov- 
 ery. He discovers, much to his surprise, that many of 
 the municipal governments are burdened with graft and 
 jobbery. He discovers " insidious " lobbying freely prac- 
 tised in the shadow of the monument dedicated to the 
 Father of Freedom. He finds the Goddess of Liberty 
 standing uneasy and forlorn as if dismayed by the pres- 
 ence of a metropolis which harbours 40,000 prostitutes, at 
 whose feet gallant men offer a yearly tribute of $80,000,- 
 000. Is this the America which the missionaries told 
 him about? He learns the horrible fact that $1,014,- 
 000,000 worth of adulterated food is annually dumped 
 upon the market to the detriment of public health. Is 
 this the America whose high standard of commercial mo- 
 rality was heralded the world over? He opens a store 
 in San Francisco, and a smooth-tongued American, call- 
 ing himself a representative of a large firm, calls upon 
 him and tells him to sign a paper, which he says will 
 entail no obligation to the signatory. Unable to read 
 the paper but having unrestricted confidence in the hon- 
 esty of the American merchants, he signs his name to 
 it and, behold ! piles of goods, which he had not the 
 slightest idea of ordering, are dumped upon him! This 
 in a Christian country! He hears of politicians bribing 
 their way to the Senate or the House, where they be- 
 come slaves of big interests to mend their " battered and 
 bankrupt fortunes." Is this the America which produced 
 
50 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 Washington and Lincoln? He is told that no less than 
 ioo,cx)0 divorces are annually granted, making as many 
 children motherless or fatherless, and " wrecking 2,000,- 
 000 homes, actual or potential, as hopelessly as by an 
 infinite conflagration." Is this the America whose men 
 and women are noted for their strong moral quality ? He 
 hears of wealthy brewers and cattlemen buying for their 
 whimsical daughters titled husbands just as they buy 
 their infant children rocking horses or rag dolls. Is this 
 the America which scorns social caste and boasts of its 
 doctrine of equality? Most shocking of all, he discov- 
 ers that sons and daughters of wealth are no longer con- 
 tented with all the luxuries, wholesome and otherwise, 
 offered in their own country, but go to Europe to 
 gamble at Monte Carlo, to flirt at Vienna and Budapest, 
 and to learn all the vices lurking under the eternal charm 
 of the French metropolis. He hears of orgies of New 
 Year's Eve, where intoxicated women reel with men, 
 even less sober, both uttering coarse words and smoking 
 cigarettes. Are these libertines the descendants of those 
 Puritans whose stoicism and simplicity he fondly re- 
 garded as a Western counterpart of bushi^do, the way 
 of the warrior? 
 
 Yes, the Japanese is disappointed and disillusioned. 
 Yet he is reluctant to give up the fond admiration which 
 he so long cherished for America. lie still hopes to 
 unearth the sterling qualities which, he believes, must 
 be hidden under the superficial vices so brazenly displayed 
 to public gaze. His hope is not in vain, for his efforts 
 are richly rewarded. He discovers good-nature and sym- 
 pathy innate to almost all Americans; he learns public 
 opinion is not so paralyzed as to permit political graft 
 and official irregularities to pass unchallenged for any 
 considerable time; he finds out that the extravagance of 
 
MUTUAL DISILLUSIONMENT 5 1 
 
 the upstart millionaires is deeply deplored by the middle 
 class, which is, after all, the true strength of the nation ; 
 he discovers that the mutual devotion of husband and 
 wife, of parents and children among the typical Ameri- 
 cans is not less intense than that commonly found in 
 his native country; he discovers the system of credit 
 in the business world developed to the highest state, 
 which cannot be done without correspondingly high sense 
 of honour on the part of individual citizens. If Ameri- 
 can life is not free from blemishes and defects, Japanese 
 life is no more so — why drag them into the garish light 
 of day? If he is disillusioned, that is nobody's fault 
 but his own, which beguiled him to fancy that this earth 
 could harbour a perfect people. After all, there is no 
 reason why he should be disappointed or disillusioned. 
 Thus does he become a truer friend of America. 
 
 The trouble with most Western critics of Japan is 
 that they come East without sympathy, and criticism 
 without sympathy is seldom just. Neither are they in 
 earnest to study Japan. If they come across something 
 which defies their comprehension, they do not take trou- 
 ble to investigate the question, but dismiss the whole 
 matter as incomprehensible to the Occidental mind. 
 That worn phrase, " The Japanese are inscrutable," sim- 
 ply betrays the mental indolence of whoever invented it. 
 
 Take, for instance, the much-advertised fiction of the 
 Chinese cashiers standing guard over the Japanese banks 
 filled with dishonest employes who are all natives. In 
 all my life have I never heard a lie so unblushing as 
 this. Time was when a few Japanese banks in open 
 ports employed Chinese, because the Chinese were dis- 
 honest. Does this seem paradoxical? The explanation 
 is simple. China has no currency system such as is com- 
 mon in civilized countries. Besides the silver coins arbi- 
 
52 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 trarily struck out by the central and local governments, 
 there is a large amount of bullion in circulation. Now 
 the bullion is often adulterated, while many coins are 
 counterfeits. Through experience of centuries the 
 Chinese have learned to distinguish, by the ring of the 
 metal, undebased from debased silver, an art which the 
 Japanese had no need to develop. So the Japanese banks 
 dealing with Chinese merchants had to employ Chinese 
 silver experts to safeguard themselves against the loss 
 which must result from accepting adulterated silver 
 brought from China. In no Japanese bank were such 
 Chinese experts given so important a position as cashier, 
 and even such few Chinese were long ago replaced by 
 Japanese experts. To-day there is no Japanese bank 
 which employs a single Chinese in any capacity. That, 
 however, made no difference to sensation-seekers from 
 America. They were there to tell wonderful stories, and 
 the Chinese employe in the Japanese bank traced to his 
 raison d'etre was not nearly so fascinating a subject as 
 when represented as the overseer of dishonest Japanese. 
 
 It is indeed difficult to gain an insight into the life 
 of any foreign nation. Especially is this the case when 
 the nation one studies has a language totally different 
 from one's own. The globe-trotter, without any knowl- 
 edge of Japanese, whirls through the country, and writes 
 a book on short notice. Entertaining? Yes, but is it 
 worth while? Nor does he always write accurately who 
 spends years in Japan. To know the Japanese as they 
 really are, a foreigner must first of all have unfeigned 
 sympathy with them, who will in turn receive him with 
 sympathy. A critic without sympathy is apt to take su- 
 perficial vices as the reflection of the inner qualities of 
 the nation which he criticises. 
 
 As for myself, the longer I live in America the more 
 
MUTUAL DISILLUSIONMENT 53 
 
 cautious do I become in criticising American life. Had I 
 returned to Japan after a few years' sojourn here as a 
 college student, I would never have enjoyed the oppor- 
 tunity to see America in true light. Fate decreed that 
 I should make my home in America and have American 
 relatives and friends, who do not hesitate to take me into 
 confidence and reveal to me both the lighter and the 
 darker phase of American life. We gossip with our 
 neighbours over an afternoon tea, and our maid, not in- 
 frequently lapsing into the instinct of her sex, brings 
 home the report of the latest scandals of the town. Once 
 we lived in a small town in the West, where we heard 
 every year of three or four girls who " went wrong " and 
 had to marry under circumstances about which no one 
 dared to talk but in whispers. In a town of less than 
 three thousand population an annual toll of three girls 
 surrendered into the hands of temptation is not a thing 
 to be dismissed lightly, and, when we think that there 
 may have been more cases of misdemeanour which for- 
 tunately or unfortunately did not terminate in enforced 
 marriage, we are compelled to stop and think. Am I to 
 say that the American girls are an unchaste lot? Not 
 for the whole world. Yet this is exactly the method of 
 argument followed by those unsympathetic writers who 
 bring wholesale indictment against the Japanese girls. 
 
 They tell me that Japanese of this or that class are 
 dishonest, tricky, unreliable. Be it so, but are Americans 
 of the corresponding class any better? Let me tell you 
 my experiences in America, which I presume are about 
 as worthy as the experiences of Americans who spent a 
 few months in Japan. Once I engaged a few men, one 
 of whom was a candidate for alderman of our town, to 
 dig a ditch. I paid them at the rate of forty-five cents 
 an hour, as they demanded. Afterwards I discovered 
 
54 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 that no one in our locality paid more than twenty-five 
 to thirty cents an hour for such work. Am I to say that 
 the Americans are dishonest and take every opportunity 
 to fleece strangers ? Once I asked a man, who was trim- 
 ming the trees in our neighbourhood, to trim a tree in 
 our yard. He said he would do it if I would pay him 
 two dollars. I refused, as I knew that he was doing the 
 job for my neighbours just for the fuel which he could 
 get out of the branches he was cutting. That ended the 
 negotiation as far as I was concerned; not so with my 
 man. The very next morning he came back with a 
 brand-new front, and said that he had changed his mind 
 and decided to cut the branch for me if I would give it to 
 him for fuel. Am I to say that Americans are tricky 
 and try to take advantage of the ignorance of for- 
 eigners ? We hire a maid with the understanding that she 
 can cook reasonably well, but when she comes to work 
 we find out that she can cook well enough to suit the 
 occupants of my kennel, certainly not for any member 
 of my household. Am I to say that the American girls 
 are dishonest and unreliable? I engage a painter to 
 paint my house. He furnishes the paint, for which I 
 pay more than the regular price. Scarcely a year is past 
 when the paint begins to peel off on all sides of the house. 
 Am I to say that the American workmen are fraudulent ? 
 I deal with a local plumber and agree to let him install a 
 heating plant in my house. I pay in advance both for 
 the plant and work, hoping he will feel obliged to com- 
 plete the work without unnecessaiy delay. He begins to 
 work in due season, but before the job is finished he 
 quits to work somewhere else, leaving it uncompleted for 
 months and months. I hire a man to work on my little 
 garden. He demands an exorbitant wage for his first 
 day's work, but promises to come back in the following 
 
MUTUAL DISILLUSIONMENT 55 
 
 morning, which he never does. Upon investigation I 
 find him in his dismal house unconscious from the effect 
 of the liquor which he was enabled to purchase with the 
 money I gave him. 
 
 I thank heaven that my mind is not so perverted as 
 to draw from such trivial experiences sweeping gener- 
 alizations as to the integrity of the Americans. One's 
 unpleasant experiences are seldom a safe guide in one's 
 efforts to understand a foreign nation. Besides, why find 
 fault with the Americans when the Japanese may be just 
 as faultful? If a Japanese is as sympathetic as he is 
 eager in studying America, he will have no difficulty in 
 discovering admirable qualities in her people. 
 
 There is one thing which requires particular considera- 
 tion on the part of foreign critics of Japan. In Japan, 
 unlike America, people do not whisper scandals, but 
 shout them from the housetops. Suppose a girl had to 
 marry under shameful circumstances. Out comes the 
 local newspaper telling under blazing headlines every 
 phase of the disgraceful story. Impetuosities of youth, 
 follies of maturity, misdeeds of maidens and wives, ex- 
 travagance and license of bachelors and husbands are 
 reported in the newspapers in a manner which would put 
 the yellowest of yellow journals in America to the blush. 
 Especially is this the case with the local papers, which 
 always find it difficult to gather enough news on local 
 politics and trade to fill their columns. 
 
 Such sensationalism is totally foreign to the editors 
 of small local newspapers in America. In America peo- 
 ple believe in the wisdom and charity of shielding from 
 public gaze the misdeeds of the weak-willed. In no 
 American weeklies or dailies published in small towns 
 have I seen a single case of scandal reported. On the 
 other hand, Japanese newspapers find justification for 
 
56 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 their apparent sensationalism in the motto of the nov- 
 elists of the old school, " Encourage virtue, rebuke vice." 
 An American visitor in Japan, who hastens to the con- 
 clusion that the presence of so many scandals in news- 
 papers indicates the low standards of morality among the 
 Japanese, is no more right in his observation than a Japa- 
 nese who would infer the absence of misdeeds among 
 Americans from the fact that the Americans do not talk 
 scandals on the streets. The American is subtle, tact- 
 ful, and charitable in dealing with scandal ; the Japanese, 
 straightforward, tactless, and relentless. 
 
 Social conventions. Oriental or Occidental, are often 
 absurd and meaningless. Why is it that the American 
 women should be forbidden under pain of ostracism to 
 expose their bosoms on the beach, when they are ex- 
 pected to reveal them in a ballroom? Does it not seem 
 more natural for a woman to expose her bosom when 
 taking a plunge in the surf than when whirling to the 
 sound of exciting music, clasped in the arms of her 
 masculine partner? Does it not seem the height of folly 
 for an elderly dame to wear decollete dress, coaxing 
 departing youth to linger upon her bosom by a liberal 
 application of cream and powder ? Why is it that Ameri- 
 can women, who think it perfectly correct to expose their 
 feet on the beach, would be handed over to the police 
 should they do the same in a ballroom? Why should 
 Americans be shocked by the innocent, unconscious ex- 
 posure of legs or the body, common among the Japanese, 
 especially among the lower classes ? Does it not appear 
 that the partial exposure of the person incidental to 
 health, cleanliness, or convenience in doing necessary 
 work, is far more modest and sensible than an exposure 
 which is merely for show ? He who imputes immorality 
 to such nudity betrays the pruriency of his mind. Have 
 
MUTUAL DISILLUSIONMENT 57 
 
 we any right to laugh at the Mohammedan women, who 
 think it sinful to show their faces but uncover their legs 
 without blushing? The Hindu women hide their faces, 
 yet their figures are clearly visible through their dresses 
 of transparent gauze. The prude may be shocked to 
 learn that even " the glory that was Greece " produced 
 a great philosopher who urged that young men and 
 women should see each other in nakedness, that they 
 might know what sort of a person they were to marry. 
 In this year of grace, 1913, American ministers — Dean 
 Sumner of Chicago University one of them — advocate 
 the adoption of this Platonic idea in modified form, when 
 they urge medical examination as an essential condition 
 for granting a marriage certificate. After all, American 
 young men and girls, who may some day have to endure 
 such embarrassing examinations, seem not much better 
 oflF than the Japanese lasses and lads who entrust them- 
 selves to the loving guidance of their parents, who in- 
 quire with the utmost care into the genealogy, character, 
 education, habits, and health of those who are to be the 
 life companions of their sons or daughters. 
 
 The better the Japanese people are studied and under- 
 stood, the more will it be felt that a great injustice has 
 been done them in the sweeping attacks made upon their 
 women. It will indeed be found that charges of unchas- 
 tity brought by foreigners against the Japanese rather 
 recoil upon the character of the accusers, who would 
 appear to have studied women in the brothels of open 
 ports. Licensed prostitution in Japan is deplorable 
 enough, but " why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy 
 brother's eye, but not the beam in thine own ? " Before 
 Japan opened any port to foreign trade, says Dr. Griffis, 
 the greatest American authority on Japan, " the Japa- 
 nese built two places for the foreigner — a custom house 
 
58 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 and a brothel — for they believed the foreigners to be far 
 •worse than themselves. How far were they wrong?" 
 And Mr. A. B. Mitford, an English authority on Japan, 
 says : " Vice jostling in the public places ; virtue imitating 
 the fashion set by vice, and buying trinkets or furniture 
 at the sale of vice's effects — these are social phenomena 
 which the East knows not." It is wrong to judge the 
 Japanese courtesan from a Western point of view. She 
 is not necessarily a depraved soul, entering a life of dis- 
 grace from reprehensible motives, but often a sacrifice 
 offered on the altar of Confucian ethics, holding filial 
 piety and obedience to be the highest virtues. In the 
 days of old, pure, innocent damsels often volunteered to 
 sell themselves into the brothel to relieve their parents of 
 debts or other obligations. To-day such heroines are 
 becoming fewer and fewer, and the harlot's function has 
 no longer attached to it such ethical glamour as was glo- 
 rified by novelists of the old school. But as long as the 
 white-slave trade in our midst is so horrible, as has been 
 revealed by the reports of the vice commissions in New 
 York and Chicago, we had better refrain from making 
 the Japanese a target of criticism. 
 
 There is nothing inscrutable about the Japanese, if one 
 looks at him without bias. Mr. Roosevelt cites Lafcadio 
 Hearn and Rudyard Kipling as two great authorities who 
 believe in the inscrutability of the Japanese. No one is 
 a sincerer and more ardent admirer of Lafcadio Hearn 
 than I. I admire him as a poet and artist; as an in- 
 terpreter of Japan, his authority is open to question. 
 Such a book of his as " Gleanings in Buddha Fields " is 
 destined to become immortal, but his " Japan, an Attempt 
 at Interpretation " can hardly be regarded as authorita- 
 tive. With all his poetic intuition, Hearn failed to see 
 Japan as she really was. His picture of Japan creates 
 
MUTUAL DISILLUSIONMENT 59 
 
 with us an impression that the Japanese are a people 
 utterly different from Western peoples in ideals and 
 traits. More critical, though less romantic observers, 
 more and more disagree with Hearn. The basic qualities 
 and character of the Japanese are much the same as 
 those of the European. As for Mr. Kipling's writings, 
 I need only say that his articles on Japan, written for the 
 London Times and republished in " From Sea to Sea," are 
 the most delightful reading ever proceeding from the pen 
 of a globe-trotter. And what a globe-trotter Mr. Kip- 
 ling is ! 
 
 The more closely we look into the question, the more 
 superficial does the difference between the East and the 
 West appear. Even the kimono reminds us of the Eu- 
 rope of the Middle Ages, in which originated the flowing 
 gowns worn by European ministers and professors of to- 
 day. The arts and crafts of Japan are not dissimilar to 
 those of the Middle Ages in Europe. Ancestor worship, 
 which is considered totally foreign to the Westerners, 
 finds its counterpart in the Christian idea that the de- 
 parted are received in heaven and there become angels. 
 If the Occidental is encouraged to live a life of virtue 
 by the belief that he will live among angels after his de- 
 parture from this world, the Japanese is impelled to 
 achieve meritorious deeds by the conviction that he will, 
 when his earthly existence ceases, be worshipped by his 
 descendants just as he worshipped his forefathers. Could 
 we not find a point of contact in these two conceptions? 
 Had a European nation existed through centuries in iso- 
 lation as Japan did, it would have followed much the 
 same line of progress as Japan. Both Europe and Japan 
 are imitators, and in this respect they are radically dif- 
 ferent from China. China invented all that she had and 
 was self-sufficient. Neither Europe nor Japan invented 
 
60 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 what it has. Japan imitated Chinese and later Western 
 civilization ; modern Europe founded its civilization upon 
 legacies left by China and Greece. But, inasmuch as 
 successful imitation presupposes creative ability, both 
 Europe and Japan have been and are developing new- 
 ideas and making new inventions, as well as modifying 
 and improving what was bequeathed by older civili- 
 zations. 
 
 Disillusionment as frequently follows over-praise as 
 it precedes true appreciation. The present disappoint- 
 ment manifested by the West with regard to Japan and 
 the Japanese will in due time give way to truer under- 
 staHding and higher appreciation of Japanese character, 
 ideals, civilization, and culture. Meanwhile, Japan will 
 continue to adopt, absorb, modify, and improve ideas, in- 
 stitutions, and the arts of peace, which the West has to 
 offer her. Professor Sydney Gulick forecasts Japan's 
 future in these words : 
 
 "The race or people who can best synthesize the 
 thoughts and experiences of other races is the one to 
 have a rich life. And it seems to me that Japan bids 
 fair to excel here. She combines, as no other nation 
 does to-day, the two great and hitherto divergent streams 
 of Occidental and Oriental civilizations and languages. 
 She has the power of holding, appreciating, and enjoy- 
 ing a larger variety of different modes of life, of wear- 
 ing apparel, of language, of ideals, of travel, and of 
 amusement than any other nation with which I am ac- 
 quainted. She is so situated in the midst of the con- 
 vergent streams of Eastern and Western civilizations, 
 with her immense variety of languages, customs, ideas, 
 and religion, that she bids fair in due time to develop a 
 life of marvellous wealth. Her dream not only of re- 
 ceiving all that is good from other nations, but in due 
 
MUTUAL DISILLUSIONMENT 6l 
 
 time of giving something of worth to the world, will 
 doubtless be realized." 
 
 It is Japan's hope not to disappoint such well-wishers 
 as Professor Gulick. And the more the Japanese are 
 maligned and oppressed at the hands of foreign nations, 
 the firmer and more unconquerable will their determina- 
 tion become to rise and to attain the end which they 
 have started out to reach. 
 
Ill 
 
 CAN WE AMERICANIZE THEM? 
 
 NO nation, perhaps, has turned to environment so 
 sensitive a front as the Japanese. Its history 
 of twenty-five centuries is a record of unceasing 
 adoption and assimilation. Aye, the process of assimi- 
 lation began even before the curtain of history rose upon 
 the pristine calmness of its Elysian islands, for the archi- 
 pelago seems from time immemorial to have been the 
 meeting ground of all races inhabiting the Asian continent 
 and its adjacent islands. From the South came various 
 tribes of Southern China, of the Malayan islands, and of 
 India ; from the northwest came tribes of Korea, Tartary, 
 Mongolia, and Northern China ; from the grim forests in 
 the north the Ainu descended upon the sunlit plains of 
 Southern Japan; even the aborigines of North America 
 seem to have crossed the Pacific to swell the confluence 
 of human streams that was forming in the archipelago of 
 Japan. 
 
 A glance at the map of Eastern Asia convinces us of 
 the comparative ease with which these early tribes must 
 have steered their courses towards Japan over vast ex- 
 panses of water. Off the eastern coast of the Asian con- 
 tinent a chain of innumerable islands runs from north 
 to south, as if forming stepping-stones between the 
 tropical islands of the Malayan group and the peninsula 
 of Kamchatka in the grip of eternal ice. In this chain 
 of islands Japan occupies the most fortunate position. To 
 
 62 
 
CAN WE AMERICANIZE THEM? 63 
 
 enhance the advantage afforded by this geographical 
 configuration, the shores of Japan are laved by a warm 
 current which issues from the South Sea and which 
 finally runs towards Canada, across the Pacific. The 
 monsoon, too, blows from the South Sea, taking in spring 
 an oblique southerly course towards the Pacific, and in 
 autumn veering to the opposite direction. For the rest- 
 less souls of prehistoric times, therefore, it was no in- 
 surmountable difficulty to drift from island to island 
 until the fair scenery of Southern Japan greeted their 
 eyes. Thus it came to pass that the Japanese nation 
 incorporated a greater variety of races than any other 
 nation in the world. That some of these component races 
 were of Aryan origin not a few scholars have begun to 
 recognize. 
 
 When the primitive tribes met with one another in the 
 fair isles of Japan, they saw little cause for quarrel. The 
 climate was agreeable and the earth bountiful; and the 
 sea was so abundantly supplied with fish that they could 
 be caught by hand without any trouble of netting. There 
 was plenty of food for every one, and the winding hills 
 and embracing valleys afforded hospitable shelters — why 
 should they quarrel? And so aborigines and immigrants 
 freely and happily intermingled and conversed over the 
 hearth in a tongue that quickly became common among 
 them. With the barrier of race animosity thus insensibly 
 removed, it was but natural that the Japanese people 
 should draw into its veins the blood of numerous tribes 
 and races. 
 
 That indeed was the first step toward assimilation. 
 As the various races became fairly homogeneous and uni- 
 fied under a common government, they began to adopt 
 the civilizations and cultures of continental countries, 
 especially of China. When Japan came in contact with 
 
64 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 the Western world, she set out to study and absorb the 
 civilization of Europe and America with the same zeal 
 and receptivity which she had displayed in adopting the 
 civilization of the Asian continent. 
 
 Mr. Robert P. Porter means to be courteous, I pre- 
 sume, when he says, in his " Full Recognition of Japan," 
 that Japan absorbs but does not imitate. Let us be more 
 frank and admit that the Japanese are imitators. Imita- 
 tion, however distasteful to the sensitive Japanese that 
 word may be, is a virtue and trait common to all pro- 
 gressive nations. " Herein," says no less an authority 
 than Dr. W. E. Griffis, " is the abysmal difference be- 
 tween the Chinese and Japanese, yes, between the sons 
 of Ham and ourselves. The Chinese invented what they 
 have. We did not, nor did the Japanese. The Chinese 
 have had but one culture. It is indigenous. They have 
 held to it and have only recently, under pressure from 
 all sides and within, begun to change. The Japanese, 
 like ourselves, inventing little until modern times, adopt 
 and adapt new things, and even become adepts. Always, 
 when opportunity offered, they took the novelties and 
 were soon at home with them. The Japanese mind, thor- 
 oughly un-Mongolian, works in other grooves than those 
 smoothed by the Chinese." 
 
 Successful imitation implies creative ability. No peo- 
 ple, not endowed with originality, can adopt the compli- 
 cated sciences and the intricate machinery of industry 
 of other nations, and in a comparatively short time be 
 thoroughly at home with them. Herein lies justification 
 for Mr. Porter's assertion that Japan is not a nation of 
 copyists. For she modifies the arts and ideas of other 
 nations to meet their peculiar needs and to suit their 
 own ideas. Take, for instance, the fine arts of Japan. 
 Japan was China's pupil in painting and sculpture, yet 
 
CAN WE AMERICANIZE THEM? 65 
 
 the style of painting and sculpture which she eventually 
 developed is no more Chinese than the painting and 
 sculpture of Europe. Western critics recognize admi- 
 rable qualities in the fine arts of the Japanese; they 
 declare that in this particular field the Japanese displayed 
 remarkable creative genius. What they have achieved in 
 the field of fine arts they are also achieving in other fields. 
 No nation of mere copyists could handle the intricate 
 yet tremendous machinery of modern warfare with such 
 absolute mastery and precision as has been displayed 
 by the Japanese. No nation of mimics without creative 
 genius could in a brief period of thirty or forty years 
 master the industrial arts of the Occident so completely 
 as to enable it to construct mighty dreadnoughts, to build 
 mammoth merchant vessels, and to establish and operate 
 great factories. In the world of material science, also, 
 Japan has already made remarkable records. Even the 
 comparatively new and small Japanese community in 
 America already boasts of such scientists as Dr. Takamine 
 and Dr. Noguchi, of New York, whose remarkable inven- 
 tions and discoveries are well-known among the special- 
 ists of all countries. 
 
 Professor Sydney Gulick, for fifteen years an educator 
 in Japan, attributes the imitative trait of the Japanese 
 to his sensitiveness to environment; his success in imi- 
 tation he traces to the flexibility of his mental constitu- 
 tion. " Great flexibility, adjustability, agility (both men- 
 tal and physical), and the powers of keen attention to 
 details and of exact imitation " — these are qualities with 
 which Professor Gulick credits the Japanese. Comparing 
 Japanese imitation with that of other nations, this Ameri- 
 can scholar has this to say : 
 
 " The difference between Japanese imitation and that 
 of other nations lies in the fact that whereas the latter, 
 
66 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 as a rule, despise foreign races, and do not admit the 
 superiority of alien civilizations as a whole, imitating only 
 a detail here and there, often without acknowledgment 
 and sometimes even without knowledge, the Japanese, on 
 the other hand, have repeatedly been placed in such cir- 
 cumstances as to see the superiority of foreign civiliza- 
 tions as a whole, and to desire their general adoption. 
 This has produced a spirit of imitation among all the 
 individuals of the race. It has become a part of their 
 social inheritance. This explanation largely accounts for 
 the striking difference between Japanese and Chinese in 
 the Occident. The Japanese go to the West in order 
 to acquire all the West can give. The Chinaman goes 
 steeled against its influences. The spirit of the Japanese 
 renders him quickly susceptible to every change in his 
 surroundings. He is ever noting details and adapting 
 himself to his circumstances. The spirit of the China- 
 man, on the contrary, renders him quite oblivious to his 
 environment. His mind is closed. Under special circum- 
 stances, when a Chinaman has been liberated from the 
 prepossession of his social inheritance, he has shown him- 
 self as capable of Occidentalization in clothing, speech, 
 manner, and thought as a Japanese. Such cases, how- 
 ever are rare." 
 
 I have dwelt at length upon the peculiarity of Japanese 
 character, because it has vital bearings upon the ques- 
 tion of their Americanization. If the Japanese were mere 
 copyists without individuality, we have little reason for 
 expecting them to become valuable assets of the Repub- 
 lic. If, on the other hand, their personality is such as 
 to prevent them from appreciating the superior points 
 of foreign civilizations, we have no more reason for hop- 
 ing to convert them into faithful members of our com- 
 munity. It is because the Japanese are endowed with 
 
CAN WE AMERICANIZE THEM? 67 
 
 both distinct individuality and extraordinary suscepti- 
 bility to environment that we feel justified in believing 
 that their physical peculiarities will constitute no insur- 
 mountable obstacle to their Americanization. 
 
 True, their proverbial patriotism furnishes some 
 Americans a cause for apprehension, but I hold that this 
 quality, instead of proving a hindrance, will be found 
 an auxiliary to our efforts to assimilate them. No immi- 
 grants, who come from a country where they enjoyed the 
 benefits of an honest, efficient government, enter the 
 portal of our country without casting longing eyes to- 
 wards their native land. They alone fail to experience 
 such feeling who left behind them a degenerate or back- 
 ward state which they see no reason to be proud of. Of 
 these two classes of immigrants which ai t Lhe more de- 
 sirable? To this question many divergent answers may 
 be given, but to me it appears that those immigrants 
 who formed, while in their native country, the habit of 
 respecting law and government not only out of the sense 
 of duty but out of sincere affecti' a and devotion, would 
 find no difficulty in appreciating a government which is 
 founded upon the principle " that all men are created 
 equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with cer- 
 tain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, 
 and the pursuit of happiness." 
 
 Take, for example, the German immigrants. The Kai- 
 ser*s subjects are no less loyal to the fatherland than 
 the Mikado's subjects are devoted to the Land of the 
 Rising Sun. Yet it is not many years after his arrival 
 in this land of opportunity that the German becomes its 
 ardent admirer. Time was when Germans in America 
 maintained their own schools and newspapers and were 
 regarded by the Americans as a '* menace," yet to-day no 
 one ventures to deny that the German population is an 
 
68 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 invaluable asset to the country. Will the Japanese be 
 like the German? To Americanize the Japanese it be- 
 hooves us to treat them in accord with the American 
 spirit. The Japanese do not want us alternately to praise 
 them and revile them ; what they ask is the observance on 
 our part of the elementary principles of justice and fair- 
 ness. " Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness " are 
 what was held by our forefathers to be sacred, and to 
 guard these precious possessions we did not hesitate 
 to shed the blood of three generations. Men who con- 
 spire to violate these fundamental principles are running 
 directly counter to the spirit of this Republic. 
 
 Whether our country has reached a stage where we 
 should no longer receive immigrants without restriction, 
 is a question which I cannot discuss here. One thing, 
 however, seems certain : namely, that any alien, once ad- 
 mitted into our territories, must also be given opportu- 
 nity to prove that he can be a faithful and worthy citizen 
 of the Republic. To be more definite, our doors of citi- 
 zenship must be open to all aliens, and especially those 
 who come from countries which by dint of their achieve- 
 ments in the arts of peace and of warfare, have been ad- 
 mitted into the family of civilized nations. For the sake 
 of our national solidarity and advancement, it is not 
 advisable that any alien should be permitted to enter our 
 country without at the same time affording him the 
 privilege to become a citizen. Foreign people living 
 within our jurisdiction with no hope of becoming Ameri- 
 can citizens, constitute a floating, unstable element in 
 our national existence. They will not feel with us, nor 
 will they think as we think. To them the woe and weal 
 of our body politic are of little consequence, and the 
 conduct of our public affairs is of no greater interest 
 than the domestic affairs of their strange neighbours. 
 
CAN WE AMERICANIZE THEM? 69 
 
 Nor is this all. When we single out aliens of a cer- 
 tain race or nationality as objects of discrimination in 
 the matter of naturalization, we fix upon them the odium 
 of inferiority and thus instill in their hearts a feeling of 
 resentment. We look down upon them with contempt, 
 and they reciprocate with disdain. We assume a suspi- 
 cious attitude towards them, and they also look at us with 
 suspicion. It is human nature, and cannot be avoided. 
 The remedy is obvious. Open the doors of citizenship to 
 them, encourage them to become worthy members of 
 the commonwealth, and their hearts will glow with hope 
 and they will strive to prove their right and fitness to 
 become American citizens. For hope is a wonderful re- 
 deemer, lifting men out of abandonment, and kindling 
 in their bosoms the fire of aspiration. Give the Japanese 
 in America an equal opportunity with other aliens, and 
 they will respond as whole-heartedly and loyally as any 
 other foreigner under our flag. No problem can be 
 solved by hate and prejudice, certainly not the Japanese 
 question. No people can be assimilated by pressure and 
 persecution, certainly not the Japanese, a people en- 
 dowed with the keenest sense of honour and pride. The 
 great assimilating power of the American nation is or 
 has been, I believe, largely due to the fact that here in 
 the land of freedom the immigrants are permitted to 
 bask in the blessings of a liberal government and are un- 
 hampered by inequitable restraint. Why fetter the Japa- 
 nese with discriminatory measures and drive them into 
 a path which leads counter to the goal which we desire 
 them to attain? 
 
 Be it far from me to contend that we should natural- 
 ize all aliens as they come. On the contrary, I urge that 
 we should jealously guard our high standards of citi- 
 zenship against all debasing influences. We should de- 
 
70 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 mand of every candidate for citizenship the fulfilment of 
 all conditions requisite in making him a desirable mem- 
 ber of the democracy. If the present naturalization law 
 is too lax in this respect, it should be revised so as to 
 safeguard the moral well-being of our country. What I 
 protest against is the false notion that all Asiatics are 
 " undesirables," while all Europeans are " desirables." 
 Physiognomy, stature, and the colour of the skin have 
 no more bearing upon the moral character and intel- 
 lectual quality of a man than the pattern of garments 
 he wears. There are just as many knaves and sharpers 
 in other civilized countries as in Japan. If China has 
 her Hatchet Men, Italy has her Black Hands. As sang 
 an ancient poet : 
 
 "The world in all doth but two nations bear, — 
 The good and bad, and these mixed everywhere." 
 
 It is, however, fair to add that the Japanese community 
 on either side of the Pacific has never had anything like 
 the Hatchet Man or the Black Hand, whose atrocious 
 methods of extortion have struck terror into the hearts 
 of all denizens of the Bowery and of Chinatown. 
 Neither have the Japanese established in any American 
 city such filthy quarters as have been established by im- 
 migrants from certain other countries. There is no 
 sound reason why the Japanese should not be naturalized. 
 
 In connection with the naturalization of the Japanese, 
 the question of intermarriage is of special interest. Here 
 and there the miraculous hands of love razed the barrier 
 of prejudice and united men of Japan and our daughters 
 in " the sweet bond of holy wedlock." Fortunately such 
 unions have, as a rule, been successful. And why not? 
 Despite wide difference in customs and manners, the tra- 
 
CAN WE AMERICANIZE THEM? 71 
 
 ditions of American families are not much different from 
 those of Japanese families of the corresponding class. 
 What is different is merely outward forms; the basic 
 ideas are the same. Moreover, in the sphere of intel- 
 ligence and character there is neither race nor nation- 
 ality. In the words of Kipling: 
 
 "But there is neither East nor West, 
 i Border, nor breed, nor birth, 
 
 When two strong men stand face to face, 
 Though they come from the ends of the earth." 
 
 Marriage of a man and a woman on totally different 
 planes of education and intellectuality would be unfor- 
 tunate, even when they both belong to the same race 
 and nationality. Where intermarriage between a Japa- 
 nese and an American has proved unhappy, the failure 
 can usually be traced to causes other than racial. 
 
 A California writer, a newspaper correspondent, who 
 evidently thinks that painstaking investigation and fidel- 
 ity to truth form no part of a writer's duty and responsi- 
 bility, discusses intermarriage between Japanese men and 
 American women, and says : 
 
 " In all cases the white woman has been ostracized by 
 Americans, but even stronger in proof of the impossi- 
 bility of the amalgamation of the races is the fact that 
 the Japanese man has also become an outcast from his 
 own race by reason of the marriage. The offspring are 
 neither Japanese nor American, but half-breed weaklings, 
 who doctors declare have neither the intelligence nor 
 healthfulness of either race, in conformity with the teach- 
 ing of biology, that the mating of extreme types produces 
 deficient offspring." 
 
 I am reluctant to question the profundity of the bio- 
 logical knowledge which this writer claims to have, but 
 
72 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 I fear he has to study a bit more. If book-reading is not 
 his forte, he may at least make a round of calls to the 
 homes of American- Japanese couples and see if he could 
 find the wee weaklings of his imagination. I know in 
 California, whose laws forbid the union of Caucasians 
 and Orientals, white women married to Japanese are 
 placed in uncomfortable positions, but California is dif- 
 ferent. In no Eastern States are such snobbery and 
 provincialism displayed with regard to intermarriage. 
 Even on the Pacific Coast other States are not so averse 
 to American- Japanese marriages. As for the Japanese 
 being ostracised on account of his marriage to a white 
 woman, the story is too absurd to require a refuta- 
 tion. 
 
 I should not be so severe in criticising the Califor- 
 nian, for I myself used to view intermarriage with dis- 
 favour. I used to see in the open ports in Japan boys 
 and girls born to the Japanese " wives " of Europeans 
 and Americans. Such " Eurasians," with few excep- 
 tions, seemed neither bright nor robust. In my youthful, 
 unreasoning mind, I fancied that marriage of Occidentals 
 and Orientals was disastrous. As I grew older, I learned 
 to think more rationally and to place the blame where 
 it belonged. The trouble with those Eurasian children 
 was that their Japanese mothers were mere hirelings, 
 employed for the time being to satisfy the lust of sailors 
 and traders from Europe and America. What could we 
 expect from such promiscuous " marriages " ? Wanton 
 'love is destructive alike to the home and to the human 
 race. On the other hand, men like Lafcadio Hearn and 
 Captain Brinkley, who made homes in Japan with edu- 
 cated, respectable Japanese women, are blessed with chil- 
 dren who are mentally and physically as wholesome as 
 any child. 
 
CAN WE AMERICANIZE THEM? 73 
 
 But we must come back to America. There are at 
 present in the entire United States some 300 Japanese 
 who have married American women. Of these about 
 250 are in the Eastern States, about 50 on the Pacific 
 Coast. 
 
 Homes resulting from the union of Japanese and Cau- 
 casians are usually happy, and the children born and 
 reared in such homes are both healthy and bright. In 
 ^ appearance, in temperament, in manner such children 
 are so completely American that one can hardly detect 
 Japanese blood in their veins, unless one is informed of 
 their parentage. Especially is this the case when their 
 mothers are American. True, their eyes and hair are 
 dark, but there are many white children whose eyes and 
 hair are no lighter. As one watches these children one 
 is struck with a peculiar charm in their physical expres- 
 sions. Perhaps this is because the harsh contour of Oc- 
 cidental physique is somewhat softened by the inherent 
 subtilty of the Oriental race. Their mental agility is 
 extraordinary, and as they grow older they show sur- 
 prising proficiency. We shall not be surprised if in 
 the coming few decades we find among these American- 
 Japanese children of to-day scholars and artists whom 
 we may well be proud of. When I heard a noted agi- 
 tator shout, in one of his fire-spitting harangues be- 
 fore San Francisco labourers, that " if Japanese and 
 Americans intermarried the result would be a nation 
 of gaspipe thugs and human hyenas," I could not help 
 laughing in spite of the solemn audience about me, for 
 I could not but believe that this famous hero of the 
 dynamite conspiracy was indulging in jest. This reminds 
 me of what the elder Dumas said to his friend, Cremieux, 
 a notoriously homely man, when the latter tried to turn 
 a laugh against the great novelist. " Was your fa- 
 
74 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 ther a mulatto?" asked Cremieux. "Yes," replied 
 Dumas, " my father was a mulatto, my grandfather a 
 negro, and my great-grandfather a monkey; my family 
 began where yours ends." 
 
 In the assimilation of aliens within our borders reli- 
 gion must, of course, shoulder a great responsibility. 
 Churches and all institutions founded upon the princi- 
 ple of humanity and universal brotherhood, must receive 
 the aliens not only with open arms but with open hearts. 
 By dint of sympathy they must throw across the chasm 
 of racial prejudice a bridge of mutual understanding. 
 How strange that the Young Men's Christian Associa- 
 tions on the Pacific Coast should refuse to admit Japa- 
 nese into their membership! Surely this was not the 
 kind of fraternity for which Jesus of Nazareth sacrificed 
 his blood. Some three years ago a Japanese, a clerk 
 of the Japanese Consulate-General, applied for admission 
 to the Y. M. C. A. at Honolulu, but was rejected. The 
 event created at the time something of a sensation, as 
 Dr. Doremus Scudder and the majority of American 
 residents severely criticised the discriminatory measure 
 adopted by the secretary of the Y. M. C. A. The con- 
 troversy, at which the rejected applicant was an inter- 
 ested onlooker, continued for almost a year, at the end 
 of which the Y. M. C. A. decided to admit the Japanese. 
 By that time, however, the Japanese had become so pro- 
 voked that he no longer cared to join the fraternity. 
 I presume that the Y. M. C. A. was rather glad that he 
 declined the belated invitation, for it had decided upon 
 a policy of segregation, having instituted a Japa- 
 nese Y. M. C. A. as an auxiliary to the Honolulu 
 Y. M. C. A. 
 
 At Los Angeles, a Japanese young man had an expe- 
 rience even more humiliating than that of the Honolulu 
 
CAN WE AMERICANIZE THEM? 75 
 
 Japanese. A graduate of the University of Southern 
 California and an employe of an American bank, he 
 had many friends among Americans. At the urgent ad- 
 vice of his American friends, who were members of the 
 Los Angeles Y. M. C. A., he applied for membership in 
 the association. He had not the slightest doubt that his 
 application would meet immediate acceptance, but the 
 secretary demurred and hesitated and seemed unwilling 
 to give any definite answer. The Japanese, not knowing 
 what was in the secretary's mind, requested prompt de- 
 cision, whereupon he was told that he could become a 
 member if he would accept one condition. The Japanese 
 replied he would if the condition were reasonable. Then 
 the secretary said that the Japanese could enjoy all the 
 privileges enjoyed by other members, but that he must 
 refrain from using the swimming pool ! The young man 
 was simply dumfounded. Did the secretary mean to 
 intimate that the Japanese people were physically un- 
 clean or that they were liable to spread disease? That 
 ended the negotiation. The Japanese applicant, who 
 had thought that his race was noted for cleanly habits, 
 was naturally disgusted and indignant with what he con- 
 sidered the height of bigotry, and abandoned all hope for 
 doing anything for or with American Young Men's Chris- 
 tian Associations. 
 
 In these instances the issue raised was a purely racial 
 one, for the applicants were men of impeccable char- 
 acter and high intelligence. In San Francisco it is much 
 the same story. 
 
 The shock which the Japanese convert to Christianity 
 experiences in such circumstances is all the more severe 
 because he was accustomed to see the picture of Chris- 
 tendom painted in roseate hues at the hands of the 
 evangelical workers who revealed Christianity to him. 
 
*7^ ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 While in his native land he heard a great deal said about 
 Christian love and brotherhood, and he felt justified in ex- 
 pecting to find the teachings of the Great Nazarene lived 
 up to at least by Christian workers and institutions, if 
 not by all members of Christendom. And yet here he is 
 in the Christian country of all Christian countries unable 
 to enter one of the greatest fraternal organizations to 
 which those teachings have given birth. He cannot help 
 wondering if he would not have been much happier and 
 much better oflf, had he remained what his religious 
 teachers from America reproachfully called a heathen — 
 a disciple of Buddha, a devotee of Confucianism, or a 
 believer in Shinto. If the Y. M. C. A. be like a club, 
 consisting of men grouped together by common whims 
 and fancies, no one is justified in complaining of its 
 exclusiveness. Certainly the Y. M. C. A. has not yet 
 degenerated into such an organization. 
 
 The question involved is a vital one and challenges the 
 soberest consideration on the part of all public-spirited 
 men and women, and especially those directly interested 
 in foreign missions. For the policy of segregation can- 
 not but militate against the effective propagation of the 
 Gospel not only among the Japanese in this country, 
 but among tens of millions of souls on the other side 
 of the Pacific. This significant fact is clearly recognized 
 by the Immigration Commission when it says that the 
 establishment on the Pacific Coast of missions exclu- 
 sively for Japanese is " a recognition of a difference be- 
 tween them and other races and a condition which lessens 
 their value as an assimilative force." 
 
 At the same time, the good work accomplished by the 
 Japanese missions cannot be too highly appreciated. The 
 Methodist Church alone maintains some fifteen churches 
 for the Japanese on the Pacific Coast. There are almost 
 
CAN WE AMERICANIZE THEM? yy 
 
 as many Presbyterian churches. Primarily established 
 for the propagation of the Gospel, these churches are 
 also schools and social centres, where Japanese young 
 men acquire a knowledge of English as well as American 
 customs and ideas. 
 
IV 
 
 CAN WE AMERICANIZE THEM?— II 
 
 EVEN in the present untoward circumstances, the 
 Japanese in America have proved themselves sur- 
 prisingly loyal to the country which harbours 
 them. How fond they are of this great country! And 
 how proud! Their enthusiasm is almost contagious. 
 They are resolved that nobody shall speak in their pres- 
 ence disparagingly of the United States. Now and then 
 there come to these shores Japanese who have spent a 
 few years in Germany or France or England and who 
 are naturally inclined to belittle America, its arts, its 
 literature, its universities, its cities, and even its charm- 
 ing womankind. Such impudent critics had better be- 
 ware, lest their compatriots in America admonish them 
 rather unceremoniously. In spite of all the inconven- 
 iences and disagreeable experiences that annoy them, the 
 Japanese in America, especially the educated class, ap- 
 preciate that this is a country of freedom and opportu- 
 nity. They breathe the atmosphere of freedom and they 
 revel in it. Here is a country which is singularly free 
 from official red-tape; where nobody is called upon to 
 sacrifice the best years of his life for military duties; 
 where officials are in the true sense of the term the serv- 
 ants of the people; where social caste has never been 
 established; where all the blessings of modern civiliza- 
 tion — schools, libraries, museums, and what not — are 
 placed at the disposal of every one. After all, it is a 
 
 78 
 
CAN WE AMERICANIZE THEM? 79 
 
 pretty good country, this great Republic of brothers, and 
 the Japanese are quick to appreciate it. When they are 
 treated more kindly, and more squarely, and more in ac- 
 cord with the true spirit of the Republic, there is no 
 doubt that they will become even more devoted to this 
 country. 
 
 One of the most interesting subjects for the students 
 of sociology is the Japanese children bom and reared 
 in this country. These children, oblivious of their own 
 parentage, disdainfully call the newcomers from Japan 
 " Japs." Surely they have caught the Yankee spirit ! 
 Tell them that they are themselves Japanese, and they 
 proudly cock their heads and indignantly swear that they 
 are not Japs but 'Mericans. Their parents, too, are 
 proud that they are Americans and want them to learn 
 all that is good of American ideas and manners. As 
 they grow into manhood and womanhood, they will no 
 doubt strive to live up to the standards of living which 
 obtain in our community. Their agile minds readily 
 grasp the details of our life, and they become teachers 
 of their parents, if their parents were not fortunate 
 enough to receive the blessings of modem education. 
 
 Miss Katherine M. Ball, for fifteen years a teacher in 
 public schools in San Francisco and at present Supervisor 
 of Art of that city, makes interesting observations, com- 
 paring the peculiarities of Japanese children with those 
 of Chinese. " The Chinese," she says, " although living 
 in an American city, still perpetuate their own national 
 life; hence the difference between the native-bom and 
 foreign-born Chinese children is so slight that it is 
 scarcely perceptible. Not so with the Japanese who live 
 among us. They strive to the utmost to become familiar 
 with Occidental life and to adopt Occidental customs. 
 As a result, the art work of those Japanese children born 
 
8o ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 and reared in this country is similar to that of our own 
 children, thereby demonstrating that ' as water cannot 
 rise above its level,' so humanity cannot reflect aught 
 but that which environs it." 
 
 A striking example of the assimilability of the Japa- 
 nese is found in those Japanese girls born and educated 
 in Hawaii and teaching public schools in the territory. 
 Not only are their manners and speech perfectly Ameri- 
 can, but their features and complexion are markedly dif- 
 ferent from those of the Japanese girls at home. Their 
 vivacious movement, their airy manner, their charming 
 speech find no example among their sisters in the Mika- 
 do's land. Brought up in a congenial atmosphere in 
 which many races live amicably together, these Japanese 
 girls grew up with little knowledge of race hatred, and 
 when they are placed upon a footing of equality with 
 their American sisters by the official recognition of their 
 scholarly attainment, they feel that their efforts are not 
 in vain and are encouraged to achieve more meritorious 
 work. It imbues their naturally modest minds with self- 
 confidence and self-respect, qualities essential in the mak- 
 ing of good citizens. What has been accomplished in 
 Hawaii can also be accomplished on the continent when 
 we are purged of racial prejudice and learn to deal with 
 the Japanese in sympathy. 
 
 One of the peculiarities of the Japanese community in 
 America is the schools established by it to instruct Japa- 
 nese children in the language, history, and ethics of the 
 Mikado's Empire. Almost every centre of Japanese 
 population on the Pacific Coast has a Japanese school. 
 On the entire coast region from Vancouver to Los 
 Angeles there are about fifteen of such schools, all es- 
 tablished and maintained by contributions from the Japa- 
 nese residents. The maintenance of such educational in- 
 
CAN WE AMERICANIZE THEM? 8l 
 
 stitutions may be construed as a proof that the Japanese 
 mean to perpetuate in our midst the traditions and moral 
 conceptions of their native country. Before I made per- 
 sonal study of these schools I was myself one of those 
 who urged their summary abolition. My recent visit 
 in Hawaii and on the Pacific Coast persuaded me to 
 modify my views. 
 
 The Japanese schools, it must be remembered, are not 
 substitutes for, but supplements to, our public schools. 
 The Japanese children go to Japanese schools after their 
 regular hours in the public schools. The session lasts 
 two or three hours and the curriculum consists of 
 caligraphy, reading, and composition in Japanese. To 
 these Japanese history, geography, and ethics are added 
 for older children. In the classrooms one finds por- 
 traits of Washington and Lincoln hung side by side with 
 the portraits of the reigning Mikado and Admiral Togo 
 or General Nogi. There is indeed something touching 
 in the scene presented by the Stars and Stripes infold- 
 ing the Rising Sun, under which the children sing the 
 gentle air of the Mikado's Empire and the militant song 
 of the American Republic. It is cosmopolitanism, not 
 narrow nationalism, which is fostered in these schools. 
 In the public schools the Japanese children are taught 
 the doctrine of humanity and freedom embodied in the 
 Declaration of Independence, and in the Japanese schools 
 they are enjoined to respect the spirit of the Mikado's 
 Rescript on education. That rescript, issued in October, 
 1890, runs thus : 
 
 " Ye, Our Subjects, be filial to your parents, aflFection- 
 ate to your brothers and sisters ; as husbands and wives 
 be harmonious, as friends, true ; bear yourselves in mod- 
 esty and moderation; extend your benevolence to all; 
 pursue learning and cultivate arts, and thereby develop 
 
82 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 intellectual faculties and perfect moral powers ; further- 
 more, advance public good and promote common inter- 
 ests; always respect the constitution and observe the 
 laws; should emergency arise, oifer yourselves courage- 
 ously to the State; and thus guard and maintain the 
 prosperity of Our Imperial Throne coeval with heaven 
 and earth." 
 
 With the substitution of " citizens " and " Republic " 
 for " Our Subjects " and " Our Imperial Throne," re- 
 spectively, the rescript might well be read in our own 
 public schools. In reading the rescript in the classroom, 
 teachers in the Japanese schools in this country usually 
 interpret its meaning so as to suit the circumstances 
 under which their pupils are placed. Living in America, 
 they explain, the children must " guard and maintain 
 the prosperity " of the Republic. As for the rest of 
 the rescript, every word contained therein rings with 
 eternal truth, which knows neither East nor West, race 
 nor nationality. Our children, reared in the atmosphere 
 of independence and freedom, are sometimes inclined to 
 forget to " honour thy father and thy mother." On the 
 other hand, the Japanese are taught to sacrifice every- 
 thing upon the altar of filial piety and of the State. The 
 East developed ultra-communalism, the West ultra- 
 individualism. Perhaps, by modifying the ideas of each 
 with those of the other, both the East and the West may 
 find the golden mean. 
 
 In rare instances Japanese teachers are inclined to 
 inspire in the hearts of their youthful pupils such senti- 
 ment and creeds as would hinder their assimilation with 
 American ideas and traditions. No word can be too 
 strong in condemning such perverted methods. Yet in 
 the overwhelming majority of cases I find the teachers 
 judiciously liberal, and I have reason to believe that the 
 
CAN WE AMERICANIZE THEM? 83 
 
 good example set by the majority will soon be followed 
 by their few conservative colleagues. 
 
 There is another strong reason for justifying the Japa- 
 nese schools. The American text-books are too sparing 
 in dealing with the history and geography of the Orient. 
 Worse still, they often do Oriental nations gross injus- 
 tice by disseminating mistaken ideas. What one learns 
 in his childhood in the nursery, in the kindergarten, and 
 in the primary school, influences and fashions his thought 
 throughout his life. Most Americans judge and estimate 
 Japan from what their ** schoolma'ams '* told them twenty 
 or thirty years ago. American writers of text-books are 
 not entirely free from the notion that the whole Orient 
 is peopled by inferior or backward races. The Japanese 
 children, more or less despised by their schoolmates and 
 reading in the newspapers foul epithets and vituperations 
 heaped upon the Japanese, have no favourable idea of 
 the race to which they belong. And when they see even 
 their text-books speak slightingly of the Japanese, they 
 see no reason why they should thank the fate which 
 made them Japanese. Such depressing feeling seldom de- 
 velops good qualities. It makes the child timid and often 
 suspicious. 
 
 To offset such unfortunate influence, it is necessary 
 that the Japanese children should be given correct knowl- 
 edge of Japan and the Japanese. They must know that 
 Japan has had an intensely cultivated civilization of her 
 own, that her people are possessed of moral fibre as 
 strong as that of any other people, that her history is 
 replete with stories of noble deeds and achievements. 
 Such knowledge makes them confident of the potentiali- 
 ties of their race, and teaches them to respect not only 
 themselves, but their parents and all men of their kin. 
 What is equally important, it affords them a broader view 
 
84 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 of the world and divests them of narrow prejudice. No 
 man is worth while who does not respect himself and 
 the race of which he is a member. Neither is he a de- 
 sirable member of the democracy who cherishes preju- 
 dice against other races. To prevent the injection of 
 such undesirable elements into the American population 
 is the chief mission of the Japanese schools in America. 
 
 In the assimilation of aliens, public schools play the 
 most important part. They may well be called the great 
 melting pot of the races. It is fortunate that in no 
 State other than California any attempt has ever 
 been made to segregate Japanese school children from 
 American children. Even in California it is only poli- 
 ticians with their eyes upon the labour vote who exploit 
 the segregation question. The teachers and superintend- 
 ents of schools never recognize the necessity of segrega- 
 tion. And why should they? When a certain publicist 
 of California delivered in San Francisco a speech in 
 favour of segregation, a California woman, for eleven 
 years a teacher in public schools in her State, wrote a 
 letter to the gentleman. In part the letter reads : " It 
 shows you are totally ignorant of Japanese life and char- 
 acter. The Japanese children are as clean, bright, and 
 wholesome as our average American child, and much 
 cleaner-minded, more studious, and obedient. It is snob- 
 bery, pure and simple, and un-American race-hatred that 
 would forbid the Japanese child the training of our 
 schools.'* 
 
 I have quoted elsewhere in this chapter the statement 
 of Miss Katherine M. Ball, superintendent of art in 
 the public schools of San Francisco. When in 1906 
 San Francisco tried to segregate Japanese children, the 
 principal of a public school in that city wrote thus : 
 
 " The statement that the influence of the Japanese in 
 
CAN WE AMERICANIZE THEM? 85 
 
 our schools has had a tendency towards immorality is 
 false and absolutely without foundation. From all I 
 have heard in conference with other school men, as well 
 as from my own continuous and careful observation, 
 there has never been the slightest cause for a shadow of 
 suspicion affecting the conduct of one of these Japanese 
 pupils. On the contrary, I have found that they have 
 furnished examples of industry, patience, unobtrusive- 
 ness, obedience, and honesty in their work which have 
 greatly helped many efficient teachers to create the proper 
 moral atmosphere for their classrooms." 
 
 Such, in brief, are the testimonials of most school 
 teachers in California. The agitation for the segrega- 
 tion of Japanese children is nothing but a political 
 game. Let those who scandalize Japanese pupils with 
 invented tales of immorality read a recent report of the 
 Chicago Law and Order League, wherein it is stated 
 that, in the twenty-four months covered by the investi- 
 gation, 600 school children occupied wards in the county 
 hospital devoted to diseases resulting from immorality. 
 As long as the morals of our own children are in such 
 deplorable state, we have no right to throw stones at 
 those children of foreign birth or parentage who are much 
 purer-minded. 
 
 Aliens, in order to Assimilate American ideas and man- 
 ners, must first acquire a fair knowledge of English. 
 How does the Japanese compare with other immigrants 
 in this particular respect ? " The difference," we learn 
 from the Reports of the Immigration Commission, " be- 
 tween the Japanese and some of the other races with 
 regard to the learning of English is so great as to justify 
 the statement that the Japanese have acquired the use 
 of the English language more quickly and more eagerly 
 than the Chinese, Mexicans, and some of the European 
 
86 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 races." This eagerness and ability to acquire English 
 is shown not only by the better or educated class of Japa- 
 nese immigrants, but also by the labourers. To quote 
 the reports once more : 
 
 " When compared with other races employed in similar 
 kinds of labour in the same industry, the Japanese show 
 relatively rapid progress in acquiring a speaking knowl- 
 edge of English. Their advance has been much more 
 rapid than that of the Chinese and the Mexicans, who 
 show little interest in American institutions. During 
 their first five-years* residence a greater proportion have 
 learned to speak English than most of the South and 
 East European races. However, among those who have 
 been in this country for a longer period of time, a larger 
 proportion of the South and East Europeans than of 
 the Japanese speak English. The progress of the Japa- 
 nese is due to their great eagerness to learn which has 
 overcome more obstacles than have been encountered by 
 most of the other races, obstacles of race prejudice, of 
 segregation, and of wide difference in language. The 
 Chinese are self-satisfied and indifferent in this regard, 
 whereas the Japanese are eager to learn the English 
 language or anything pertaining to Western civilization." 
 
 Turning to the census of 1910, we find a very small 
 rate of illiteracy among the Japanese. Take, for exam- 
 ple, the case of California, where the majority of the 
 Japanese in this country are found. The rate of il- 
 literacy among the Japanese was 8.6 per cent, as against 
 10 per cent, of foreign-born whites, including Germans, 
 English, French, Irish, Canadians, Swedes, as well as 
 South and Eastern Europeans. The rate of illiteracy 
 among the Chinese was 15.5 per cent, and among the In- 
 dians 49 per cent. 
 
 In the light of what has been said in this and the pre- 
 
CAN WE AMERICANIZE THEM? ^ 
 
 ceding chapters, and will be said in the chapters follow 
 ing, it seems fair that we should confer upon the Japanese 
 the privilege of naturalization. I have said that the natu- 
 ralization law, if inadequate to bar out undesirable aliens, 
 should be revised. The Rev. Dr. Doremus Scudder, one 
 of the most influential moral leaders in Hawaii, seems 
 to entertain the same opinion, when he says : 
 
 "If Congress would place the Asiatic on a level with 
 all other races in eligibility for naturalization, follow this 
 up by guarding American citizenship by requiring the 
 passage of a stiff civil-service examination in the English 
 language upon American civics by every candidate for 
 the franchise, and then enact a law admitting only a 
 definite number of labouring men annually from each 
 foreign country, we should get no more than we could 
 assimilate healthfully and those aliens admitted to our 
 citizenship would comprise the indomitable spirits so 
 much needed to recruit our population. Those who 
 know the Asiatic and compare him with the Southern 
 European, the Russian Jew, the Armenian, and Syrian, 
 have no patience with the oft-repeated nonsense that the 
 Asiatic cannot and will not assimilate. The truth is that 
 he does assimilate with great rapidity, that if admitted 
 to our citizenship he would make a thoroughly charac- 
 teristic and devoted American, and that in the event of 
 conflict with his former homeland his loyalty to his 
 adopted nation would be unquestioned." 
 
 Even the existing law, if strictly enforced, will be able 
 to exclude from citizenship a very large number of un- 
 desirable aliens who are morally and intellectually unfit 
 to become citizens. The new naturalization law which 
 went into effect September, 1907, is doubtless an improve- 
 ment upon the old law, its provisions being couched in 
 such elastic terms as would enable the naturalization au- 
 
8^ ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 .horities to prevent the admission into citizenship of un- 
 desirable aliens. 
 
 The law provides that no alien unable to speak Eng- 
 lish shall be naturalized; that an alien applying for a 
 naturalization certificate must prove that he has resided 
 continuously within the United States for five years at 
 least and within the State or Territory where his cer- 
 tificate is to be obtained one year at least; that he must 
 also make it appear to the satisfaction of the authorities 
 that during his residence in this country he has behaved 
 as a man of good moral character, attached to the prin- 
 ciples of the constitution of the commonwealth, and well 
 disposed to the good order and happiness of the Re- 
 public, which statement must be verified by the affi- 
 davits of at least two credible witnesses who are Ameri- 
 can citizens. 
 
 It will be seen that there is much room for the authori- 
 ties to employ their own discretion in their efforts to 
 maintain the moral and intellectual standards of the 
 American nation by preventing the naturalization of un- 
 desirable aliens. The educational test, for instance, may 
 be so employed as to bar out many Japanese, for it rests 
 with the authorities to decide how well an alien must 
 be able to speak English to be admitted as a citizen. 
 
 Again the moral test is as flexible as the educational 
 test. The court reserves the power to withhold the natu- 
 ralization certificate until it is satisfied that the state- 
 ment made by the candidate for citizenship as to his moral 
 character is genuine and sincere; in fine, it entirely de- 
 pends upon the discretion of the court whether or not 
 an alien shall be regarded as morally wholesome. In the 
 face of these provisions, the conclusion seems natural 
 that, in the event of the right of naturalization being 
 extended to the Japanese, there will be no danger of the 
 
CAN WE AMERICANIZE THEM? 89 
 
 United States becoming infested by the undesirable 
 classes of Japanese. 
 
 Professor Jenks, in his book, " The Immigration Prob- 
 lem," justly credits the Japanese with " considerable ca- 
 pacity for assimilation," but adds that " effort is made 
 [on the Pacific Coast] to hold them [Japanese] apart 
 as a separate race, even when they themselves appar- 
 ently manifest a strong desire for assimilation." There- 
 fore, he concludes, it is best and necessary to exclude 
 the Japanese. In other words, race prejudice is a thing 
 which should be preserved. 
 
 On the other hand, I contend that race bias is a thing 
 which should be removed, not by pressure but by force 
 of sympathy and enlightenment. I know but little of 
 American history and ideals, much less have I been able 
 to imbibe the American spirit. Yet I seem not entirely 
 wrong in believing that race prejudice is incompatible 
 with the American spirit — the spirit, not of hair-splitting 
 lawyers who are permitted to masquerade as statesmen, 
 but of the men who penned the Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence and who drafted the Constitution of this unique 
 Republic. There are millions of Americans who still 
 remain true to the ideals of the sires from whose loins 
 they have sprung. The Goddess of Liberty may sink in 
 the bottom of the New York Harbour, but the light of 
 freedom and humanity which made America what it is 
 shall not die, and so long as it continues to shed its rays, 
 however faint, we shall continue to hope that America 
 will some day deal out to the Japanese a full measure of 
 justice. 
 
THEIR HUMBLE ACHIEVEMENTS 
 
 OF all foreign peoples living under the Stars and 
 Stripes the Japanese are perhaps the youngest. 
 There are only a small number of those Japanese 
 residents whose children have reached maturity. Most 
 Japanese children born in this country are yet in pri- 
 mary schools or kindergartens. By the time the first gen- 
 eration passes over to the unknown shores, to be suc- 
 ceeded by the second, the Japanese community in Amer- 
 ica will have been able to record some achievements 
 which may do credit to the country whose protection it 
 enjoys. Meanwhile, we may describe a few things which 
 seem not altogether unworthy of notice. 
 
 Attention is first called to the discovery by Dr. Jokichi 
 Takamine, of New York, of a haemostatic agent called 
 Adrenalin. The physiological activity of adrenalin iso- 
 lated by Dr. Takamine is astoundingly strong. A frac- 
 tion of one drop of aqueous solution of adrenalin or its 
 salt in strength of 1 150,000 blanches the normal con- 
 junctiva within one minute. Of all the haemostatic agents 
 yet known it is the strongest. The intravenous injection 
 of adrenalin produces a powerful action upon the mus- 
 cular system in general, but especially upon the muscular 
 wall of the blood vessels and the muscular wall of the 
 heart, resulting in an enormous rise of blood pressure. 
 The result of three intravenous injections of i c. c. of the 
 solution of adrenalin chloride of i : 100,000 into a dog 
 
 90 
 
THEIR HUMBLE ACHIEVEMENTS 91 
 
 weighing 8 kilograms raised the blood pressure corre- 
 sponding to 30 millimetres of mercury. 
 
 The therapeutic applications of adrenalin are already 
 numerous, while new uses for it are constantly found 
 by specialists. Non-irritating, non-poisonous, non- 
 cumulative, and without injurious properties, adrenalin 
 is useful in all forms of inflammation and is the stron- 
 gest stimulant of the heart. It has been used with good 
 results as an antidote in morphine and opium poisoning, 
 in circulatory failure, in the prevention of collapse 
 in anaesthesia, and in allied conditions. To prevent 
 bleeding in surgical operations, 00 better haemo- 
 static agent than adrenalin has been found. It has 
 also given good results in some cases of deafness, hay 
 fever, nasal haemorrhage, and various forms of heart 
 disease. 
 
 Adrenalin is prepared by isolating the active principle 
 of the suprarenal glands. Before the discovery of adrena- 
 lin, many scholars of Europe and America endeavoured 
 to discover a similar substance. It was forty-six years 
 ago that Addison first observed the certain changes of 
 the suprarenal glands and their relations to the disease 
 now bearing his name. Oliver and Schafer's work on 
 the physiological action of the glandular extract was soon 
 followed by those of Scymonowicz, Cybulski, and later 
 by many others. Thus the suprarenal therapy became 
 not only a subject of scientific interest, but was found 
 invaluable in various branches of medical practice. The 
 marvellous therapeutic value of the suprarenal extract was 
 established and proved beyond all doubt. And, as its use 
 increased, a desire to obtain its active ingredient in pure 
 state was generally felt by medical practitioners. This 
 need was felt all the more keenly because the suprarenal 
 extract, if not pure, is prone to deteriorate very rapidly. 
 
92 ASl\ AT THE DOOR 
 
 thus requiring the preparation of fresh extract for 
 each use. 
 
 Before Dr. Takamine many able chemists devoted their 
 energies to the isolation of the active principle of the 
 suprarenal glands, resulting in J. J. Abel's discovery of 
 epinephrin and Otto Von Furth's discovery of supra- 
 renin. But neither of these authors succeeded in secur- 
 ing the active ingredient in pure, stable, definite forms, 
 and it remained for Dr. Takamine to attain the end long 
 coveted by chemists and physicians throughout the world. 
 
 Another creation of Dr. Takamine is called the Taka- 
 Diastase, now extensively used for amylaceous dyspep- 
 sia. This medical matter is the result of an ingenious 
 utilization of microbes. The mere mention of the word 
 microbe or bacterium is enough to horrify the laymen, 
 yet the scientists tell us that no human being can exist 
 without bacteria. The fact is that there are two kinds 
 of microbes, one useful, the other harmful. It is the 
 useful kind of bacteria that Dr. Takamine has captured 
 and utilized for the promotion of human well-being. 
 
 The process of creating this diastase is described by 
 Dr. Takamine as follows : " The bran of wheat is well 
 fertilized by steam ; on to that spores of such fungus are 
 sprinkled, and are allowed to grow in an incubator, at a 
 proper temperature and humidity. In the course of forty- 
 eight hours the bran will be covered with a dense growth 
 of this microscopical plant, and the mass will be found 
 to be rich in diastase, from which it is extracted by per- 
 colation with water. The diastase dissolved is now pre- 
 cipitated by the addition of strong alcohol, thus sepa- 
 rating it from other impurities that may exist in the 
 extract. The precipitate is now pressed and dried and 
 constitutes Taka-Diastase. It has the remarkable di- 
 astasic power of converting a hundred times its own 
 
THEIR HUMBLE ACHIEVEMENTS 93 
 
 weight of starch in ten minutes to a proper temperature 
 and condition." 
 
 Considering that at least two-thirds of our daily food 
 consist of starchy material, and that more than two-thirds 
 of the cases of indigestion are caused by the imperfect 
 digestion of starchy food, the invention of Taka-Diastase 
 is a boon to humanity. This diastasic substance is espe- 
 cially valuable in that it supplies the deficiency of the 
 ptyalin of saliva. While the pepsin-creating organs in 
 the human body are comparatively well protected in the 
 system, the salivary glands are more exposed to abuse. 
 No other medical preparation is more efficient than Taka- 
 Diastase in counteracting this abuse of salivary glands. 
 Because of its stability, Taka-Diastase is far more useful 
 than other diastasic preparations so far obtained from 
 other sources. 
 
 In his laboratory in New York, Dr. Takamine, with 
 several assistants, is still engaged in new researches. In 
 private life no one is happier than he. Both to Ameri- 
 cans and Japanese his home is synonymous with hospi- 
 tality. Mrs. Takamine, a cultured American woman, as 
 well understands the Orient as she is at home with the 
 Occident. Their children — bright, healthy, handsome — 
 are typical of children born to American- Japanese fami- 
 lies of the better class. Their oldest son, a graduate of 
 Yale, is now in Germany continuing scientific studies. 
 
 No less important a contribution to science than that 
 made by Dr. Takamine is the isolation by Dr. H. Noguchi, 
 of the Rockefeller Institute, of Spirochccta pallida in pure 
 state. Spirochceta pallida, as is well known, is the most 
 effective causative agent of syphilis. The cultivation of 
 this organism in pure state has been sought by many sci- 
 entists, as it affords a great advantage in the treatment 
 of syphilis. Up to the present time three investigators 
 
94 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 claim to have succeeded in cultivating Spirochccta pallida 
 in pure state — Muhlens, W. H. Hoffmann, and Dr. 
 Noguchi. Muhlens announced in 1909 and 19 10 his 
 success in obtaining one strain of the pallida in pure 
 culture. Hoffmann, who assisted Muhlens, reported in 
 191 1 that he was able to isolate five more strains of the 
 same organism as was obtained by Muhlens. Dr. No- 
 guchi contends that the spirochetes cultivated by these 
 two authorities are not in reality the pallida, but what 
 is known as Spirochceta microdentium. On the other 
 hand, the Japanese scientist succeeded in isolating six 
 different strains of Spirochceta pallida from the orchitis 
 material of rabbits, and also seven strains directly from 
 chancres, condylomata, and skin papules of human sub- 
 jects. In his Fenger-Senn memorial address before the 
 Chicago Medical Society, Dr. Noguchi explained how he 
 isolated Spirochceta pallida. In the course of the address 
 he said : 
 
 " Syphilis is a chronic infectious disease, and presents 
 many difficulties in diagnosis. During its very early 
 period, it is principally a disease of dermatologic, genito- 
 urinary, and laryngologic fields. There the clinical ap- 
 pearance, demonstration of Spirochceta pallida and the 
 Wassermann reaction usually settle the diagnosis. On 
 the other hand, as soon as it enters its chronic course, it 
 manifests most diverse and often obscure symptoms. 
 The direct demonstration of pallida becomes laborious and 
 often impossible, the serum reaction less frequent, and 
 the clinical aspect less decisive. A great many cases of 
 the disease at this period now pass into the fields of medi- 
 cine, surgery, ophthalmology, neurology, and psychiatry. 
 Here the detection of the allergic condition will doubt- 
 less aid in deciding the diagnosis of dubious cases. 
 
 *' Since the discovery of Spirochceta pallida, various 
 
THEIR HUMBLE ACHIEVEMENTS 95 
 
 investigators have attempted to introduce a specific cuta- 
 neous reaction based on the allergy in syphilis. Thus, 
 Meirosky, Wolff-Eisner, Munk, Tedeschi, Nobl, Ciuffo, 
 Nicolas-Tavre-Gauthier, Neisser-Bruck, Jadassohn, and 
 Fontana carried out a series of experiments by means of 
 an extract obtained from syphilitic tissues containing the 
 pallida. They were much handicapped by not having a 
 pure pallida extract for such purposes. One can imagine 
 the way in which an extract containing various bacteria 
 besides the pallida would react. With such an impure 
 antigen, some of them obtained quite favourable results, 
 while others were unable to come to any conclusive 
 result. 
 
 " After obtaining the pure cultures of several strains 
 of pallida in 1910, I commenced my experimental work 
 on rabbits with the purpose of ascertaining if these ani- 
 mals could not be made allergic to the extract of pure 
 pallida. By repeated intravenous injections of the pal- 
 lida antigen into the rabbits for several months and then 
 giving them a month's rest, I tested them with the ex- 
 tract, which was termed luetin, given intradermally. A 
 proper control was provided. They all reacted to the 
 luetin with marked inflammation, some leading to pustu- 
 lation in several days. No normal rabbit reacted. While 
 I was still working with the animals, Professor Welch 
 suggested that I make the test on human subjects. 
 Through his encouragement I commenced the work at 
 once at different dispensaries and hospitals." 
 
 Another important discovery by Dr. Noguchi is the 
 culture in vitro, the four blood spirochaetae, called Spiro- 
 chccta duttoni, Spirochceta kochi, Spirochcota ohermeiri, 
 and Spirochceta novyi. These four distinct species of 
 spirochaetae are responsible for the disease known as re- 
 lapsing fever. The organisms in the blood of patients 
 
90 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 suffering from the relapsing fever of Europe were first 
 discovered by Obermeier in 1873 ; hence the name Spiro- 
 chceta obermeiri. In 1904 Button and T6dd, and Ross 
 and Milne simultaneously discovered another variety of 
 spirochseta in the blood of those who contracted the dis- 
 ease known as African tick fever. This species is called 
 Spirochceta duttoni. In 1905 Koch discovered the third 
 species which is known as Spirochceta kochi. The fourth 
 species, Spirochceta novyi, was found by Norris in 1906 
 in New York in the blood of a patient with relapsing 
 fever. But none of these scientists succeeded in obtain- 
 ing in vitro a, culture of any of these spirochaetae. Upon 
 Dr. Noguchi falls the honour of having discovered the 
 method of growing these organisms for medical purposes. 
 
 There are several other discoveries which must be re- 
 corded to Dr. Noguchi's credit. He is the first scientist 
 who pictured the germ of syphilis. With Dr. Flexner, 
 he also discovered the germ of infantile paralysis. The 
 improvement by him of the Wassermann reaction is one 
 of the most important achievements of the age. 
 
 Not content with the study of human diseases, Dr. 
 Noguchi carried his investigation into the world of ven- 
 omous reptiles. Indeed, he is one of the greatest authori- 
 ties on snake venom. While in the University of Penn- 
 sylvania, he began to take interest in the snake. Dr. 
 S. Weir Mitchell was then studying snake venom in the 
 light of the modern conception of the action of toxins. 
 Noguchi became Dr. Mitchell's pupil, and studied the 
 subject with such ardour that for a time he virtually 
 lived with the snakes. Before Dr. Noguchi, the French 
 scientist, Calmette, was the greatest authority on snake 
 venom. To-day Noguchi stands foremost in the list 
 of investigators in this peculiar field of research. If you 
 call on him at the Rockefeller Institute, he will usher 
 
THEIR HUMBLE ACHIEVEMENTS 97 
 
 you into a little room literally lined with dried and bot- 
 tled snake venom. 
 
 Most of us have heard of Dr. Simon Flexner or of Dr. 
 Alexis Carrel, the two greatest authorities on medical 
 science. The former is the head of the Rockefeller In- 
 stitute, the latter the recipient of the Nobel prize for 
 1912. Well, Dr. Hideyo Noguchi is recognized as the 
 equal in scientific attainment of either Flexner or Car- 
 rel. And yet who ever heard anything about this Japa- 
 nese scientist? It is no wonder. He shuts himself up in 
 his laboratory in the Rockefeller Institute year in, year 
 out, and never cares to see anybody or to talk with any- 
 body. Even in the Japanese community in New York 
 he is a stranger. As a writer in the Chicago Daily News 
 says, " he is a quiet, reserved, matter-of-fact sort of 4nan, 
 who regards newspaper attention as a thing to be avoided 
 when possible, and to be deprecated when it cannot be 
 avoided." Yet this modest, obscure man may one of 
 these days win the Nobel prize. His name is bound to 
 become immortal. 
 
 Dr. Noguchi owes Dr. Flexner a debt of gratitude for 
 his achievements in America. It was Dr. Flexner who 
 discovered him. When Flexner was sent to the Philip- 
 pines to investigate the causes of the epidemic of dysentery 
 then harassing the American army, he stopped in Japan 
 to consult with such foremost bacteriologists as Dr. 
 Kitasato. Noguchi, then a very young man, was intro- 
 duced to Dr. Flexner by Kitasato. The American scien- 
 tist took an interest in Noguchi and asked him to accom- 
 pany him to the Philippines as his assistant. While in 
 the Philippines the young Japanese rendered Dr. Flexner 
 a valuable service, assisting in the investigations which 
 resulted in the discovery of the bacillus of dysentery. 
 After their work in the islands was completed, Noguchi 
 
98 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 came to America with Dr. Flexner and became his as- 
 sistant in the University of Pennsylvania. When Flex- 
 ner became the head of the Rockefeller Institute, Noguchi 
 followed him. But for the opportunity offered him by 
 the generosity of Dr. Flexner, Noguchi might not have 
 been able to carve out for himself such a brilliant career 
 of service and usefulness to all humanity. 
 
 Apart from the achievements of Dr. Takamine and Dr. 
 Noguchi, there is but little which the Japanese can be 
 proud of. Only a very few Japanese, having graduated 
 from American colleges, have been made members of 
 faculties of universities. The most notable example is 
 that of Dr. Asakawa, assistant professor of Oriental His- 
 tory in Yale University. Because of the difficulty of 
 mastering the English language, the Japanese are greatly 
 handicapped in securing such professional positions. 
 In the field of literature, Mr. Adachi is perhaps a soli- 
 tary figure. 
 
 Perhaps we are justified in mentioning those few Japa- 
 nese who have made remarkable records in the world of 
 business. New York has, of course, a number of suc- 
 cessful Japanese merchants, but these Japanese, with the 
 exception of Arai and INIoremura, came here with con- 
 siderable capital or as agents of large firms in Japan. 
 Of those Japanese who came empty-handed to this coun- 
 try and built up fortunes by dint of sheer industry, 
 shrewdness, and foresight, we must mention George 
 Shima, exaggeratedly called the Potato King of Cali- 
 fornia. One of the Japanese pioneers in the Golden 
 State, Shima was up to fifteen years ago little more 
 than a " boss," supplying labourers to large orchardists 
 or operating farms under lease contracts. But he saw 
 a fortune in store for him in the apparently barren delta 
 of the San Joaquin River. The islets in the lower 
 
THEIR HUMBLE ACHIEVEMENTS 99 
 
 reaches of that mighty stream were covered with a dense 
 growth of reeds and shrubs, and were frequently inun- 
 dated. The appearance presented was altogether too for- 
 bidding to attract white farmers. Shima, backed by an 
 American firm which owned the delta, tried his hand in 
 developing the waste lands. For an experiment he diked 
 one of the islands, and drained the soil inside by cutting 
 a wide ditch across it. If there was superfluous water 
 in the ditch, he pumped it out into the river by engine. 
 The land now yielded to the plough operated by steam 
 engine. For a year or two following the first ploughing 
 the virgin soil is allowed to lie idle, so that the brush 
 and reeds would rot under the sod. The soil thus pre- 
 pared was found excellent for the cultivation of potatoes, 
 and Shima's dream came true. The American firm in- 
 terested in the exploitation of the delta encouraged Shima 
 to extend the scope of his undertaking, and to-day the 
 Japanese Potato King cultivates six to ten thousand acres 
 of delta lands, partly leased, and partly owned by him- 
 self. 
 
 Shima's potato ranches are not far from Stockton. At 
 the wharf at Stockton one notices a dozen steamboats, 
 barges, tug-boats, launches, all bearing the name of 
 Shima. These are utilized as a means of communication 
 between his ranches and Stockton and to transport the 
 potatoes to San Francisco. 
 
 Among the successful Japanese merchants on the Pa- 
 cific Coast, M. Furuya of Seattle stands foremost. Like 
 Shima, he came to this country with no capital but 
 sound judgment and sound body. Gradually he forged 
 ahead in business until to-day he maintains two stores 
 in Seattle, and a store each in Vancouver, Tacoma, and 
 Portland. His Japanese art-goods store in Seattle, 
 though a losing enterprise to its proprietor, is a delight 
 
lOO ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 of tourists and of the residents of that city. When his 
 manager suggested that the store be discontinued, as it 
 was a heavy burden to him, he smiled complacently, and 
 in his characteristically humble manner said : " That store 
 is far from what I should be proud of, but the citizens 
 here seem to think a great deal of it, and I don't like 
 to close it. What small fortune I have been able to 
 amass was made in Seattle, and I feel I ought to do some- 
 thing for the city, as long as I can afford it." 
 
 Naturally a modest man, he has nothing about him 
 that suggests the millionaire. He still lives in a small, un- 
 pretentious house which he occupied when he was yet far 
 from being opulent. Himself an uneducated man, he has 
 keenly felt the disadvantage resulting from the lack of 
 education and helped many young men go through 
 colleges. 
 
 Such, in brief, is the humble record of Japanese 
 achievements in America. Yet, considering that the com- 
 munity is little older than twenty years, we may console 
 ourselves that it has made even so humble a record. 
 What few achievements it is able to boast of are the 
 achievements of men who came to this country equipped 
 with knowledge and training acquired in their native 
 land. When the present generation is succeeded by 
 younger men and women, to whom English is no longer 
 an adopted language but is a mother tongue, and who 
 have enjoyed every advantage of education and other 
 opportunities offered in this country, the Japanese com- 
 munity will, let us hope, be able to register achievements 
 not entirely unworthy of recognition. 
 
I 
 
 p- 
 
 VI 
 
 " THEY ARE TAKING OUR FARMS ! " 
 
 THE source from which Japanese immigrants are 
 drawn is the agricultural population. The Japa- 
 nese, small as his country is, is essentially the son 
 of the soil. In the days of feudalism the farmer ranked 
 next only to the samurai in the social scale. This ex- 
 altation of the agricultural class was due to various 
 circumstances. In the first place, peculiar moral concep- 
 tions, more or less prevalent in all countries before the 
 advent of the industrial era, kept commerce in abeyance 
 and assigned an unenviable position to the merchants. 
 Commerce meant bargaining, and bargaining could not 
 be completely dissociated from chicanery and prevarica- 
 tion. So the samurai looked down with contempt upon 
 traffic and traffickers, and deliberately nurtured scorn 
 for money and the arts of money-making. Towards the 
 farmer, however, his attitude was different. To him 
 farming was one productive pursuit which could be free 
 from sordid phases of commerce. 
 
 In the second place, the policy of exclusion adopted 
 under the old regime resulted in the commercial, as well 
 as political, isolation of the island nation. Thus obliged 
 to become self-supporting, the country necessarily at- 
 tached a great importance to men who tilled the soil 
 and produced the daily necessaries of life. Moreover, 
 the samurai, to be able to devote himself to the cultiva- 
 tion of martial arts and to a career of conquest, had to 
 
 lOI 
 
'162 '•*''' " ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 rely upon the farmer for the supply of provisions for 
 himself and for his retainers. 
 
 Towards the last days of the military regime Japan 
 enjoyed a period of peace of almost three centuries, un- 
 interrupted by any serious warfare. Thus freed from 
 the waste of war, the country witnessed an unprecedented 
 increase of population. And yet its doors remained 
 closed not only to those who rapped at them from with- 
 out, but to those who wished to unlock them from within 
 and to go forth into wider fields of activity. With emi- 
 gration forbidden, with the importation of foreign com- 
 modities placed under ban, and with the group of small 
 islands offering but one-twelfth of its total area for cul- 
 tivation, how did Japan manage to secure enough food- 
 stuff to sustain her ever-increasing population ? Only by 
 developing farming into a state of perfection. Of the 
 science of agriculture, as the term is understood in our 
 modern age, she knew but little, but experience of cen- 
 turies taught her how to wrest from the earth all that 
 it could yield without impoverishing the soil. Thus agri- 
 culture was invested with the dignity of a fine art, and 
 men who embraced the calling were regarded not as 
 mere tillers of the soil, but as gentlemen with keen sense 
 of honour and self-respect. They were not even at lib- 
 erty to quit their vocation and join the mercantile class, 
 for that would mean a lowering of their prestige and the 
 impairment of their dignity. 
 
 Looked upon as a most important element in the body 
 politic, the farmer of old Japan was nevertheless simple 
 of heart and almost unconscious of the high esteem in 
 which he was held. Frugal, contented, industrious, and 
 devoted to the hearth, he was not unlike the Swiss farmer 
 of whom Goldsmith sang: 
 
"THEY ARE TAKING OUR FARMS!" 103 
 
 " Cheerful at morn, he wakes from short repose, 
 Breathes the keen air as he goes. 
 At night returning, every labour sped 
 He sits him down the monarch of a shed, 
 Smiles by his cheerful fire, and round surveys 
 His children's looks, that brighten at the blaze." 
 
 The abolition of feudalism afforded him a greater op- 
 portunity and wider fields of activity. The new regime 
 removed the circumstances which kept his aspirations 
 unawakened, and the farmer was now free not only to 
 carve out his own career, but to seek fortune beyond 
 the narrow precincts of his native land. With the inau- 
 guration of a local self-government three decades ago, 
 he became as important a factor in the political as in the 
 economic life of the coimtry. 
 
 This, then, is the sort of population from which most 
 Japanese immigrants to these shores are derived. It is, 
 therefore, but natural that the Japanese in America 
 should show strong preference for farming and farm 
 labour in spite of the great difficulties which they must 
 experience in adjusting themselves to a method of agri- 
 culture totally foreign to them. In the past few years 
 many well-educated young men from Japan have taken 
 to farming. Some of such Japanese even studied in col- 
 lege. As farmers such " tenderfoots " may not, at first 
 at any rate, be so successful as those settlers who are 
 inured to farm life from their childhood, but had no 
 opportunity to receive modern education. Yet, in the 
 long run, these educated Japanese agriculturists will 
 prove more valuable assets to this country, because of 
 their intelligence, their adaptability, their ability to im- 
 bibe American ideas and adopt American customs. 
 
 California is, of course, the chief field of activity for 
 Japanese farmers, but in almost every State whose agri- 
 
I04 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 cultural resources are yet comparatively little exploited, 
 Japanese have taken up farms. According to the " Nichi- 
 bei Nenkan," the year-book published by the Japanese 
 American of San Francisco, in 1912 they owned 31,814 
 acres of farmland and leased 225,046 acres. Distributed 
 among various States the figures are as follows : 
 
 Owned Leased 
 
 California I7,76s 172,512 
 
 Colorado S25 15.997 
 
 Idaho 12,174 
 
 Texas 10,390 2,330 
 
 Washington 12,136 
 
 Utah 123 5,659 
 
 Oregon 1,892 2,033 
 
 Nebraska 1,189 
 
 New York 603 325 
 
 Florida 364 120 
 
 Other States 152 571 
 
 Total 31,814 225,046 
 
 It is estimated that about 41,000 Japanese, equivalent 
 to some sixty per cent, of the entire Japanese population 
 in continental United States, are engaged in agriculture. 
 Of this total farming population about 5,000 are inde- 
 pendent farmers, while the remaining 36,000 are farm- 
 hands employed by their compatriots or by American 
 farmers. Even as the Jew takes to the clothing trades, 
 and the Italian to various mercantile businesses, so the 
 Japanese shows peculiar preference for agricultural in- 
 dustries. In California he is mostly engaged in potato, 
 bean, beet, onion, and fruit culture; in Washington and 
 Oregon his chief interest is in the orchard and dairy 
 ranch; in Texas he is almost exclusively engaged in the 
 culture of rice ; in Idaho and Colorado he finds the sugar- 
 beet industry most profitable ; and in Florida he has begun 
 to raise pineapples. On the outskirts of some of the 
 larger cities on the Pacific Coast he has become a factor 
 
"THEY ARE TAKING OUR FARMS!" 105 
 
 in truck gardening. In Seattle and Los Angeles in par- 
 ticular his garden products are important features in the 
 public markets both in point of quantity and quality. At 
 San Francisco he operates one of the largest nurseries on 
 the Pacific Coast. Indeed, the Domoto Brothers* estab- 
 lishment is so extensive that they virtually control the 
 cut-flower market of San Francisco. 
 
 In Idaho and Washington the Japanese, while doing 
 considerable farming, own no land. This is because those 
 two States have not until recently permitted foreigners 
 to own land. In March last, however, the State of 
 Idaho enacted a new land law, extending the right of 
 landownership to all aliens, Japanese not excluded, while 
 the State of Washington revised its laws so that all 
 foreigners are entitled to own urban land, though it still 
 denies them the right to own rural land. It seems not 
 without significance that these States adopted new laws 
 without making any discrimination against the Japanese, 
 just at the time when the California legislature was 
 straining all its nerves to enact a law especially directed 
 against the Japanese in the matter of landownership. 
 Indeed, some of the sponsors for the anti- Japanese land 
 bills in California volunteered to counsel the legislators 
 of the neighbouring States to follow the example they 
 had set, and adopt a law depriving the Japanese of the 
 right of landownership. Oregon made no response; 
 Idaho and Washington repudiated the advice by pass- 
 ing a law in favour of the Japanese. 
 
 Apart from such a magical catchword as " America 
 for Americans," or " California for Califomians," there 
 is no plausible reason for prohibiting the Japanese from 
 acquiring land. Such arguments as are advanced by 
 the authors of anti- Japanese measures have already been 
 exploded. They argue that the Japanese does not know 
 
I06 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 how to care for the soil, so that a farm worked by him 
 for a few years becomes practically worthless. This is 
 a calumny pure and simple. The Japanese, instead of 
 ruining good soil, enriches poor soil, redeems waste land, 
 and renovates impoverished farms. Back in his old coun- 
 try he never heard of such a thing as abandoned farms, 
 and he is bewildered to learn that in our Eastern States 
 there are countless farms whose soils have been so im- 
 poverished that nobody cares to cultivate them. No, the 
 Japanese cannot afford to abandon any farm, once he 
 settles upon it. If he migrated from one section to 
 another, deserting the old farm and taking up the new, 
 as do many of our farmers, he would soon have to stand 
 upon the brink of the ocean — so small is his country. 
 The habit of intensive cultivation, which he must per- 
 force acquire in such a country, he naturally brings with 
 him to the new country whither he emigrates. It is, 
 therefore, but natural that the Japanese farmers in Cali- 
 fornia should show unique skill and fastidiousness in 
 cultivating their lands. Because of the care which they 
 lavish on the soil, the farm rented to a Japanese com- 
 mands an unusually high price. This fact is unreservedly 
 recognized in the special report on the Japanese pre- 
 pared a few years ago by the commissioner of labour of 
 California, Mr. J. D. Mackenzie. The charge that the 
 Japanese abuse the soil finds no endorsement either in 
 the annual report of the Bureau of Labour of California 
 or in the voluminous reports of the United States Immi- 
 gration Commission, of which Senator Dillingham was 
 chairman. 
 
 Where the Japanese goes into farming on a rather 
 small scale, utilizing the skill which he had acquired in 
 his native country, he is generally successful. Not a few 
 of them, however, have caught the " get-rich-quick " 
 
"THEY ARE TAKING OUR FARMS!" 107 
 
 spirit of the strenuous West, and have embarked upon 
 agricultural enterprises of a speculative nature for which 
 he has neither experience nor means. Such undertakings, 
 except in a few cases, resulted in failure. True, there 
 is George Shima, the Japanese " Potato King," who cul- 
 tivates at Stockton, California, six thousand to ten thou- 
 sand acres of potatoes. But Shima is a solitary figure. 
 Such bonanza farming as was common in the earlier 
 days of California is abnormal, and it seems desirable 
 that the Japanese should adopt more conservative meth- 
 ods and practise farming on a modest scale. 
 
 It has been contended that when a Japanese settles 
 on a farm it always results in the lowering of price of 
 the adjoining farms, because the Caucasian farmers do 
 not desire to live in his neighbourhood. Facts do not 
 countenance such contentions. In the first place, the 
 Japanese have in most cases settled or worked on unde- 
 veloped lands, whose fertility was problematical and 
 whose price was naturally very low. They clear such 
 lands and convert them into highly productive farms. 
 The land about Fresno is of sandy soil and was long 
 regarded as unproductive. Moreover, in the interior 
 of California the winters are rigorous and the summers 
 intensely hot, and the people who were accustomed to 
 the milder climate of its coast territory did not care to 
 settle in the neighbourhood of Fresno. But the Japa- 
 nese were induced to come, and the country soon became 
 rich with raisins and wines. To Japanese, Fresno is in- 
 debted for its general prosperity and for the high price 
 which its farmland now commands. 
 
 At Florin, not far from Sacramento, it was also the 
 Japanese who utilized the poorest lands in the vicinity 
 and converted them into profitable strawberry gardens. 
 The lowlands in the Sacramento Valley are damp and 
 
I08 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 unhealthy, and in consequence remained long undevel- 
 oped. Again the Japanese were brought in, and the sec- 
 tion now virtually flows with milk and honey. 
 
 In Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Texas, and in almost 
 every State where the Japanese is engaged in agriculture, 
 it is much the same story. He often creates the value 
 of land as he develops it. Where he enters into farming 
 in a country already well developed, he is usually on 
 friendly terms with his Caucasian neighbours. What- 
 ever the sentiment of urban communities towards their 
 Japanese population, in the countryside there is little 
 ill-feeling between the Japanese and American farmers. 
 
 At the same time, it must be admitted that most Japa- 
 nese farmers, like their compatriots in the city, are not 
 yet in position to cultivate refined taste. Their dwellings 
 are not yet what they can be proud of, and their modes 
 of living show little refinement, though they are fastidi- 
 ous and even extravagant both as to food and clothing. 
 But no Japanese will admit that this is to be their ulti- 
 mate condition. So far from it, they are ambitious not 
 only to acquire wealth but to elevate their social stand- 
 ing. Eager to learn English, they are even more anxious 
 to utilize the knowledge of the language they acquired 
 in their efforts to understand our institutions and cus- 
 toms. When the hardships and trials inevitable in the 
 initial stage of their undertakings are passed, there is no 
 doubt that they will emerge from their present state of 
 life. Time is not yet far back when even the Irish, among 
 whom there are to-day talents and geniuses America may 
 well be proud of, lived in an infelicitous condition which 
 their American neighbours made an object of ridicule 
 and sarcasm. We used to sing : 
 
 "There is a pig in the parlour, 
 And that is Irish too." 
 
"THEY ARE TAKING OUR FARMS!" 109 
 
 The pig has made an exit from the parlour of the 
 Irishman, and in his place has appeared a piano, a " talk- 
 ing machine," and a set of tasteful furniture. There is 
 no reason why the Japanese should not go through simi- 
 lar stages of evolution. It is only some fifteen years 
 since the Japanese started farming in this country, and 
 it is unreasonable to expect them to live as the older 
 settlers of other races live. 
 
 The anti-Japanese agitators argue that the Japanese 
 can live almost on nothing. The fact is that it costs 
 the Japanese just as much to live as it costs any other 
 people in the corresponding class. The trouble with the 
 Japanese is that he is, in a sense, a poor manager of 
 household economy. Most Japanese are not satisfied with 
 American diet alone, and to cater to their whimsical pal- 
 ates they loosen the purse strings for exotic edibles im- 
 ported from their native country. Including duties and 
 the cost of transportation, the price of such food-stuffs 
 is exorbitant. When they marry their wives demand 
 flowing Japanese gowns as well as close-fitting American 
 dresses. What is more serious, neither they nor their 
 helpmeets know how to utilize for table such materials 
 as can be easily obtained from the farm. When the Japa- 
 nese farmer suppresses his peculiar craving for imported 
 food-stuflFs and learns to satisfy his palate with common 
 American dishes ; when his wife, like the wives of Ameri- 
 can farmers, learns how to cure ham, churn butter, con- 
 vert sour milk into breads and cakes, and cook eggs in 
 a hundred and one wonderful ways, his cost of living 
 will be greatly reduced. Then the money thus saved will 
 go a long way towards the improvement of his dwelling. 
 
 I have purposely referred to the unsatisfactory condi- 
 tion of the houses occupied by Japanese farmers, because 
 during my trip through the farming districts of the Sac- 
 
no ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 ramento Valley I was greatly disappointed with such 
 houses. They are not houses, but huts. In such places 
 as Walnut Grove, Isleton, Grand Island, and Courtland 
 I found the condition especially bad. In these places, as 
 in many another section, the Chinese preceded the Japa- 
 nese as farmhands or tenants. To quarter them the land- 
 lords put up camps, the cheapest possible structures that 
 lumber and nails could build. Never painted and inva- 
 riably of unplaned lumber, these structures are far less 
 attractive than the corn cribs or hay barns which are 
 commonly seen in the farm country of the Middle West. 
 When the Japanese came to take the place of Chinese, 
 they were naturally given the same camps which their 
 predecessors had vacated. Upon entering these dreary 
 camps one still finds mementoes of their former tenants 
 in the numerous pieces of red paper, containing mo- 
 notonous Chinese characters signifying " wealth, good 
 luck, and longevity," and pasted at random on the walls, 
 on the doors, and even on the ceilings. 
 
 " Why don't you scrape off these hideous symbols of 
 Mammon, and paint the walls and make the house look 
 a bit more decent ? '* I said to many of the Japanese farm- 
 ers I talked with. 
 
 " Oh, it's no use ! " they would always reply. " It's 
 impossible to paint those rough boards. We won't live 
 in such miserable shacks for ever; we expect to build 
 some day somewhere." 
 
 " Somewhere ? " I queried. " W^hy not build here at 
 once? You have been here long enough to save enough 
 to put up a modest farmhouse." 
 
 " Because the place doesn't belong to us. We are just 
 tenants and our term of lease is never longer than a year 
 or two. And, besides, you know what the labour unions 
 at San Francisco and the politicians at Sacramento are 
 
"THEY ARE TAKING OUR FARMS!" HI 
 
 talking about us year in year out. We may have to get 
 out any time. Why should we invest anything in this 
 old ramshackle building? Our money is hard-earned, 
 every penny of it ; it would be rank foolishness to waste 
 it as you suggest, when we don't know what is going 
 to become of us next year. As well dump it in the mud ! 
 If our position were legally secure, why, that would be 
 different." 
 
 It was extremely unfortunate that the Japanese came 
 after the Chinese. The Chinese was submissive to the 
 point of servility. He was easy to satisfy, and was happy 
 sleeping and eating in his dismal hut. Had there not 
 been in existence thousands of such huts vacated by the 
 Chinese and waiting for new tenants, the Japanese might 
 have built more respectable dwellings. The presence of 
 Chinese, moreover, had instilled in the bosoms of the 
 Calif ornians a fixed prejudice against all Oriental peo- 
 ples. They had got the notion that Asiatics must come 
 to their country, if they are to come at all, only to hew 
 wood and draw water for them, and not to become 
 independent and self-reliant. So long as, therefore, the 
 Japanese walked in the footsteps of the Chinese and 
 showed no desire for independence, they were tolerated 
 and even praised. But once the little brown men showed 
 their mettle, Californians heaped upon them vituperations 
 and slanders which they did not deserve. What success 
 the Japanese farmers have achieved is due to naught but 
 their perseverance, their temperance, their willingness to 
 work. As Miss Alice Brown, of Florin, says in a pam- 
 phlet, " the very fact that the Japanese is an industrious 
 being and a highly successful producer gives white farm- 
 ers spasms of alarm. * They are taking our farms ' is 
 the woeful wail, which means that the slothful must get 
 to work. So, in their blindness, they would destroy the 
 
112 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 productivity of the Japanese, return to the past status 
 of barren fields, that their meagre and inferior product 
 would meet no competition. It is blind, selfish greed that 
 recognizes only self as a factor in the world's struggle. 
 It is ignorance and inhumanity that does not consider the 
 larger whole." 
 
 What I have said about the mode of living of Japa- 
 nese farmers may furnish anti- Japanese agitators a pre- 
 text for restricting their rights. The Japanese, they may 
 argue, do not spend their earnings on American merchan- 
 dise, but buy Japanese goods, thus benefiting little the 
 community in which they live. Ah ! the old story of the 
 pennywise. As a matter of fact, the Japanese patronizes 
 American stores more than he patronizes Japanese deal- 
 ers. But, even if he sent all his profits to his native 
 country, what of that? His contribution to California 
 would still be great. 
 
 Take, for example, the case of Florin, which has been 
 cited by the anti- Japanese legislators at Sacramento as 
 a pretext for the need of laws discriminating against the 
 Japanese. In the neighbouring region of Florin the soil 
 is a shallow bedrock, abounding in sloughs. The land 
 has to be irrigated by means of artesian water conducted 
 through ditches. Because of the great amount of money 
 and labour required in the boring of wells and the lev- 
 elling of land for irrigation, there was but little induce- 
 ment for the white farmer, though the soil, with adequate 
 preparation, was especially adapted to grapes and straw- 
 berries. Before the advent of Japanese, the country was 
 poor, its output of fruits being extremely meagre. The 
 vast fields had been sowed to grain, but the fertility of 
 the soil was found so limited that each succeeding year 
 decreased the yield until the grain industry was no 
 longer profitable. At last the land was permitted to lie 
 
"THEY ARE TAKING OUR FARMS!" II3 
 
 idle; but when the Japanese came in its owners saw a 
 chance to turn it into a profit, offering it to them on 
 yearly payments for a price they never would have gotten 
 from the white investor. In a year's time the barren 
 fields were changed into attractive berry gardens. With 
 their usual foresight, the Japanese plant grape-vines along 
 with strawberries, so that when the three-years' life of 
 the strawberry ceases a productive vineyard takes its 
 place. Their vines are robust and their berry plants 
 luxuriant, and in comparison with them those raised by 
 the white farmers look sadly neglected. The Japanese 
 spare no pains in their efforts to improve the quality of 
 their produce, knowing that the best quality brings the 
 highest price. 
 
 And to-day Florin boasts of shipping $150,000 worth 
 of strawberries annually. The shipment of grapes is also 
 large. Who created this profitable industry but the Japa- 
 nese? He it was who put Florin on the map, a tiny 
 sleepy town up to fourteen years ago. The opponents 
 of the Japanese naturally ask, " What becomes of this 
 money that the Japanese get ? " The answer is given by 
 an American resident of Florin, Mr. L. M. Landsbor- 
 ough. He informs me that the Japanese strawberry 
 growers of Florin annually pay the express company from 
 $15,000 to $20,000. Then, the production of strawber- 
 ries, valued at $150,000, must confer a considerable profit 
 upon the box-maker, besides giving employment to his 
 millhands. The railroad, too, shares in the growers' 
 profit, while the well-borer and the engine-man are paid 
 high wages. Finally, the storekeeper sells the Japanese 
 growers and their employes provisions and sundry ar- 
 ticles, for these eclectic folk from the Orient are no 
 more satisfied with Japanese articles alone than they 
 are satisfied with American goods — they wish to enjoy 
 
114 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 both. Last, but not least, the local banker, who is always 
 willing to advance cash for the Japanese, has due share in 
 their profitable industry. No industry can be carried on 
 without due investment. Farming means expenditure 
 as well as profit-making. He indeed must be blind who 
 fails to see that a strawberry industry of $150,000 con- 
 fers a great benefit upon the community in which that 
 industry is carried on. 
 
 We think ill of the Russians because they ill-treat the 
 Jews. The Jewish problem in Russia is a problem aris- 
 ing out of the contact of a wonderfully alert and adroit 
 race with a peculiarly phlegmatic, dull race. The Rus- 
 sian peasants, ignorant and guileless, usually go to the 
 wall when confronted with the business acumen of the 
 Jews. The Japanese question in California presents a 
 totally different aspect. Here relations of the Japanese 
 with the white farmers are not relations between two 
 races separated from each other by a chasm of intel- 
 lectual discrepancy. Intellectually both, I believe, stand 
 on a par; there is neither inferiority nor superiority be- 
 tween them. The American, however, has the advantage 
 over the Japanese in that he is conversant with English 
 and is familiar with the farming methods and tools em- 
 ployed in this country. In the stratagem of bargaining, 
 too, the American is, on the whole, more than the equal 
 of the Japanese. I should be the last man to accept with- 
 out much qualification such sweeping assertions as are 
 made by Miss Alice Brown as to the relative moral in- 
 tegrity of the Japanese and American, and I give the 
 following passage from her pamphlet for what it is 
 worth : 
 
 " It is the whites that bear the record of shame and 
 dishonour in dealing with the Japanese. It is no dis- 
 grace to swindle them in their ignorance, to sell them 
 
"THEY ARE TAKING OUR FARMS!" II5 
 
 a worthless horse as a perfect animal for a round sum, 
 to unload worthless things on them for a big price, and 
 to overcharge them at every turn. It is these very same 
 white tricksters who denounce the Japanese when they 
 are foiled in their own game; for the Japanese are an 
 alert, brainy people, and they soon learn a means for self- 
 defence. When they can no longer be exploited, they 
 are dishonest. It is the same old story of greed and 
 the unscrupulous factor is the white man.'* 
 
 It is chiefly untiring industry and unwavering perse- 
 verance, and little else, which crown Japanese enter- 
 prise with success even where the white farmer reaps 
 a failure. 
 
VII 
 
 THE JAPANESE IN OUR CITIES 
 
 "I^R. SUN YAT-SEN," said a California friend of 
 I 3 mine, "ought to be thankful to the Japanese 
 gamblers in California for his success in estab- 
 lishing the Chinese Republic." 
 
 " What ! " I exclaimed in astonishment. " What did 
 the Japanese gamblers do for him ? " And this is the 
 story which my query elicited from my friend : 
 
 The Chinese revolution of two years ago was financed 
 mostly from the United States. Not by the money kings 
 of Wall Street, as one may imagine, but by the appar- 
 ently impecunious Chinese living in various parts of this 
 country. Sun Yat-sen, the star in the drama of revolu- 
 tion, was long an exile in many lands, and while in 
 America he visited every village and town where Chinese 
 were found in any considerable number. Inspired by 
 his ardour and patriotism, every Chinese who came in 
 contact with him pledged support for the cause of lib- 
 eration. Thus the revolutionary fund was raised. 
 Among the Chinese who contributed to this fund were 
 merchants, farmers, domestic servants, camp cooks, and 
 what not, but the most liberal contributors were the keep- 
 ers of gambling dens in California and those deriving 
 benefits from them, for money easily acquired is also 
 easily parted with. Now the patrons, or rather victims, 
 of these dens were mostly Japanese. In California alone 
 these gambling dens used to levy from the Japanese a 
 
 ii6 
 
THE JAPANESE IN OUR CITIES 1 17 
 
 toll of several million dollars every year ! So the revolu- 
 tionary fund raised in America virtually came from the 
 pockets of the Japanese. 
 
 The story seemed a hyperbole and I could not believe 
 it. But when I visited all the towns and villages which 
 my friend told me were rendezvous of gamblers, I began 
 to realize the magnitude of the evil business conducted 
 by the Chinese. One can form no adequate idea of the 
 gambling business from what one sees in the Chinatowns 
 of San Francisco or Los Angeles, though even here gam- 
 bling dens are numerous enough. One must visit the 
 underworld of such smaller cities as Fresno or Stock- 
 ton, and again make a detour into such out-of-the-way 
 places as Walnut Grove, Isleton, or Courtland on the 
 Sacramento River. 
 
 In the earlier days the Chinese were mostly employed 
 on farms and orchards. As these labourers grew older 
 and incapacitated for heavy work, they quit the country 
 and moved to the city. Meanwhile, the exclusion law 
 prevented the replenishing of the ranches and orchards 
 abandoned by the older Chinese with younger and stur- 
 dier labourers from China. Thus it has come to pass 
 that almost eighty per cent, of the Chinese population 
 now in California is in the city, only the remaining twenty 
 per cent, still being engaged in farming or farm labour. 
 And in every city or town where Chinese congregate 
 gambling dens have sprung up as their necessary acces- 
 sories. The Chinatowns of Stockton and Fresno con- 
 sist mostly of gambling houses, while the legitimate busi- 
 ness conducted by a comparatively few Chinese is largely 
 dependent upon the business of ill-repute. In the small 
 rural towns dotting the vast agricultural fields of the 
 Sacramento Valley, the Chinatowns are simply groups of 
 gambling dens. When I first walked through rows of 
 
Il8 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 such dens in Walnut Grove, I could not help exclaiming, 
 "This is hell!" 
 
 One naturally wonders, as I did, how these gambling 
 dens can do a thriving business. Obviously there are 
 not enough Chinese in the country to justify the* main- 
 tenance of so many dens. The explanation that they 
 depend upon Japanese patronage is not at first convinc- 
 ing, for even the Japanese are not much in evidence most 
 of the time. One can, however, understand the situa- 
 tion if one knows something of the agriculture of Cali- 
 fornia. Farming industries in the State require large 
 forces of hands only in certain seasons. When such 
 seasons are over the farm labourers are dismissed and 
 naturally drift into towns, where they seek relaxation 
 with their hard-earned money. It is then that the Chinese 
 gambling houses do big business. The Japanese, fresh 
 from orchards and ranches, have their purses filled with 
 gold and silver, but before their first month in the city 
 is gone they are "broke." Where does the money go? 
 Seldom anywhere else than to the Chinese gambling den. 
 Is it because the Japanese are poor gamblers that they 
 are always fleeced by the Chinese? Undoubtedly that 
 is one of the reasons, but there seems to be some intri- 
 cate device invented by the Chinese so that no gambler, 
 however crafty, could come out of the den without part- 
 ing with all the money in his pockets. 
 
 The city of Fresno, being the centre of a vast grape 
 country, naturally attracts a large number of Japanese 
 labourers when the busy season on the vineyards is over. 
 Here Chinatown, which is separated from the " Ameri- 
 can " town by a railroad track, may well be called a gam- 
 bling town. Block after block is congested with those 
 untidy, dismal buildings within which are played the evil 
 games. A lure for the Japanese labourers, they are also 
 
THE JAPANESE IN OUR CITIES HQ 
 
 their snare. The law forbids open gambling, but in no 
 Chinatown in California have such laws been strictly or 
 consistently enforced. A few years ago the gambling 
 mania became so alarming that the better classes of Japa- 
 nese In California organized an association whose object 
 was the extermination of gambling among Japanese. 
 But to prevent gambling by the Japanese the Chinese 
 gambling houses must first of all be closed. The task 
 was herculean, almost quixotic. But the Japanese Re- 
 form Society undertook it first in Fresno, then in other 
 cities. 
 
 The greatest difficulty in such a campaign lies in the 
 difficulty of proving before the court that such and such 
 Chinese are operators of gambling dens. The moment 
 the police attempt to raid the den their activities are de- 
 tected by the Chinese spies, who warn their fellows of 
 the approach of the authorities, so that when the police 
 enter the tables are clear of dice and gamblers. All is 
 serene and quiet, the few remaining Chinese peacefully 
 smoking their exotic pipes and twinkling their curious 
 eyes in apparent innocence. How are the police to tell 
 that only a few minutes since there was on the very 
 spot a group of gamblers absorbed in their game ? 
 
 The daring souls in the Japanese Reform Society of 
 Fresno, seeing that the authorities could not be relied 
 upon, volunteered to raid the gambling dens themselves. 
 They called themselves the " Band of Desperates," and 
 such indeed they were. Some of them, disguised as gam- 
 blers, would enter the den and feign interest in the game. 
 Meanwhile other members of the band, obliging unwill- 
 ing officers to accompany them, would suddenly descend 
 upon the den. As usual, the Chinese spies would come 
 hurrying to warn their employers, but at this critical mo- 
 ment the reformer-gamblers would suddenly throw aside 
 
I20 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 disguise and change into allies of the officers and Japa- 
 nese rushing into the scene of disorder. The reformer- 
 gamblers, instead of being scared away by the spies, 
 would surrender themselves to the raiding police, subse- 
 quently to appear before the court to testify that such 
 and such Chinese kept gambling dens. 
 
 For a while the heroic scheme worked splendidly and 
 a few gambling dens were closed. But the police proved 
 by no means consistent in backing the Japanese. The 
 court, too, issued an injunction, forbidding the police to 
 invade the dens without the proper warrant. These cir- 
 cumstances made it impossible for the Reform Associa- 
 tion to carry on the crusade. 
 
 The Japanese in America are possessed to a remark- 
 able extent of public spirit and civic sense. In every 
 town in the Western States they have organized the Japa- 
 nese Association, whose primary object is the promotion 
 of moral well-being among the Japanese. If the au- 
 thorities would only co-operate with such organizations, 
 much reform could be effected. The Reform Society, 
 though no longer able to secure official support, is still 
 waging war against gambling, but not so effectively as 
 before. The only thing it can lawfully do under the 
 circumstances is to admonish Japanese gamblers and 
 place them under a sort of surveillance. The campaign 
 has produced some effect, and the Japanese frequenters 
 of Chinese dens are palpably decreasing. 
 
 The inaction and unwillingness of the authorities are 
 often responsible for retarding the reform of the un- 
 derworld. Mr. Chester Rowell, editor of the Fresno 
 Republican, in a brilliant article in the " Annals of the 
 American Academy," justly credits the Japanese with 
 public spirit, but asserts that the Japanese in Fresno 
 declined to co-operate with the police in the cleansing 
 
THE JAPANESE IN OUR CITIES 121 
 
 of the disorderly quarters. As far as I have been able 
 to ascertain, this statement is not quite correct. His 
 uncle, Dr. Chester Rowell, physician, philanthropist, 
 publicist, and warm sympathizer with the Japanese, could 
 have told him, had he been alive, just how the situation 
 was. Instead of the Japanese being reluctant to co- 
 operate with the authorities it was the authorities who 
 declined to assist the Japanese. The disorderly houses, 
 where unfortunate Japanese women were kept, were in 
 the heart of the business section of the Japanese quarters 
 of Fresno. A few years a.^o the Japanese Association and 
 the Japanese Reform Society, seeing in this condition a 
 menace to the moral integrity of the Japanese community, 
 attempted to remove the " red-light " houses to the out- 
 skirts of the town, but when they solicited the approval 
 and assistance of the Fresno authorities they were given 
 a cold shoulder. The authorities upon one excuse or an- 
 other would not co-operate with the Japanese in their 
 efforts to purify the business quarters, and without 
 official assistance the measure could not be carried 
 out. 
 
 It should be the duty of the State as well as the mu- 
 nicipal authorities to enact and enforce such laws as 
 would conduce to the moral and material betterment of 
 all persons under their jurisdictions. Such Chinatowns 
 as those of Walnut Grove and Courtland are blots upon 
 the fair landscape of California and a disgrace to the 
 good reputation of the State. I do not see why there 
 should not be building and sanitary laws which would 
 prevent the appearance of such horribly unsanitary 
 towns. These Chinatowns had sprung up before the 
 Japanese came to work on the fields of the Sacramento 
 Valley. As the forces of Japanese farmers and farm- 
 hands grew in number, Japanese traders naturally fol- 
 
122 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 lowed upon their heels, and looked around for suitable 
 locations to set up small stores and shops. They found 
 Chinatowns already established in advantageous localities. 
 Although the Japanese entertained little sympathy for 
 the Chinese, ties of racial kinship, coupled with reasons 
 of trade policy, were sufficient to draw the Japanese 
 traders to Chinatowns. The Chinese gambling dens were 
 a great attraction for Japanese labourers, and the mer- 
 chants evidently thought it a good trade policy to estab- 
 lish themselves close to Chinatown, so that their stores 
 might be visited by those who would frequent the gam- 
 bling dens. At the same time, the Chinese knew that the 
 Japanese were indispensable for the prosperity of their 
 evil business, and invited Japanese stores and restaurants 
 and amusement houses to locate in their neighbourhood. 
 It was thus that, in many Chinatowns, Chinese and Japa- 
 nese became neighbours. The worst examples of this 
 mingling of the two peoples are found in Walnut Grove, 
 Isleton, and Courtland. 
 
 The separation of the Japanese from the Chinatowns is 
 one of the urgent problems which the Japanese Associa- 
 tions have long been trying to solve. As in many an- 
 other instance, it was too late when the Japanese awak- 
 ened to the grave significance of the problem. Where 
 Japanese quarters are separate and independent of 
 Chinese sections, they are usually more respectable in 
 appearance. The Japanese quarter in Florin, established 
 before the Chinese tried to settle there, has never had 
 a gambling den or an immoral house. Again and again 
 the Chinese tried to sneak in, but the Japanese Associa- 
 tion, which had learned good lessons from examples 
 shown in such places as Walnut Grove, was ever on the 
 alert to keep Chinese out. 
 
 In Sacramento and Los Angeles, the Japanese quar- 
 
THE JAPANESE IN OUR CITIES 123 
 
 ters are located some distance from Chinatown and com- 
 pare favourably with other foreign quarters. So are the 
 Japanese quarters in San Francisco and Seattle. In all 
 these places there is. of course, much room for improve- 
 ment, but they are by no means worse than the quarters 
 settled by immigrants from South Europe or Russia. In 
 the arrangement of stores and in many another thing, 
 the Japanese strive to conform to American ways. True, 
 in San Francisco the Japanese went in what was in 
 former days a good residence section and established 
 small stores, laundry shops, and boarding houses. They 
 rented houses and in front of them built additions to be 
 utilized as stores and shops. But this peculiar condi- 
 tion in San Francisco was only one of the unfortunate 
 results of the great earthquake. When the greater part 
 of the city was destroyed in that disaster, the Japanese, 
 having nowhere else to go, had to rent houses in a sec- 
 tion formerly occupied by Americans, though the rents 
 asked were exorbitant. The landlords were willing to 
 let the new tenants build additions for business purposes, 
 as that meant for them an additional source of income. 
 But for the disastrous effects of the earthquake and fire 
 such things would never have been permitted. At the 
 time, the setting up of small shops and stores in resi- 
 dence sections was absolutely necessary, as the business 
 quarters were all but wiped out. It was not only the 
 Japanese who did this : others, both Americans and aliens, 
 did exactly the same thing. But the Japanese attracted 
 more attention, because they put up peculiar signs over 
 their stores and painted strange characters on the win- 
 dows. Innocent in themselves, these exotic sign-boards 
 have been made the objects of severe criticism at the 
 hands of the unsympathetic, both Americans and Japa- 
 nese. It was, therefore, the part of wisdom that the 
 
124 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 Japanese Association at San Francisco started a cam- 
 paign against the sign-boards. 
 
 Of the total Japanese population in the United States, 
 estimated at about 72,157, some 23,000 live in the city. 
 Distributing them among the principal cities, we obtain 
 the following table: 
 
 Los Angeles (Cal.) 7,938 Ogden (Utah) .. 200 
 
 San Francisco " 6,988 Salt Lake City " . . 200 
 
 Sacramento " 2,452 Denver (Col.) 752 
 
 Oakland " 1,835 Idaho Falls (Idaho) .... 207 
 
 San Jose " 790 Sugar " .... 245 
 
 Alameda " 692 Rock Springs (Wyo.) .. 195 
 
 Berkeley " 686 Chicago (111.) 370 
 
 Stockton " 495 Omaha (Neb.) 100 
 
 Portland (Ore.) 1,036 New York City (N. Y.) 1,300 
 
 Seattle (Wash.) 4,267 Brooklyn " 300 
 
 Tacoma " 865 Boston (Mass.) 100 
 
 Spokane " 448 
 
 The majority of Japanese in cities are engaged in do- 
 mestic work, or employed in stores, Japanese and Ameri- 
 can, in various capacities. A considerable number are 
 also engaged in mercantile business. In the Western 
 cities Japanese stores, with the exception of those espe- 
 cially dealing with fancy or art goods, primarily aim to 
 cater to Japanese customers. Newcomers from Japan, 
 unfamiliar with English, find it convenient to buy of 
 Japanese stores, but as they acquire better knowledge 
 of the language, they discover that they can purchase 
 better goods for smaller prices at American stores. 
 
 In San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Oakland, the laun- 
 dry business is one of the principal trades of the Japa- 
 nese. The patrons of Japanese laundries are mostly 
 Americans. They charge exactly the same as do Ameri- 
 can laundries, but the dexterity and carefulness which 
 characterize their work seem to draw larger and larger 
 patronage. " There are in San Francisco," says Dr. H. 
 B. Johnson in his report on the Pacific Japanese mis- 
 
THE JAPANESE IN OUR CITIES 125 
 
 sion, " laundries in large numbers advertised as French, 
 German, Chinese, etc., but the Japanese laundries are 
 especially prosperous because of their promptness and 
 good work at prices equal to the best." That is why the 
 American laundrymen's union in San Francisco has been 
 agitating against the Japanese laundry. The agitation 
 resulted this year in the introduction in the State legisla- 
 ture of a number of bills providing for the prohibition 
 of the Japanese from employing steam engines. 
 
 A popular writer, a native of California, in a most sen- 
 sational article, says that " the peculiar code of business 
 morals of the Japanese makes it impossible for whites 
 to compete with them," and adds : 
 
 " The Japanese are not confining themselves to any one 
 business. They are branching out in all directions. 
 There is a bookstore in San Francisco at which books 
 may be bought cheaper than at other places. This does 
 not please the American bookseller." 
 
 I am certain that this man never bought a single vol- 
 ume of this Japanese bookstore ; if he had, he could never 
 have made such an irresponsible statement. That book- 
 store sells Japanese books almost exclusively; what few 
 English books it may occasionally handle are sold ex- 
 actly at the market price. As for the general commercial 
 morals of the Japanese, I have already discussed the 
 question in preceding chapters, and shall recur to it in 
 the following chapters. 
 
 It has been said, as a reason for prohibiting Japanese 
 immigration, that where Japanese come to live, Ameri- 
 cans are sure to go away. The story is exaggerated, 
 but even if it is true, can such be said of the Japanese 
 alone? Immigrants, whether Japanese or Europeans, are 
 more or less despised and shunned by Americans and 
 older settlers. In the Polish blocks in Chicago, for in- 
 
126 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 stance, only 19 families out of a total of 1,562 are Ameri- 
 can. Conditions in the Jewish and Italian sections are 
 about the same. The Latin quarter in San Francisco is 
 not much better in this respect. And in fairness it must 
 be admitted that the Japanese quarter in any American 
 city is as sanitary and clean as any foreign district, if not 
 much more so. Sanitary officers admit that, compared 
 with the houses occupied by immigrants of some other 
 races, those of the Japanese are in far better condition. 
 The Japanese quarters are neither so overcrowded nor 
 so infested with filth as are certain other quarters. 
 
 When in 1904 San Francisco was threatened with the 
 bubonic plague, the sanitary authorities discovered for 
 the first time the horrible condition of the basements 
 occupied by the Chinese. One house was so saturated 
 with filth that it had simply to be condemned and torn 
 down, in spite of the strenuous protests of the American 
 who owned it. That such an abominable state had long 
 been permitted to remain unquestioned was, however, 
 largely due to the greed of the landlords and the in- 
 efficiency and supineness of the sanitary officers. The 
 Chinese used to " pay up " the police in order to be let 
 alone, while the owner carefully avoided the premises, 
 letting his agents collect all the lessee would bear. 
 
 Wherever the blame may belong, it is regrettable that 
 our cities should permit the appearance of such filthy 
 quarters. Whatever the defects of the Japanese in other 
 respects, in the matter of sanitation they have made a 
 good showing. True, some of the Japanese lodging 
 houses may be found somewhat crowded, but none is 
 so crowded as lodging houses of other immigrants. As 
 a comparison read the following passages from the re- 
 ports of the Chicago School of Civics and Philanthropy 
 for 191 1 : 
 
THE JAPANESE IN OUR CITIES 127 
 
 " The trouble with housing conditions is largely that 
 small cottages built for one family have been turned 
 into lodging houses. In all the foreign colonies families 
 feel they have to take in single men or other families 
 as lodgers or roomers. This leads at once to overcrowd- 
 ing. In Polish, Lithuanian, and other homes one-half 
 the families added to their income by filling up their 
 rooms to the utmost capacity with men and women who 
 were too new to this country to realize that they could 
 demand anything more than a place to sleep. They sleep 
 on the floor, both with and without mattresses, and sleep 
 in bed with people who are total strangers. 
 
 "In 181 cases of those investigated, crowding, caused 
 by poverty and improper house construction, made it nec- 
 essary for one member of the family to sleep in the lodg- 
 ers* room and sometimes in the same bed. In sixty 
 cases two members of the family slept in the room with 
 the lodger, in twenty-three cases there were three, in 
 nine cases four, and in three cases five. In one case the 
 lodger slept in a room with the whole family of seven. 
 Sometimes men and women lodgers slept in the same 
 room ; in other cases the men slept in a room which could 
 be reached only by passing through a room in which the 
 women slept. 
 
 " The law requires 4CX) cubic feet of air space for each 
 adult and 200 cubic feet for each child. In 3,730 cases 
 investigated, 1,981 violations of this ordinance were 
 found. In one case four people slept in a room con- 
 taining only 333 cubic feet, a room that could have been 
 legally occupied by only a child of twelve. In another 
 case five slept in a room that could have been occupied 
 legally by only one grown person, and in another seven 
 used a room not legal for two. Of rooms with no 
 outer window, three were found in these thirteen blocks 
 
128 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 occupied by five persons each, nine occupied by four per- 
 sons each, twenty-two by three persons, thirty-eight by two 
 persons — a total of 223 persons in windowless rooms." 
 
 Compare this with what the Immigration Commission 
 has to say about the conditions of the Japanese quar- 
 ters in the cities of CaHfornia. Of the entire mercantile 
 establishments and work-shops visited by the agents of 
 the commission, 81.8 per cent, were reported to be in 
 " good " sanitary condition, while 16.6 per cent, were 
 reported " fair." Only 1.4 per cent, were " bad." Again, 
 as to the sanitary conditions of lodging places, 68.5 per 
 cent, were " good," 27.3 per cent. " fair," and 4.2 per 
 cent. " bad." 
 
 The general appearance of Japanese streets in our cit- 
 ies is not much different from that of streets lined with 
 houses and stores occupied by Americans. True, there 
 are the sign-boards with prominent characters in gold, 
 and the men you meet there speak a peculiar language. 
 But here again comparison is necessary before any hasty 
 conclusion as to the unassimilability of the Japanese 
 is made. Go to the " Yiddisher " market in Chicago and 
 watch the uproar of bargaining in the twenty-four hours 
 preceding the Jewish Sabbath. There are booths and 
 boxes and barrels and push-carts and wagons laden with 
 all things imaginable and unimaginable, and among them 
 men, women, and children from the villages and ghettos 
 of Poland and Galicia and Roumania are vigorously el- 
 bowing one another, laughing, shouting, jabbering in 
 strange tongues. 
 
 Or visit the Italian quarter in Chicago or New York, 
 preferably on a saint's day. Here comes a procession 
 of devout marchers, each carrying a huge candle tied 
 with ribbon upon which is pinned American paper money 
 for a votive offering. Presently it stops before a shrine 
 
THE JAPANESE IN OUR CITIES 129 
 
 within which the Virgin sits serenely. Beside the shrine 
 and upon the platform stands a priest, receiving the sons 
 and daughters of pious men and women so that the young 
 souls may kiss the Virgin. As each child receives the 
 sacramental kiss its parents raise an exclamation of de- 
 light and hand to the priest paper money as a token of 
 thanks. How poetical, how picturesque, how beautiful 
 it all is, if we look at it with sympathy ! And yet what 
 would the Americans say if it were the Japanese, instead 
 of a European race, which perpetuated such a foreign 
 custom in our midst? In the one case it is tolerated, if 
 not particularly admired ; in the other it will be made the 
 target of severest criticism. 
 
 With the opening of the Panama Canal the Pacific Coast 
 will no doubt receive large contingents of European im- 
 migrants — Poles, Jews, Russians, Italians, Greeks, Lithu- 
 anians, Slovacs, and what not. Should this expectation 
 materialize, its principal cities will inevitably witness the 
 appearance of Ghettos and Boweries and other foreign 
 quarters such as have been established in New York and 
 Chicago, since many of such immigrants have a strong 
 inclination to dwell in the city, instead of seeking agri- 
 cultural work in the country. And when that time comes 
 the cities on the Pacific Coast will face a problem much 
 more serious than the Japanese question has ever been or 
 will ever be. 
 
 As I write I recall the atrocities perpetrated by one 
 of the Black Hand bands in Chicago. Within the past 
 twelve months this gang took thirty lives with " sawed- 
 off shotguns " and poisons, used more than a hundred in- 
 fernal machines to terrorize those refusing to pay blood 
 money, set houses on fire entailing a damage of $300,- 
 cxx), and passed forged checks amounting to more than 
 $150,000. In comparison with such terrible crimes 
 
130 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 among Italian immigrants, gambling among Japanese la- 
 bourers is almost an innocent affair. Again I think of 
 the Hatchet Men who are Chinese criminals sneaking into 
 this country and subsisting by blackmail upon wealthy 
 merchants and upon houses of prostitution, and by gam- 
 bling and assassination. Their chief business is to in- 
 timidate, and often murder, those who are obnoxious 
 to themselves or to whomsoever may hire them. In the 
 face of such terrors the Japanese communities in Ameri- 
 can cities may console themselves, if they have a few 
 fallen women to grapple with. 
 
 The agents of the Federal Government who took the 
 census in California were struck with the intelligence 
 and civility displayed by the Japanese residents. In con- 
 trast to the suspicion and fear with which immigrants 
 from certain European countries received the agents, the 
 civility and open-heartedness which characterized the 
 attitude of the Japanese towards the census-takers were 
 remarkable. In many cases such European immigrants 
 could not understand the mission of the agents, and acted 
 as one confronted by a detective or a police officer. Not 
 infrequently, I was told, they would even slam the door 
 in the face of the agent. On the other hand, the Japa- 
 nese invariably received them politely and in friendly 
 feeling, and answered all questions asked with perfect 
 ease and willingness. If one cares to dive into the mazes 
 of statistics in the census, one will notice the small rate 
 of illiteracy among the Japanese in this country. In 
 this respect the Japanese certainly compare favourably 
 with many of the European immigrants. If there be any 
 need for restricting immigration, such restrictions should 
 be based upon reasons other than racial ones. Legisla- 
 tion springing from racial bias awakens enmity and is 
 jeopardizing to international amity. 
 
VIII 
 
 " HEWERS OF WOOD AND DRAWERS OF 
 WATER " 
 
 A COLONEL SAMUEL JOHNSON had a lumber 
 mill at Pahoa, Hawaii. One day last year the plant 
 was destroyed by fire. Johnson summoned before 
 him his four hundred employes, all Japanese, and said: 
 '* We have lost everything, and have no money to pay 
 you at least for a month or two. But I am determined 
 to rebuild the business. How many of yoG boys would 
 stay with me and help me through the months of strug- 
 gle ? I cannot urge you to stay under the circumstances, 
 but I shall be thankful if you feel disposed to do me 
 service." 
 
 Without a moment's hesitation the four hundred men 
 answered as in a chorus, " I shall not leave you ! *' 
 
 The colonel quivered with emotion and almost burst 
 into tears. He had counted upon the sympathy of at 
 least some of the boys, but had never dreamed that all 
 the four hundred would stand by him with such unflinch- 
 ing loyalty. In a letter to the editor of a Japanese news- 
 paper in Honolulu, he described the mingled feeling of 
 amazement, admiration, and gratefulness which he ex- 
 perienced at this unusual demonstration of unselfish de- 
 votion on the part of the workingmen whom he had 
 always regarded as ignorant and mercenary and whose 
 souls he had never tried to fathom. The incident threw 
 a new light into the colonel's mind, and converted him 
 
 131 
 
132 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 into a sympathetic and appreciative employer eager to 
 know more of his men. 
 
 The story furnishes an apt illustration of the pecu- 
 liarity of Japanese character. Essentially an emotional 
 race, the Japanese appreciates kindness as keenly as he 
 resents unkindly acts. Take him into your confidence, 
 open your heart to him, and he is ready to " follow you 
 through fire and flood," as a Japanese proverb says. On 
 the other hand, if you deal suspiciously with him or try 
 to manage him with a show of authority, he puts him- 
 self on his guard, and becomes intractable. 
 
 Perhaps I am not exactly right in stating that this 
 responsiveness is the characteristic of the Japanese. Hu- 
 man nature is the same the world over. The world over 
 kindness and sincerity beget friendship, while insincerity 
 and unkindly acts reap antipathy. Yet the individualism 
 of the West brought into prominent relief the idea of 
 right and duty, while the communalism of the Orient 
 developed benevolent paternalism on the one hand, and 
 loving submission on the other. In this age of steam 
 and electricity the barrier between the East and the 
 West is crumbling down. Moreover, when the Japanese 
 labourer comes to this country of freedom^ he seems to 
 feel a certain reaction from the age-long restraint to 
 which he subjected himself in his native country, and 
 is liable to hold the sense of duty secondary to that of 
 right. Yet now and then the soul of the passing Orient 
 asserts itself in the characteristic manner, as in the 
 above story. 
 
 The type of immigrants is usually judged from that of 
 the labouring class, which constitute by far the largest 
 portion of immigrants. It is commonly admitted that 
 the Japanese, as a people, are alert and keen-minded. 
 This general characterization is no less true as applied 
 
"HEWERS OF WOOD; DRAWERS OF WATER" 133 
 
 to the labouring class. Once a Japanese labourer per- 
 ceives that he is unjustly dealt with or beguiled into ac- 
 cepting unreasonable terms, he will see to it that his 
 employer regrets the unwise course he has taken. In the 
 early days of Japanese immigration to America, some 
 employers or landowners, unaware of this characteristic, 
 took advantage of ignorance of English on the part of 
 Japanese labourers, and imposed upon them contracts 
 which the employers knew could not be carried out with- 
 out entailing a loss to the Japanese. When the Japa- 
 nese, finding it impossible to fulfil the contract, were 
 compelled to abandon it, they were charged with lack 
 of business honour. To be sure, the Japanese were much 
 to blame, but were not the men who knowingly imposed 
 such unreasonable contracts even more dishonourable? 
 Many of the disputes between the Japanese and Ameri- 
 cans in the earlier days were caused in this way. Espe- 
 cially is this true in the case of farming contracts on 
 the Pacific Coast. The unhappy experience made both 
 the Americans and the Japanese wiser, and of late years 
 troubles of this nature are of rare occurrence. To-day 
 the Japanese, knowing that all Americans are not true 
 Christians as he had thought, has the contract examined 
 by experienced interpreters before signing his name to 
 the document, while the American, having awakened to 
 the folly of unfair dealings, tries to be fair and 
 honourable. 
 
 The most important class of Japanese labourers in 
 this country is farm labourers. In California alone Japa- 
 nese agricultural labourers number almost 30,000, while 
 those in other Western States total about 9,000. Next in 
 importance are railroad labourers, of whom there are some 
 10,000 on the Pacific Coast and in the adjacent States. 
 Of lumber-mill labourers there are about 2,200, while 
 
134 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 salmon cannery labourers number some 3,600. In the 
 mines of Wyoming, Utah, Southern Colorado, and New- 
 Mexico there are some 2,000 Japanese, while one or two 
 hundred are employed in the smelters. Add to this a 
 contingent of domestic workers, whose number on the 
 Pacific Coast is estimated at 14,000, and we have a fair 
 classification of Japanese labourers by occupation. 
 
 First, as to farm labour. In 1909 the State of Cali- 
 fornia instituted a special investigation into the status 
 of Japanese agricultural labourers. Upon the comple- 
 tion of the investigation the Commission came to this 
 conclusion : " It is not mere opinion, based upon con- 
 sensus of observations, no theory predicted on an analy- 
 sis of conditions and requirements, but the positive ex- 
 pression of a majority of the growers of fruits and such 
 products as are affected by the demand that Japanese 
 labour must continue to be drawn from sources beyond 
 the United States. The competency of both Chinese 
 and Japanese to meet all the requirements by these in- 
 dustries of the orchard, the vineyard, and the field is 
 unquestioned and unquestionable." The Commission 
 also stated that, " comparing the individual Japanese la- 
 bourer and the individual white labourer of the typical 
 class that is now available in the field and from which 
 is recruited all the white help now obtainable, the in- 
 vestigation discloses a higher standard of the Japanese 
 individual." 
 
 The investigation dissipated the studiously circulated 
 idea that Japanese labourers underbid white labourers. 
 In order to confirm the views of the California Commis- 
 sion, I avail myself of the result of the exhaustive in- 
 vestigation made by the Immigration Commission of 
 which Senator Dillingham was chairman. We learn that 
 " the average wages for both Japanese and Chinese regu- 
 
"HEWERS OF WOOD; DRAWERS OF WATER" 135 
 
 larly employed and receiving board, respectively, are 
 higher than those for miscellaneous white men and Ital- 
 ians." Where labourers were employed without board, 
 miscellaneous white men were paid higher than were the 
 Japanese. Further details of the comparison are shown 
 in the following table: 
 
 Race 
 
 Miscellaneous white 
 
 Italian 
 
 Mexican , 
 
 Chinese 
 
 Japanese 
 
 Hindu , 
 
 Regular 
 
 Regular 
 without 
 
 Tempo- 
 
 with 
 
 rary with 
 
 Board 
 
 Board 
 
 Board 
 
 Average 
 
 Average 
 
 Average 
 
 $1,311 
 
 $1,889 
 
 $1,286 
 
 1. 108 
 
 1.667 
 1.422 
 
 1.121 
 
 1.406 
 
 1.559 
 
 1-454 
 
 1.396 
 
 1.633 
 1.534 
 
 1.421 
 
 Temporary 
 without 
 Board 
 
 Average 
 
 $1,855 
 
 X.721 
 
 1.743 
 1. 615 
 1. 44 1 
 
 In the consideration of alleged Japanese competition 
 with white labour, it is essential to remember that the 
 Japanese are employed mostly in the kind of labour dis- 
 liked and shunned by white workingmen. This fact is 
 clearly brought out in the Fourteenth Biennial Report 
 of the Bureau of Labour Statistics of California. More 
 than ninety per cent, of labour required in berry and 
 vegetable picking and celery culture is supplied by Japa- 
 nese. More than eighty per cent, of labourers employed 
 in the beet industry as toppers, loaders, hoers, and thin- 
 ners are also Japanese. Japanese employed in grape 
 picking and the pruning of fruit trees constitute more 
 than seventy per cent, of the total men employed in this 
 field, while some fifty-five per cent, of fruit pickers are 
 also Japanese. 
 
 The reason for the phenomenal advance which the 
 Japanese have made in these fields is obvious. Work in 
 
136 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 these branches of farming is mostly performed by hand, 
 and handworlc is more congenial to the Japanese than 
 to the whites. Nor is this all. The picking of grapes, 
 strawberries, and vegetables, and the thinning of beets 
 and celeries require a stooping attitude which is not natu- 
 ral to the Caucasian. To the Japanese, however, stoop- 
 ing or kneeling is not very difficult, partly because of his 
 short stature and his limber body, partly because he was 
 accustomed, while in his native country, to farming with- 
 out machinery. In grape picking, for instance, a white 
 labourer can pick only one-third of what a Japanese 
 harvests in a day. The white labourers, naturally averse 
 to this kind of work, reluctantly, if not gladly, assigned 
 it to the Japanese. If the whites were to be substituted 
 for the Japanese, the cost of producing these fruits and 
 vegetables would be so greatly increased that the growers 
 would have to abandon the industry. 
 
 In those branches of the fruit industry in which stoop- 
 ing is not necessary or in which machinery is more im- 
 portant than handwork, the white labourer still main- 
 tains supremacy. In fruit packing Japanese labour em- 
 ployed is less than twenty-five per cent., while in hop 
 picking it is only ten per cent. In team work and fruit 
 cutting Japanese labourers employed are only five per 
 cent, of the total number of men engaged in those fields. 
 After all, Japanese monopoly of labour in the picking 
 of grapes and berries, and in the culture of certain vege- 
 tables, is the outcome of natural and expedient distri- 
 bution of labour, a process placing the right man in the 
 right place and thus securing the highest degree of effi- 
 ciency. " Between the available white farm labourer," 
 says a California vineyardist, " and the available Japanese 
 labourer, the Japanese is by far the better. For a day's 
 wage he will do a day's work, and adapt himself to disa- 
 
"HEWERS OF WOOD; DRAWERS OF WATER" I37 
 
 greeable conditions which the white man will not. His 
 wage is as high as that of the white man, for the farmer 
 wants efficiency." 
 
 Outside of California, Japanese farmhands are not 
 a very important factor. True, there are a considerable 
 number of them in Washington employed in strawberry 
 culture on Vashon Island, in the dairy industry in the 
 White River Valley, and on the potato farms in North 
 Yakima; yet in this State no hostile feeling has been 
 displayed by the white workingmen towards the Japa- 
 nese. In other States agricultural labour supplied by 
 Japanese is but a negligible quantity. 
 
 When Mr. John D. Mackenzie, commissioner of la- 
 bour statistics of California, instituted at the direction 
 of the State legislature a special investigation into the 
 conditions of Japanese in the Golden State, one of the 
 surprising facts disclosed was that almost every Japa- 
 nese, whether a farmer or a farmhand, had in his pos- 
 session English-Japanese dictionaries and conversation 
 books. All were eager to learn English, and through 
 the knowledge of the language American customs and 
 institutions. Many of them subscribed to local English 
 papers, while their favourite magazines were not fiction 
 magazines, but such substantial publications as the Out- 
 look, the Independent, the Review of Reviews, and the 
 Literary Digest. The United States census states that 
 fifty-five per cent, of those Japanese who have been in 
 this country less than five years can speak English. 
 Among those who have lived here more than five years 
 the rate of illiteracy is very small. " Among the Japa- 
 nese population in Florin," says Miss Alice M. Brown, 
 a California vineyardist and a student of sociological 
 problems, " there are few who have not a very fair 
 knowledge of English and a considerable number who can 
 
138 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 speak it well. Some are well educated, having high- 
 school training, others pore over English books after 
 a hard day's work to acquire a reading and writing 
 knowledge/' The Japanese are as steady in the pursuit 
 of knowledge as they are industrious as tillers of the soil. 
 " Compare this industry of the Japanese," says Mr. L. 
 M. Landsborough, of Florin, in a letter addressed to 
 the Judiciary Committee of the California legislature, 
 " with the so-called white farm labourers. Here to-day, 
 gone to-morrow, but always to be found at the wayside 
 groggery, not ' sending their money out of the country,' 
 as anti- Japanese agitators insinuate with regard to the 
 Japanese, but leaving it where it will do the most harm 
 and leaving their brains with it." 
 
 So much for the farmhand. I now introduce Japa- 
 nese railroad labourers. Of the 10,000 Japanese now 
 employed by various railway companies, some 7,000 are 
 section hands. Companies which employ the largest num- 
 ber of Japanese are perhaps the Great Northern Rail- 
 way Company and the Northern Pacific Railway Com- 
 pany. Especially does the Great Northern show a pref- 
 erence for the Japanese. All along its lines from the 
 Pacific Coast to Havre, Montana, Japanese are seen 
 working with Greeks and Italians. 
 
 But the Japanese are not employed merely as section 
 hands, working with picks and shovels. No less than 
 one hundred are employed by the company as section 
 foremen, each having under him a gang of some fifty 
 men, Japanese, Italians, Mexicans, and Greeks. Indeed, 
 it is thought-provoking to see labourers from South Eu- 
 rope contentedly working under the supervision of Orien- 
 tals. Here at least the proud West surrendered its 
 vaunted superiority before the efficiency and ability dem- 
 onstrated by an Oriental race, which has long been 
 
"HEWERS OF WOOD; DRAWERS OF WATER" 139 
 
 regarded as backward or inferior. To the unsympa- 
 thetic, the picture presented must be a gloomy one — it 
 may appeal to him as the beginning of the white man's 
 defeat in the struggle for supremacy in world competi- 
 tion. To the sympathetic and to the optimist, it is but 
 a milestone on the road leading to the true fraternity 
 among the races and the realization of human brother- 
 hood and equality. 
 
 The present advantageous position of the Japanese as 
 railroad labourers was not attained without vicissitudes 
 and hardships. Indeed, the story of the conflict and the 
 eventual harmony which marked the contact of the Japa- 
 nese with other races in the Pacific Northwest indicates 
 the course which the confluence of human streams usu- 
 ally takes. When the Japanese section hands were first 
 brought to Montana and the interior regions of Wash- 
 ington, some twenty years ago, cowboys and mountain- 
 eers who had never seen a Japanese showed intense 
 hatred towards them. Riots and shooting were almost 
 the order of the day. Camps occupied by Japanese were 
 shot at and often set on fire. Two or three Japanese 
 were lynched, while many were captured and subjected 
 to cruel treatment. 
 
 But the Japanese boss who handled the situation was 
 a shrewd strategist and a man of undaunted courage. 
 Step by step he captured the bulwarks of the cowboys 
 and their allies, not by powder and ball, but by shrewd 
 diplomacy and skilful manoeuvre. Here is a typical story. 
 Once he led a body of section hands into a small town 
 on the foothills of the Cascades. The townsfolk received 
 the Japanese in the characteristic fashion of the fron- 
 tiersman, shouting oaths and displaying guns to intimi- 
 date the strange intruders. But the Japanese boss proved 
 himself the equal of his adversaries. He strode rough- 
 
I40 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 shod out of the car and ordered his boys to follow him. 
 The belligerent villagers thought he was going to accept 
 the challenge, but, to their astonishment, the Japanese boss 
 marched his men into a saloon near by. The mob fol- 
 lowed him, breathing threats and uttering foul words. 
 Having entered the saloon, the Japanese drew a fifty- 
 dollar gold piece and tossed it upon the counter, saying : 
 " Here, boss, I want you to call in those fellows outside 
 and give them anything they want; if that isn't enough, 
 here is more," and he threw another fifty-dollar gold 
 piece upon the counter. The saloon-keeper, amazed and 
 bewildered, did as the Japanese told him. In came the 
 fellows who wanted to fight, and without giving their 
 Japanese host a chance to say a word emptied the glasses 
 on the counter. But they knew what the glasses were 
 for, and when they were done with them they shook 
 hands with the Japanese, and said : " You Japs are all 
 right! We won't fight you any more." And they 
 never did. 
 
 When Japanese labourers come in close contact with 
 the white workingman they usually become good friends. 
 It is only when the professional agitator enters the field 
 that their amicable relations are disturbed. With the 
 temperament of the Japanese fairly well understood, 
 there seems no reason why Americans could not be 
 friendly towards him. Let me tell you another story. 
 About twenty years ago Cutbank, a small Montana town 
 on the main line of the Great Northern Railway, wit- 
 nessed for the first time the advent of Japanese labourers. 
 The citizens of the town naturally objected to their com- 
 ing and lodged a protest with the railway company. The 
 company, instead of lending ear to the protest, threat- 
 ened to isolate the town by removing the track, if the 
 townsfolk were so finical about the section hands whom 
 
"HEWERS OF WOOD; DRAWERS OF WATER" 141 
 
 the company liked best. So the Japanese were tolerated 
 and permitted to stay. Gradually the merchants and 
 residents of Cutbank perceived the amiable nature of 
 the Japanese and began to like them. A few years later 
 the Japanese, dissatisfied with the treatment of the com- 
 pany, went on a strike. Then the railway company 
 threatened to discharge all Japanese and substitute 
 Greeks and Italians. Alarmed by this, the people of Cut- 
 bank petitioned the railway company to retain the Japa- 
 nese, who they knew were much more desirable than 
 either Greeks or Italians. What a radical change a few 
 years of contact with the Japanese brought upon the 
 sentiment of the residents of the Montana town ! 
 
 I have chiefly dealt with my personal observations, and 
 those of Americans and Japanese who personally handled 
 the Japanese railroad labourers. We may for a moment 
 turn to public documents. The Reports of the United 
 States Immigration Commission have this to say : " With 
 few exceptions, the Japanese are preferred to the Greeks, 
 who are invariably ranked the least desirable section 
 hands, because they are not industrious and are in- 
 tractable and difficult to control. As between Japanese 
 and Italians, opinion is fairly evenly divided. The same 
 may be said of them and the Slavs." Professor Jenks, 
 who was a member of the Immigration Commission, cor- 
 roborates the above statement in these words : " The 
 road masters and section foremen generally prefer the 
 Japanese either to Italians, Greeks, or Slavs as section 
 hands. In railway shops they are given a higher rank 
 than the Mexicans, Greeks, and at times than the Ital- 
 ians." As to wages, the reports inform us that the Japa- 
 nese are paid just as much as any white man employed 
 in the same capacity. 
 
 The third important group of Japanese labourers, from 
 
142 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 the numerical point of view, is domestic workers, num- 
 bering some 15,000. Of late Japanese of this class have 
 been made targets of scathing criticisms, some of which 
 are not without ground. As an example of such criti- 
 cisms, I quote the following from the pen of a writer 
 who apparently prefers to be interesting rather than 
 truthful : 
 
 " From the earliest ripple of the Japanese invasion, 
 there came a lot of adventurous boys, eager either to 
 grasp a fortune out of the Land of Opportunity or to 
 learn European ways and industrial methods that they 
 might go back to Japan and practise them. Their ambi- 
 tion, their desire to get on, were commendable; their 
 methods of gratifying that ambition, contemptible. For 
 they were no more honest, no more faithful to their con- 
 tracts, than the farming Japanese. . . . Curious, enter- 
 prising, industrious, taking every means to get ahead, 
 they came to impress the city-dwelling Californian as a 
 nuisance." 
 
 There is in the temperament of this writer something 
 radically different from the generosity, large-hearted- 
 ness, and tolerance which I believe constitute the quality 
 of the true American. I am, however, inclined to agree 
 with him that the Japanese does not make an ideal serv- 
 ant like the Chinese. I am glad of the fact, and hope 
 the time will soon come when no American will employ 
 any Japanese as servant. Domestic work is not man's 
 work. No ambitious, aspiring, restless race can produce 
 ideal men-servants. 
 
 The trouble is that Japanese servants are yet much in 
 demand. Except in certain sections of California, where 
 constant anti-Japanese agitation has made them in- 
 tractable, they are still regarded as desirable domestic 
 workers. If they are somewhat independent and are 
 
"HEWERS OF WOOD; DRAWERS OF WATER" 143 
 
 eager to " get on," the white servants are much worse. 
 From my personal experience I can understand why so 
 many Americans prefer " unreliable " Japanese boys. 
 Since I made my home in this country, I have employed 
 servants of various nationalities and races — Japanese, 
 Danes, Poles, Swedes, Americans, etc., and I do not 
 know but that the Japanese boy is the best worker we 
 have had. When we engage a white girl we ask if she 
 can cook. She answers in the affirmative, and we fix her 
 wages accordingly ; but when she comes to work we find 
 her culinary abilities so limited that at the end of each 
 meal we have to breathe a sigh of relief. The worst of 
 it is that she never admits her ignorance and persistently 
 declines to ask the " lady of the house " how things 
 should be done. The Japanese boy, if inexperienced, at 
 least tries to do his best, poring over his cook book and 
 watching what the mistress does. His earnest efforts 
 are all the more commendable because in most cases 
 housework is not his permanent occupation, but only a 
 means for attaining his end of receiving higher education. 
 The white girl is indifferent and would think of her beaux 
 and the dance and dress, rather than study the art of 
 housekeeping, an art which she will have to practise 
 through her life. We engage her upon the understand- 
 ing that she is to stay with us for a certain time, but 
 her promise is of little worth. A factory offers a better 
 wage or a store promises shorter hours, and she leaves 
 us on a moment's notice. 
 
 But we must not strive to behold the mote in others' 
 eyes, when there may be the beam in our own. We can 
 be lenient with our servants when we consider that our 
 own daughters, if unfortunately placed in a similar posi- 
 tion, may do exactly as the girls whom we are at times 
 inclined to consider a nuisance. The chief fault of the 
 
144 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 censor of Japanese domestic labourers is that he expects 
 Japanese to be superhuman — something infinitely better 
 than any white servant. 
 
 There seem to be two classes of Japanese domestic 
 workers. One consists of so-called " schoolboys," who 
 work short hours and have the privilege of attending 
 school. Sometimes the schoolboy works all day and re- 
 ceives a full wage, but his housework is only a means to 
 gratifying his ambition to enter school. The other class 
 consists of labourers, pure and simple, who cherish no 
 ambition to receive higher education. Where a Japa- 
 nese works full working day his wages vary from $35 
 to $45 per month, the average being much higher than 
 wages paid female whites in similar occupations. The 
 statement especially concerns the Pacific Coast and should 
 not be applied to other sections without some qualifi- 
 cations. 
 
 If we are bent upon finding fault with the Japanese, 
 volumes may be written. But fault-finding is neither edi- 
 fying nor profitable. " Enter not into judgment with thy 
 servant, for in thy sight shall no man living be justified." 
 But there are people who revel in finding fault. To such 
 people even those qualities which would constitute a vir- 
 tue in an American must, if found in a Japanese, appear 
 reprehensible. " I do not want to see," says Senator 
 Boynton of California, " Japanese own a foot of land in 
 California. If they come here only to work for us, it 
 will be all right." Yes, it would be all right for the 
 senator if the Japanese remained for ever in a state of 
 serfdom. But the clarion note of the Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence rings clear in our ears : " All men are created 
 equal." 
 
IX 
 
 CALIFORNIA AND THE JAPANESE 
 
 A S late as 1883 a popular American writer, who evi- 
 ^^■^dently cared to excite laughter rather than pro- 
 voke thought, dubbed California " a country where 
 the places are all saints and the people are all sinners." 
 What glowing tribute would this very writer have paid 
 the Golden State had he lived to witness the unparalleled 
 progress which she has achieved within the past few dec- 
 ades. Instead of disparaging her so impudently as he 
 did, he would have inscribed to her the words of Bishop 
 Berkeley : 
 
 "Westward the star of empire takes its way: 
 The first four acts already past, 
 The fifth shall close the drama of the day, 
 The noblest and the last ! " 
 
 Not only has California astonished the world with the 
 rapidity of its material progress, but it is marching 
 abreast with the most advanced States in the Union 
 in the field of learning and arts. Her higher institutions 
 of education are the pride of the nation, and even in arts 
 and music she has made remarkable records. In legisla- 
 tion and administration she is one of the most progressive 
 States. The marvellous feat which San Francisco 
 achieved in the wake of the earthquake and conflagration 
 which smote her in 1906 is but an indication of the 
 tremendous energy and unequalled enterprise with which 
 the Californians are endowed. 
 
 145 
 
146 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 The Americans of to-day are wont to speak slight- 
 ingly of the " Forty-niners " and those who followed their 
 footsteps in search of gold. Yet from those sturdy, if 
 somewhat unruly, pioneers the Californians of to-day 
 have inherited their undaunted courage and their enter- 
 prising spirit. The hardships and privations which the 
 pioneers endured in crossing the continent, through des- 
 erts and over mountains infested with highwaymen and 
 savage Indians, were in themselves a sure test of supe- 
 rior mental and physical qualities. The descendants of 
 such indomitable souls cannot help being self-reliant, 
 plucky, and progressive. 
 
 Herein lies the explanation for the peculiar attitude 
 which the Californians asfiume towards the Orientals; 
 yes, towards all outsiders. \ The native son of California 
 regards himself, and not without reason, as the chosen 
 son of God, a superior being to whom all foreigners, 
 whether Asiatic or European, should pay homage. To 
 speak of this attitude as foolish or boorish is unreason- 
 ably for did not even our great Carlyle, that beacon light 
 of English literature and philosophy, cherish intense, 
 almost bitter, prejudice against the Irish? What nation, 
 what race has not in one stage or another of its history 
 
 t?rified itself with the halo of superiority? 
 California's assumption of superiority is not in itself 
 a bad trait, rather is it a wholesome confidence in her 
 ability. The only danger lies in the fact that such confi- 
 dence is liable to be carried to extremes, especially by 
 the ignorant and vulgarj It is such extravagant self- 
 confidence which we call provincialism. Except such 
 blind self-respect, California's contempt of Orientals is 
 not unjustifiable. Meanwhile, let us record a few cases 
 in which this provincialism manifested itself in a manner 
 which all judicious-minded Californians deeply deplore. 
 
CALIFORNIA AND THE JAPANESE 147 
 
 A Japanese Consul-General at San Francisco rented a 
 house for his residence in what the newspapers called a 
 fashionable district of that city. The official was one of 
 the ablest and most cultured of the younger diplomats of 
 Japan. Yet his prospective American neighbours ob- 
 jected to his moving into the house he rented, and it 
 was only after a protracted parley that he was at last al- 
 lowed to occupy it. 
 
 The Yokohama Specie Bank of Japan, one of the 
 largest banking establishments in the world, and Mitsui 
 & Co., the largest Japanese firm engaged in international 
 trade, maintain a branch office at San Francisco, and 
 have been a potent factor in the development of the trade 
 which passes through the Golden Gate. The treatment 
 accorded the representatives of these firms in San Fran- 
 cisco is anything but pleasant. When the manager of 
 the San Francisco office of the Mitsui firm rented a house 
 in Berkeley, his neighbours looked suspiciously at him. 
 If they had only declined to associate with him he would 
 not have fared very badly. But their methods of snub- 
 bing assumed a more aggressive aspect. They organized 
 themselves into a sort of " holy alliance," and issued an 
 injunction forbidding the fuel dealers and provision mer- 
 chants of the city to accept the patronage of the heathen 
 Oriental. At first the merchants took the mandate rather 
 lightly, but when the belligerent neighbours of the unfor- 
 tunate Japanese threatened them with a boycott, thty 
 were forced to heed it. 
 
 The Japanese, a man of cosmopolitan culture who 
 had travelled extensively in Asia and Europe, was not 
 worried — he took the situation in good humour like a 
 philosopher. And why not? His landlord knew him 
 and liked him, and told him to stay, no matter what his 
 neighbours might do. Then the belligerent folk resorted 
 
I4B ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 to novel strategy and enjoined their children not to asso- 
 ciate with the little daughter of the man who rented his 
 house to the Japanese. Still the landlord laughed and 
 remained steadfast, though he had to send the daughter 
 away from home. ** These people/' he declared reso- 
 lutely, " need education and a great deal of it." Mean- 
 while, the Japanese, unable to buy necessaries of life of 
 the intimidated home merchants, sent to Oakland and 
 San Francisco for his supplies. He furnished the house 
 adequately, hired an American girl as servant, and lived 
 as respectably as anybody in the vicinity. Weeks passed 
 by, and weeks grew into months, with his neighbours 
 slowly awakening to the folly of the whole performance. 
 They could see no reason why they should be so finical 
 with their new neighbour from the Orient, and they be- 
 gan to exchange with him such social felicitations as are 
 usually exchanged among neighbours, first from sheer 
 curiosity, then with a desire to make acquaintance with 
 him. 
 
 Another tragi-comedy was also staged in Berkeley. 
 George Shima, the Potato King, procured a residence 
 in an exclusive section of the college town. He had 
 made a fortune as potato grower. His ranches are deltas 
 on the lower reaches of the great San Joaquin River, and 
 cover an area of more than ten thousand acres, partly 
 leased and partly owned by himself. It is bonanza farm- 
 ing, and Shima was called the " Potato King." Yet 
 when he moved into his new home at Berkeley, the 
 " society *' of the college town began to talk, heaping 
 upon him all sorts of insinuations and invectives. The 
 newspaper reporters of San Francisco, Berkeley, and 
 Oakland quickly lined up with the frivolous society gos- 
 sipers, and conspired to pull down the man whom they 
 had voluntarily placed upon a royal dais. "Jap In* 
 
CALIFORNIA AND THE JAPANESE 149 
 
 vades Fashionable Quarters," " Jap Puts on Airs," " Yel- 
 low Peril in College Town " — such were a few of the 
 hundred and one flings and epithets which the newspa- 
 pers hurled upon Shima. 
 
 But Shima was a philosopher and a strategist. He 
 lived in his new home in respectable fashion, employing 
 a retinue of servants and embellishing the rooms with 
 elegant furniture. He purchased the adjoining lot and 
 converted it into a garden adorned with rare shrubs 
 and flowers imported from Europe and Asia. Then his 
 *' exclusive " neighbours rubbed their eyes and began 
 to wonder what sort of a " Jap " had come to live in 
 their midst. And when Mr. Shima donated $500 to the 
 Y. M. C. A. of the University of California, the towns- 
 men had to recognize that even a Japanese could be as 
 public-spirited as they. That settled it. Shima was 
 no longer a social outcast, and to-day the crown of 
 the Potato King rests upon his head as securely as 
 ever. 
 
 It is indeed regrettable that we have come to attach 
 too much importance to the worldly possessions of a man 
 in determining his worth as a man. Mr. Shima is a gen- 
 tleman before he is a potato king. He is possessed of the 
 highest sense of honour; his character is impeccable. 
 Neither is he an uncultured boor, for he is well versed 
 in the Chinese classics, and can compose a poem or two 
 even in the thick of business. All these qualities passed 
 unnoticed, and not until he demonstrated his wealth in 
 things that could be spoken of in terms of dollars and 
 cents did the people take him seriously. 
 
 The inability of the Japanese to secure desirable dwell- 
 ing places is pregnant with significance, for it must in- 
 evitably result in the virtual segregation of the Japa- 
 nese from the American community. The Japanese are 
 
150 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 accused of congregating in their own quarters in our 
 cities, but how can they avoid the course when we our- 
 selves set up a barrier of prejudice which they are not yet 
 able to scale or destroy? There are of course classes of 
 Japanese who are foreign to the amenities of refined so- 
 ciety, and no one insists that such Japanese should be 
 permitted to reside in " exclusive '* quarters. Neither 
 would they care to live in such quarters, even if they 
 could. At the same time, there are Japanese who deserve 
 and are anxious to be admitted into respectable quarters. 
 Such men will prove themselves, if only allowed an op- 
 portunity to prove, as desirable as anybody not only as 
 tenants but as members of the community in which they 
 live. 
 
 It is indeed sad to think that even in such college 
 towns as Berkeley, Palo Alto, and Los Angeles the Japa- 
 nese students find it well-nigh impossible to board or 
 room with American , families. What a contrast is here 
 presented with the kindness and cordiality with which 
 the Japanese students are received in the college towns 
 of the East ! In the East any fahiily welcomes Japanese 
 young men as roomers or boarders, because they are 
 more quiet, more orderly, more cleanly in habit, and less 
 critical than their American schoolmates. Thus coming 
 in close contact with American life, the Japanese students 
 in the East enjoy opportunity to adopt and absorb Ameri- 
 can ideas. 
 
 In Los Angeles, the Japanese Students' Club, con- 
 sisting mostly of students of the University of Cali- 
 fornia, desired to purchase a lot on which to build its 
 clubhouse, but it had to drop the plan entirely, as the 
 prejudice of the citizens made it impossible for it to 
 secure a desirable site. Is it any wonder that the Japa- 
 nese students in California, in spite of all the splendid 
 
CALIFORNIA AND THE JAPANESE IS I 
 
 opportunities offered by her universities, are ever casiing 
 their longing eyes over the Rockies ? 
 
 One of the leading New York magazines says in its 
 editorial : " The Japanese dislike the Californians as 
 heartily as the Californians dislike them." The latter 
 half of the sentence may contain some truth, but the 
 former does not. Rightly or wrongly, the Japanese in 
 California still believe that the agitation against them 
 was started and is being engineered by a class of men 
 whose conduct, public and private, most Californians de- 
 plore and denounce. To me their patience and good- 
 nature appear almost surprising, considering the humili- 
 ating treatment to which they are constantly subjected. 
 And, after all, there is no reason why they should not 
 be good-natured, when they come to think of it. In spite 
 of all the calumnies and insinuations which the Exclusion 
 League heap upon them, the individual Californians are 
 but too willing to deal with Japanese farmers and 
 merchants. 
 
 One of the commonest charges brought against the 
 Japanese in California is that, " wherever they live, their 
 presence depreciates the value of all adjacent property." 
 I do not wish to be dogmatic on this point, but shall 
 simply quote the following passages from a letter writ- 
 ten by Miss Alice M. Brown, a resident of Florin, to 
 contradict the statement made by Collier's Weekly: 
 
 '' As to the decrease in land values that is another bald 
 falsehood. The property has doubled in value within 
 the last six years. Any realty man of Sacramento knows 
 that this is the fact as well as the residents of this com- 
 munity (Florin) know that this is the fact. As for the 
 Japanese neighbour, his industry on the land he tills 
 enhances its value and increases ours in consequence. 
 Adjoining my home is eighty acres which for all these 
 
 J 
 
152 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 years had never been touched by a plough — so sloughy 
 and shallow was the land that the white man set it aside 
 as only fit for a pasture. The Japanese turned it into the 
 most beautiful vineyards and strawberry patches, and 
 where the poorest of the poor soil lay is the finest berry 
 patch in this vicinity. Neat little homes dot that once 
 barren tract, and they are occupied by as good and kindly 
 neighbours as we wish to have. Who is insane enough 
 to believe that such a transformation from aridity to 
 high productiveness would decrease the value of adjoin- 
 ing property? 
 
 " There never has been one farm sold to get away 
 from a Japanese neighbour. On the contrary, white 
 families are coming in all the time and erecting homes. 
 The fact that the Japanese are here enables the white 
 man to secure the help to make good for himself. We 
 do not object to the moral, industrious Japanese being 
 our neighbour ; we prefer him to ignorant, shiftless white 
 men. The experience of many has shown that the white 
 man is a failure as a tenant, the property becomes a wreck 
 in his hands. The industrious Japanese will do the work 
 and increase the value of the property. There are more 
 whites in this community than there ever were before 
 in its history." 
 
 Mr. Chester Rowell, editor of the Fresno Republican, 
 harps upon the most deep-rooted prejudice of Calif or- 
 nians when he opens his article in a recent issue of the 
 World's Work with this sensational utterance of a farmer 
 who was permitted to appear before a session of the Cali- 
 fornia legislature: 
 
 " Up at Elk Grove, where I live, on the next farm a 
 Japanese man lives, and a white woman. That woman 
 is carrying around a baby in her arms. What is that 
 baby? It isn't white. It isn't Japanese. I will tell you 
 
CALIFORNIA AND THE JAPANESE 153 
 
 what it is — it is the beginning of the biggest problem 
 that ever faced the American people I " 
 
 To understand why California is so averse to American- 
 Japanese marriage one need only look at the Venus-like 
 faces of her women and the features of her men as hand- 
 some as those of an Adonis. To give up such a beautiful 
 woman to a homely Japanese instead of to a stately, 
 courtly Californian must appear a sacrifice and a blas- 
 phemy. That is the only " biggest problem " involved 
 in intermarriage between Japanese and Americans. But 
 why should it be any problem at all when a Japanese 
 man and an American woman could be happily united 
 and can rear offspring as vigorous, as bright, and indeed 
 as handsome as any child? In Eastern States I have 
 seen many Japanese-American children who are the fa- 
 vourites of the whole community in which they live. It 
 is only when prejudice and snobbery obstruct one's dis- 
 cernment that one utters such hysterical cries as that 
 raised by the Elk Grove farmer. Neither sons nor daugh- 
 ters born to American-Japanese couples will find any diffi- 
 culty in marrying pure-blooded Americans. If the " big- 
 gest problem that ever faced the American people " will 
 ever result from the presence of Japanese in this coun- 
 try, it is least likely to come from intermarriage. 
 
 In this age of human solidarity we can no longer ad- 
 here to such narrow views of intermarriage as are enter- 
 tained by Califomians. To the Eastward across the 
 Rockies and to the Westward across the Pacific there 
 are already a considerable number of Japanese married 
 to Caucasian women. Such Japanese are forced to avoid 
 California, however urgently their business or calling 
 may require them to reside in that State. To place in 
 an uncomfortable position such men as Dr. Takamine, of 
 
154 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 New York, or Dr. Nitobe, of Tokyo, merely because their 
 wives are Americans would be childish. Yet that is ex- 
 actly what happens to such men when they travel in 
 California. Instead of attempting to fan this popular 
 prejudice against intermarriage, cannot the leading men 
 of the Golden State be large-hearted enough to exert their 
 wholesome influence for its dissipation? But I have al- 
 ready discussed this problem at length in the chapter 
 on the Americanization of the Japanese, and I must pass 
 on to another phase of the problem. 
 
 Dr. Edward A. Steiner, one of the foremost authori- 
 ties on the immigration problem, in a recent address at St. 
 Louis, sees the real menace for California not in Oriental 
 immigration, but in the ebbing energy of its citizens. 
 The pioneers of California who conquered all obstacles 
 offered by nature, were energetic, undaunted, and willing 
 to toil. But the present generation, Dr. Steiner points 
 out, is beginning to seek pleasure, avoid parenthood, and 
 shirk hard work. And many Californians plainly admit 
 that their young men no longer soil their hands with the 
 tilling of the earth, but migrate to cities in quest of gen- 
 tleman's work and easy money. The effect of this tend- 
 ency is clearly shown in the census of 19 lo, which records 
 considerable decrease of the farm lands in California. 
 Some American writers go even so far as to assert that 
 this very symptom of weakness on the part of Califor- 
 nians is one of the causes which brought about the agi- 
 tation against the Japanese. To us, however, the theory 
 is open to question. The idea of setting up the bogie 
 of superiority of an Asiatic people is too bizarre, to put 
 it mildly, to be taken seriously. 
 
 At the same time, the Japanese, being human, have 
 not been faultless. They may not have been as faithful 
 
CALIFORNIA AND THE JAPANESE 155 
 
 to contracts as they should have been. At any rate, it 
 has become a fashion among Californians of a certain 
 class to laud the honesty of the Chinese and deplore the 
 *' dishonesty " of the Japanese. Yet we must remember 
 that when California was trying to exclude the Chinese 
 they had no hesitation in assailing the " dishonesty " of 
 the Chinese in the most vehement terms, in comparison 
 with which their present criticism of Japanese lack of 
 business honour seems a tame affair. When we are bent 
 upon attaining a certain end, our sense of justice does 
 not prevent us from resorting to exaggeration and mis- 
 representation in order to attain that end. 
 
 Again, the Japanese may have appeared too proud, 
 although the Japanese themselves seem totally uncon- 
 scious of the fact. Their apparent " cockiness " is noth- 
 ing but their innocent efforts to conform to the customs 
 and manners which they have been constantly told to 
 respect by the very men who now attack their cockiness. 
 And besides, there are many educated and well-bred Japa- 
 nese who were disciplined in the deportment commonly 
 observed among the upper classes in their native country. 
 In the words of Mr. Walter V. Woehlke, of the Sunset 
 Magadne, ** this cockiness is but the expression of the 
 poise and dignity that is one of the* finest features of the 
 Japanese national character." When, therefore, a Japa- 
 nese acts as a well-bred American would act, he has no 
 intention to offend anybody, no desire to put on airs, 
 no idea to challenge the superiority of any man under the 
 sun. To him it is perfectly natural and spontaneous to 
 respect and conform to the customs of any foreign coun- 
 try where he may come to live. This spontaneous feel- 
 ing even overcomes his innate dislike of black frock- 
 coat and high silk hat, which, though adopted in Japan 
 as proper costume in formal functions, were undoubtedly 
 
156 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 invented for tall figures. After all, the allegation of 
 Japanese cockiness is a trivial thing unworthy of serious 
 consideration, yet Mr. Woehlke warns us that it is just 
 such trivial things which largely influence the judgment 
 of a prejudiced public. In New York there are more 
 Japanese who " put on airs " than in San Francisco, yet 
 nobody in that cosmopolitan, hospitable metropolis on the 
 Atlantic ever becomes excited over it. 
 
 If it be true that the Californians are exasperated by 
 *'the proud, erect bearing, the immaculate clothes, and 
 the exquisite manners of the successful, well-bred Japa- 
 nese," the future of California calls for deep apprehension 
 on the part of every public-spirited citizen. This appre- 
 hension is expressed by Dr. Francis G. Peabody, of Har- 
 vard University, in this language : 
 
 "The attitude of the South to the Negro practically 
 prohibits the immigration of free men. The same result 
 would seem probable if the Mississippi view of citizen- 
 ship were applied in California. Self-respecting immi- 
 grants would be likely to shun a State where none but 
 serfs were wanted. If, on the other hand, the extraor- 
 dinary attractiveness of California should overbalance its 
 deterrent policy, then it seems likely that she would get 
 the kind of immigrants desired. I heard a Californian 
 last February in a public address describe the gains 
 which were to be made by California through the open- 
 ing of the Panama Canal. The future of the State, he 
 said, depended on a great influx of population, and Ger- 
 man lines proposed to * lay down ' immigrants from the 
 Mediterranean at a cost of $5 above the rate to New 
 York. New England has already had its lesson of finan- 
 cial loss and social disorder as the consequence of im- 
 porting this kind of labour from the eastern Mediter- 
 ranean. But New England may perhaps urge in self- 
 
CALIFORNIA AND THE JAPANESE 1$? 
 
 defence that she could find no other source of supply. 
 California, it would seem from this article (Mr. Woehl- 
 ke's article in the Outlook), deliberately proposes a pol- 
 icy of welcome for inefficiency, ignorance, and anarchy, 
 and of exclusion for the intelligence, orderliness, and 
 skill which stand waiting at her doors.'* 
 
 Mrs. Mary Roberts Coolidge is perhaps right in say- 
 ing that " the anti-foreign feeling in California was un- 
 questionably intensified by the presence of Southerners, 
 who comprised nearly one-third of the population in the 
 first generation. Of these a minority were educated pure 
 American stock, who brought, in some cases, their slaves 
 with them and a profound conviction that California 
 should be a white man's country. But this class was 
 greatly outnumbered by immigrants from the border 
 States of the Pike-County-Missourian type, whose igno- 
 rance and extreme race antipathies classed all persons, 
 other than European whites, together — South Americans, 
 South Europeans, Kanakas, Malays, or Chinese — all were 
 coloured; even the French, partly because they were of 
 a darker skin and partly because they, like the Spanish- 
 Americans, were too high-spirited, were attacked as for- 
 eigners. The Germans.Jrish, and Englishmen alone were 
 excepted, although many of them were not naturalized, 
 and had far less right in the country than the native 
 Indians and Spaniards." 
 
 Added to the conditions described by Mrs. Coolidge, 
 there was another factor which gave a strong impetus 
 to the movement against the foreigners, and especially 
 the Asiatics. From the early days California enjoyed 
 the reputation of having very strong trade unions. This 
 peculiarity was no doubt due to the fact that California 
 began her history as a mining country. In those States 
 whose economic resources are mostly in agriculture. 
 
158 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 trade unionism seldom looms portentously upon the po- 
 litical horizon. It was gold mining which enriched Cali- 
 fornia before its farm lands began to attract settlers, 
 and the mining industry inevitably resulted in the organi- 
 zation of miners' unions. As early as 1850 the mining 
 workers became a potent factor in State politics. Both 
 the Republicans and the Democrats depended upon the 
 mining vote to control the legislature. From that time 
 on the miners' organization steadily grew in influence 
 and in the number of its members. With the general 
 progress of the State other trade unions sprang into ex- 
 istence and joined hands with the older labour organi- 
 zations, culminating in 1877 in the inauguration of the 
 Workingmen's Party. 
 
 In the meantime the distribution of wealth in Califor- 
 nia was such as would assist in the growth of trades 
 unions. The concentration of lands in the hands of a 
 few deprived settlers of small means of opportunity to 
 become independent farmers, while the monopoly of rail- 
 ways and steamship services by a few financial magnates 
 necessarily raised the cost of living by keeping transpor- 
 tation at prohibitive rates. Such a condition naturally 
 awakened discontent on the part of the workingmen as 
 well as men of limited means. 
 
 These circumstances conspired to confer upon the 
 trade union in California a most arbitrary and tyrannical 
 power. I am no opponent of trade unionism, when trade 
 unionism is based upon sound economic and ethical prin- 
 ciples. Indeed, I was one of those few Japanese who, 
 about a decade ago, introduced trade unionism to Japan 
 at the risk of incurring the displeasure of the ruling class 
 and the capitalist. Fresh from college and having never 
 been abroad, I had gleaned a knowledge of trades unions 
 in America and Europe from books mostly from the 
 
CALIFORNIA AND THE JAPANESE 159 
 
 pens of sympathetic writers, and I naturally became a 
 most enthusiastic sympathizer with their principles and 
 movement. I frankly confess that I was somewhat dis- 
 illusioned when I came to know something of the prac- 
 tical modus operandi of the trade unions in America. My 
 fidelity to the fundamental principles of trade unionism 
 still remains unshaken, but I have little sympathy with 
 the narrow-mindedness and the utter disregard of justice 
 and honour with which the good names of some labour 
 leaders have been besmirched. A perusal of such a book 
 as " The Masked War," by William J. Burns, the man 
 who uncovered the dynamite conspiracy, is enough to dis- 
 pel all glamour of martyrdom and disinterestedness which 
 long shrouded such leaders. 
 
 Perhaps the climate of California, too, has had some 
 influence in developing a peculiar type of " mass psy- 
 chology." Professor Steiner thinks that this climate is 
 responsible for the mental habit of exaggeration com- 
 monly observed in California. Unquestionably some 
 Californians entertain a very exaggerated idea as to the 
 number and strength of the Japanese in their State. 
 Whatever may be said of Tennyson's dictum, 
 
 " That bright and fierce and fickle is the south 
 And dark and true and tender is the north," 
 
 it seems fairly clear that from time immemorial climate 
 has been a potent factor in directing the course of human 
 activities and determining the destinies of nations. Now 
 the climate of the Golden State is a sort of climate that 
 strengthens the passions and sends them wild for excite- 
 ment. Not only does this climate quicken the pulse and 
 the temper, but it gave birth to that peculiar human 
 being called " hoodlum." The hoodlum cannot exist in 
 a country with a rigorous winter and the homes that 
 
i6o ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 are born of it. He can thrive only in a country where 
 snow is unknown, and where one can live out in the 
 open day and night without suffering from chilling damp- 
 ness or biting frost. 
 
 While the climate of California is congenial to the 
 existence of the hoodlums, its economic conditions were 
 such as to swell the tide of lawless elements. From the 
 early days the adult labourers in California made con- 
 certed attempts to prevent the employment of boys and 
 young men in lighter and cheaper common labour. The 
 Miners' Union had a law providing that the rate of pay 
 for all underground men must be $4 per shift, regard- 
 less of age, experience, or ability. This made it impos- 
 sible for the superintendent to hire miners' sons. This 
 policy of the miners' union was adopted by other trade 
 unions organized after 1870. In the cigar trade, for in- 
 stance, the number of apprentices to be employed in any 
 one shop was restricted to three. These conditions natu- 
 rally resulted in the creation of a class of boys and young 
 men who were forced to lead a life of idleness, drifted 
 into large cities, and became the material out of which 
 the hoodlum element was ultimately made. 
 
 It was mostly these lawless elements which in the days 
 of Denis Kearney constituted the band of sand-lotters. 
 Since that time the fortunes of the hoodlum, as fortunes 
 go, have been on the wane, yet we know that he figured 
 prominently in the anti- Japanese outrages in San Fran- 
 cisco a few years ago. Beyond a doubt it was that dis- 
 orderly class that broke the windows of Japanese stores, 
 raided Japanese restaurants, and even extorted money 
 from Japanese merchants in those days of confusion and 
 consternation that occurred in the wake of the great 
 earthquake and conflagration. 
 
 To the Japanese, and even to Americans who live east 
 
CALIFORNIA AND THE JAPANESE l6l 
 
 of the Rockies, these outrages in San Francisco appeared 
 at the time to be an incident of great significance. The 
 Japanese across the ocean regarded it as an indication 
 of the hostile attitude which the Californians in general 
 assumed towards Japan. Moreover, the report as to the 
 damages suffered by Japanese merchants was greatly 
 magnified, as it travelled across the Pacific. Meanwhile, 
 Americans in the Eastern States, knowing little of the 
 peculiarities of the San Francisco population, overesti- 
 mated the meaning of those outrages and were led to 
 wonder if Japanese and other races could ever live ami- 
 cably together. 
 
 Looking at the incident of 1907 through the perspective 
 of the years that have gone by, I am inclined to think 
 that it was comparatively of small significance and un- 
 worthy of the great excitement and commotion with 
 which it was discussed on both sides of the Pacific. Even 
 the school question should have been settled more quietly 
 through judicial channels. But it was just such excite- 
 ment and commotion which the Exclusion League was 
 anxious to create, knowing that it would inevitably act 
 contagiously upon the mind of the whole nation, and 
 thus result in creating with the public an impression that 
 it might be best to close the doors to the Japanese. And 
 in this the league has been largely successful. 
 
 Whatever may be the real cause of the anti-Japanese 
 agitation, its recrudescence is highly deplorable. Each 
 succeeding year it intensifies the anxiety of the Japa- 
 nese on both sides of the water. In the session of 19 13 
 of the legislature of California no less than fhirty-fnnr 
 bills were introduc ed, all aimed at the curbinp^ of the . 
 rights of the Japanese, m ost ot which were, in my I'udg- 
 ment, obviously guaranteed by the treaty between the 
 United States and Japan. The thirty-four bills — four- 
 
l62 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 teen in the Senate, twenty in the House — are of special 
 interest in that they indicate the nature of missiles with 
 which the Exclusion League, through its political allies, 
 assails the Japanese. Classified by their respective na- 
 tures, these bills fall under these seven heads : 
 ^i. Bills prohibiting the Japanese from acquiring title 
 to land or real property. 
 
 2. Bills increasing the license fee of Japanese fisher- 
 men from the present rate of $io to $ioo a year. 
 
 3. Bills providing for the segregation of Japanese 
 school children. 
 
 4. Bills prohibiting the issuance of liquor licenses to 
 Japanese. 
 
 5. Bills forbidding the Japanese to use power engines. 
 
 6. Bills providing for the imposition of a special poll 
 tax upon the Japanese. 
 
 7. Bills prohibiting the Japanese from employing 
 white women. 
 
 True, the bills, except in a few cases, do not openly 
 attack the Japanese, for the indirect phrase, " aliens not 
 eligible to citizenship," is preferred to the direct word 
 " Japanese," where the real object of discrimination is 
 the Japanese. Such indirect discriminative acts are cal- 
 culated to gall the Japanese even more brutally than a 
 direct act. As President Jordan says : '' The exclusion 
 of the Japanese from citizenship, for which discrimina- 
 tion no adequate cause exists, is of the nature of insult 
 in itself. To be shut out because they have been insulted 
 once adds doubly to a humiliation which they have no 
 power to resent, but which they hope their nearest friend 
 among the nations will not offer them." 
 
 The appearance in the State legislature of a flood of 
 anti- Japanese bills in 191 3 was especially untimely and 
 unfortunate. For the preceding seven years Japan had 
 
CALIFORNIA AND THE JAPANESE 163 
 
 patiently and graciously endured the indignities and hu- 
 miliations to which California had persistently subjected 
 her. Not only this, but Japan was the first nation to 
 respond to the appeal of the Panama- Pacific Exposition 
 with a generous promise to participate in the proposed 
 World's Fair on a large scale. The delegates of the 
 exposition had gone over to the otlier side of the water 
 and had told the Japanese that the people of California 
 in general had entertained good-will and friendly feeling 
 towards them, and that Japan's liberal participation in 
 the coming exposition would greatly strengthen the bond 
 of friendship between the two nations. Japan had taken 
 the word at its face value, and promptly sent a special 
 commission to San Francisco to select a site for the build- 
 ings which she was to build on the fair grounds, when no 
 other leading nation had even decided whether it would 
 participate in the exposition at all. The commission re- 
 turned home and recommended that at least one million 
 dollars be appropriated for the exposition. Now came 
 the State legislature proposing innumerable anti- Japanese 
 bills. 
 
 In the face of these facts can we not understand why 
 on this particular occasion the masses of Japan displayed 
 unusual excitement ? It was not the mere " probability 
 of passage of an act by one State discriminating against 
 its people " that caused that excitement. It was the out- 
 come of the insult which California had for the preceding 
 seven years constantly offered Japan, and of the peculiar 
 feeling of distrust caused by the difference between the 
 assurances of the exposition management and the prac- 
 tical activities of the State legislature. Had it been a 
 European power which was subjected to such uncere- 
 monious treatment, it would not have been seven long 
 years before " its people brought out mobs and talk of 
 
i64 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 war." The cry of war which was raised in one of the 
 mass meetings held in Tokyo in protest against California 
 was certainly unfortunate and foolish, but had not some 
 of the Americans newspapers and publicists been for 
 many a year diligently working for the creation of the 
 bogie of an American- Japanese war, even while the Japa- 
 nese press and people had scrupulously maintained an 
 attitude of dignity and tolerance ? Why, then, should the 
 enlightened editors of great New York magazines be sur- 
 prised if some ignorant, hot-headed, irresponsible people 
 in Tokyo, not publicists nor newspapers of any standing, 
 showed a willingness to accept California's challenge 
 " like a man " ? For my part, I agree with Mr. Don C. 
 Seitz when he says in the North American Review: 
 
 " The pride of accomplishment has not yet abolished 
 [Japan's] gratitude towards America. In view of the 
 occasional American manifestation of distrust, it is aston- 
 ishing that it should prevail so strongly. It is a certain 
 test of the permanency of their sense of obligation which 
 stands patiently unwarranted attacks upon their honour, 
 a people whom Russia was unable to push away from 
 the Asiatic shore when once they chose to rest foot 
 upon it." 
 
 Of the alleged '' mobs and talk of war " in Tokyo, we 
 shall have to say more anon, in connection with the anti- 
 Japanese land legislation in California. 
 
THE CALIFORNIA LAND IMBROGLIO 
 
 LIKE the attempted segregation of the Japanese 
 J school-children in San Francisco in 1906, the 
 enactment of the anti-Japanese land law is one of 
 the " successes " with which the efforts of the Japanese 
 Exclusion League of Mr. Olaf Tvietmoe was rewarded. 
 Systematic agitation against Japanese ownership of 
 land was begun in 1906 when the League was in its 
 palmiest days. From that time anti-Japanese land bills 
 in one form or another were introduced every year in 
 the legislature at Sacramento. Both Democrats and Re- 
 publicans sported with the bills, as both were anxious 
 to win the labour vote. But as long as the State gov- 
 ernment as well as the Federal Administration was in 
 the hands of the Republican Party the legislators at 
 Sacramento scrupled to enact bills which the authorities 
 at Washington considered inimical to the maintenance 
 of friendly relations with the Mikado's Empire. Again 
 and again did Mr. Roosevelt's " big stick " stop the 
 passage of such bills, while Mr. Taft also succeeded, 
 though by subtler means, in checking the anti-Japanese 
 agitation in the State legislature. 
 
 But the political tables were completely turned as the 
 result of the general elections of 191 2. The Progressive 
 Party became paramount in the politics of California, 
 while the Democratic Party assumed the reins of govern- 
 ment at Washington. The California Progressives had 
 
 165 
 
l66 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 little sympathy for the Wilson Cabinet, and were de- 
 termined to manage the affairs of the State to suit them, 
 whatever the effects of their actions upon the policy of 
 the Federal Government. I have always been, as I still 
 am, a sincere admirer of Governor Johnson, his un- 
 daunted courage, his unflinching energy, and above all, 
 his love of justice. Yet they tell me that the Progressive 
 Governor of California, seeing that his influence was 
 waning, was anxious to regain his popularity by catering 
 to the wishes of the labouring class. At the last election 
 he was elected by a very small majority, less than a 
 hundred votes. When the anti- Japanese land bill was 
 introduced in the fall of 1912, he saw a chance to be- 
 friend the labouring class. As the Argonaut observes, the 
 land bill " is just a bit of cheap political buncombe, mean- 
 ingless and ineffective in itself, useful only in that it may 
 help somebody to get votes under pretence of being a 
 Japanese baiter." 
 
 What appears to be an inside story of the enactment 
 of the land bill is told in a letter addressed to the Lon- 
 don Nation by Miss Alice M. Brown, of Florin, who was 
 a close observer of every activity of the California legis- 
 lature in regard to the land legislation. Even conceding 
 that her account of the situation may not be absolutely 
 free from misconception, it nevertheless throws an in- 
 teresting light upon the question. She says: 
 
 " When the agitation began in the legislature we 
 thought it was just a flurry of organized labour that would 
 soon end by being unnoticed. The session of the legisla- 
 ture this year was bifurcated and it was not until the 
 middle of March that the agitation took an aggressive 
 character. When the Judiciary Committee held a meet- 
 ing in March, they permitted a member of our com- 
 munity [Florin] to appear before them. This man was 
 
CALIFORNIA LAND IMBROGLIO 167 
 
 a disreputable person, shiftless, ignorant, and addicted 
 to hard drinking, and naturally gave utterance to a 
 stock of vicious falsehoods which shocked all respectable, 
 fair-minded people of Florin. But the legislature took 
 up his ugly lies and repeated them on the floors of both 
 houses as * the demand of the farmers of Florin to be 
 saved from a terrible menace.' The intellectual citizens 
 of Florin immediately took steps to controvert the falsi- 
 fication and begged the Judiciary Committee for a hear- 
 ing. After repeated appeals it was finally announced 
 that we could appear. We went to the capital prepared 
 with facts and statistics, but to our great disgust and 
 astonishment we were not permitted to say a word. 
 Meanwhile, the same uncouth falsifier was called forth 
 and given all the time he wanted to utter more false- 
 hoods. 
 
 " We tried to get into the press so that the public 
 might see the situaition as it really was. But the press of 
 California was closed and locked. We then turned to the 
 Governor; he had no time to give us. At one time we 
 waited for three hours at the door of the Governor's 
 office, having sent in a letter of introduction written by 
 his personal friend, and yet we were not permitted to set 
 forth before him our side of the case. The only thing 
 we could do was to print a protest, and the duty of pre- 
 paring pamphlets describing the real status of the Japa- 
 nese in our community was assigned me. These pam- 
 phlets were distributed among the legislators, editors, and 
 publicists in the State, but were given scant atten- 
 tion. 
 
 " We then saw that ' the demand of the people of the 
 State for relief ' was a political scheme to arouse race 
 antagonism and curry favour with the labour-union ele- 
 ment, and that the truth was not wanted because truth 
 
l68 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 would deprive those concocting the scheme of their 
 ammunition for a great Japanese scare. With the lid 
 tight on the truth, and with the doors of the press and 
 legislature wide open to falsehood, the public mind could 
 be inflamed and their political ends attained. 
 
 " I attended the session every time the land bill came 
 up. The speeches in favour of the bill were simply 
 torrents of abuse and vituperations, and a defiance of 
 national authority. Once I asked an Assemblyman to 
 set forth before the legislators some salient facts bearing 
 upon the question, and the gentleman sighed : ' The 
 Assembly is dead set; no industrial appeal, no human 
 appeal, no appeal whatever would reach them, and I am 
 going to save my breath.* 
 
 " When the bill was up for debate in the Senate, 
 Senator Weight arose and said : ' You are all playing 
 politics, dirty cheap politics; you all know you are, and 
 you don't dare deny it.' They didn't, not one; they only 
 sat and chuckled. 
 
 " We had not connected Governor Johnson with the 
 political intrigue, feeling that in deference to the high 
 honour he had held as a Vice-Presidential candidate last 
 fall he would not stultify himself with undignified 
 manoeuvres and unjust discrimination. But with the 
 coming of Secretary Bryan he showed his hand, and his 
 identity with the sinister scheme became manifest. By 
 that time he saw the chance to put Wilson in a hole, and 
 he became feverishly anxious to pass a very drastic 
 measure. 
 
 " Mr. Bryan addressed both houses jointly in a private 
 session. When he explained the Administration's wishes 
 and promised them help by diplomatic adjustment, the 
 legislature was bending to his plea. At that juncture 
 however, the Governor sprang to his feet, and by a 
 
CALIFORNIA LAND IMBROGLIO 169 
 
 virulent plea for ' State's rights ' turned the tables 
 against Secretary Bryan. 
 
 " From the beginning the Japanese community in 
 Florin was made the centre of attack, and Florin's very 
 prosperity was made over into dire calamity. Governor 
 Johnson brought Secretary Bryan out here, taking as a 
 guide not an intelligent, respectable citizen of our com- 
 munity but the ignorant whiskey-soak who could be re- 
 lied upon to delude Secretary Bryan. When the party 
 returned to Sacramento, Secretary Bryan allowed me an 
 interview. I then told him the facts and history of 
 agriculture in Florin, and the part the Japanese have 
 played in it. He asked me many questions concerning 
 what he had seen and heard, proving that he had been a 
 close observer but had been greatly misinformed. I am 
 sure he saw through Governor Johnson's duplicity." 
 
 All efforts of President Wilson and Secretary Bryan 
 unavailing, the land bill was passed on April 15. Mr. 
 Bryan had left Sacramento on April 3, after a stay of 
 a week. While the bill was in Governor Johnson's hands 
 awaiting his signature, the President made another, and 
 the final, effort to prevent it from becoming a law. But 
 the Governor stood firm and replied to the President: 
 
 " By the law adopted we offer no offence, we make no 
 discrimination. The offence and discrimination are con- 
 tained, it is claimed, in the use of the words ' eligible 
 to citizenship,' and in making a distinction between those 
 who are eligible to citizenship and those who are not. 
 We do not mention the Japanese or any particular race. 
 The constitution of California in 1879 made its distinc- 
 tion and there has never been protest or objection. The 
 naturalization law of the United States long since, with- 
 out demur from any nation, determined who were and 
 who were not eligible to citizenship. If invidious dis- 
 
I70 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 crimination was ever made in this regard, the LJnited 
 States made it when it declared who were and who were 
 not eUgible to citizenship, and when we but follow and 
 depend on the statutes of the United States and their 
 determination as to eligibility to citizenship, we cannot 
 be accused of indulging in invidious discrimination." 
 
 The Governor's reply was a lengthy one. As a piece 
 of logical argument it is a splendid document and de- 
 serves the praise which it elicited from the editors of 
 certain influential magazines in New York. Yet every 
 one of us knows that a logical argument is not necessarily 
 a convincing argument. There are arguments which, 
 however logical, terse, and vigorous in expression, fall 
 flat, and we fear that Mr. Johnson's reply to the Presi- 
 dent was, at best, a fine example of such arguments. 
 He could silence his opponents, but not convince them. 
 And to those who knew the inside story of the political 
 game at Sacramento the Governor's argument is far from 
 convincing. 
 
 The law puts " in a hole " not only the Wilson Cabinet 
 but the Government at Tokyo. It provides that all aliens 
 eligible to citizenship may acquire land, and that all aliens 
 ineligible to citizenship may acquire land in the manner 
 and to the extent and for the purposes prescribed by any 
 treaty now existing between the United States and nation 
 or country of which such aliens are subjects. Now the 
 American- Japanese treaty expressly extends to the Japa- 
 nese the right to own or lease or occupy houses, manu- 
 factories, warehouses, and shops ; to lease land for resi- 
 dential and commercial purposes and generally to do 
 anything necessary for trade. The treaty is silent on the 
 question of ownership of farm land. Comparing the 
 provisions of the treaty with those of the land law it is 
 difficult to see how Japan could logically protest against 
 
CALIFORNIA LAND IMBROGLIO 171 
 
 the measure adopted by California. True, the treaty 
 contains a " most favoured nation " clause, but that 
 clause, too, is not couched in general sweeping terms, 
 but confines its application to navigation and trade. 
 Section 4 of the land law which prohibits the inheritance 
 of farm lands now owned by Japanese by their heirs 
 may be interpreted as an infringement upon clause 3, 
 Article i, of the treaty with Japan, and also a violation 
 of an article in the United States Constitution which 
 provides that *' no State shall deny to any person within 
 its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." But 
 the question of inheritance is not the fundamental one. 
 The fundamental question is the question of ownership 
 of farm lands, and as far as that is concerned, Japan 
 must find it difficult to argue her side of the case, if 
 the question is approached from the legal point of view. 
 That the land law is opposed to the spirit of the treaty 
 seems to us obvious, but in international dealings what 
 is not expressly conceded in the treaty is never secure, 
 unless, forsooth, such concessions are upheld by the 
 sword and cannon. It, therefore, bespeaks Japan's good 
 sense that her so-called " protest " was in reality little 
 more than a friendly request for the assistance of the 
 Wilson Cabinet in her efforts to solve the question in an 
 amicable manner. 
 
 The question, we believe, should be considered not 
 from the legal point of view, but in the light of broad 
 statesmanship with due regard for justice and humanity. 
 In the first place, we must consider whether such a law 
 would not conflict with the fundamental spirit and prin- 
 ciple upon which this great Republic stands. In the 
 second place, we must consider whether there exist con- 
 ditions which call for such a law. In the third place, we 
 must consider whether such a law has the endorsement 
 
172 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 of an intelligent, fair-minded class of people. Finally, 
 we must consider whether the adoption of such a law 
 would not be prejudicial to the national foreign policy of 
 this country. 
 
 The first point has been repeatedly discussed in the 
 preceding chapters. Here I need only assert that the law 
 is decidedly un-American. It is enacted merely to 
 throttle the legitimate aspirations of the Japanese, to 
 keep the Japanese farmers in a state of serfdom, to fan 
 the prejudice which is being constantly exploited by the 
 jealous and ignorant. Senator Boynton, one of the 
 staunchest champions of the land law, exclaimed on 
 the floor of the California Senate : " I don't want to see 
 a Japanese own a single foot of land of California. If 
 they are willing to perform menial labour on farms 
 under the direction of citizen owners, that is all right." 
 Are these words which could be put into the mouth of 
 the descendant of the sire who only a hundred years ago 
 addressed this note to his oppressor: 
 
 " To your justice we appeal. You have been told that 
 we are impatient of government and desirous of inde- 
 pendence. These are calumnies. Permit us to be as 
 free as yourselves, and we shall ever esteem a union 
 with you to be our greatest glory and our greatest happi- 
 ness. But if you are determined that your ministers shall 
 wantonly sport with the rights of mankind: if neither 
 the voice of justice, the dictates of law, the principles 
 of the constitution, or the suggestions of humanity, 
 can restrain your hands from shedding human blood 
 in such an impious cause, we must then tell you 
 that we will never submit to be hewers of wood and 
 drawers of water for any ministry or nation in the 
 world." 
 
CALIFORNIA LAND IMBROGLIO 173 
 
 It is to " your justice " that the Japanese appeal. We 
 have consecrated our country to the cause of justice and 
 liberty, and in order to uphold it we did not hesitate to 
 make enormous sacrifice. What heresy, what perfidy 
 to attempt to trample upon the sacred legacy of our 
 revered sires and to destroy the foundation upon which 
 the great democracy stands ! The land question should 
 not be confounded with the immigration question. We 
 have imposed upon Japan the " gentlemen's agreement," 
 as the result of which Japanese immigration has been 
 effectively checked. Those who are already within our 
 borders it is our duty to protect and uplift. That duty 
 we are in honour bound to assume not because of any 
 treaty we have concluded but in deference to the prin- 
 ciple which made this nation morally great and which 
 we have with pardonable pride proclaimed to the whole 
 world. To deprive the Japanese wilfully and viciously 
 of rights which they have long been permitted to enjoy, 
 is not ** exclusion " but " extermination " and " persecu- 
 tion." But we must come to the second point. 
 
 The second point has already been dealt with in the 
 chapter entitled " They Are Taking Our Farms," but 
 there are some essential facts which I must present here. 
 
 According to the report of the Bureau of Labour 
 Statistics of California agricultural lands owned by 
 Japanese aggregrated only 12,726 acres, cut up into 331 
 farms assessed at $478,990. Compare this with the total 
 agricultural lands in the State, estimated at 27,931,444 
 acres, and we can see what an insignificant part the 
 Japanese land-holdings constitute. Again the number 
 of farm operators in the State is 88,197, of whom 66,632 
 are owners. It therefore appears that there is only one 
 Japanese landowner to every 201 Caucasian owners. 
 During the past decade or so California's agriculture has 
 
174 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 been declining. A study of the census reveals interesting 
 facts in this connection. In ten years intervening 1900 
 and 1910 there v^as a decrease in the amount of land in 
 farms of 897,597 acres, and in the amount of improved 
 land in farms of 568,943 acres. This unhappy condition 
 was no doubt partly due to the movement of the popu- 
 lation from the country to the city. In the face of such 
 facts I fail to see how a body of wise legislators could 
 afford to enact a law which is calculated to drive out 
 thrifty industrial farmers. 
 
 There is another consideration. Those sections of 
 California in which Japanese have been chiefly active 
 in agriculture are in the Sacramento and the San Joaquin 
 Valley. The northern part of the San Joaquin Valley, 
 unlike the coast district of California, is noted for its 
 rigorous winters and scorching summers. Because of 
 this climate the development of the country was long 
 delayed. Certain sections of the Sacramento Valley con- 
 sist mostly of lowlands, always damp and often inun- 
 dated. This section, therefore, was long regarded as 
 unhealthy, and was shunned by most immigrants. It 
 was the Japanese who opened these countries. He 
 braved the heat and cold of the northern San Joaquin 
 Valley, and has converted it into a thriving fruit coun- 
 try, famous for its raisins and wines. He worked upon 
 the unsanitary farms on the lower reaches of the Sac- 
 ramento and the San Joaquin River, and has made the 
 country rich with onions, potatoes, beans, and fruits. 
 Yet for this great contribution what has the Japanese 
 received as reward? Only 10,000 acres of land — 6,000 
 acres in the Northern San Joaquin Valley, and 4,000 
 acres in the Sacramento Valley. The valleys are in 
 themselves an empire containing some 37,456 square 
 miles of arable lands. In such a vast territory 10,000 
 
CALIFORNIA LAND IMBROGLIO 175 
 
 acres owned by Japanese are nothing but a negligible 
 quantity. And mind, every inch of the 10,000 acres was 
 purchased with hard-earned money. To disinherit this 
 land would be an act unthinkable in this great country 
 of liberty and enlightenment. 
 
 The third point has been to some extent dealt with in 
 Miss Brown's letter to the Nation, already quoted. To 
 drive it further home to the reader I quote the following 
 passage from her pamphlet entitled " Educatipn not 
 Legislation " : 
 
 " Under our system of lawmaking any irresponsible 
 person can have a bill introduced and so bills have been 
 brought forth with the cry that the farmers demand 
 such laws. As a matter of fact, the three so-called 
 ' farmers * who were permitted to go before the Judiciary 
 Committee, did not represent the vast intelligent farm- 
 ing class at all. The real farmers were there, but they 
 opposed the measures, so were denied a hearing. Such 
 petitions as have been gotten up represent an unthinking, 
 prejudiced, jealous class of people, largely non-property- 
 owners. The better elements were never approached 
 or, if they were, refused to have anything to do with it. 
 In this community it was carried around by a social 
 pariah, a man who owns not a foot of soil. 
 
 " The constant prodding and slurring of the Japa- 
 nese is a habit of the ignorant of California. Their 
 ugly words pass unchallenged and hence breed more. 
 The forces of evil and ignorance are always rampant; 
 the forces of good-will and stay-at-home industry are 
 tranquil. So while prejudice and un- Americanism claim 
 to be the voice of the people, our real citizenship de- 
 preciates the attacks, deplores such bitterness, but finds 
 all avenues for voicing objections closed. In local com- 
 munities those who come out for justice and right are 
 
176 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 bitterly assailed, and it is the line of least resistance to 
 be passive. Then, too, the latter always know the un- 
 worthiness of the agitator and are reluctant to recog- 
 nize that he can stir up mischief." 
 
 The fourth and last point need not be discussed at 
 length. For who under the sun does not know that 
 the law is in direct contravention of the national for- 
 eign policy of the Wilson Administration? President 
 Wilson and Secretary Bryan, seeing that the commerce of 
 America must inevitably expand towards the Orient, were 
 anxious to befriend Japan and China. Especially were 
 they desirous of healing the wound which we have on more 
 occasions than one inflicted upon the pride of Japan. 
 The time seemed auspicious for the launching of such a 
 policy. The Japanese generously responded to the appeal 
 of the Panama- Pacific Exposition and showed a willing- 
 ness to cooperate with the Federal Government in the 
 readjustment of relations between the two nations. Now 
 comes the State legislature introducing a flood of bills 
 all aimed at discrimination against the Japanese. To 
 say that these bills are not intended to offend any for- 
 eign nation is a mere subterfuge. 
 
 Yet amid the vituperations of the politicians and the 
 vociferations of the ignorant, the true spirit of the Re- 
 public asserted itself, and called upon the whole nation, 
 like the call of the bugle, to rally under the standard 
 of justice and fairness. Seldom before during my 
 thirteen years' residence in this country have I witnessed 
 the true greatness of the American nation so vividly 
 demonstrated as on the occasion of the land legislation 
 in California. Would that the Japanese on the other 
 side of the Pacific could have seen this imposing spec- 
 tacle! The majority of American newspapers and of 
 fair-minded Americans turned a solid phalanx to the 
 
CALIFORNIA LAND IMBROGLIO 177 
 
 legislators of California and denounced their selfishness 
 and bigotry. A minister declared from his pulpit : " The 
 California land bill is something that would disgrace 
 hell in its palmiest days. It is a piece of political perfidy 
 and rotten state's rights — of proverbial buncombe — and 
 of a race and religious bigotry that makes the Oriental 
 heathen a Christian saint in comparison. What a lovely 
 exhibition of low-browed, hard-hearted provincialism 
 for a State that intends to hold the Panama World's Fair. 
 The Fair privilege should be rescinded, or if not Japan 
 and China as well as Europe should boycott it." 
 
 Would such frank and fearless expression of opinion 
 be permitted in Japan, were the Parliament at Tokyo 
 to adopt a measure discriminating against aliens? May 
 not some fanatical patriots regard such outspoken criti- 
 cism as treason and betrayal of national honour? When 
 we think of this we realize that the spirit of America 
 is not yet dead, that the glory and greatness of the Re- 
 public are not a thing of the past. 
 
 In the previous chapter I have referred to the " mobs 
 and war talk" alleged to have been brought out in 
 Tokyo on the eve of the passage of the land law. In 
 view of the fact that the so-called " war-talk " has been 
 studiously exploited in America not only by sensational 
 newspapers but by influential magazines and critical 
 writers, it seems not amiss to direct attention to a 
 passage in Dr. Hamilton W. Mabie's recent article in 
 the Outlook, wherein this eminent scholar states that 
 " as a matter of fact the mobs and the clamour were 
 imaginary." On the contrary " there has been a very 
 warm feeling of friendship for the United States among 
 the Japanese; a feeling of confidence and friendship 
 which has been and may continue to be, if wise counsels 
 prevail, a very valuable asset in the Far East; and the 
 
178 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 feeling in Japan was rather one of astonishment and 
 pain than of anger." Dr. Francis G. Peabody, of Har- 
 vard, who also happened to be in Japan at the time when 
 " twenty thousand people " were reported to be " surg- 
 ing through the streets of Tokyo clamouring for war 
 with America," testifies to the absurdity of such sen- 
 sational reports. In refutation of a California writer's 
 statement that " the abrupt change in California's atti- 
 tude was but the reflection of the Japanese mailed fist," 
 Dr. Peabody has this to say: 
 
 " This chronology of events has no correspondence, 
 so far as I know, with facts as seen in Japan. No 
 jingo agitation occurred in Tokyo, to my knowledge, 
 until it became evident that the California legislature 
 and Governor, in defiance of advice from Washington, 
 were determined to discriminate against Japan. The 
 war talk was even then limited to a few irresponsible 
 and self-interested demagogues, who had no influence 
 with the Japanese Government and were never taken 
 seriously by responsible people. To speak of the Japa- 
 nese as provoking the issue, and the Californian as sud- 
 denly roused to resentment by Japanese combativeness, 
 seems to me a complete inversion of the facts. Indeed 
 the most marked feature of public opinion in Japan has 
 been the forbearance with which it has been assumed 
 that the United States would in the end reach a just 
 conclusion." 
 
 Before concluding this chapter we may be permitted 
 to set forth exact facts with regard to alien landowner- 
 ship in Japan, as the sponsors for the new land law 
 of California repeatedly asserted that in depriving the 
 Japanese of the right of landownership California is 
 doing to the Japanese what Japan is doing to the Ameri- 
 cans and other foreigners. 
 
CALIFORNIA LAND IMBROGLIO 179 
 
 In 1910 Japan adopted a law by virtue of which for- 
 eigners were to be permitted to own land, provided such 
 foreigners came from a country where similar privilege 
 was extended to her subjects. The enforcement of this 
 law has been delayed for various reasons, one of which 
 is the difficulty of applying the reciprocal principle to 
 such countries as the United States which has no uni- 
 form land law. 
 
 But the point I desire to emphasize is that, even in 
 the absence of the new alien ownership law, the for- 
 eigners in Japan are allowed to enjoy almost all the 
 rights which are enjoyed by the natives. The civil code 
 of Japan, which was adopted in 1898, was drafted after 
 the Digest or Pandect system, and in consequence has 
 many points of similarity, as to both form and prin- 
 ciple, to the civil code of France or the Biirgerliches 
 Gesetzbuch of Germany. It recognizes the rights of 
 possession and ownership, the superficies, the emphy- 
 teusis, the servitus proediorum, the lien, the preferential 
 right, the right of pledge, and the right of mortgage. 
 
 Of these nine real rights the right of landownership 
 will not generally be conferred upon foreigners until the 
 new alien ownership law takes effect. Of the other 
 rights which are extended to foreigners, I call particular 
 attention to the superficies and the emphyteusis. The 
 superficies is a species of lease, but is not encumbered 
 with any restriction as to its duration. It is attended 
 with almost all the essential features of ownership. The 
 emphyteusis is another kind of lease, the duration of 
 which should not be less than 25 or more than 50 
 years. Without entering into details, it may reasonably 
 be said that the foreigners allowed to acquire these real 
 rights virtually enjoy the benefits of landownership. 
 
 There is another important consideration. The civil 
 
l8o ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 code of Japan extends the right of ownership to cor- 
 porations organized by foreigners in conformity to the 
 requirements of Japanese laws. To enjoy this privilege 
 it is not necessary that such companies should include 
 any Japanese interest. Moreover, a partnership may 
 consist of any number of persons from two upwards. 
 Suppose a partnership is composed of two persons. In 
 this case one of the duet may hold even as much as 99 
 per cent, of the whole interest. If a foreigner desires 
 to acquire land under the laws now in operation, it would 
 be comparatively easy for him to attain the end by or- 
 ganizing a company with another person, possibly one 
 of his intimate friends, Japanese or foreigner, and allow- 
 ing the latter only one per cent, of the entire interest. 
 In this way he would have virtual control of the land 
 acquired by the company, for the interest of his partner 
 would be but nominal. Or if he does not care to take 
 this step, he may be naturalized and own land. 
 
 To recur to the alien land law of 1910. This law is 
 on a par with any similar law enacted upon the prin- 
 ciple of reciprocity by any other nation. It has, how- 
 ever, one provision which I consider unfortunate. I 
 refer to the clause forbidding foreigners to acquire land 
 in the three territories, Formosa, Saghalien, and Hok- 
 kaido. I do not see why the Japanese Government 
 should make such a restriction. Perhaps the authorities 
 fancy that these new territories, being yet only sparsely 
 populated, may become dominated by foreign capital, 
 if alien ownership of land there be not forbidden. To 
 me such apprehension is absurd. Capital is timid and 
 refuses to go where profitable investment is problemat- 
 ical. Throw open all of her territories, and Japan may 
 yet rest assured that foreign capitalists will not be so 
 quixotic as to invade snow-bound Saghalien, explore 
 
CALIFORNIA LAND IMBROGLIO l8l 
 
 semi-tropical Formosa, and go forth into the abode of 
 the hairy Ainu. But even if they would go in droves 
 into the remotest corners of the Mikado's realm in search 
 of land, what of that? It would only add to the wealth 
 and prosperity of the country. It is, however, consol- 
 ing that as a matter of fact the exemption of the three 
 territories from the provisions of the alien ownership 
 law will entail no actual inconvenience to foreigners, 
 who would not care to buy land in such countries, pro- 
 hibition or no prohibition. 
 
 In addition to the rights of foreigners recognized in 
 the civil code I must mention the so-called " lease-in- 
 perpetuity," which the Europeans and Americans had 
 wrested from the Japanese when the latter were totally 
 inexperienced in diplomatic affairs. In every open port 
 the Western powers caused the Japanese Government to 
 set apart an extensive tract of land for the business and 
 residential purposes of their citizens and subjects. This 
 they called the " settlement," and such indeed it was, 
 for here Japan virtually forfeited the exercise of her 
 sovereign rights. In the settlement the foreigners es- 
 tablished what they pleased to call perpetual lease. In 
 reality this lease was the actual surrender of land by 
 the Japanese Government in favour of the foreign resi- 
 dents, for the latter never paid either rent or tax upon 
 the properties they occupied. 
 
 When the inequitable old treaties were abrogated in 
 1898 the settlement was abolished, but the perpetual 
 lease remained and still remains intact. On the land 
 thus leased foreigners erected residences and office 
 buildings valued at millions of dollars, and yet they 
 refuse to pay tax on these buildings. Would any West- 
 ern power tolerate such an obnoxious institution? The 
 more closely we look into the matter the clearer does it 
 
l82 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 appear that the foreigners in Japan are allowed to act 
 much as they please. They are allowed to enjoy almost 
 all the civil rights enjoyed by the native subjects, and 
 in addition they have the benefits of the special con- 
 cessions which they secured from the Japanese when 
 the latter had just awakened from a lethargy of cen- 
 turies. 
 
XI 
 
 IN THE MELTING POT OF THE RACES 
 
 "Fair clime! where every season smiles 
 Benignant o'er those blessed isles, 
 Which, seen from far Colonna's height, 
 Make glad the heart that hails the sight, 
 And lend to loneliness delight." 
 
 THUS did Byron sing of the Grecian isles. Had 
 his eyes beheld the fair islands of the Mid- 
 Pacific in what superb language would he have 
 described their beauty and enchantment! It seems a 
 sacrilege to call such a picturesque group of islands the 
 "melting pot of the races." Yet it is the pride of the 
 residents of Hawaii to have it so called, even though 
 the name might be an outrage to Nature, whose deft 
 hands fashioned these gems of the ocean. 
 
 The Sandwich Islands, lying in the middle of the 
 Pacific and between 19 and 23 degrees N. latitude, have 
 a most delightful climate, with a temperature averaging 
 75 degrees through the year, and ranging between the 
 extremes of 60 and 88 degrees. Even when the sun of 
 day is scorching the heat is agreeably tempered by the 
 delicious trade winds which fan the islands at regular 
 intervals. It is indeed a fair clime where every season 
 smiles benignantly. The islands are, save for a few 
 mosquitoes, absolutely free from the disagreeable in- 
 sects and venomous reptiles common to the tropics. No 
 wonder that the Japanese in Hawaii call the islands the 
 " Paradise in the Pacific." 
 
 183 
 
l84 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 But the Sandwich group is not a paradise for the 
 Japanese alone, for here in these islands more than a 
 dozen races live amicably together. Classified roughly 
 these numerous races fall under these nine groups: 
 
 Races Number in 1910 
 
 Hawaiian 26,041 
 
 Part Hawaiian 12,506 
 
 Portuguese 22,303 
 
 Spanish i,990 
 
 Porto Rican 4.890 
 
 Other Caucasian 14,867 
 
 Chinese 21,674 
 
 Japanese 79»674 
 
 All others 7,964 
 
 Total 191,909 
 
 With all these divergent ethnic elements, Hawaii has no 
 race problem, as the Americans there proudly tell us. . 
 Perhaps the statement is too sweeping, for there are 
 various problems arising out of the contact of the races. 
 But if the term " race problem " is used in the sense of 
 " race hatred," certainly Hawaii has reason to be proud 
 of its absence. 
 
 One naturally wonders how Hawaii manages to avoid 
 conflict of races, while California, where Americans are 
 far more firmly intrenched than in Hawaii, is constantly 
 harassed by agitation against Orientals. Hawaii has 
 only 29,183 Caucasians as against 94,348 Chinese and 
 Japanese, whereas there are in California 2,259,672 
 Caucasians as against 41,356 Japanese and 36,248 Chi- 
 nese. And yet the Americans in the Territory are per- 
 fectly sanguine as to their ability to maintain their civili- 
 zation and ideals unaffected by alien races, and their 
 capacity ultimately to assimilate them and make them 
 loyal citizens of the Republic. For this peculiar com- 
 placency and conviction various circumstances are re- 
 sponsible. 
 
IN THE MELTING POT OF THE RACES 185 
 
 The first of these is perhaps the abiding influence of 
 the missionaries who opened the country to civiHzation. 
 In no other part of the non-Caucasian world has modern 
 missionary enterprise effected so much social and po- 
 litical good as in the Sandwich Islands. Beginning with 
 1822 missionaries poured in from the United States, and 
 through their labours the Hawaiian language was for 
 the first time reduced into writing. Schools were estab- 
 lished, laws were codified, public works were undertaken, 
 and in 1840 King Kamehameha IV was induced to 
 grant a liberal constitution. In all these reforms the 
 missionaries were chiefly instrumental. Ever since that 
 time their influence has been strongly felt among all 
 classes of people and in every phase of life. The ex- 
 ample of charity and love set by the missionaries has 
 in the main been followed by other classes. To-day 
 many of the pioneer missionaries have already passed 
 into the unknown beyond, but their descendants, whether 
 in evangelical work or in the lay world, have not as a 
 rule deviated from the tradition bequeathed by their 
 fathers. 
 
 Equally significant is the fact that before the advent 
 of Chinese and Japanese the Americans in the islands 
 had long been in contact with dark-skinned people. The 
 native Hawaiians, numbering some 140,000 when found 
 by missionaries, were not only dark-skinned but semi- 
 civilized. Dr. Anderson, one of the first missionaries 
 in the archipelago, went so far as to say that the 
 Hawaiian nation was composed of thieves, drunkards, 
 and debauchees, and the people who were slaves to the 
 sovereign. Compared with such people Chinese and 
 Japanese labourers imported to the islands must have 
 appeared far superior in every respect. The Americans 
 who had befriended even the semi-savage natives had 
 
i86 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 little reason to cherish prejudice against these new- 
 comers from the Orient. Many of the early immigrants 
 from Japan wore the kimono, which to the Americans on 
 the mainland would seem all too exotic, not to say in- 
 decent. But to those who had been accustomed to see 
 the native Hawaiians with almost no dress but what 
 nature bestowed upon them, even the flowing national 
 costume of Nippon seemed a mark of advanced civiliza- 
 tion. The missionaries, properly shocked by the naked- 
 ness of the aborigines, introduced a pecuHar costume, 
 consisting of long skirts and high waists, with no under- 
 wear. Even this simple apparel was detested by these 
 children of nature who would go naked even for decent 
 attendance at church. The time is still in the memory 
 of many Americans when the natives brought on Sunday 
 all their clothing in a bundle to the door of the church 
 where they dressed, and after service doffing their cos- 
 tume, carried it homeward under their arms. Nothing, 
 therefore, which the Orientals did in the islands ap- 
 peared to the American residents either exotic or in- 
 decent. 
 
 The fact that the American community of Hawaii is 
 essentially an aristocratic community is also no doubt 
 responsible for the absence of race hatred. Besides the 
 missionaries the predominating factor in the American 
 population in the Territory consists of sugar planters. 
 Beneath these men of wealth and luxury there is no 
 class in the social scale of Hawaii but the mass of human 
 atoms employed on their plantations as farm hands. 
 Even the descendants of missionaries are living com- 
 fortably if not luxuriously, on the estates bequeathed by 
 their fathers, many of whom acquired extensive tracts of 
 land under the old regime, when land could be secured 
 for a ridiculously small price. Thus those on the upper 
 
IN THE MELTING POT OF THE RACES 187 
 
 rounds of the social ladder could with complacency look 
 at those at its foot, for they felt sure that their supremacy 
 and superiority could never be challenged by the latter. 
 We know that it is exactly such a gulf between the rich 
 and the poor which in democratic countries causes the 
 social war, the conflict between capital and labour. But 
 in a country where the labouring class is completely 
 dominated by the capitalist class and has not yet awak- 
 ened to the consciousness of its potential power, the very 
 gulf serves to strengthen the position of the wealthy 
 class. This is exactly the condition in Hawaii. Those 
 Americans who constitute Hawaii's aristocracy, or 
 plutocracy, if you will, are too confident of their supe- 
 riority to hate those races who are hewing wood and 
 drawing water for them. For people begin to hate 
 other races only when they are doubtful of their own 
 superiority. The Southern aristocrat never hated the 
 negro; it was only those poor whites who were not so 
 sure of their superiority that hated him. 
 
 When Oriental labour was introduced into the archi- 
 pelago there was no white labour with which it could 
 come in competition. True there were Portuguese who 
 were paid higher wages than Oriental labourers, but the 
 plantations were always suffering from labour famine 
 to such an extent that neither the Japanese nor the Chi- 
 nese ever displaced any Portuguese. This absence of 
 competition among labourers of different races is un- 
 doubtedly one of the facts which account for the amica- 
 ble relations existing among the many races in the Terri- 
 tory. 
 
 Chinese were the first alien labourers brought to the 
 islands in large numbers. But before the advent of the 
 celestials Caucasian blood had already left its impress 
 on the native Hawaiians. Whether that impress was for 
 
l88 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 the good or for the evil of the natives it is difficult to 
 say. Those Caucasians who came in promiscuous con- 
 tact with Hawaiian women were no doubt mostly de- 
 bauching sailors, whose boast was that they had their 
 wives in every port where their boats stopped. The evil 
 influence of such libertines can readily be understood 
 if we only recall that the natives were the offspring of 
 the animal rather than of the intellectual faculties, gov- 
 erned by traditional customs of a very low order, and 
 leading a life of idleness and enervation, content with 
 what voluntary gifts the bountiful Nature of the tropics 
 might have to offer them. The moral effects of such 
 influence were deplorable enough, but the physical de- 
 generation into which it led the natives was even more 
 alarming. It introduced vices and diseases previously 
 unknown among the Hawaiians. Without ascribing the 
 rapid decrease of the native population solely to the in- 
 jection of such evils, it may well be said that the natives 
 would have been better off, had they been immune from 
 the influence inevitably resulting from Hawaii's geo- 
 graphical position as the rendezvous of innumerable 
 whalers and merchant vessels. 
 
 After the seafaring Caucasians came the Chinese. 
 With the growth of the sugar industry Hawaii felt the 
 necessity of importing Oriental labour. In 1865 the 
 Royal Government of Hawaii commissioned Dr. William 
 Hillebrand to go to China and obtain labour for planta- 
 tions. The commissioner came back in the autumn of 
 the same year, bringing with him some 200 Chinese. 
 That was the first assisted immigration of Chinese to 
 Hawaii. From that time the Chinese population grew 
 steadily until in 1900 it reached 25,762. From that 
 high water-mark it declined gradually until to-day it 
 numbers 21,674. 
 
IN THE MELTING POT OF THE RACES 189 
 
 The most significant thing about the Chinese in 
 Hawaii is that they freely married natives, thus creat- 
 ing a new type of composite race. It is commonly ad- 
 mitted that the children of Chinese-Hawaiian marriages 
 " combine the kindly, generous disposition of the 
 Hawaiian race with the honesty, domesticity, persever- 
 ance, frugality, and business acumen of the Chinese." 
 And yet it would seem highly doubtful whether the in- 
 tellectual quality of the Chinese could be improved by 
 fusing his blood with that of a race to which the world 
 is like a great playground or a dreamland, where no 
 one need toil severely or cherish any aspiration for 
 higher attainments. Intermarriage can result in mutual 
 benefit only when contracted between members of races 
 whose respective civilizations and cultures are on a sim- 
 ilar, if not the same, plane or stage. A race which has 
 an intensely cultivated civilization cannot with advantage 
 fuse with another race which has not yet fully emerged 
 from a primitive state of culture. 
 
 With the decline of the Chinese population Portu- 
 guese were brought in in increasingly large numbers. 
 Along with the Portuguese Japanese were also imported, 
 to be followed by Porto Ricans, and in recent periods 
 by Filipinos and Russians. 
 
 From the numerical point of view the future princi- 
 pal races of Hawaii may be the Japanese and Portu- 
 guese, for the fecundity of one is just as great as that 
 of the other. At present there are only 22,303 Portu- 
 guese as against 79,674 Japanese, but hereafter the 
 number of Portuguese and Spanish will increase rapidly, 
 as it is the policy of the Territorial Government to 
 assist in the importation of Portuguese and Spanish in 
 families. This policy has already been practised for the 
 past five years, during which the Government brought 
 
190 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 5,288 Spanish and 4,962 Portuguese. The only setback 
 to this policy is that these European immigrants cannot 
 be tied to the plantations, as are the Japanese. While 
 the Japanese are forbidden to migrate from Hawaii to 
 the mainland, there are no such restrictive laws applicable 
 to European immigrants. The result is that many of the 
 Spanish and Portuguese imported at great cost leave 
 the islands at the first convenient opportunity for con- 
 tinental United States, where they can earn higher 
 wages. In spite of this drawback the Spanish and Portu- 
 guese will no doubt increase much more rapidly than 
 hitherto, if the Government continues the present policy. 
 On the other hand the " gentlemen's agreement " con- 
 cluded between Tokyo and Washington in 1907 effec- 
 tively checked Japanese immigration. During the past 
 four years the number of Japanese departures from the 
 islands has been much larger than that of Japanese ar- 
 rivals. The Japanese population in the archipelago 
 would, therefore, decrease as steadily as has the Chi- 
 nese, if it were not for the fact that under the same 
 agreement the Japanese now in the islands are permitted 
 to send for their wives whom they left in Japan. As 
 they realize the advantage of remaining permanently in 
 the Territory they will avail themselves of this right 
 and are making homes with their helpmeets who come 
 from Japan to join them. This cannot but result in in- 
 creasing Hawaiian-born Japanese. At the same time it 
 is highly doubtful that the Japanese population will in- 
 crease at the same rate as the births of Japanese chil- 
 dren. Some of the native-born Japanese will go to 
 Japan, but the more important fact is that these Japa- 
 nese, being American citizens by reason of birth, are 
 free to migrate to continental United States. This privi- 
 lege of citizenship they will undoubtedly utilize freely, 
 
IN THE MELTING POT OF THE RACES IQI 
 
 as they cannot be expected to be contented with planta- 
 tion labour, when their ambitions are awakened through 
 modern education. 
 
 And yet one thing seems certain, namely, that the two 
 vital races in the Sandwich Islands will be Portuguese 
 and Japanese. The native Hawaiians are either afflicted 
 by contagious disease or addicted to alcoholism, enervat- 
 ing themselves by consanguinary marriage or destroy- 
 ing themselves by practices born of superstition and igno- 
 rance. The Chinese are mostly old men, while the 
 native-bom Chinese, whether pure-blooded or infused 
 with Hawaiian blood, are not very fecund. On the 
 other hand, the Portuguese are a remarkably thriving 
 race. While in the islands I heard of many Portuguese 
 families blessed with more than ten children. On the 
 whole, the birth-rate among the Portuguese may be even 
 higher than that among the Japanese. 
 
 This suggests the question : " Will the two races, the 
 Japanese and the Portuguese, be friendly towards each 
 other as both grow in number and influence ? " The 
 question is not easy to answer. But judged from present 
 indications their future relations do not seem to justify 
 pessimism. Either on plantations or in cities there has 
 never been any trouble between the two races. True, 
 there have been but few cases of intermarriage, but this 
 is mainly because women, whether Japanese or Portu- 
 guese, have been comparatively few. As the children 
 of both races are now taught in the same schools and in 
 the common language, the future relations between the 
 Portuguese and Japanese promise to be far more inti- 
 mate. When the present school children come of age 
 intermarriage between the two races will be more fre- 
 quent. 
 
 The most interesting subject of study relating to 
 
192 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 Hawaii is its educational institutions, public and private. 
 Until one visits one of these schools and observes boys 
 and girls of all races studying together in classrooms, 
 one cannot fully understand why Hawaii is the " melting 
 pot of the races." Of school children of various races 
 the Japanese are most numerous, numbering, in 191 1, 
 8,368; the Portuguese come second with 4,214, to be 
 followed by Hawaiian, part-Hawaiian, and Chinese chil- 
 dren in the order named. Including other ingredients 
 in the " melting pot "of public instruction we obtain the 
 following figures: 
 
 No. school children 
 
 Nationality in 191 1 
 
 Hawaiian 3,453 
 
 Part-Hawaiian 2,765 
 
 American 459 
 
 British 85 
 
 German 179 
 
 Portuguese 4,214 
 
 Scandinavian 
 
 Japanese 8,368 
 
 Chinese 2,471 
 
 Porto Rican 510 
 
 Korean 274 
 
 Other foreigners 974 
 
 Total 23,752 
 
 It is indeed inspiring to see children of all these differ- 
 ent races freely mingling with one another either in 
 study or in play, with no knowledge of race hatred or 
 prejudice. Here in these small isles God's invisible hands 
 seem to be moulding a harmonious human society out 
 of the divergent races which He created. But the study 
 of school children does not reveal the full meaning of 
 His work, for a glance at the personnel of the teaching 
 force is even more interesting. Here is an army of 
 teachers commanded by Americans but consisting of 
 members of many races — ^Americans, Hawaiians, Chi- 
 
IN THE MELTING POT OF THE RACES 193 
 
 nese, Portuguese, part-Hawaiians, and Japanese. Of 
 Chinese and Japanese teachers there are about twenty, 
 divided equally between them. All the Japanese teachers 
 are girls born and educated in Hawaii. If the assimila- 
 bility of the Japanese needs substantiation, no finer ex- 
 ample can be found than these thoroughly Americanized 
 Japanese school teachers in Hawaii. In manner, in 
 bearing, in deportment, there is in them nothing that 
 suggests their sisters in the Mikado's land. In no coun- 
 try where race prejudice prevents sympathetic and 
 equitable treatment of aliens is such complete assimila- 
 tion of an Oriental race possible. With this fact in view 
 the following passage from an essay by President Grif- 
 fiths of Oahu College is of special interest: 
 
 " The picture of industrious contentment has made 
 many a visitor from California exclaim over the con- 
 trast between the Chinese in Hawaii and the kind that 
 has settled in California. But the man is the same, often 
 coming from the same village and district, and even 
 from the same family ; the difference is that the best has 
 been drawn out in Hawaii, while the sister Common- 
 wealth, by repression and cruelty, has developed his 
 baser qualities. While he has been subject to revilings 
 and physical abuse in California, in Hawaii he has had 
 opportunities for labour and self-improvement, spirit- 
 ually and intellectually, as well as materially and finan- 
 cially. The generous treatment given him by mission- 
 aries in private schools was continued in the public 
 schools under conditions favourable to his best develop- 
 ment. He has lived on terms of pleasant amity, both 
 receiving and giving in return." 
 
 The good example set by the missionaries in the field 
 of education cannot be too highly appreciated. By the 
 advice of the early missionaries and through their or- 
 
194 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 ganizing power, the King and Legislature, under the old 
 regime, made provision for the establishment of public 
 schools, which formed the foundation of the present sys- 
 tem of education in the Territory. Besides assisting in 
 the inauguration of public schools, the missionaries 
 established private schools based upon the Christian 
 principle of love and fraternity. Of this enterprise Oahu 
 College and the Mid-Pacific Institute, both at Honolulu, 
 are noble monuments. The Normal and Training School 
 at Hilo, though not a missionary enterprise, is also ani- 
 mated with Christian ideals. The Mid-Pacific Institute, 
 through the efforts of its treasurer, Mr. Theodore Rich- 
 ards, brought several young men from Japan and con- 
 ferred upon them scholarships provided for the specific 
 object of promoting peaceful and friendly relationship 
 between Japan and the United States. 
 
 With all the educational facilities afforded in the 
 islands, there is much room for improvement in the 
 equipment of schools. The Territorial college is far 
 from what it should be, while the rural schools are not 
 well appointed. In some villages public schools are 
 housed in such small buildings that some of the classes 
 have to meet in buildings belonging to Japanese Chris- 
 tian or Buddhist missions. Most village or plantation 
 schools maintained by the Territory are not as attract- 
 ive in appearance as the schools maintained by the Japa- 
 nese. Such a state of things is extremely deplorable. 
 In every village where schools are needed the Territorial 
 Government should build respectable, even imposing, 
 schoolhouses, which should, in the eyes of immigrants 
 and their children, stand symbols of the advanced civili- 
 zation of the American nation. They should be shrines 
 where children of aliens enter with a sense of reverence. 
 In such villages as those in Hawaii schools are almost the 
 
IN THE MELTING POT OF THE RACES 195 
 
 only institution which suggest anything of civiHzation; 
 the rest consists of plantation camps and cane fields. 
 Are the existing rural schools adequate to fulfil the 
 missions peculiar to Hawaii? Flattery itself will have 
 to hesitate to answer this question in the affirmative. 
 What impressions of American civilization would the 
 guileless children of Japanese plantation labourers de- 
 rive from the public schools whose buildings are no 
 better, if not worse, than the Buddhist temples or the 
 private schools maintained by their parents? 
 
 There seems to be a certain force, and a very power- 
 ful one, arrayed against the promotion of education 
 among the children of plantation hands. When I was 
 in Hilo a plantation manager naively said to me : " It 
 should be the duty of learned men like you to urge the 
 sons of workmen to stay on the plantation after they are 
 through schools." This straightforward remark perhaps 
 indicates the nature of the force which is opposed to pro- 
 viding better educational facilities in the islands. My 
 view of the situation is sustained by the following pas- 
 sage found in the report of a special educational com- 
 mission appointed by the Governor a few years ago: 
 
 *' In the Territory there is a very powerful element 
 both openly and covertly declaring that too much educa- 
 tion is being given the children of lowly birth." 
 
 The report also points out the following defects in the 
 existing educational system of Hawaii: 
 
 1. The number of available teachers has been far be- 
 low the need. Salaries of teachers have been always 
 inadequate and at times distressingly low. 
 
 2. Uncertificated teachers of deficient qualifications 
 have been employed in large numbers. 
 
 3. Overcrowding of buildings has been perennial. 
 
 4. Per capita cost of education has been kept below 
 
196 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 that of other progressive communities — below average 
 cost in the United States — notwithstanding the fact that 
 in Hawaii the cost of educating a public school pupil is 
 distributed among ten of population as against a ratio 
 of a little less than one to five in the United States as 
 a whole. 
 
 5. Stated in other words, though the men of Hawaii 
 have had less than half the burden of public education 
 that men elsewhere are bearing, yet they have not been 
 willing to bear even this half burden either capably or 
 with entire cheerfulness. 
 
 It is indeed regrettable that while tens of millions of 
 dollars are being poured into the fortifications of Hawaii 
 its public schools should be permitted to remain in such 
 unsatisfactory conditions. That fortification is obviously 
 directed against Japan, the one nation in the world which 
 will never attack the American territory unless forced 
 to do so by the provocative attitude of our own people. 
 The fortification is superfluous and the money expended 
 will be wasted. How much wiser and more sensible to ex- 
 pend a few million dollars for schools and libraries and 
 thus win the affection and loyalty of the Orientals, in- 
 stead of wasting twenty-million dollars for the construc- 
 tion of forts and naval bases! Apart from such moral 
 significance, there is to be considered the question of un- 
 happy influence of soldiers upon the civilian population. 
 Already the Japanese living in the neighbourhood of the 
 military barracks have begun to complain of the dis- 
 orderly conduct of the troopers. It is consoling to think 
 that this armament scheme of the Federal Government 
 is deeply regretted by the moral leaders of Hawaii. Mr. 
 Theodore Richards expresses the general sentiment of 
 such leaders when he pleads for ^' a million for defence 
 to partly offset twenty million for oflfense," arguing that 
 
IN THE MELTING POT OF THE RACES 197 
 
 the extensive system of forts and mines against Japa- 
 nese would be far more effectively replaced by a friendly 
 appeal to them on educational and social lines. 
 
 Such a friendly appeal has just been made. As I write 
 the leading citizens of Hawaii issue an open letter plead- 
 ing for the naturalization of the Japanese. The plea, 
 coming as it does at the moment when both Japan and 
 the Federal Government are at a loss to find the way 
 out of the California land imbroglio, is especially appeal- 
 ing. It contends that the only way to prevent the de- 
 velopment of such embarrassing situations as have been 
 created by the land legislation in California is to grant 
 the Japanese the privilege of naturalization ; it expresses 
 a strong confidence in the assimilability of the Japanese ; 
 it argues that the proverbial patriotism of the Japanese, 
 instead of being an obstacle to their Americanization, 
 would prove an asset to the United States, once they are 
 permitted to swear allegiance to the Republic. The sig- 
 natories to the letter are all prominent Americans in 
 Hawaii representing all fields of activities — educators, 
 pastors, missionaries, editors, bankers, merchants, and 
 men connected with sugar plantations. 
 
 The leading Americans in Hawaii believe it to be their 
 mission to demonstrate the possibility of fusing diverse 
 races, and in the educational, social, and political crucible 
 to turn them into homogeneous Americans. The task 
 seems herculean. Can it be done? The most thought- 
 ful educators of the Territory answer, emphatically, 
 " Yes. It is being done now. It has been done. Both 
 Chinese and Japanese born and nurtured in Hawaii are 
 among our best citizens.'' 
 
 At the same time Hawaii must most jealously guard 
 itself against the undesirable influence which must in- 
 evitably result from the increasingly greater influx of 
 
198 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 immigrants from Russia and Southern Europe. This 
 seems a task no less difficult than the assimilation of 
 Orientals. And yet the Americans in the islands are 
 perfectly confident of their ability to dominate the Terri- 
 tory. That confidence is well expressed by President 
 Griffiths when he says: 
 
 *' Hawaii at present is absolutely American, not only 
 in its affiliations, but also in the very fibre of its thought. 
 By aggressiveness and cohesion in thought and action, 
 io,ocx) Americans have absolutely dominated a territory 
 with 170,000 people. Immigrants have been assimilated. 
 Through the medium of the pubHc schools, children of 
 foreigners have been made into patriotic sons and daugh- 
 ters of Uncle Sam. The Asiatic has not affected the 
 political or social fabric. He has been in, but not of, 
 the life of the Islands. He has lived side by side with 
 the dominant race, which has not yielded or given way." 
 May the fair isles forever remain the abode of good- 
 will and fraternity, the triumph of the Prince of Peace, 
 .' and the conquest of race prejudice by force of sympathy 
 and justice! 
 
XII 
 "THEY HAVE USURPED HAWAII" 
 
 IT has become a fashion among American critics to 
 speak of the " Japanese usurpation " of Hawaii, as 
 if Japan has done something she ought not to have 
 done. The truth is that the islanders of Nippon would 
 never have usurped Hawaii, had they not been invited 
 and coaxed by all means to do so. We are a singular 
 nation, letting big interests bring all sorts of aliens pell- 
 mell, and when these aliens take hold, making our grum- 
 blings heard in a manner not always rational. Let me 
 tell you how the Japanese had to usurp Hawaii, willy- 
 nilly. 
 
 In 1868 a steamer appeared in Tokyo Bay, and created 
 a sensation among the natives of Nippon with an an- 
 nouncement that she came there to recruit labourers for 
 sugar plantations in Hawaii. The Sunrise Empire had 
 been opened to foreign intercourse only a decade, and 
 the people had known nothing of the plantations in the 
 Mid-Pacific islands. So they took but little interest in 
 the announcement, but a small number, less than fifty, 
 were induced to sail. That was the beginning of the 
 Japanese " invasion " of Hawaii. 
 
 And yet the men who so earnestly invited Japanese 
 invasion treated the pioneer invaders from the Orient in 
 no generous manner. From the stories told by later im- 
 migrants there is no doubt that these early labourers from 
 the Orient met brutal treatment at the hands of the plan- 
 
 199 
 
200 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 tation overseers. The rumours of inhuman treatment, 
 somewhat exaggerated as they travelled across the ocean, 
 reached the Japanese authorities, who thought it their 
 duty to despatch a vessel to Hawaii and recover the 
 labourers who had been taken there. That ended the 
 prelude to the Japanese usurpation of Hawaii, for the 
 Mikado's Government saw no wisdom in sending immi- 
 grants into a country where they were likely to be sub- 
 jected to maltreatment. 
 
 But the sugar interests did not give up the scheme so 
 easily. They were simply biding their time to renew 
 negotiations with the Japanese. So in 1884, when six- 
 teen years' interval dimmed the memory of the unhappy 
 experience of the early immigrants, the planters induced 
 the Hawaiian Government to approach the Japanese 
 Government with a view to resuming the importation of 
 Japanese labourers. The Mikado's Government, with 
 due regard to its dignity, declined to enter into any 
 agreement which would make it a sort of labour agency, 
 but consented to connive at the shipment of labourers 
 in a tentative way. That resulted in the introduction of 
 953 Japanese, — 676 men, 156 women, and 108 children. 
 Again the result was unsatisfactory and the Tokyo Gov- 
 ernment decided to suspend further emigration of its 
 subjects to Hawaii. 
 
 For the third time the planters, through the Hawaiian 
 Government, made earnest efforts to persuade the Japa- 
 nese Government to open the doors for emigrants to 
 Hawaii. Japan was in no mood to lend ear to the 
 representations of the planters, but the latter 's repeated 
 solicitations finally resulted in a labour convention be- 
 tween the Mikado's and the Hawaiian Government. By 
 that time Japan had perceived the necessity of a formal 
 agreement of a nature to prevent the ill-treatment of 
 
"THEY HAVE USURPED HAWAH" 20I 
 
 Japanese labourers upon the plantations. The conven- 
 tion was concluded in March, 1886, and a few more 
 shiploads of Japanese labourers were brought to the 
 islands. And yet news of abuse and inhuman treat- 
 ment did not cease to filter out of the plantations. The 
 Administration at Tokyo, weary of handling the perplex- 
 ing problem, determined to put an end to emigration to 
 Hawaii, and with that end in view declined in 1891 to 
 renew the convention of 1886. 
 
 By this time, however, many emigration companies had 
 sprung into existence for the purpose of promoting emi- 
 gration to Hawaii. They were subsidized by the plant- 
 ers, and made much profit by squeezing emigrants. 
 Through the combined efforts of the sugar interests and 
 the emigration companies, the Japanese Government 
 was once again coaxed to reenter into a convention with 
 the Hawaiian Kingdom. All these occurred before the 
 annexation of Hawaii by the United States. Japan's 
 object in concluding labour conventions with the Ha- 
 waiian authorities, as may be surmised from the follow- 
 ing provisions found in those instruments, was to safe- 
 guard the equitable and humane treatment of her emi- 
 grant subjects: 
 
 1. Each contract was to be signed by the labourer 
 as one party and the Hawaiian Government as the other, 
 at Yokohama, for a period of three years, at a wage of 
 $9 a month and $6 food allowance. The labourer was 
 free to extend this contract for two years more at the 
 time of its expiration. 
 
 2. A specified number of Japanese interpreters and 
 physicians were to be employed in behalf of the emi- 
 grants, originally at the expense of the Hawaiian Gov- 
 ernment, but later at the cost of the labourers them- 
 selves. 
 
202 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 3. The Government of Hawaii was made responsible 
 for damages due for the cruel treatment of labourers. 
 
 4. Twenty-five per cent, of the labourer's wages were 
 I to be deposited with the Hawaiian Government, to be 
 'paid to the labourer upon the expiration of his contract, 
 I and to draw five per cent, annual interest during the in- 
 I tervening period. 
 
 5. The Hawaiian Government was required to return 
 to Japan immigrants who, on account of permanent dis- 
 ability, were unable to earn their own living, even 
 against the will of the labourer, and also all women 
 found plying immoral traffic. 
 
 The annexation of Hawaii by the United States nat- 
 urally terminated all the labour conventions entered into 
 by the defunct Kingdom, for the Republican Govern- 
 ment could not permit the importation of contract labour. 
 The contract labour system under the old regime, with 
 the resultant convention with the Japanese Government, 
 was both beneficial and harmful. It was beneficial in 
 that it afforded the Japanese Government a responsible 
 party to deal with for the security of the well-being of 
 its emigrant subjects, for there was no doubt that the 
 plantation hands needed protection against abuse. The 
 system was, however, harmful in so far as it prevented 
 the growth of the true idea of emigration among the 
 Japanese. Contract labourers are not immigrants. Un- 
 der the old system the Japanese labourers came to Hawaii 
 to remain there only for three to five years and not to be- 
 come permanent residents of the country. The Mikado's 
 Government, for fear that its emigrant subjects, if per- 
 mitted to remain abroad indefinitely, might become desti- 
 tute or become public charges on account of sickness or 
 accident, required them to return home at the end of their 
 contract terms. This precaution was necessary in dealing 
 
«'THEY HAVE USURPED HAWAII" 203 
 
 with the labour scheme broached by the Hawaiian 
 planters and the Hawaiian Government, but the very 
 precaution acted to nurture in the bosoms of the emi- 
 grants the mistaken idea that the severance of alle- 
 giance to their native country, or even their permanent 
 residence abroad, was an act of disloyalty. 
 
 This narrow view the islanders of Nippon have not 
 yet completely discarded, notwithstanding their moral 
 leaders and men of affairs earnestly striving to abolish 
 it. The Japanese, having learned their first lessons in 
 emigration on the plantations in Hawaii, brought to the 
 mainland of America the idea which they had got from 
 those lessons. When contract labour was abolished as 
 the result of the amalgamation of Hawaii with the United 
 States, many Japanese migrated from Hawaii to the 
 mainland, but the intention of such Japanese was to 
 remain in the States only long enough to amass a com- 
 petency. With their experience in foreign affairs wid- 
 ened and their knowledge of conditions abroad becoming 
 clearer, the Japanese have become proportionately more 
 cosmopolitan, bringing about a signal change in their 
 conception of emigration. The Japanese Government 
 itself no longer assumes the paternalistic attitude which 
 it used to assume towards its subjects in Hawaii, as the 
 abolition of contract labour, ensuring fairer treatment of 
 plantation labourers, made such an attitude unnecessary. 
 Indeed the animating spirit among the leading men of 
 Japan is that of cosmopolitanism, and it seems fair to 
 predict that before long this new spirit will completely 
 dissipate the prejudice against expatriation. 
 
 As an indication of this new tendency recent utter- 
 ances of Hon. Yeitaki, the Japanese Consul-General at 
 Honolulu, are significant. At a banquet tendered in 
 his honour by the Japanese residents in Honolulu in 
 
204 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 1912, the Consul-General urged that the Japanese in 
 Hawaii should no longer send money to Japan, but should 
 invest it in property or in some commercial or industrial 
 enterprises, with a view to becoming permanent resi- 
 dents of the Territory. Such an utterance is all the 
 more significant when we recall the earlier attitude of 
 the Japanese authorities towards emigrants. 
 
 The liberation of the Japanese plantation hands, which 
 was the logical outcome of the abolition of the contract 
 labour system, inevitably resulted in their exodus for 
 the mainland, where wages were higher and conditions of 
 labour much more agreeable. The planters, alarmed by 
 this fresh development of the labour situation, resorted 
 to every means, except the increase of the compensation 
 of labour, to stop the tide of emigration. True, they 
 raised in 1906 the scale of wages, but even the new scale 
 was far lower than what the Japanese labourers were 
 entitled to. The planters persuaded the Territorial Gov- 
 ernment to enact a law imposing an annual fee of five 
 hundred dollars upon each emigration agent recruiting 
 labourers in Hawaii for the mainland employers. In 
 addition they turned for assistance to the Japanese Con- 
 sul-General of the time as well as certain classes of 
 Japanese residents in Honolulu, who were on friendly 
 terms with the planters. An organization called the 
 Central Japanese League was the outcome of this effort. 
 How faithfully this association echoed the will of the 
 planters may be gathered from the following resolution 
 adopted at one of its meetings held in 1904 : " That the 
 League will request the Imperial Japanese Consul- 
 General to issue advice to the Japanese labourers, setting 
 forth in plain language the many advantages of their 
 remaining in the islands; that it will take all necessary 
 measures to induce the Japanese boarding-house keepers 
 
"THEY HAVE USURPED HAWAII" 205 
 
 and others to refrain from giving assistance to those in- 
 tending to sail for the American coast ; that the officials 
 of the local branches of the League be instructed to use 
 their influence in order to prevent the emigration of the 
 labourers; and that it make some arrangement with the 
 steamship companies whereby to check the exodus of 
 Japanese labourers." 
 
 The assistance of the Japanese Consul-General was 
 also brought directly into play to stem the migration of 
 his fellow-countrymen to the Coast. In May and June, 
 1904, a notice from the Consul-General, urging Japa- 
 nese not to leave Hawaii for the mainland, was found 
 conspicuously posted throughout the islands, in both 
 English and Japanese. And yet the exodus of Japanese 
 labourers did not diminish to any appreciable extent. 
 
 The embarrassment caused by the emigration of Japa- 
 nese labourers for continental United States was coupled 
 with the difficulty resulting from what the planters re- 
 proachfully called the " aggressiveness " of these labour- 
 ers. As a matter of fact their aggressiveness was noth- 
 ing but a legitimate and just desire to be treated as any 
 human being should be treated. They wanted decent 
 living quarters as well as a scale of wages commensurate 
 to the services they were rendering. They had been 
 awakening to the sense of human rights, but had been 
 unable to give expression to that sense with effectiveness, 
 as long as they were bound hand and foot by the old 
 system of contract labour. In the annexation of 
 Hawaii by the greatest democratic nation in the world 
 those semi-slave labourers from the Orient saw the light 
 of salvation. With contract labour forbidden, they be- 
 gan to breathe more freely. Their *' aggressiveness " was 
 the immediate result. Upon the heels of the abolition 
 of penal contracts many strikes were reported. This 
 
206 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 alarmed the planters almost as greatly as the emigration 
 of the Japanese to the mainland. The sugar interests 
 recognized that this new attitude of the Orientals must 
 be tempered by some means, but as in all previous cases 
 they were reluctant to lay the axe at the root of the 
 trouble. Instead of meeting the demands of the labour- 
 ers in a spirit of fairness they tried to alleviate their 
 grievances by means altogether unworthy of their great 
 power and high prestige. 
 
 The Central Japanese League we have just mentioned 
 had as its object not only the prevention of Japanese 
 exodus from Hawaii but also the conciliation of labour 
 disputes. The League, undoubtedly at the instance of 
 the planters, issued in June, 1904, a circular urging the 
 plantation hands not to resort to strikes as the means 
 of pressing their demands. The subservient nature of 
 the letter is apparent in the following passages taken from 
 that document: 
 
 " We view with profound regret the late unhappy 
 occurrences akin in nature and appearance to strikes 
 among the members of the Central Japanese League on 
 some of the plantations. Such occurrences cannot fail 
 to injure the reputation of the organization in the eyes 
 of the public, particularly employers of Japanese la- 
 bourers, with whom we earnestly wish to maintain just 
 and cordial relations. 
 
 " Strikes and all other violent acts, especially for trivial 
 causes, are, in their nature, like the doings of unruly 
 children or like the acts of barbarians, rather than of 
 civilized men. We are absolutely opposed to them." 
 
 The efforts of the League to lessen the friction be- 
 tween the planters and the Japanese labourers proved 
 no more successful than their voluntary action for the 
 checking of Japanese exodus for the mainland. The 
 
"THEY HAVE USURPED HAWAH" 207 
 
 Japanese plantation labourers obviously preferred to be 
 called " unruly children " or " barbarians " to having 
 their legitimate claims turned down at the hands of an 
 aristocracy, of which the League, they had reason to 
 believe, was but a handy tool. The Japanese Consul- 
 General, who was the President of the League, was made 
 the object of scathing criticism by leaders of the planta- 
 tion labourers. In one instance an attache of the Japa- 
 nese consulate, while addressing a meeting of strikers 
 and urging them to return to work, had a narrow escape 
 from rough handling by the strikers. The Japanese had 
 scented something of freedom at this outpost of a 
 great democracy and began to show in their rough way 
 a desire to be free and independent. 
 
 To the lay mind the labour policy of the planters was 
 from the beginning a mistaken one. In the earlier days 
 they freely subsidized emigration companies in Japan 
 which acted as recruiting agents for the planters. These 
 subsidies were virtually paid out of the pockets of the 
 Japanese labourers, for the planters naturally tried to 
 meet this special expenditure by cutting the wages of 
 their employes. Had the planters instead of assisting 
 the emigration companies, whose dealings with the pro- 
 spective emigrants were far from honourable, paid the in- 
 dividual labourers what their work was really worth, the 
 Japanese labourers would have come to Hawaii in larger 
 numbers. When the Japanese in Hawaii began to leave 
 for the mainland, the planters again failed to face the 
 problem" squarely, wasting money for means obviously 
 futile to attain the end they had in view. Had they 
 awakened in season to the futility of such a policy the 
 strike of the Japanese plantation hands of 1909, which 
 cost the planters a sum of $2,000,000, would have been 
 avoided. Instead of doing what should have been done, 
 
208 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 the planting interests attempted to supply deficiencies 
 caused by the departure of Japanese by importing all 
 sorts of ignorant and inferior labourers at enormous cost. 
 And when they saw that even such ignorant inferior 
 labourers would not stay, they induced the Territorial 
 legislature to pass a law containing the following pro- 
 vision : " Any person who, by promise of employment 
 outside the Territory of Hawaii, shall induce, entice, or 
 persuade, or attempt to induce, entice or persuade, or 
 aid or abet in inducing, enticing, or persuading, any 
 servant or labourer who shall have contracted, either 
 orally or in writing, to serve his employer for a specific 
 length of time, to leave the service of said employer 
 during such time, without the consent of said employer, 
 shall be guilty of a misdemeanour and upon conviction 
 thereof shall be punished by a fine of not more than five 
 hundred dollars or by imprisonment for not more than 
 six months or by both such fine and imprisonment." 
 
 We have referred to the Japanese strike of 1909. That 
 labour conflict is so illustrative of the characteristic 
 methods of the planters in dealing with their employes 
 that it deserves further elucidation. 
 
 The strike was the most serious labour trouble that 
 ever occurred in Hawaii. Prior to that event the Japa- 
 nese in Hawaii made no organized efforts to press their 
 demand for better treatment. Here and there Japanese 
 plantation hands had gone on strike in a desultory man- 
 ner and utterly without effect. Perhaps this lack of de- 
 termination and organized efforts was largely due to the 
 fact that the Japanese still enjoyed the liberty to leave 
 the plantations to seek better employment on the main- 
 land. Hard as their lot in Hawaii was they could still 
 console themselves in the thought that the way was yet 
 left open for them to escape the predicament. But when 
 
"THEY HAVE USURPED HAWAH " 209 
 
 that way was completely barricaded in 1907 they became 
 desperate. The historic school incident in San Francisco 
 and the agitation of the Japanese-Korean Exclusion 
 League had come to an unforeseen issue, the Adminis- 
 tration at Washington forbidding the Japanese in Hawaii 
 to migrate to continental United States. This regula- 
 tion, depriving the Japanese of the right of travel within 
 the jurisdiction of the Republic, resulted in the bottling 
 up of the Japanese plantation hands in the narrow pre- 
 cincts of the Mid-Pacific islands, while labourers of 
 other nationalities were never subject to such restriction 
 of freedom. This more than anything else was the direct 
 incentive for the strike of 1909. How far the planting 
 interests were responsible for the realization of this re- 
 striction it is difficult to say, but it was common knowl- 
 edge at the time that they assisted in the movement for 
 the prohibition of Japanese emigration from Hawaii for 
 the mainland. 
 
 The strike began on some of the larger plantations on 
 Oahu Island in May, 1909, and continued through a 
 good part of the following summer. Though there was 
 no cessation of employment outside of that island, the 
 issue was understood to involve all plantations in the 
 Territory. Consequently the direct cost of the strike to 
 the employers, well estimated at $2,000,000, was appor- 
 tioned among all the plantations, while the striking 
 labourers were supported by funds collected from their 
 fellow countrymen still at work in the cane fields of other 
 islands and those residing in the city of Honolulu. 
 
 The chief demand of the strikers was that they be 
 paid the same wages as the Portuguese and Porto 
 Ricans were paid for exactly the same work. At that 
 time unskilled Caucasian labourers on the plantations 
 were paid $22.50 per month of twenty-six working days. 
 
210 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 while the Japanese of the same class and doing the same 
 amount of work as the Caucasians were paid only $i8. 
 As no labourer, not even the Japanese, can work in a 
 tropical climate twenty-six days in the month, no un- 
 skilled Japanese labourer could earn more than $13 or 
 $15 per month. Moreover, the Caucasians were given 
 much more comfortable living quarters than were the 
 Japanese. Those Portuguese who had families were 
 given respectable cottages, each having attached to it a 
 lot of an acre or so, while the Japanese had never been 
 accorded such liberal treatment. 
 
 During the strike many circulars and pamphlets were 
 issued by its leaders telling heart-rending stories of the 
 miserable lot of plantation hands. Some of these stories 
 perhaps should not be taken at their face value, but 
 they certainly indicate the nature of the grievances 
 which forced them to strike. One of such stories runs 
 thus: 
 
 " A Japanese, forty-eight years of age, has been work- 
 ing on the plantations for fifteen years. He has with 
 him his wife and four children. The price of rice alone 
 consumed by this family foots up to $10 a month. His 
 wife has her hands full in caring for the children and the 
 house. The man has to support his aged mother who 
 remains in Japan." 
 
 And this man was earning no more than $15 a month. 
 How could he make ends meet when the rice alone 
 cost $10 a month? Without doubt the lot of this poor 
 man was the lot of many another. 
 
 Many pamphlets relate the unsatisfactory condition of 
 camps assigned to the Japanese. " In Honomu, Hawaii 
 Island," says one of these pamphlets, " the labourers are 
 complaining of the uncleanliness of the camps and of 
 the planter's indifference to sanitary conditions. Some 
 
"THEY HAVE USURPED HAWAH" 211 
 
 of the labourers in this locality built their own houses, 
 as the camps were unfit for them to live in. The camps 
 need immediate improvement; they are unfit for human 
 habitation, both from the moral and sanitary point of 
 view." 
 
 The chief weakness of the strike, it is said, lay in the 
 fact that it was conducted on a national line for the 
 benefit of the Japanese alone. But viewing the situation 
 impartially, it is difficult to see how the strikers could 
 avoid the course, when their demand was that they be 
 treated as were the labourers of other nationalities, in 
 respect of wages and living quarters. Apart from the 
 question of whether or not the Caucasian labourers were 
 themselves treated squarely, the strikers were willing to 
 work if they were only paid as much daily wages as the 
 Caucasian plantation hands were paid for work of 
 the same amount and nature. The manifesto of the 
 strikers made this point fairly clear. I quote the follow- 
 ing passage with all its picturesque expressions: 
 
 " The demand for higher wages is based on the effi- 
 ciency of our labouring class. Fair, impartial, and com- 
 petent witnesses all agree in that Japanese plantation 
 labourers accomplish work of the same amount and 
 quality as is done by other labourers in a given time. 
 We believe that the planters will also agree in this. 
 Wages are a reward for services rendered, and a just 
 wage is that which compensates labour to the full value 
 of the service rendered by him. It is an unjust wage to 
 pay the labourer less than the real value of the work 
 performed by him. Here we do not propose to discuss 
 whether the planters could afford to pay more than 
 $22.50 a month to ordinary unskilled labour on the 
 plantations, though we are of the opinion that they can 
 pay far more than that sum. Let us take that sum as 
 
212 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 a just reward for the labourer from Porto Rico and 
 Portugal. If a labourer comes from Japan and he per- 
 forms the same quantity of work of the same quality 
 within the same period of time as those who hail from 
 the opposite side of the world, what good reason is 
 there to discriminate one against the other? It is not 
 the colour of his skin or hair, or the language he 
 speaks, or manners and customs that grow cane in the 
 field." 
 
 In condemning the strike the planters asserted that 
 Japanese labourers themselves were by no means so dis- 
 satisfied as to wage war against their employes, and that 
 the strike was started at the instigation of a few educated 
 Japanese who had nothing whatever to do with planta- 
 tion work. We agree that the discontent among the 
 labourers was awakened by outsiders, but that does not 
 in the least affect the justice of the cause for which the 
 leaders of the strike laboured. In no country have the 
 workingmen been aroused to the sense of their inherent 
 rights and been stirred to action without the guidance 
 and leadership of those men whose visions reached be- 
 yond the narrow horizon of the present. Whether the 
 engineers of the Japanese strike had their own axes to 
 grind we cannot say, but that there existed circumstances 
 which justified a strike no one can gainsay. 
 
 The strike was on the whole a failure. Famishing 
 labourers, with their wives and children stricken with 
 hunger, are no match for modern capitalists organized 
 and disciplined to the highest state of efficiency. More- 
 over, the planters had the authorities on their side and 
 acted much as they pleased in handling the strikers. 
 Although the strikers were so law-abiding and quiet that 
 the citizens of Honolulu called the strike the "gentle- 
 men's strike," their leaders were all arrested and im- 
 
"THEY HAVE USURPED HAWAH" 213 
 
 prisoned. Mr. Soga, editor of the Nipopu Jiji, the Japa- 
 nese newspaper in Honolulu, which championed the cause 
 of the strikers, was indicted on more than twenty charges 
 from misdemeanour to conspiracy. Without search 
 warrants or any legal right whatsoever, the planters 
 caused the police authorities to break into the offices of 
 the journal and of other strike leaders, and even forced 
 open the safes in search of incriminating evidence. The 
 Chief Justice of the Territory, even while confirming the 
 sentence on Mr. Negoro, one of the strike leaders, to 
 imprisonment, plainly admitted that such illegal acts 
 were perpetrated with impunity. He said : " There were 
 papers taken from the office of the defendant, Negoro, 
 without process of law and forcibly, including corre- 
 spondence. Defendant's claim that the evidence was in- 
 admissible because illegally obtained was not sustained." 
 
 Whatever the planters may have to say in justification 
 of their side of the case, such misuse of administrative 
 and judiciary authority was deplorable and left an inef- 
 faceable stain on the pages of Hawaiian history. The 
 Territory, as the outpost of American civilization, should 
 have administered its laws and meted out justice in a 
 manner that would win the respect of the many diverse 
 races residing within its jurisdiction not only for the 
 courts and laws but for the American people and their 
 civilization. How can we expect the " inferior " races 
 from the Orient to cherish loyalty and confidence for our 
 government and institutions when the powers of our 
 government are employed in an arbitrary and despotic 
 manner in order to subserve the interests of a few cap- 
 tains of industry? 
 
 The strike, however, was not entirely without good 
 results. The planters have been improving the living 
 quarters of the plantation labourers and have also raised 
 
214 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 the scale of wages, though they take special pains to 
 make it appear that such measures have been adopted 
 quite independently of the strike and entirely of their 
 own accord. At present the wages of the Japanese 
 plantation hands vary from $20 to $22. In addition 
 they receive a certain amount of bonus, provided they 
 work twenty days per month for twelve successive 
 months. Including the bonus the monthly earnings of 
 the plantation labourers should range from $22 to $24. 
 Before this new schedule of wages went into effect in 
 1912, Dr. Clark, of the United States Bureau of Labour, 
 speaking of the wages of plantation labourers in Hawaii, 
 had this to say: "The lowest rate is $18 a month. 
 Though this is nearly 50 per cent, more than was paid 
 in the days of contract labour, it is, at present prices, 
 little more than a subsistence wage for an Oriental with 
 a family. . . . Tropical labourers, even the Orientals, 
 having no winter rest season, do not work every day; 
 and the average actual earnings of these employes prob- 
 ably do not much exceed, if they exceed at all, $15 
 monthly." 
 
 What would be the average actual earnings of the Japa- 
 nese hands under the new schedule it is difficult to say, 
 but, judging from what is on paper at any rate, they 
 should be as much as I have above stated. 
 
 The strike showed one thing with clearness, nclmely, 
 that the Orientals could no longer be relied upon to work 
 for starvation wages. In a vague unconscious way the 
 Oriental " man with the hoe " has caught the spirit of 
 freedom upon which the great Republic is founded. He 
 has begun to realize that he is no longer 
 
 "A thing that grieves not and that never hopes, 
 Stolid and stunned, a brother to the ox.? 
 
"THEY HAVE USURPED HAW AH" 215 
 
 Here, in the islands of Hawaii, the East has met the 
 West, and the aggressive, restless, nervous Occident is 
 gradually infusing a new spirit into the naturally passive 
 and self-abnegating minds of the Oriental people. Liberty 
 and democracy, in whatever form they may express them- 
 selves, must ultimately conquer the world. 
 
XIII 
 THE JAPANESE IN HAWAII 
 
 SAID an evangelist in Hawaii : " Two years ago, when 
 I came, there came to this camp also a young man 
 recently arrived from Japan. He opened his eyes 
 in astonishment, saying, * I never dreamed that Japanese 
 could come to this ! ' And yet that very young man is 
 to-day wallowing in the mire as hopelessly as any of 
 them, and that will be the history of every young man 
 that comes, unless we can get a hold of him before he gets 
 dragged down." 
 
 The evangelist was describing the gruesome condition 
 of some of the plantation camps occupied by Japanese 
 hands. It is puzzling, he added, that the people noted, 
 while in their native country, for their orderly habits and 
 artistic tastes could become so utterly indifferent to their 
 surroundings, once they are brought on the plantations. 
 
 I can, however, well imagine why some of the Japa- 
 nese labourers show such deplorable relapse after their 
 arrival in the islands. Poor as they were, most of them 
 lived in roomy, comfortable houses. The Japanese farm- 
 houses with quaint thatch roofs are to the Western eye 
 more picturesque than inviting, yet most of them con- 
 tain three or four rooms of good size. They have noth- 
 ing that indicates refined taste, but they are comfortable 
 enough, and with a little care can be kept quite respect- 
 able. The floors are fitted with thick well-made mat- 
 tresses covered with mattings, the interior walls are 
 
 2l6 
 
THE JAPANESE IN HAWAII 217 
 
 plastered and papered, and the rooms are partitioned 
 with fusuma, a peculiar sort of doors of wooden frames 
 covered with thick layers of paper, the surface of which 
 is often embellished with drawings or ideographs. 
 
 Having been accustomed to live in such houses, the 
 Japanese labourers, when placed in dismal camps on the 
 plantations, naturally feel a certain sense of disappoint- 
 ment which easily develops into depression and indif- 
 ference. Most of us know how discouraged we feel when 
 suddenly removed from respectable living-quarters and 
 put into a pretence of a house where putting things in 
 order is a hopeless task. Disorderly habit soon takes 
 hold of us, making us callous to untidiness and in- 
 decency. 
 
 In the earlier days the plantation camps were merely 
 bunk-houses divided into narrow cells, each containing 
 two sleeping places. In those days even married labour- 
 ers were made to live in such cells, to the detriment of 
 both morals and sanitation. The survivors of such dis- 
 mal bunk-houses are still to be seen occupied by labour- 
 ers on some of the plantations. The unhappy habit 
 acquired by Japanese labourers in the days of contract 
 labour could not easily be reformed. 
 
 And yet the Japanese plantation hands cannot be said 
 to have been slow in availing themselves of the oppor- 
 tunity offered by the planters of improving their sur- 
 roundings. That they are naturally inclined to be neat 
 and even fastidious in the upkeep of their premises is 
 shown in the following passage from one of Mr. Ray 
 Stannard Baker's illuminating articles on Hawaii : 
 
 *' Often the manager permits the working people to 
 use a bit of land around their houses, and it is surprising 
 to see, as at Kohuku and Ewa, with what skill and 
 beauty the Japanese have developed their little yards. 
 
2i8 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 Some of the miniature gardens with little rocky pools and 
 fish and many flowers around about, suggest a corner of 
 old Japan. The only other people who have manifested 
 any similar pride in their surroundings are the Portu- 
 guese, but their improvements run to the practical rather 
 than the artistic." 
 
 The Ko^huku and Ewa plantations are on Oahu Island. 
 At Waialua, also on the same island, the manager told 
 me that the Japanese paid far greater attention to their 
 houses and gardens than other people. That was also 
 the view expressed to me by the nianagers of plantations 
 on Hawaii Island. Since the Japanese strike of 1909 
 the planters have been building more delectable shelters 
 for the Japanese hands. And along with this the Ha- 
 waiian Board have been engaged in a vigorous campaign 
 for the betterment of the camps, distributing trees among 
 the Japanese to be planted around their cottages, and 
 offering prizes for the best grown trees. In 1909, when 
 the Board started a campaign for planting trees, 2,000 
 trees were distributed. The Japanese took immediate 
 interest in the movement and vied with one another to 
 attain the best results in tree culture. Without any at- 
 tempt on the part of the Hawaiian Board to continue 
 the movement for a second year, the Japanese labourers 
 have ordered on their own initiative 1,700 trees. Along 
 with the trees came added interest in flowers and fences 
 and hedges. In some camps the improvement has 
 amounted to a transformation. 
 
 The Japanese in Hawaii, having mostly come from 
 picturesque villages surrounded by rice fields, know little 
 of communal life in America. When such people are 
 allowed to settle together in their own way the resultant 
 villages, towns, or streets are not in conformity to the 
 plans and ideas on which American villages and towns 
 
THE JAPANESE IN HAWAII 219 
 
 are established. Of this the Japanese quarters of the 
 city of Hilo, Hawaii Island, furnish a most conspicu- 
 ous illustration. The buildings in those quarters are as 
 exotic as they are unsightly. True, this peculiarity is 
 not apparent in the stores and shops facing the business 
 streets, but when you explore the mazes back of the streets 
 you begin to wonder if you are in an American city. 
 Here in the small space of ground enclosed by the block 
 buildings the Japanese put up all manner of ramshackle 
 buildings, utilized as restaurants, bath houses, barber 
 shops, and small stores. Their architectural effects, 
 both interior and exterior, are more Japanese than 
 American. Every inch of ground that could be utilized 
 has been utilized for building purposes, leaving but nar- 
 row passages which thread through the medley of 
 whimsical structures. The whole atmosphere suggests 
 a corner of a small town in the Sunrise Empire. 
 
 As I walked through these so-called " Japanese alleys " 
 I wondered why the municipal authorities should ever 
 have permitted Japanese, or more probably American 
 landowners, to put up such exotic houses in a manner 
 totally contrary to the usual methods of city-building in 
 America. I could not see why there should not be 
 building and sanitary laws which would prevent the ap- 
 pearance of such quarters. Upon inquiry I found out 
 that the Board of Supervisors of the city was composed 
 mostly, almost exclusively, of native Hawaiians, whose 
 sluggishness and inaction are proverbial. As long as 
 local governments are left in the hands of Hawaiians, 
 it is next to impossible to infuse civic pride into the 
 minds of the aliens living under such governments. If 
 one drives through the city of Hilo one realizes that it 
 is no wonder that the Japanese built such strange houses. 
 Rather does he wonder how they avoided establishing 
 
220 ASIA AT THE DOOR 4 
 
 far more outlandish quarters. For the whole city seems 
 to have been built without preconceived plan, letting the 
 streets run where they may, and allowing the houses to 
 rear their roofs where their whimsical builders would 
 have them. Most streets, except those of the business 
 section, have no sidewalks, and even where walks are 
 provided they abruptly degenerate into impassable mud- 
 holes and ruts. Save for the pretentious residences 
 occupied by wealthy Americans interested in the sugar 
 industry or banking business, the whole city suggests 
 the Orient rather than the Occident. Small wonder that 
 the Japanese seem to feel perfectly at home in Hilo. 
 
 What the Japanese in Hawaii need is the discreet 
 guidance and wise counsel of public-spirited American 
 statesmen, publicists, and moral leaders. Most of all, 
 they need enlightened legislators and efficient officials. 
 Once the way is shown there is no doubt that they will 
 strive to follow it. The Japanese came to Hawaii not 
 on their own initiative but at the urgent solicitation of 
 the interests which made the life of the archipelago what 
 it is. It is, therefore, incumbent upon Hawaii to guide 
 them and assist them towards higher civilization and 
 greater well-being. Instead of giving them this much- 
 needed guidance, the administrators of Hawaii are per- 
 mitting the Japanese in some places to build houses and 
 lay thoroughfares in a manner contrary to American 
 ideas. Worse still, they are even leaning upon the Japa- 
 nese, as in the case of public school buildings, which I 
 have discussed in the preceding chapter. If Hawaii 
 is ever to be Orientalized in the unfortunate sense of 
 the word, much of the blame must be shouldered by those 
 Americans who are at the helm in the administration of 
 the islands. 
 
 With all the keen appreciation of what Hawaii has 
 
THE JAPANESE IN HAWAII 221 
 
 done for the Japanese, we must admit that in some re- 
 spects American tutorage in Hawaii for the Japanese has 
 not been what it should have been. The Japanese are 
 accused of underselling American merchants and under- 
 bidding American contractors, but who was it that first 
 taught the Japanese to undersell their labour? Ever 
 since their advent in the islands they have been made to 
 work for less wages than were paid Caucasian labourers 
 for exactly the same amount and the same kind of work. 
 It was only after the great strike of 1909 that the Japa- 
 nese labourers began to be accorded anything like fair 
 treatment. Thus were the Japanese initiated in the art 
 of competition and of undercutting price. Is it any won- 
 der that they essayed to apply that art in their dealings 
 with Caucasian merchants and mechanics? 
 
 Yet the procession of skilled Caucasian labourers back 
 to the States cannot wholly be attributed to Japanese 
 competition. It is chiefly the result of the depression 
 which Hawaii has felt for several years on account of 
 the reaction from the '* boom " that marked the early 
 period following annexation. It was not only the artisans 
 but also merchants who suffered from the effects of this 
 depression. Upon the heels of annexation Americans 
 and American money poured into the islands. Many 
 contracts were let for public buildings, while private 
 residences and commercial establishments were building 
 everywhere. Carpenters and plumbers came to the 
 islands in large numbers, and clothing houses and other 
 miscellaneous stores were established in much larger 
 numbers than would have been warranted under the 
 normal condition of the Territory.* For a few years the 
 country was bustling with business and traffic, and in 
 that moment of excitement people forgot that they were 
 living in an abnormal period. The excitement was des- 
 
222 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 tined to pass. The necessary buildings were soon com- 
 pleted, and with their completion many skilled labourers 
 from the States were forced to remain idle or go back to 
 the mainland. A general depression soon followed, and 
 some of the traders found it difficult to hold their own. 
 This depression no doubt added to the acuteness of 
 Oriental competition. When business is brisk and de- 
 mand for labour is great, competition, whatever source 
 it may come from, is not so keenly felt nor so quickly 
 observed as when trade is falling off with the corre- 
 sponding decrease of demand for labour. 
 
 Whatever the immediate cause of their success, there 
 is no doubt that the Japanese are gradually forging 
 ahead in various directions. In the building trade they 
 are fast becoming a factor; there are quite a few Japa- 
 nese plumbers in Honolulu; they have almost monopo- 
 lized the fishing industry which was formerly exclusively 
 carried on by the Hawaiians. In Honolulu hack-drivers 
 are mostly Japanese, while a few enterprising Japanese 
 have begun to take an interest in the taxicab business. In 
 Honolulu some of the dry goods, clothing, and hard- 
 ware stores owned by Japanese are becoming quite re- 
 spectable, and in Hilo I saw a Japanese merchant erect- 
 ing a building which when completed promised to be one 
 of the largest business buildings in the city. On the 
 plantations the Japanese are not only unskilled labourers 
 but fill highly responsible positions. In the sugar mills, 
 too, they are employed in important places. Their in- 
 dustry is prodigious and their versatility wonderful. 
 Perhaps this characteristic of the Japanese is largely 
 responsible for their success. 
 
 It is a peculiar phenomenon that while the Honolulu 
 branch of the Yokohama Specie Bank of Japan seldom, 
 if ever, advances money for Japanese enterprise, agri- 
 
THE JAPANESE IN HAWAII 223 
 
 cultural or industrial, American banks, especially the 
 Bishop Bank and the National Bank of Hilo, are very 
 liberal in dealing with the Japanese. Once adequate 
 security is furnished, these banks are always willing to 
 advance funds to Japanese merchants. It seems to be 
 the general opinion among bankers that as debtors the 
 Japanese are as honourable as any other people. Both 
 in Honolulu and Hilo I was struck with the unusual 
 politeness shown me by their employes, an experience 
 which I had seldom had in dealing with banks on the 
 Pacific Coast. American merchants and storekeepers 
 in Hawaii are also far more courteous to the Japanese 
 than those in the States. As I put up at various hotels, 
 visited various restaurants, purchased of different stores, 
 I realized more forcibly than ever that Hawaii's boast 
 that it had no race problem was not meaningless. 
 
 Much has been said about the low standard of living 
 prevailing among the Japanese. All things considered, 
 however, the Japanese in Hawaii expend, I am certain, 
 more liberally than any other people of the corresponding 
 class. The Japanese do not eat rice grown in Hawaii, but 
 import this staple from Japan. This is not for any patriotic 
 or sentimental reason, but because the Japanese know 
 that Hawaiian rice is inferior in quality. Including the 
 cost of transportation and customs duties, Japanese rice 
 is far more costly than Hawaiian rice, yet the Japanese 
 ungrudgingly pay the high price simply to satisfy their 
 palates. Up to a few years ago the Japanese plantation 
 hands wore even on holidays only coarse stiff shoes made 
 by Chinese cobblers in Honolulu; to-day they all wear 
 high-priced shoes made in the States. While travelling 
 on the lines of the Oahu Railway on Thanksgiving Day, 
 19 12, I saw at various stations and on the train many 
 Japanese women, obviously wives of plantation labourers. 
 
224 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 all dressed in national robes of their native country made 
 of costly silk evidently imported from Japan. Their hus- 
 bands, too, were clad in shining new suits cut in the 
 latest style in New York or Chicago. In comparison 
 with their neat appearance and their quiet, unobtrusive 
 manner, the labourers of other races, whom I also found 
 on the same train, seemed to me all the more coarse and 
 unkempt. One of these uncouth fellows drew a bottle 
 of whiskey from his trouser pocket, and taking a sip 
 directly from it, passed it on to his fellow travellers. 
 As I watched them jabber in unknown tongues and with 
 lively gesture as if there were nobody else in the car, I 
 was struck with a strange sensation. 
 
 When we tell what the Japanese expend for what they 
 wear and eat, we tell only the beginning of the story 
 of their cost of living, for they expend for education and 
 religious purposes more liberally than other people. I 
 was told that a well-to-do Japanese merchant in Hono- 
 lulu has to contribute at least $20 per month for such 
 purposes. The burden of plantation labourers, though 
 not so heavy, is heavy enough for their earning capacities. 
 In one of the English pamphlets issued on behalf of the 
 Japanese strike of 1909 I find the following statement 
 couched in picturesque language: 
 
 " These institutions [churches and schools] are not 
 unnecessary luxuries. They are just as important as 
 bread and butter in the Ufe of man. They will give the 
 planter an intelligent, conscientious, and God-fearing 
 labour, instead of lazy, unscrupulous, selfish, and savage 
 labour. The Japanese maintain at the present time 59 
 churches and missions with 61 ministers and preachers. 
 Of these 33 are of Buddhist missions, and 26 Christian. 
 These places of worship have remarkably increased in 
 recent years. Down to 1903 there were only 11 Christian 
 
THE JAPANESE IN HAWAII 225 
 
 missions, but since that year 10 were added. The Bud- 
 dhist missions are of recent growth. The first mission 
 was estabUshed in 1868, and within the last ten years 
 they have maintained only 21, chapels, but since then they 
 have added 10 more. Christians do not bear, as a gen- 
 eral rule, the expenses of constructing a church or 
 preaching place, they bearing only the ordinary expenses 
 in maintaining the establishment, which are between $30 
 and $50 per month for one place. 
 
 " But the Buddhists bear all expenses themselves. In 
 the construction of their churches and places of worship 
 the Buddhists have expended some $icx),ooo, and they 
 are bearing average current expenses of $50 per month 
 in each place. With the increase of women and children, 
 these churches and chapels have to be enlarged in ca- 
 pacity and increased many fold in number and improved 
 in quality. 
 
 " Religion relates to the relation between God and 
 man, and is, in one sense, a private matter. But no 
 Christian employer can be blind to the religious demands 
 of his employes. The present and prospective needs for 
 adequate and decent places of worship for the plantation 
 labourers are something which should be provided for 
 in determining the wages of the labourers. 
 
 " As to the schools, the Japanese now maintain 68 
 schools, with a teaching force of 80. They are both 
 denominational and non-denominational. These schools 
 now have 4,631 pupils. Taking annual expense of teach- 
 ing one pupil in these schools at $1, the Japanese labour- 
 ers are now bearing a burden of $70,000 per annum for 
 education of their children. These schools, like their 
 churches and Buddhist temples, must be improved, en- 
 larged, and increased, in the very near future. This is 
 absolutely necessary in view of the rapid increase of 
 
226 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 children and also of the necessity to raise the standard 
 of life of the labourers." 
 
 This brings us to an enquiry into the important ques- 
 tion of education of Japanese children. In a previous 
 chapter I have discussed at length the Japanese schools 
 on the Pacific Coast, their nature, their missions, their 
 raison d'etre. The Japanese schools in Hawaii are of 
 greater significance because of their larger number and 
 larger attendance. 
 
 The first Japanese school in Hawaii was established 
 in 1895. In 1904 there were 44 schools, and at 
 the time of the strike of 1909 the number increased to 
 68. At present there are 80 schools. Like the Japa- 
 nese schools on the Pacific Coast these schools are meant 
 merely to supplement the public schools, not to replace 
 or supersede them. Children come to these schools in 
 the afternoon after their regular hours in the public 
 schools are over. Some of them are maintained by Bud- 
 dhists, a few by Christian missions, while others are non- 
 sectarian. In the back country I found some of the 
 Japanese schools housed in much better buildings than 
 the public schools. The maintenance of such schools 
 entails no small burden on the Japanese labourers. Yet 
 to them " schools are as important as bread and butter," 
 and they ungrudgingly bear the burden even at the 
 sacrifice of their own comfort. As Mr. Ray Stannard 
 Baker observes, the " Japanese in Hawaii have a passion 
 for education and send their young people to school un- 
 til they are thoroughly prepared." Contrary to this prac- 
 tice among the Japanese, the Portuguese plantation la- 
 bourers take their children out of the schools very early 
 and send them into the fields. 
 
 The peculiar condition of life in Hawaii perhaps 
 necessitates the maintenance of such afternoon schools. 
 
THE JAPANESE IN HAWAII 227 
 
 On the plantations there is virtually no home where 
 children can be cared for and brought up in the proper 
 manner. Camp life does not create a wholesome atmos- 
 phere for children. Moreover, most Japanese women 
 work in the fields to supplement the meagre earnings of 
 their husbands. When, therefore, the public schools 
 close in the afternoon, the Japanese children have no- 
 where to go and nobody to look after them. If they 
 were allowed to shift for themselves they would acquire 
 no desirable habits and develop no good qualities. For 
 the sake of their wholesome growth, mentally and 
 morally, it seems desirable and even imperative that 
 there should be some institutions where these children 
 of the plantation hands could be kept engaged in light 
 studies and wholesome pastime, until their parents come 
 home from the fields. If the Japanese women, like their 
 sisters from Portugal, were to remain at home, the boys 
 and girls would have to be taken out of the schools be- 
 fore they are fully trained, and be sent into the fields, as 
 are the Portuguese boys and girls. This the Japanese 
 will never do until they have exhausted all means to pro- 
 vide for the proper schooling of their children. 
 
 The question arises : " Will not the Japanese schools 
 interfere with the assimilation of the Japanese?" This 
 I have already discussed in the chapter on the Ameri- 
 canization of the Japanese; here I shall set forth 
 what the Americans in Hawaii think about the ques- 
 tion. 
 
 The leniency and broad-mindedness with which the 
 American residents of Hawaii view this question are re- 
 markable. The moral and religious leaders in the islands 
 have no objection whatever to the Japanese schools. On 
 the contrary they unreservedly recognize the need for 
 such institutions, believing that Japanese children should 
 
228 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 know something of the language and history of the coun- 
 try whence their parents came. When one hears such 
 views unhesitatingly expressed by Americans one is 
 deeply impressed with the true cosmopolitanism of 
 Hawaii. I found among them quite a few who were even 
 well versed in the Japanese language. The educators of 
 Hawaii, too, view the Japanese school question much 
 in the same light as do the moral and religious leaders. 
 The only exception they make is that work in the Japa- 
 nese schools may overtax the mental and physical ca- 
 pacity of the children who have also to attend the public 
 schools. So far as the primary grades are concerned, 
 they admit, such apprehension may be unnecessary, but 
 in the high school the extra study in the Japanese school 
 is undoubtedly an overload. My observation also led 
 me to believe that the curriculum both in the primary 
 and high schools was in many cases too heavy. The 
 planting interests view the educational question in a 
 slightly different light. I hardly think that the plantation 
 managers, with few exceptions, are seriously concerned 
 with the moral and mental training of the children of 
 their employes. All they care is to make conditions so 
 agreeable as to bind the Japanese to the plantations. 
 They know that without schools the Japanese would not 
 be satisfied. So they have been contributing rather 
 liberally towards the educational funds of the Japanese. 
 The Planters' Association at Honolulu gives $12,000 
 every year, while individual plantations also donate small 
 sums to individual schools. The contribution from the 
 Planters' Association seems a goodly sum, but when dis- 
 tributed among the eighty schools it dwindles into com- 
 parative insignificance. 
 
 Contrary to the attitude of the civilians, the militarists 
 in Hawaii see a " menace " in the Japanese schools. To 
 
THE JAPANESE IN HAWAII 229 
 
 them these schools are there to foster the loyalty of the 
 Japanese children to their mother country. In their 
 eyes, all Japanese, whether plantation hands or mer- 
 chants, are trained soldiers ready to take up arms for 
 the Mikado the moment America and Japan fall out. 
 They believe, or pretend to believe, that the Japanese 
 came to Hawaii with the determination to absorb the 
 islands, and that the Japanese schools are but a part of 
 that sinister scheme. Their jealous and suspicious atti- 
 tude was conspicuously shown when they raised a hue 
 and cry against a Japanese young lady who was selected 
 to read the Declaration of Independence in celebration 
 of Fourth of July at Honolulu a few years ago. " What 
 a scandal," they muttered, **to let a Jap girl read the 
 sacred document." But the protest of the militarists 
 failed to supersede the decision of the celebration com- 
 mittee, consisting of the leading American residents of 
 Honolulu, and the Japanese girl was permitted to recite 
 the Declaration. 
 
 Closely connected with the educational question is the 
 question of Buddhist activities. Not only have the Bud- 
 dhists established temples in cities and on plantations, 
 but they have also established many schools throughout 
 the archipelago. In travelling through the back country 
 by train the first thing one notices from the car is the 
 Buddhist temple rearing its quaint roof above the huts 
 of plantation labourers. With the exception of the resi- 
 dences occupied by plantation managers these houses of 
 worship are the only structures which break the mo- 
 notony of the vast cane fields dotted here and there 
 with clusters of camp houses. In comparison with the 
 dismal structures surrounding them, these temples pre- 
 sent an imposing appearance. Small wonder that the 
 Japanese labourers point to them with a sense of pride. 
 
230 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 Even the natives and Portuguese labourers lOok upon 
 them as a mark of superior civilization. 
 
 The attitude of Christian workers in Hawaii towards 
 Buddhist propaganda is characterized with broad- 
 mindedness and leniency. They unreservedly admit that 
 the Buddhist has the right to propagate his doctrines in 
 Hawaii just as the Christian has the right to preach 
 the Gospel in Japan. The only apprehension they enter- 
 tain is that some of the Buddhist priests and the teachers 
 of Buddhist schools are inclined to inspire loyalty to 
 Japan as a means of propagating Buddhism. How far 
 this apprehension is true I am not ready to determine, 
 but that it is not without foundation no one can gainsay. 
 
 The Buddhist schools seem to be one of the means of 
 propagating Buddhism. Aggressive and enterprising, 
 the Buddhist workers are often a disturbing element in 
 plantation camps. They would go forth and establish 
 a school where there is already a non-religious school, and 
 where no other school is needed. Trouble immediately 
 begins, for the Buddhists resort to all means in trying to 
 take pupils out of the non-religious school and enroll 
 them in their own. When I was in Hawaii Island the 
 Japanese Vice-Consul at Honolulu was making a tour of 
 the island with a view to finding the way out of this 
 perennial trouble. It was the Vice-Consul's opinion that 
 where there was school trouble the blame was usually 
 to be placed at the door of the Buddhists. The Japanese 
 Consul-General, upon receipt of the Vice-Consul's re- 
 ports, formulated a plan to organize an education com- 
 mittee by which all the Japanese schools in the islands 
 were to be supervised. The committee was to consist 
 of leading Japanese business men, editors, teachers, and 
 Christians and Buddhists, as well as a few Americans in 
 Honolulu. The committee thus organized was to be 
 
THE JAPANESE IN HAWAII 231 
 
 absolutely non-sectarian, and the schools under its super- 
 vision were likewise to be non-sectarian. Such a plan 
 would seem to me the only feasible one which would re- 
 move the present school troubles. At this writing, how- 
 ever, the plan is not yet put into execution. 
 
 In spite of the large number of adherents the Bud- 
 dhists claim to possess in the islands it is highly doubt- 
 ful if they are achieving much in the world of the spirit. 
 It seems to be the universal opinion among the Japanese 
 of the educated class that the Buddhist priests are in Ha- 
 waii mainly for their own material gain. They seem 
 to be concerned chiefly with the collection of offerings 
 from their parishioners. If a priest stays in Hawaii 
 four or five years, he usually amasses what he considers 
 a competence. Unlike American missionaries in the for- 
 eign fields these Buddhist priests are not paid from 
 their headquarters in Japan. All Buddhist missions are 
 self-supporting, and the priests in charge of them get 
 what stipend they can make out of the votive offerings 
 of their parishoners. In Hawaii I noticed each priest 
 had five or six camps in his charge. In the evening he 
 goes out on a pony and pays a visit to the camp, where 
 he says a few comforting words to the labourers and 
 recites the stereotyped sutras, and receives offerings 
 from his pious audience. As he visits all camps alter- 
 nately, one each evening, his evenings are pretty well 
 occupied, repeating sermons and collecting offerings. 
 
 That the Japanese people are intensely religious there 
 is no room to doubt, but that they are in urgent need of 
 sound guidance is also evident. The corruption of the Bud- 
 dhist hierarchy in Japan is proverbial. The Hongwan-ji 
 temple at Kyoto is the hotbed of financial troubles and 
 factional feuds. Water cannot rise above its source, 
 and it is small wonder that the Buddhist priests, with a 
 
232 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 few notable exceptions, are men without inspiration or 
 ideals. It is very well for Hongwan-ji to send priests 
 abroad, but unless its system and methods of propaganda 
 are completely reformed, the presence of such priests in 
 such countries as Hawaii can do more harm than good. 
 The erecting of temples and the maintenance of the 
 priests entail no small financial burden on the plantation 
 hands. That the burden is borne cheerfully and will- 
 ingly is no justification of the imposition. Up to the 
 time of the Japanese strike of 1909 the Japanese labour- 
 ers had already contributed $100,000 for the erection of 
 Buddhist temples alone. When I was in Hawaii in 1912 
 the Buddhists had just decided to build a new temple 
 at Honolulu at a cost of $100,000. Not only have the 
 Japanese in Hawaii to bear such heavy burdens, but they 
 are even required to make occasional contributions to 
 Hongwan-ji at Kyoto. A few years ago a special emis- 
 sary of Hongwan-ji came to Hawaii and collected $50,- 
 000 for a festival which was to be held in Kyoto. The 
 emissary, encouraged by his unexpected success in 
 Hawaii, came to California with the intention of collect- 
 ing more contributions from the Japanese there. But 
 here he met his Waterloo, for the Japanese on the Coast 
 proved far more clear-sighted and well-informed than 
 their brothers in Hawaii. The Japanese newspapers 
 there raised a storm of protest against him, and the 
 envoy had to leave San Francisco under very awkward 
 circumstances. 
 
 On the mainland, too, the Christians have strong rivals 
 in Buddhists. In Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, Fresno, 
 and Los Angeles, the Buddhists have established respect- 
 able headquarters which are used both as places of wor- 
 ship and as dormitories for Japanese young men. In 
 San Francisco they are also planning to erect a building 
 
THE JAPANESE IN HAWAII 233 
 
 much larger than those in the other cities. If the pur- 
 pose of the Buddhists were to propagate the teachings 
 of Buddha, pure and simple, the American people, I am 
 sure, would have little to complain of. Much to our 
 regret, we find some of the Buddhist priests are inclined 
 to link Buddhism with patriotism to Japan, knowing that 
 this method of propaganda appeals to the ignorant 
 masses. I do not see why the Japanese Buddhists could 
 not be broad-minded enough, and clear-sighted enough, 
 to see the folly of such a policy. Out of my sincere 
 respect for their character and ideals I prefer to believe 
 that the Buddhist leaders themselves are absolutely inno- 
 cent, and positively disapprove such unscrupulous means 
 as have been resorted to by their followers. It is also re- 
 grettable that the Buddhists keep aloof from the Chris- 
 tians and apparently have no desire to cooperate with 
 them. Perhaps the Christians themselves are to blame. 
 Both Christianity and Buddhism, however different from 
 each other in essential teachings, aim at the promotion 
 of the spiritual well-being of humanity. In the field of 
 practical social reform, therefore, they ought to be co- 
 workers, not antagonists. To bring this about both 
 Christians and Buddhists must first of all abandon their 
 narrow views of religion. 
 
XIV 
 THE JAPANESE IN CANADA 
 
 IT was more than forty years ago. A Japanese lad, 
 so the story runs, was building a boat at a hamlet 
 of fisherfolk not far from Nagasaki, the greatest 
 port in Southern Japan. Now and then the young ship- 
 wright stopped plying his tools, and seemed absorbed in 
 meditation. At last he muttered, " I must go ! " and with 
 these words he left his work. Why had he to go? — 
 And where? 
 
 The Mikado's Empire, having just been opened to 
 foreign intercourse, was animated with an aspiration 
 for higher knowledge and advanced arts. Even the 
 young boat-builder could not escape the spirit of the 
 times. He had seen in the harbour of Nagasaki many 
 a gigantic vessel from Europe and America, of which the 
 populace sang in a sense of mingled awe and curiosity: 
 
 "Thro' a black night of cloud and rain, 
 The Black Ship plies her way — 
 An alien thing of evil mien — 
 Across the waters grey. 
 
 Down in her hold, there labour men 
 Of jet black visage dread; 
 While fair of face, stand by her guns 
 Grim hundreds clad in red. 
 
 With cheeks half draped in shaggy beards, 
 Their glance fixed on the wave, 
 They seek our sun-land at the word 
 Of captain owlish-grave. 
 234 
 
THE JAPANESE IN CANADA 235 
 
 While loud they come — the boom of drums 
 And songs in strange uproar; 
 And now with flesh and herb in store, 
 They turn toward the Western shore. 
 
 And slowly floating onward go, 
 
 These Black Ships wave-tossed to and fro." 
 
 The imposing presence of the " Black Ship " inspired 
 the young shipwright with an idea to go to the country 
 whence she came and learn how those fair-visaged men 
 with " shaggy beards " built such floating castles of the 
 ocean. So Nagano — for such was his name — wended 
 his way to Nagasaki, and there seeing the captain of 
 one of the Black Ships, begged to be taken where the 
 vessel came. The captain consented, and the steamer, 
 a sort of tramp vessel, left Nagasaki with Nagano 
 aboard. 
 
 An uneducated man, Nagano imagined that any coun- 
 try on the other side of the Pacific would be a great in- 
 dustrial country, manufacturing powerful engines and 
 building mammoth vessels. He did not know that San 
 Francisco was then an infant city, and that Seattle and 
 Vancouver were scarcely on the map. It happened that 
 Nagano's steamer after a tedious voyage cast anchor at 
 a lonely hamlet on the west coast of Canada. Imagine 
 his disappointment! There was no bustling factory, no 
 hammering traffic, no thriving stores. Where was he to 
 study the art of ship-building? 
 
 Nagano was the first Japanese who trod the shores of 
 British Columbia. At the time of his landing there were 
 but a handful of white men in New Westminster and 
 vicinity. The straggling village was hemmed in by thick 
 primeval forests of cedar and hemlock. The only 
 traffic which broke the sylvan solitudes was a sawmill 
 operated by a Britirher named Alexander. Indians were 
 
236 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 roaming about. The railroad had not yet brought the 
 white man's civilization across the Rockies. No one 
 fancied the country about that solitary sawmill was 
 destined to become the Pacific metropolis of the Do- 
 minion. 
 
 Had Nagano been a man of education and foresight, 
 he would have secured a large tract of land, for the 
 authorities of New Westminster were giving land to any- 
 body almost for the asking. An ignorant carpenter, he 
 was contented to work for wages which he found to be 
 almost fabulous in comparison with what he was used 
 to earn at home. While most of his fellow pioneers 
 from Europe or the United States have since amassed 
 large fortunes by landholdings, Nagano is to-day only 
 the proprietor of a couple of modest stores in Victoria. 
 
 For several years Nagano was a lone Japanese in 
 British Columbia. With the development of the fishery 
 industry, however, Japanese began to filter in in small 
 numbers. Soon the canning interests found the Japanese 
 fishermen unequalled as salmon catchers. The Chinese 
 were also brought in, but they were more useful in can- 
 ning than in fishing. Thus the demand for Japanese 
 labour on the Fraser River grew with phenomenal 
 rapidity, until in 1900 the Japanese Fishermen's Asso- 
 ciation of the Fraser River had 3,419 members. The 
 report of the Association shows a considerable fluctuation 
 in its membership. Here are the figures for fourteen 
 years from 1900 to 1913: 
 
 1900 3,419 1907 1,018 
 
 1901 3471 1908 984 
 
 1902 1,160 1909 1,569 
 
 1903 1,860 1910 1,100 
 
 1904 883 1911 942 
 
 1905 1,252 1912 954 
 
 1906 584 1913 1,535 
 
THE JAPANESE IN CANADA 237 
 
 There are also a considerable number of Japanese 
 operating on the Skeena and the Nass. Including these 
 the present number of Japanese fishermen in British Co- 
 lumbia probably is not less than 2,500. The Japanese 
 fishermen are to the Province what the Japanese planta- 
 tion hands are to Hawaii. In spite of all the hue and 
 cry raised by the labour unions against the Japanese, 
 British Columbia is constrained to admit that no other 
 fishermen as efficient are available. The Indians are dull 
 and indolent, while most Caucasians dislike or are ill- 
 adapted to salmon fishing. In 19 10 there were in British 
 Columbia 1,270 boats employed in salmon fishing. Of 
 these the Japanese fishermen owned 793, while the 
 Caucasians and Indians had 315 and 162 respect- 
 ively. 
 
 Along with timber, salmon is a principal product of 
 British Columbia. The Fraser, the Skeena, the Nass, as 
 well as other rivers and inlets, annually produce 940,000 
 cases of canned salmon, each case containing twenty- 
 four one-pound cans. The Fraser River, the greatest 
 of fishing-grounds in the Province, produced in 191 1 
 some 301,000 cases. Here the Japanese fishermen num- 
 ber from 1,000 to 1,500, operating more than 500 boats, 
 all fitted with gasoline engines. The boats and nets be- 
 longing to the Japanese operating on the Fraser alone 
 are valued at half a million dollars. Steveston, not far 
 from Vancouver, is the rendezvous of all fisherfolk on 
 this great stream. Here the Japanese have established 
 two or three shipyards where small fishing craft, five 
 tons in capacity and thirty feet in length, are turned out 
 both for Japanese and other fishermen. There are also 
 a well-appointed Japanese hospital, a Japanese school, a 
 Japanese Christian church, and a number of Japanese 
 stores and shops. The hospital, superintended by an 
 
238 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 English physician, is a boon for fisherfolk of all races 
 on the Fraser. 
 
 Unlike his brothers on the Hawaiian plantations, the 
 Japanese fisherman is quite independent. He is not 
 bound by contract to the cannery. He receives no wages 
 from the cannery. On the contrary, he owns his boat 
 and nets, and catches salmon on his own account. The 
 only relation between him and the cannery is that of a 
 seller and buyer. The cannery, however, provides living 
 quarters for the fishermen. I found most of such quar- 
 ters far less attractive and sanitary than the camp-houses 
 on the plantations in Hawaii ; but inasmuch as the Japa- 
 nese fishermen are not employes of the cannery they 
 have no right to demand the improvement of their living 
 quarters. It should be their own duty to expend reason- 
 able sums for the erection of more sanitary and decent 
 houses. 
 
 Not only do the Japanese catch salmon for the can- 
 neries, but they have also created new industries in 
 fishery which promise in time to become no small source 
 of wealth for the Province. One such industry is the 
 salting of dog-salmon. Before the Japanese began to 
 utilize them for export to Japan and China, salmon of 
 this species had been wasted, as no cannery cared to 
 use them. During the past several years the annual 
 export of salted salmon has ranged from 3,000 to 7,000 
 tons. 
 
 Another industry created by the Japanese is herring 
 salting. Thirty miles from the city of Vancouver is 
 Nanaimo Bay, embraced by the jutting promontories of 
 Vancouver Island. The bay abounds in herring, but the 
 Canadians never attempted to utilize them for com- 
 mercial purposes until the Japanese began to salt them 
 some ten years ago. So rapidly has this new industry 
 
THE JAPANESE IN CANADA 239 
 
 developed that Nanaimo, which used to be called the 
 Coal City on account of the coal mines in the vicinity, 
 is now called the Herring City. The Nanaimo Herald 
 estimates the capital invested by the Japanese in this 
 enterprise at $220,000. Salted herring are exported to 
 Japan, Korea, Manchuria, and China. Up to a few years 
 ago Japan was the distributing centre for Canadian 
 herring for other Oriental countries. In 1910, however, 
 Mr. Jackson, Canada's trade agent at Shanghai, reported 
 that the direct export of herring from British Columbia 
 to the Chinese marts of Shanghai and Hong-Kong had 
 just begun. He added that of all the marine products 
 of Canada finding their way to China salted herring was 
 the most important. At present the annual export of 
 Canadian herring to Oriental countries is estimated at 
 30,000 tons. As the Chinese are great consumers of 
 dried and salted fish this trade is bound to increase. 
 
 Travelling in the wooded country of British Columbia, 
 one often hears the sharp whistle of an engine breaking 
 the still air of the forest. It is the signal whistle of the 
 " logging donkey." The donkey is a hoisting engine of 
 heavy design and is used in bringing the logs into driv- 
 able waters or more frequently to railroads, by dragging 
 them on the ground with wire cables. A more powerful 
 device is the steam-skidder, which handles immense trees 
 weighing fifteen or twenty tons as if they were straws. 
 
 In the logging industry the Japanese have also become 
 a factor. At present Japanese bosses and labourers en- 
 gaged in this work number about 1,000. The bosses obtain 
 logging contracts from the lumber companies which own 
 timber lands. In the sawmills in the vicinity of Van- 
 couver, too, the Japanese are employed to a considerable 
 extent. Including some 400 women and children, there 
 are some 1,500 Japanese mill hands. Unskilled hands 
 
^ 
 
 240 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 receive daily wages varying from $1.75 to $2.00 v^hile 
 skilled mechanics get $2.50 per day. 
 
 Apart from fishery, logging, and lumbering there is 
 no industry in which the Japanese are engaged in large 
 numbers, either as labourers or as capitalists. A body 
 of Japanese worked what was supposed to be a copper- 
 mine, on an island off British Columbia, but this enter- 
 prise has proved a total failure, notwithstanding an 
 alarmist's statement that one small syndicate of Japa- 
 nese now " possesses a copper-mine worth nearly a 
 million pounds." The present Japanese population in 
 Canada probably does not exceed 12,000, of whom al- 
 most ninety per cent, are in British Columbia. This 
 population may be roughly classified by occupation as 
 follows : 
 
 Fishery 2,500 
 
 Logging 1,000 
 
 Sawmill 1,500 
 
 Agriculture 500 
 
 Miscellaneous labourers l,50O 
 
 Merchants and employes 3,000 
 
 Women and children 2,000 
 
 In agriculture the Japanese are yet a negligible quan- 
 tity, although the Dominion extends to them the privi- 
 lege of taking up homesteads. Perhaps this is mainly 
 due to the fact that fishery and logging have been more 
 immediately remunerative than farming. Moreover, 
 government lands in good locations are already monop- 
 olized by railway companies or other private interests 
 and are held for sale at exorbitant prices. Those still 
 available for farmers of small means are so inconveni- 
 ently situated that few care to develop them. 
 
 Nevertheless the manifest tendency among the Japa- 
 nese is to take more and more to farming. In British 
 Columbia, especially in the vicinity of Vancouver and 
 
THE JAPANESE IN CANADA 241 
 
 Victoria, quite a few Japanese are engaged in gardening 
 and fruit-growing. Their holdings are small, ranging, 
 except in a few cases, from five to twenty acres. On the 
 other side of the Rockies, too, a few enterprising Japa- 
 nese have begun to work grain farms in Alberta and 
 Saskatchewan, but the total acreage of such farms does 
 not yet exceed 2,000. Alberta, Saskatchewan, and 
 British Columbia, with a total area of 878,715 square 
 miles, and with their natural resources but little devel- 
 oped, await the immigration of industrious, intelligent, 
 honest aliens, who do not seek easy money and a gentle- 
 man's job, but are willing to toil and to live on the sweat 
 of their brows. 
 
 Of the total Japanese population in Canada about 
 one-third live in cities. Vancouver has some 3,500, 
 Victoria, 300, and even Dawson in the far north has 
 about 100 Japanese. About a hundred more are scat- 
 tered in various cities east of the Rockies. 
 
 In Vancouver Powell Street is the centre of the Japa- 
 nese quarters. At first glance that street presents no 
 exotic aspect. Neat stores and shops, European in ap- 
 pearance, line a well paved street provided with broad 
 cement sidewalks. With clanging street cars running 
 through it, the Japanese street is as bustling and hustling 
 as any business street in the strenuous Occident. As 
 you walk down the street or ride through it in a street 
 car, you hardly notice where the European section con- 
 verges with the Japanese section. True, the stores are 
 mostly small and often meagre, but they have no untidy 
 appearance which so frequently mars the stores in " for- 
 eign" quarters. When I was in Vancouver last year a 
 large four-story building was rearing its roof in the heart 
 of the Japanese section of Powell Street. It was being 
 built by Mr. Tamura, the wealthiest Japanese merchant 
 
242 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 in Vancouver, who has largely been instrumental in de- 
 veloping trade between Japan and British Columbia. 
 That building, which was to be used as a hotel, would 
 do credit to any business section. 
 
 While in Vancouver I chanced to pick up in a maga- 
 zine shop a local monthly, in which was printed an article 
 on the Japanese in that city. The author of that article 
 obviously belonged to that school of writers whose sense 
 of honour does not prevent them from telling such un- 
 blushing lies as that the Japanese are so dishonest that 
 all Japanese banks have to employ Chinese cashiers, for 
 he says that " even in Japan the Japanese does not trust 
 anybody." And yet this very writer is constrained to 
 write of the Japanese in Vancouver: 
 
 " In Canada the Japanese gets along well and makes 
 money. He is sober and without the coarser criminal 
 tendencies. He gives the police little trouble. . . . The 
 Japanese in this country has cast away his household 
 gods, or at least he has laid them away — with moth 
 balls. He does not in Vancouver hang a lantern over 
 his door to drive away evil spirits, or burn joss-paper 
 to propitiate them." 
 
 Again his picture of Powell Street is fairly truthful. 
 We read: * 
 
 " At first glance only the window-signs and the dried 
 devil-fish and straw sandals and sake bottles in the win- 
 dows themselves tell you that you are in the Japanese 
 quarter. But presently you notice a barber shop in which 
 a Japanese woman barber is shaving a troglodyte of a 
 coolie with a razor of unfamiliar shape, and you hear 
 from an upper window the weak tinkle of a Japanese 
 lute, and a voice pitched high, singing something with a 
 queer slow rhythm. 
 
 " These things are all I saw or heard on Powell Street 
 
THE JAPANESE IN CANADA 243 
 
 that I might not have seen and heard on any street in 
 Vancouver. Look for something picturesque and Orien- 
 tal on Powell Street, as I did, and you will look in vain. 
 You will see no Japanese wearing a single rag of the cos- 
 tume of his country. American store-clothes is the rai- 
 ment of the Nipponese in Vancouver, and small is the 
 percentage of picturesqueness in the blue overall. 
 
 ** Powell Street is a monochrome ; there is no colour. 
 There is not a suggestion of the Japanese architecture 
 in any of the buildings. The shop windows have little 
 in them that is interesting or curious. Little of the stuff 
 is Japanese. Some carved ivory, a little china, Japanese 
 cereals, some dried vegetables and fish, some primitive- 
 looking carpentry tools, and agricultural or rather gar- 
 dening implements in a hardware store window were all 
 that I saw." 
 
 A block from the centre of the Japanese section of 
 Powell Street you come across a large, unsightly struc- 
 ture. It is the Japanese school maintained by the Japa- 
 nese residents for their children. At present the school 
 has 130 pupils. If your mind is critically inclined, you 
 will find here in this building a problem worthy of sober 
 consideration. 
 
 The Japanese school in Vancouver is different from 
 those in the United States and Hawaii. In the latter 
 case the Japanese schools are supplementary to the pub- 
 lic schools, but the Vancouver institution is a substitute 
 for the municipal school. The difference is chiefly due 
 to the fact that while education is compulsory in the 
 United States and Hawaii, it is not in British Columbia. 
 I do not think the Japanese schools as conducted in the 
 United States would interfere with the assimilation of 
 the Japanese children. Their curriculum is simple, and 
 the session, always in the afternoon, lasts only two 
 
244 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 hours. What they intend to do is to disseminate knowl- 
 edge of the Japanese language, history, and geography, 
 the study of which is sadly neglected in the public schools 
 in America. Moreover, as I have already discussed in 
 previous chapters, they have their distinct mission arising 
 out of the peculiar situation on the Pacific Coast and 
 in Hawaii. 
 
 On the other hand, the Japanese school in Vancouver 
 is not an afternoon school; it is a complete educational 
 system of the primary grade conducted in accord with 
 the principles adopted in Japan. The text-books are 
 all Japanese, although English is taught by an English 
 teacher one hour every day. The knowledge of English 
 acquired in such a school is too scant to be of any prac- 
 tical use, and the ideas and traits developed by such an 
 educational system would be more Japanese than Cana- 
 dian. The Japanese children attending the Japanese 
 school never come into contact with Canadian children, 
 thus depriving them of the opportunity to increase their 
 knowledge of English and to absorb the ideas and cus- 
 toms of the country which harbours them and their 
 parents. The public school is the most powerful assimi- 
 lative organ, the ** melting pot of the races," wherein 
 children of different races and nationalities mingle with 
 one another and acquire common knowledge and develop 
 common traits. 
 
 Although a few Japanese residents send their children 
 to public schools, it is highly regrettable that the ma- 
 jority seem to prefer the Japanese institution. Never- 
 theless the leading Japanese, men of learning and fore- 
 sight, have begun to see the disadvantage and unwisdom 
 of maintaining such a school, and it is to be hoped that 
 this school, if it has to be continued at all, will at any 
 rate cease to exist as a substitute for the public school, 
 
THE JAPANESE IN CANADA 245 
 
 but will become an institution like the Japanese schools 
 in the United States, with a simple curriculum and short 
 hours. At the same time, British Columbia, it seems to 
 me, should adopt a compulsory educational system, com- 
 pelling the Japanese parents to send their children to 
 public schools. 
 
 One thing that struck me as being particularly un- 
 fortunate during my sojourn in British Columbia was 
 the inadequate provision of educational agencies. The 
 public library of Vancouver, though housed in a respect- 
 able building donated by Mr. Carnegie, is deplorably ill- 
 equipped. In the United States a city of Vancouver's 
 wealth and population would have a far better-appointed 
 public library. Again in the United States a common- 
 wealth, with 250,000 population and an area of 373,000 
 square miles, would undoubtedly provide a state uni- 
 versity, and have a few colleges maintained by private 
 interests. In British Columbia there is yet no university 
 maintained by the province, while none of the few private 
 institutions for higher education has risen to the dignity 
 of a college. Ambitious young men of the province 
 aspiring for college education must either enroll them- 
 selves in American universities across the boundary line, 
 or go to Toronto, 2,000 miles east of Vancouver. Is it 
 not time for British Columbia to pause and slacken her 
 pace in the race for material prosperity and devote more 
 attention to the promotion of higher culture and civili- 
 zation ? 
 
 And yet it is hardly fair to speak so slightingly of 
 British Columbia's achievements in the field of culture. 
 As I sit in a refined little room at the Dominion Hotel 
 at Victoria, and listen to Mr. Nagano recount the story 
 of the adventure which landed him forty odd years ago 
 at a little hamlet which was to become the great city of 
 
246 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 Vancouver, I muse over the marvellous transformation 
 which has taken place in British Columbia in that brief 
 period. From my windows I gaze at the majestic dome 
 of the provincial capitol and at the splendid residences 
 mantled with vines, surrounded by azure greensward, 
 adorned with stately trees and smiling flowers, and my 
 heart is filled with admiration for the enterprise and 
 progressive spirit of those men who have been instru- 
 mental in making British Columbia what it is. Verily 
 those forty years are a millennium. 
 
XV 
 "WHITE CANADA" 
 
 LIKE other British colonies, Canada regards its ter- 
 ^ ritory as closed to Oriental races — its watchword 
 is " White Canada." That mystifying yet singu- 
 larly appealing expression has been industriously ex- 
 ploited, especially by those affiliated with the labour 
 unions on the Pacific Coast. 
 
 And yet Canada's treatment of Asiatic races cannot be 
 said to have always been severe. True, it raises against 
 the Orient a barrier as insurmountable as that erected 
 in other exclusive countries, but those Asiatic immigrants 
 who were allowed to enter the country in accord with the 
 provisions of the immigration law Canada has as a rule 
 treated with consideration and even leniency. She has 
 extended to the Orientals the privilege of naturalization 
 and even of securing homesteads. Even in British Co- 
 lumbia, the stronghold of the anti-Oriental agitation, no 
 such discriminatory laws as have been proposed and 
 enacted in California have been introduced in its legis- 
 lature. There the Japanese and Chinese are permitted 
 to conduct business and cultivate land not only un- 
 molested but enjoying all privileges enjoyed by British 
 subjects in Canada. They can own land both urban and 
 rural, and in provinces other than British Columbia they 
 even enjoy voting privileges. 
 
 The question arises : " Why of all provinces and terri- 
 tories does British Columbia alone discriminate against 
 
 247 
 
248 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 the Orientals in the matter of the franchise?" In Yukon 
 Territory there are about a hundred Japanese, most of 
 whom are naturalized, while in the provinces east of the 
 Rockies what small number of Japanese there are have 
 also sworn allegiance to Canada. All these naturalized 
 Japanese exercise the franchise just as though they were 
 native Canadians. But in British Columbia the Japa- 
 nese, though free to become citizens, are not allowed to 
 cast the ballot. The reason for this discriminatory 
 measure is not far to seek. 
 
 British Columbia does not issue fishing licenses to 
 aliens. When Japanese fishermen were brought into the 
 province they found it necessary to secure naturalization 
 certificates in order to obtain fishing licenses. Thus it 
 came to pass that almost ninety per cent, of the natural- 
 ized Japanese in British Columbia are fishermen, many 
 of whom are uneducated, if not illiterate. The wisdom 
 of naturalizing such immigrants is open to question, but 
 inasmuch as the province had to rely upon them for the 
 exploitation of one of its most important economic re- 
 sources, it had to give them naturalization certificates. 
 Naturalization in such circumstances means little more 
 than the granting of fishing privileges. It does not neces- 
 sarily mean that the recipients of citizenship certificates 
 are ready to become faithful subjects of the Empire, nor 
 that they intend to reside permanently in Canada. Not 
 a few of such Japanese do not see much difference 
 between the fishing license and the naturalization 
 paper. 
 
 Under such circumstances we can fully understand, 
 and even sympathize with, British Columbia when it 
 overrode the Dominion law and deprived naturalized 
 Japanese within its jurisdiction of the right of casting 
 the ballot. Certainly those Japanese fishermen who are 
 
"WHITE CANADA" 249 
 
 not bona fide citizens of the Dominion have no moral 
 right to protest against this provincial measure. 
 
 And yet the fact remains that this discrimination is in 
 obvious contravention of the naturalization law of the 
 Dominion. Besides, it wrongs those Japanese who have 
 obtained naturalization certificates in good faith, and are 
 to all intents and purposes desirous of remaining loyal 
 subjects of the British Empire. It is estimated that up 
 to 191 1 some 3,091 fishermen were naturalized. Grant- 
 ing that some of these men have since returned to their 
 native country or crossed over to the unknown shores 
 there must still be more than 2,000 naturalized Japanese 
 engaged in fishery. It would be unjust to presume that 
 all of these fishermen are ignorant and otherwise unquali- 
 fied to vote, for my personal observations lead me to 
 believe that some of them are intelligent and are sincerely 
 desirous of swearing allegiance to their adopted coun- 
 try. Moreover, there are in British Columbia some 500 
 naturalized Japanese who are not fishermen, but who 
 are, in intelligence and moral character, the equal of the 
 average immigrant from any European country. The 
 interest and welfare of this class of Japanese it should 
 be the duty of British Columbia and Canada to safe- 
 guard, especially since the naturalization law obviously 
 means to extend the franchise to all naturalized aliens. 
 
 At the same time British Columbia has the right to 
 prevent the injection of undesirable elements into its 
 body politic. How, then, can the province find the way 
 out of this dilemma? To me the way is clear. Issue 
 fishing license quite independently of naturalization 
 paper; in other words, extend fishing privilege to aliens, 
 so that no ignorant fisherman, whether Oriental or Euro- 
 pean, need be naturalized simply because he is needed 
 for the perpetuation of the salmon industry. This is 
 
250 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 the policy adopted by most States in the United States. 
 California, for instance, issues fishing license to any 
 alien upon the payment of annual fee of $io. I do not 
 see why British Columbia cannot adopt a similar policy. 
 On the other hand, all aliens, naturalized in conformity to 
 the laws of the Dominion, should be allowed to enjoy 
 all privileges, civil and political, enjoyed by the citizens 
 of Canada. This British Columbia can afford to do, once 
 she has found the way to secure desired labour for the 
 promotion of the salmon industry without at the same 
 time admitting ignorant fishermen into citizenship. 
 
 British Columbia's peculiar manner of dealing with 
 the naturalization question naturally created a grievance 
 among those Japanese who secured citizenship certifi- 
 cates in good faith. A few years ago these Japanese 
 sought redress through legal channels. In the Provincial 
 courts their claim was upheld, but the Privy Council at 
 London, to which the Province carried the case, virtually 
 overruled the decision of the courts by declaring that the 
 franchise can be exercised by naturalized foreigners only 
 when the Provincial Government recognizes their fit- 
 ness as voters. From the purely legal point of view 
 there is still room for the Japanese to urge their con- 
 tention, but the real remedy — a remedy satisfactory to 
 both parties — should be found, I believe, on the line 
 suggested in the foregoing passages. 
 
 At present Canada has within its boundaries 12,000 
 Japanese as against 40,000 Chinese. The cry of *' White 
 Canada " was first raised in the eighties against the 
 Chinese. In 1885 the first anti-Chinese law was passed, 
 imposing upon each incoming Chinese a poll tax of $50, 
 and permitting the steamers to bring only one Chinese 
 immigrant per each ton of the capacity of each vessel. 
 In 1 90 1 the poll tax was raised to $100, and in 1904 to 
 
"WHITE CANADA" 25 1 
 
 $500 ; yet during the past several years Chinese have been 
 coming in in much larger numbers than Japanese. 
 
 The restriction of Japanese immigration follows a 
 line totally different from that followed in dealing with 
 Chinese immigration. The Japanese are not required 
 to pay any poll tax which is not imposed upon European 
 immigrants. In accord with the provisions of the general 
 immigration law they must possess upon their arrival in 
 Canada at least $25 during the eight months from March 
 to October, and from November to February, when de- 
 mand for labour becomes less, at least $50. But there 
 is between Canada and Japan, as between the United 
 States and the Mikado's Empire, a sort of " gentlemen's 
 agreement." This understanding, entered into in 1908, 
 admits Japanese only of the following classes : 
 
 1. Settled agriculturists. 
 
 2. Parents, wives, and children of resident Japanese. 
 
 3. Those coming back to Canada to resume their 
 residence or business. 
 
 This agreement was the immediate outcome of the un- 
 scrupulous act of some self-seeking Japanese and Cana- 
 dians who brought Japanese from Hawaiian plantations 
 by the shipload. Prior to 1907 the Japanese Government 
 of its own accord restricted the emigration of its sub- 
 jects to Canada, and thus prevented the immigration 
 question from interfering with the cordial relations ex- 
 isting between Canada and Japan. But in that year a 
 body of Japanese in Vancouver in complicity with their 
 Canadian associates broached the idea of importing 
 Japanese labourers from Hawaii in order to supply the 
 unprecedented demand for labour created by the general 
 prosperity then prevailing in Canada and the United 
 States. For this specific purpose these men chartered a 
 steamer and began importing Japanese on a large scale. 
 
252 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 The result was that during the twelve months from July 
 I* 1907* to June 30, 1908, there were 7,601 Japanese 
 immigrants, showing an increase of 5,500 as compared 
 with the figures for the preceding year. 
 
 This sudden influx of Japanese labourers naturally 
 aroused among the labouring class a hostile feeling 
 against the Japanese. About this time the Exclu- 
 sion League of San Francisco, having established a 
 branch office in Seattle, was striving to extend its in- 
 fluence to British Columbia. Fowler, the man in charge 
 of the Seattle office of the League, came to Vancouver, 
 instructed by his chief, O. A. Tveitmoe, to fan the anti- 
 Japanese sentiment already stirred up by the influx of 
 Hawaiian Japanese. The result was the Vancouver riot 
 of September 7, 1907. On the evening of that day 
 several hundred labourers marched through Powell 
 Street to demonstrate their hostility against the Japa- 
 nese. On the whole these men were orderly and ap- 
 parently had no intention to resort to violence. But 
 some of them, under the influence of liquor, uttered vile 
 epithets and attacked some Japanese and broke the win- 
 dows of a few Japanese stores. The Japanese readily 
 accepted the challenge, and the scene that followed was 
 one of violence and disorder. When the scuffle ended 
 several men of each group were seriously wounded. 
 
 Alarmed by this outbreak the Dominion authorities 
 sent special commissioners to Japan to negotiate an 
 agreement for the restriction of Japanese immigration. 
 The result was an exclusion agreement much of the same 
 nature as that between Japan and the United States. 
 Before 1907 Japanese immigration to Canada was not 
 very large. In 1904 there were only 354 immigrants, 
 in 1905 1,922, and in 1906 2,042. In 1907, as we have 
 already noted, the figures suddenly increased to 7,601. 
 
"WHITE CANADA ^53 
 
 Then came the immigration convention, as the result of 
 which Japanese immigration suddenly declined to 495. 
 In 1909 it continued to decline, the figures for the year 
 being 271. In 1910 there were 437 Japanese immigrants 
 and in 191 1, 765. It must be borne in mind that the 
 majority of Japanese immigrants now seeking Canadian 
 shores are not fresh immigrants, but those who were in 
 Canada before and are coming back to resume their 
 residence or business there. In the following table we 
 observe that Japanese immigration since the conclusion 
 of the " gentlemen's agreement " is much smaller than 
 Chinese immigration: 
 
 Year Japanese Chinese 
 
 1908-1909 495 1.887 
 
 1909-1910 271 2,156 
 
 1910-1911 437 5.278 
 
 1911-1912 765 6,247 
 
 Not only has " White Canada " erected a barrier 
 against the Chinese and Japanese, but it is even more 
 strictly excluding the Hindus, who are, like the Cana- 
 dians themselves, subjects of His Britannic Majesty. Up 
 to 1905 Hindu immigration to Canada was a negligible 
 quantity, but in the year following there were 2,124 
 immigrants from East India, and in 1907, 2,623. Then 
 Canada took immediate steps to check the further influx 
 of Hindus, as the result of which there were only 6 
 immigrants in 1908. Since that year the figures have 
 remained almost stationary, the number for 191 1 being 
 only 3. 
 
 The treatment accorded the Hindus in Canada is much 
 the same as that given them in the United States. This 
 is undoubtedly due to the fact that the East Indians are 
 in their religious practices, their customs, and their ap- 
 pearance far more exotic than the Japanese, and even 
 
2S4 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 the Chinese. Even as the Chinese used to regard the 
 queue as the inalienable appendage to the head, so the 
 Hindu clings to the turban almost with reverence, and 
 is furthermore wedded to peculiar ideas and habits born 
 of the religious conceptions and practices of his native 
 country. Such ideas and habits, when better understood, 
 may be found harmless and unobjectionable, but as yet 
 they are a puzzle to the Occidentals, and in consequence 
 the cause of aversion and repugnance. In the United 
 States, and especially on the Pacific Coast, I saw Hindu 
 immigrants, unable to secure a lodging, sleep in deserted, 
 ramshackle buildings and unoccupied barns. It is prob- 
 ably much the same story in British Columbia. 
 
 In Canada the Hindus are not only refused the fran- 
 chise, but are forbidden to bring their wives or children 
 with them and establish family relations. At one time 
 the Canadian Government went so far as to form a 
 scheme for the wholesale deportation of East Indians 
 to Honduras. The scheme was not carried out, as the 
 Hindus refused to go, but the legislature at Ottawa 
 adopted in 191 1 an immigration law providing a clause 
 which made it virtually impossible for the Hindus to enter 
 the Dominion. That clause provides that no immigrants 
 " who have come to Canada otherwise than by continuous 
 journey from the country of which they are natives or 
 citizens, and upon through tickets purchased in that 
 country or prepaid in Canada " shall be admitted. Inno- 
 cent on the face of it, the clause is to all intents and 
 purposes directed against the Hindus, who consider it 
 " cruel, vexatious, and tricky." To understand the Hindu 
 point of view one need only recall that there is no direct 
 steamship service between Canada and East India, and 
 that no steamship companies in India will issue through 
 tickets to Canada. This discriminatory measure has been 
 
"WHITE CANADA" 255 
 
 the cause of bitter complaint on the part ot the Hindus. 
 " The Canadian immigration laws," says a Hindu writer, 
 " have laid a clearly defined line between His Majesty's 
 subjects of Canada and those of India in the face of the 
 bold and clear proclamation of our late Queen Victoria. 
 It is a puzzling riddle to be solved, that in India we are 
 British subjects, in England we are British subjects, but 
 in Canada, to legalize our British citizenship right, we 
 have to secure another deed to that effect." 
 
 Canada is " white." Oriental immigration as com- 
 pared with that from Europe is insignificant. In the 
 fiscal year 1911-1912 immigrants to Canada totaled 
 354,237, of whom only 1,845 were Orientals — 6,247 
 Chinese, 765 Japanese, and 3 Hindus. And yet there 
 are plenty of alarmists trying to conjure up the phantom 
 of an Oriental domination. Through the activities of 
 such alarmists various anti-Oriental bills have been oc- 
 casionally introduced in the legislature, Dominion or 
 Provincial. 
 
 Some of such bills are no doubt put forward for the 
 purpose of wooing the labour vote and need not be taken 
 at their face value. The Province of Saskatchewan, for 
 instance, adopted two years ago a law prohibiting the 
 Orientals, keeping stores and amusement places, from em- 
 ploying white women. And yet when I was travelling 
 in that province last year I met in the city of 
 Moose Jaw two Japanese young men operating a pros- 
 perous restaurant where all waitresses were Canadians 
 of English or French descent. I found the establish- 
 ment one of the best restaurants in the city, and patron- 
 ized by the leading business men and the best classes of 
 residents. The city authorities were fully informed of 
 the new law with regard to the employment of white 
 women by Orientals, but they could see no sense in 
 
256 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 applying such a law to a respectable Japanese restaurant. 
 Its proprietors, educated, intelligent men, were them- 
 selves married to Canadian women of respectable fami- 
 lies, and were among the best citizens of the city. Why 
 molest their legitimate business simply because some poli- 
 ticians wanted to curry favour with a radical segment of 
 the labouring class? So these Japanese were permitted 
 to conduct their restaurant as if the employment law had 
 never been passed. Yet the existence of such a law was 
 highly repugnant to the Japanese, and it was but natural 
 that the Japanese Consul at Vancouver requested the 
 authorities of Saskatchewan to exempt the Japanese from 
 the scope of this law. The Provincial Government gra- 
 ciously responded to the request, and the Japanese mer- 
 chants and business men are no longer subject to that 
 discriminatory law. So far as other Oriental peoples 
 are concerned, that law still remains valid. 
 
 The story of the Japanese restaurant-keepers in Moose 
 Jaw is but one of many instances of the fact that the 
 Japanese are possessed of essential qualities to make 
 good citizens. A few years ago these Japanese donated 
 a considerable sum to the Y. M. C. A. of Moose Jaw, and 
 find their staunchest supporters among the religious work- 
 ers of the city. In Dawson, Yukon Territory, I found 
 Mr. S. Kawakami one of the very popular citizens of the 
 city. In Vancouver and Victoria there are a number of 
 public-spirited, intellectual Japanese, who should be al- 
 lowed, as their brothers in other parts of Canada, to 
 enjoy voting privileges. 
 
 The principle represented by the catchword " White 
 Canada" is not necessarily a wrong one, but Canada 
 would do well to reflect that all " whites " are not " good 
 whites." Moreover, while Canada is admitting the 
 Chinese by the thousand, it is barring out the subjects 
 
"WHITE CANADA" 257 
 
 of the most advanced and enlightened country in the 
 Orient, an ally of the British Empire. Again, in the 
 fiscal year 1911-1912, Canada admitted South and East- 
 em European immigrants as follows : 
 
 Bulgarians 3,295 Greeks 693 
 
 Hebrews 5,322 Italians 7,590 
 
 Poles 5,060 Roumanians 793 
 
 Russians 9,805 Servians 209 
 
 Turks 632 Syrians 144 
 
 In the United States many authorities on the immi- 
 gration question are beginning to realize the danger of 
 admitting without restriction immigrants of the races 
 represented in the above table. If Canada's enormous 
 natural resources cannot be developed without recourse 
 to immigrants, it would seem the part of wisdom on her 
 part to conceive her laws so as to receive only desirable 
 classes of immigrants both from Europe and from Asia. 
 
 It is much to be hoped that Canada and the British 
 Empire will not permit the shibboleth of " White Can- 
 ada " to be exploited by those pseudo-publicists and self- 
 styled patriots who have their own axes to grind. It is 
 just such publicists and patriots who constantly raise 
 the hysterical cry of " Japanese domination." They say 
 that the Japanese have placed in their political pro- 
 gramme '' the occupation of British Columbia," when in 
 reality Japanese immigrants are merely peace-loving, law- 
 abiding, unobtrusive souls, desirous only of improving 
 their lot in life in this new world of opportunity. They 
 say that the Japanese have " settled down in British 
 Columbia in solid phalanxes of 10,000 or more at a 
 time and place," when the entire Japanese population in 
 Canada does not exceed 12,000, of whom less than 4,000 
 are in Vancouver, whose total population is more than 
 125,000. They say that a Japanese syndicate " seized " 
 
258 ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 a valuable copper-mine in British Columbia, but the en- 
 terprise has been a flat failure because the mine has been 
 found worthless. 
 
 All such alarmist notes are sounded chiefly, if not 
 merely, for the purpose of creating a powerful Pacific 
 fleet of warships for the Dominion. One can well un- 
 derstand why so many of the politicians of British 
 Columbia are eager to conjure up the bogie of Japanese 
 domination, when one recalls that men-of-war are far 
 more liberal customers of coastwise cities even than men 
 of commerce. 
 
 To indicate the extent of business patronage which a 
 naval fleet bestows upon a seaport city, let me cite the 
 case of San Francisco. In 19 12, $5,ooo,ocx) was expended 
 in the city of the Golden Gate by the Commissary for 
 supplies. In the fiscal year 191 3 the expenditure in- 
 creased to $8,000,000. As a writer in a recent military 
 journal states, " ninety cents out of every dollar of this 
 not inconsiderable sum will swell the bank accounts of 
 San Francisco merchants, civilians, mechanics, labourers, 
 and others to whom the United States pays living ex- 
 penses.'' Is it any wonder that Vancouver craves " de- 
 fence " ? It wants to see dreadnoughts frequent its har- 
 bour not because of any fear of Oriental invasion, but 
 because the Navy is notoriously " a good spender." 
 
 Just as in the United States many politicians and pub- 
 licists are employed by the manufacturers of warships 
 and guns to spread and exploit war talk, so in Canada 
 those interested in the creation of a powerful Pacific 
 fleet are resorting to means which are far from honour- 
 able. To carry out their scheme these men are holding 
 up before an unthinking public the scarecrow of Japa- 
 nese invasion. Perhaps they have no desire to stir up 
 hostile feeling towards the Japanese, but their methods 
 
"WHITE CANADA" ^S9 
 
 of propaganda, if taken at their face value, cannot but 
 result in the estrangement of the British Empire and 
 the Mikado's Empire, which are at present bound in alli- 
 ance as well as by ties of traditional friendship. To indi- 
 cate the nature of the activities of such unscrupulous 
 propagandists, I present the following passage from a 
 speech recently delivered in Vancouver by a publicist of 
 British Columbia: 
 
 " Japan will not allow a foreigner to own or even 
 work a mine in Japan, but she unreasonably demands for 
 the Japanese the right to work in the mines and to own 
 and exploit the mines of Canada and the United States 
 — one small syndicate of coolies having now possession 
 of a copper-mine in British Columbia worth nearly a 
 million pounds. She allows no foreigner to engage in 
 fisheries in Japanese waters, but she demands the right 
 of the Japanese to fish American and Canadian waters; 
 and, as a consequence, all the fisheries of British Colum- 
 bia, which are thirty per cent, of the fisheries of Canada, 
 which are the largest and most profitable in the world, 
 are now wholly in Japanese hands, yielding 10,500 Japa- 
 nese labourers from £100 to i6oo a year apiece, the most 
 of which is sent in cash to Japan, and alienated from the 
 British Empire for ever. It is a well-known fact that 
 Japan will not tolerate our workmen on her soil, except 
 those skilled labourers we have been simple enough to 
 send over to teach the Japanese how to make goods 
 cheaper than we can make them. 
 
 " Japan is gradually taxing, or legislating, or expropri- 
 ating every Western interest out of Japan, Korea, and 
 Manchuria, and as far as possible out of China, but she 
 demands equal rights and opportunities for the Japanese 
 workman, merchant, financier, farmer in the business 
 opportunities and potential wealth of the New World, 
 
26o ASIA AT THE DOOR 
 
 and more — those safeguards and protections which the 
 Japanese themselves cannot grant to their own people on 
 their own soil — equal rights in the privileges of an Anglo- 
 Saxon democracy. 
 
 *' If Japan wants something on the American Conti- 
 nent, Canada and the United States must give it. If 
 Canada and the United States want something in Japan, 
 Korea, or Manchuria, it is inimical to the interests of 
 Japan, and they cannot have it. Whatever is prejudicial 
 to the interests or the pride of Japan must be yielded 
 by Canadians and Americans. Whatever is prejudicial 
 to the interests of Americans and Canadians must be ac- 
 cepted because of the imperious demands of Japanese 
 pride and national interest, and the power of the Japa- 
 nese warships." 
 
 Such irresponsible assertions are hardly worth a refu- 
 tation. I may, however, say that most of them have 
 been answered in the foregoing chapters, as well as in 
 my recent book, " American- Japanese Relations." If the 
 publicists of Canada would discuss the Japanese ques- 
 tion, it should be their duty to study more seriously the 
 laws and policies of the Empire of Nippon, lest they 
 would simply make themselves ridiculous and absurd in 
 the eyes of the well-informed. 
 
EPILOGUE 
 
 AMERICANS AND THE FAR EAST 
 
 AMERICANS, as a whole, know very little about for- 
 jt\. ^^S^ affairs and care less ; the struggles of peoples 
 for a larger share of political power interest them 
 because their own career as a nation began with such a 
 struggle, and because they are sympathetic with the demo- 
 cratic movement everywhere. Since the Philippines fell 
 into their hands they have learned where Manila is ; and 
 they have come to have a realizing sense, to recall an old 
 theological phrase, that there is a Far East. War shares 
 one advantage with travel; it teaches geography. The 
 gallant fight of little Japan with big Russia carried 
 American sympathy with it ; the precision and skill with 
 which that war was conducted by the Japanese received 
 quick appreciation from this country ; while the splendid 
 patriotism of the Japanese and their dauntless courage 
 evoked unstinted admiration. The revolution in China 
 was so unexpected on this side of the Pacific and so dra- 
 matic that it instantly arrested attention, and the recogni- 
 tion of the Chinese Republic undoubtedly had behind it 
 the hearty good-will of the American people. That strik- 
 ing event, like the rise of Japan, and, for that matter, 
 like every other event of great significance, was sudden 
 only to those who did not know the influences that 
 brought it about ; influences that had long been at work 
 in the venerable country which has rendered so many 
 services to civilization. When the Dragon Throne fell, 
 with so little disorder and bloodshed that it seemed to 
 have collapsed of its own weight, Americans did not 
 
 261 
 
2(y2 EPILOGUE 
 
 recognize the very considerable part they had played in 
 making ready for the drama which is much the most im- 
 pressive now being presented on the stage of the world. 
 
 Nor did the majority of Americans understand the part 
 played by American influence in the revolution in Turkey, 
 and, consequently, in the series of events set in motion 
 when the Young Turks dethroned the Sultan. Many of 
 them had heard of Robert College, but they had only a 
 very vague idea of the effect of American educational 
 agencies of various kinds in awakening civic spirit in Tur- 
 key and liberating an energy so long suppressed that it 
 seemed to have been destroyed. 
 
 In the Near as in the Far East, Americans have in- 
 curred responsibilities from which their ignorance will 
 not relieve them. It was their hand which opened the 
 closed doors of Japan and forced upon that country 
 changes more radical than any other country has ever 
 passed through in less than sixty years. Those changes, 
 as Count Okuma recently pointed out in the pages of The 
 Outlook, have left no side of life in Japan untouched. 
 The situation may be summed up in a sentence: The 
 entire development of modern Japan has been imposed on 
 her from without. She has been involved in a chain of 
 events from which she could not have escaped if she 
 had tried, and she has faced them with a courage, an 
 intelligence, and a power of devotion to the nation which 
 must fill all fair-minded men who know her history with 
 confidence in her ability to overcome the difficulties which 
 still confront her, and to work out her destiny along the 
 lines long ago defined by her history, temperament, and 
 genius. 
 
 The sooner the world recognizes the fact that there is 
 a New East, the greater will be the chances of race prog- 
 ress in the twentieth century; the sooner Americans rec- 
 ognize the share they have had in creating the conditions 
 
EPILOGUE 263 
 
 and problems of the New East, the sooner will they face 
 the responsibilities they have assumed and the more in- 
 telligently will they choose the part they are to play in 
 the world in the new age of international relationship 
 which has begun. Are they to discard their traditions, 
 violate their principles, and abdicate the chance of lead- 
 ership in the affairs of humanity, or are they to fulfil 
 the prophecies of a large-minded, far-seeing statesman- 
 ship which their relations with Japan and China have so 
 far uniformly made ? California has unexpectedly raised 
 an issue of the first importance, and those who imagine 
 that the crisis, has passed and that the clouds between 
 the two countries will dissolve in thin air do not know 
 the persistence of the people with whom they are dealing. 
 A Russian military writer has said of the Japanese that 
 they seem to have mastered all kinds of tactics except 
 those of retreat. They feel that they have been seriously 
 affronted and unfairly treated, and any attempt to ignore 
 their protests and trust to time to heal the breach in the 
 long-established friendly relations between the countries 
 will disastrously fail. It has been well said that this 
 question is two per cent, a State matter and ninety-eight 
 per cent, a National matter. The members of the Califor- 
 nia Legislature who voted for the anti- Japanese land bill 
 acted as if they were dealing with a few thousand immi- 
 grants ; they seemed to be ignorant of the fact that they 
 were dealing with a sensitive and powerful nation. Ig- 
 noring that nation and omitting the courtesies with which 
 civilized countries approach questions of such difficulty 
 and delicacy, they struck at the Japanese immigrants and 
 w^ent home, leaving the United States to deal with the 
 Japanese Government. 
 
 The American people are very much engrossed for the 
 moment with home affairs of pressing importance ; Japan 
 is nine thousand miles from Washington; most Ameri- 
 
264 EPILOGUE 
 
 cans are very ignorant of the character, ability, and spirit 
 of the Japanese people ; and the news sent from one coun- 
 try to the other seems to be edited for the purpose of 
 irritating the two peoples. Under these conditions it is 
 not surprising that Americans have not yet awakened to 
 the fact that they are face to face with an international 
 question of far-reaching importance : the question of the 
 future policy of this country in the New East. 
 
 If it shall appear that the short-sighted and rough- 
 handed way of dealing with a friendly nation brings 
 home to the United States its responsibilities to, and the 
 political and commercial possibilities of, the rising East, 
 good will come out of evil; for a sharp crisis is less 
 dangerous than drifting without foresight into grave 
 complexities, and missing through ignorance those oppor- 
 tunities of contributing to the welfare of the race which 
 constitute the greatest good-fortune of a nation. Many 
 things could be said about the anti-Japanese legislation 
 in California, but only two things need to be said for 
 the purpose of getting the situation clearly before the 
 country. There was no immediate occasion for such leg- 
 islation ; neither in population nor in holdings of land was 
 there a menacing situation. There was not the slightest 
 danger of a '' wave of Asiatic immigration " ; it was im- 
 possible under existing arrangements between the two 
 Governments. 
 
 A writer in The Outlook, whose statement of the case 
 from the anti- Japanese standpoint was in effect a recogni- 
 tion that one of the most serious objections to the Japa- 
 nese is their ability, declared that California cared noth- 
 ing for the land bills, and that they could have been killed 
 as anti- Japanese measures were killed two years ago if 
 the " Tokyo jingoes " had not blown the " war trumpet " ; 
 and that the abrupt change in California's attitude was 
 but the reflection of " Japan's mailed fist " ; and a writer 
 
EPILOGUE 265 
 
 in The World's Work says : " At this very moment, while 
 this is being written, twenty thousand people are surging 
 through the streets of Tokyo clamouring for war with 
 America." It is a curious fact that Americans in Tokyo, 
 at the time these stirring words were written, saw no 
 mobs and heard no clamour. As a matter of fact, the 
 mobs and the clamour were imaginary. There are yel- 
 low politicians in Japan as there are in this country, and 
 there were meetings at which speeches were made de- 
 nouncing the Japanese Government for not taking a 
 firmer attitude on the question ; for it is an old device of 
 the opposition to attack the government for not adopting 
 a " vigorous policy '* when an international difference 
 arises. There was no outbreak of popular feeling against 
 the United States. There has been a very warm feeling 
 of friendship for the United States among the Japanese ; 
 a feeling of confidence and friendship which has been 
 and may continue to be, if wise counsels prevail, a very 
 valuable asset in the Far East ; and the feeling in Japan 
 was rather one of astonishment and pain than of anger. 
 The managing editor of the World, writing on this sub- 
 ject in the North American Review, says : 
 
 " It may be said plainly that, if there is ever trouble 
 between the United States and Japan, it will begin here. 
 There is something painful about the childlike faith and 
 grateful good-will manifested toward the American vis- 
 itor by the people of Japan, in perpetual acknowledgment 
 of their debt to the United States. This is no shallow 
 sentiment, but a deep feeling bred of the belief that but 
 for Commodore Perry and Townsend Harris, that coun- 
 try would have dwelt in mediaeval helplessness until too 
 late." 
 
 The Japanese felt, and they had ample justification for 
 the feeling, that the proposed legislation was unfair in 
 its attack on values acquired by Japanese workers in 
 
2(£ EPILOGUE 
 
 California, and they resented the discrimination against 
 them as Japanese; precisely as we should have done if 
 Germany, for instance, had proposed such legislation 
 dealing with American holdings. 
 
 Nor was there any '' Japanese mailed fist " ; on the con- 
 trary, the Japanese Government has treated the situation 
 with notable reserve and studied courtesy from the be- 
 ginning. It has done everything in its power to avoid 
 giving occasion for anti-Japanese agitation in this 
 country. 
 
 It has also been urged as a justification for driving the 
 anti- Japanese bill through the legislature at Sacramento 
 that *' the press of the country raked the Sacramento 
 statesmen fore and aft with grape-shot/' whereupon Cali- 
 fornia shook off its lethargy and demanded the passage 
 of the bill. The press of the country did precisely what 
 it ought to do when a State attempts to deal with a 
 question " ninety-eight per cent." of which is National. 
 Having passed the bill, the Sacramento statesmen went 
 to their homes and left the National Government to deal 
 with an international situation which it had not created. 
 A question that is " ninety-eight per cent." National 
 ought to be dealt with by the Nation ; this matter was pre- 
 eminently matter for arrangement by diplomacy, not for 
 rough-and-ready action by a State legislature influenced 
 by local politics. 
 
 If this legislation were a thing of the past, unfortu- 
 nate in manner and form but an accomplished fact, it 
 would be a waste of time to recall the peculiar circum- 
 stances which surrounded it; but it is not an end, it is 
 a beginning. It ought, therefore, to be clearly under- 
 stood that there was no occasion for it in present condi- 
 tions ; that there is no " Asiatic invasion " of any part 
 of America, nor is there any possibility of such an inva- 
 
EPILOGUE 267 
 
 sion ; that there were no *' surging mobs in the streets of 
 Tokyo clamouring for war "; that there was no " mailed 
 fist'' raised by the Japanese Government, but that, on 
 the contrary, that Government has made every effort to 
 keep the country quiet and has succeeded, and has treated 
 the questions at issue with restraint and calmness; that 
 in protesting against the legislation the country at large 
 was not interfering with local affairs in a State, but urg- 
 ing a State not to interfere with National affairs. Pre- 
 cisely what was foreseen by clear-minded people has hap- 
 pened: an international problem of the first importance 
 has been, presented, and must be settled on principles of 
 justice and fair play and with the same consideration 
 for the feelings of other nations which we demand for 
 ourselves from other nations. 
 
 Japan has a civilization different from ours; in some 
 respects inferior, in other respects distinctly superior, to 
 ours. Japan is much more thoroughly organized than the 
 United States; indeed, no Western country except Ger- 
 many can be compared with Japan in military efficiency 
 and in general educational training: Japan must be 
 treated on a basis of equality. 
 
 This does not mean the unimpeded flowing together of 
 great populations, with different standards of life and 
 living under radically different economic conditions; it 
 does mean that the United States shall demand nothing 
 of the Far East which it is not ready to give to the Far 
 East, that restriction of immigration and all kindred 
 questions shall be settled by friendly diplomacy between 
 the Governments, and that the Far East shall be treated 
 as a co-partner in the affairs of humanity. In a sentence : 
 The equality which is often professed in word and often 
 denied in act must be made the basal principle in all 
 international relations. Race differences must be clearly 
 
268 EPILOGUE 
 
 and frankly recognized; economic differences must be 
 candidly faced; but race hatred must be driven beyond 
 the pale of civilization ; it is a survival of barbarism and 
 it must go back where it belongs. 
 
 The Japanese have never been servile; that is the 
 secret of the dislike for them felt by Western peoples, 
 accustomed to treat the Oriental as if he were outside the 
 protection of law. " You cannot knock a Japanese down 
 in Japan without danger of going to jail," summed up, 
 for one European, the chief offence of a nation which 
 holds itself quite on a par with other nations in those 
 things which are essential to civilization. If some Japa- 
 nese have an exalted idea of their national achievements, 
 they are sharing the feeling which Americans, Germans, 
 Englishmen, and others entertain with regard to their re- 
 spective countries. The sense of superiority has reached 
 a high state of development in most countries. Much 
 has been said about non-assimilability ; and it has been 
 declared many times that the issue of superiority or infe- 
 riority is not raised ; but the fact remains that in dealing 
 with Japanese subjects Japan was ignored. 
 
 There is a New East rapidly rising in political and com- 
 mercial power ; we have had a great share in opening the 
 way for it, in giving its development impetus and direc- 
 tion. We have invaded it with our ideas, methods, cap- 
 ital. Our merchants are in all its ports, our lawyers, 
 surgeons, physicians, dentists, are in its leading cities; 
 we have wxlcomed its students in our colleges and sent 
 our teachers by the score to its schools, colleges, universi- 
 ties ; our missionaries are everywhere preaching the reli- 
 gions we profess, and teaching the ethics we call ours. 
 We have forced open the gates of the Far East, and 
 every year we are multiplying the means of relationship 
 with it. Mr. Marconi has spoken across the Atlantic and 
 
EPILOGUE 269 
 
 will soon speak across the Pacific. The ends of the earth 
 have become stations on the unbroken circle of communi- 
 cation which runs around the globe ; and we are only at 
 the beginning of international intercourse. A German 
 writer has recently said that in his opinion the finest ele- 
 ments for future citizenship are in China. Japan is well 
 on her way towards the command of her resources ; and 
 now that science is intensifying the efficiency of men in 
 dealing with soil and with industry, who will venture 
 to fix the limits of her growth? In the Far East, too, 
 lie the great fortunes of the future — the prosperity which 
 ought to enrich the Pacific Coast and will enrich it unless 
 it closes its imagination to a wealth of opportunity which 
 twenty-five years will turn into tangible riches. 
 
 In the light of these facts, what shall be American pol- 
 icy in the Far East ? So far it has been friendly ; if not 
 masterly, it has not followed slavishly the lines of Euro- 
 pean policy, which has been determined largely by com- 
 mercial interests. But it ought to do more; it ought 
 actively to aid a development for which it is largely re- 
 sponsible; it ought to unite to the sound sense that will 
 deal practically with questions of present intercourse the 
 imagination that will foresee and lead the way in the new 
 age which has begun. " The Mediterranean era declined 
 with the Roman Empire and died with the discovery of 
 America/* writes Mr. Roosevelt. " The Atlantic era is 
 now at the height of its development and must soon ex- 
 haust the resources at its command. The Pacific era, 
 destined* to be the greatest of all and to bring the whole 
 human race at last into one comity of nations, is just 
 at the dawn." Hamilton W. Mabie. 
 
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