The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1892-03-06
JAPANESE STUDENTS.
They Compose The Majority Of The Local
Colony.
There Are Over Thousand Of Them. and
Nearly All Are Christians-T Their Object
in Coming to his Country

w AdHiiiidiIZo themselves with the English
| language and popular government with the
| view of keeping pace with the spread Of
| these civiliZng agents in their own country
Il do not believe that there are hundred
| japanese in this city," said a well-informed
| Jap. "who belong to what would be
| called the undesii able class. In this hum
dred include women of loose morals and
the coolies who herd with them. am safe
in stating that of the twelve hundred or
| more Japanese in this city, eleven hundred
are worthy of this country hospitality, and
one thousand Of this number are young
men representing the best and most pro-
gressive element of Japanse society,""
WORTHY OF RECOGNITION.
These young men, said THE CALLS
informant, do not compete with American
labor and only desire to learn American
| Ideas IN order to Introduce them into their
own country when they return. What are
the facts? Under the old regime In Japan
there were three classes, the daimios OK
princes, the knights, and the third class,
comprising the merchants, the farmers and
the artisans The revolution wiped away
all distinctions, and it was specially severe
on the knight class. which was composed Of
persons OF refinement and education. sala-
ried by the princes. The sons of these
knights inherited nothing but the paternal
refinement and the instinct that knowledge
Is power. They saw that the Japan of the
future would be country with a liberal
government, with tendency to American
Ideas and demand for the English Ian
guage. They could have learned the Eng
llSh language nearer at home by going to
Hong-Kong or Singapore, but this would
have placed them in contact with the Chit
nese, whom they .despiSe and abhor. and
with English feudalism which they have
cast off in the institutions of their own coun-
try. Therefore say these young men who
have come to these shores are worthy Of
recognition by Americans in every sense Of
the word.
STRUGGLE FOR KNOWLEDGE.
II is impossible to grasp the intense ear.
nestness with which the Japanese seek to
bridge over the gulf between the two Ian
guages and the two forms of government,
unless the inquirer goes among the students
and visits their haunts. AS before re-
marked, the japanese colony here is STU
dent colony. There are not above half a
dozen japanese merchants in the city, for
most OF the curlo stores are kept by Ameri-
cans. There is one japanese bank in to Hn
and there are two doctors of medicine, one
dentist, and a lawyer who does japanese
business incidentally. Beyond this the
colony is composed OF young men who set
about learning the English language and
the three Rs, with Infinitely more assiduity
and mental concentration than the most ia
y0red American youth, even when the birch
is employed to stimulate his efforts "in the
Sement.''
UNMENIAL sERvITUDE.
The young Japs mostly come over here
when they are about 16 or II years Of age.
They are afflicted on starting with two mis-
fortuneS-pride of birth and the lack of
even an apprenticeship in any trade or
craft. The one is swallowed down as a
bitter pill gilded by necessity; the other
they do not seek to acquire for knowledge
of English can be picked up in less time
than even moderate proficiency in trade,
so the youths stint themselves Of every
thing to learn the language. 1t generally
takes year or year and
half in most instances. Once having
acquired the English tongue, there is 30
difficulty in the students finding a situa-
ton In japan and getting his return trip
prepaid. This explains why these young
men are willing to enter into temporary
| condition of ''unmenlal' servitude. They
| recognize, when they come here that the
| Chinese are detested and dlstrusted, while
| the majority of white women will not
| well gilded. except as a last resource. The
Jap" compromises the matter by putting
| In about two or three hours in light work
| about house in return for the privilege of
| living in family which speaks English and
English only. 1t is not question of wages.
len dollars month is an outside limit but
on the other hand the young Jap (who is
mostly born with American instincts If
HoueSty anu iuUcpeHQtuce/ Will THROW I'D
his home and arrears Of wages instantly il
any attempt Is made to reduce him to the
condition OF mere mental. He has no
objection to dishwashing, but he would be
unequal to the lndignity OF reporting Mob
Hill society gathering from a secluded
nook, where he could not be seen aud recog-
niZed.
INHERENT PRIDE.
1t Is this inherent, intrinsic and not I'M
American pride which so often leads to
abrupt severance Of ties in households
wherein a Japanese servant has been ex-
perimented with. 1t is soon found that he is
honest, which the Chinese is not; that be is
intelligent, where the Chinese is simply
watchful and cunning; that lie is morally
trustworthy, where the Chinese is a stalk
Ing leper; that he is proud. where the Chi
nese Is lickspittle cur And SO it fire.
| QueEtly occurs that Just as soon as the
Japanese servant" is made to feel at home
| in household he is driven BIZ some out
rageously vugarian Get of the boss" or the
lady Of the house." The old instinct of
the knights comes back to the young man.
He may be owed $40 or $50 by the family,
but that makes no difference. His pride
has been ruffied. He recognizes the force
of Pau's words to Felix when the latter
said: with great sum obtained L this
freedom" and Paul replied, But | was
free eorn!' The son of the Knight of Japsii
discounts the Doodle potentate. Abraham
Lincoln said that God must have loved the
common people because he made so many
of them, but "Old Abe" never contemplated
divine recognition of an American pI;.-
tOcraey. Neither does the japanese Stu
dent.
MOSTLY CHRISTIANS.
The religion of Japan. as is we'll known,
is mostly Buddhism, or that near ally Shinto-
ism. Ia any case the philosophy Of Con-
fucus runs a close race with what in this
country would be called "Agn0sticism."
But nearly all the youngsJapaueSe In this
o. ed n
Japs living here) are Christians or profess
Sors of Christianity, The reason is very
simple. 1t is probably as difficult for a
japanese 10 be sincere Christian as a SIN
cere Buddhist He is BY nature skeptcal,
philosophical, an observer OF the external
proprietIes. In America he wears American.
clothes. In America he is Christian. In
Armenia he would probably sport the fez
and so TO mosque, but he would
be lbei ty-lover and man "for
a. that and a. that" Said japanese resi-
dent to a CALL reporter: Il do not know
how many of the japanese in town are
Christians, but / know that the most Of the
young men go to the Presbyterian and
Methodist mission churches. They do not
60 to the Chinese Buddhist temples or joss
houses These same young men would go
| to a Buddhist temple in Japan they would
| be Shintoists; they would be philosophers,
followers OF Confucius-but whyI Only
| because it is the fashion. Over here, sup
pose, it is the same.
There is well-attended Japanese mis-
| sion church and night school at 531 Jessie
street, with about seventeen resilient STU
| dents and seventy nonresident students in
| the night school. There are two services
| on Sunday in the mission church, under the
| auspices of the Methodist Episcopal denoni-
| nation. and it is the opinion of those who
| have attended these services and the prayer
| meeting ON Wednesday night that the young
| Japs are an example of earnestneSs aud at
| tention to many of the lights of Christian
| congregations.
A JAPANESE NEWSPAPER