The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-06-06
morrow in San Francisco and in the Sacra-
mento Valley in about ten days.

morrow IN san FRANCISCO ana IN the Sacra-
mento Valley in about ten days.
The inquiry has been productive of good
results in several respects. 1t has given an
insight into the Japanese character that
could not be reached by other means. II
has established beyond a DOUBT that
hordes of japanese are only too anxious to
come to this State and work for less money
than any other classes of laborers. While
they may not now be brought here under
written contracts, there is no doubt but
that they are invited to come on the
promise Of all the work they can perform.
In the matter of character, the Japanese,
according to their own testimony given
to-day, are addicted to drink, and when
drunk they are liable to brawl like sailors.
AS workmen they are inferior to the Chi
nese, but are less independent, and in their
dealings with their bosses they belong to
the contractors, body and soul. The sys-
tenn under which they work makes COM
petition by any other class of laborers out
of the question.
Labor Commissioner E. L. Fitzgerald
and United States immigration Commis-
sioner Stradley were not successful in get
ting all the witnesses they wanted. One
important witness is E. R. LillienthaI of
Pine and Battery streets, San Francisco,
who is the president of the Pleasanton Hop
Company, and said to be the president of
the Boston Hop Company. The Commis-
sioners want to see his contracts with the
boss Japanese and to learn if these two
companies or either of them are incorpo-
rated under the laws of Massachusetts,.
04b Sc
contractor Sato, who handles half of the
cody laborers in the valley. The deputies
hunted for the latter for two DAYS and
finally learned that he had fed to San
Francisco, although his white partner, A.
r. Downing, promised to have him present
at the investigation.
An interesting feature in the investiga-
ton is the attitude of the people here upon
the question of japanese labor. Prominent
citizens of the Pleasanton Valley have called
upon the Commissioners and requested
that the laborers in the valley be investi-
gated, as they had in two years driven all
the white help from the fields. Two or
three years ago all of the work was done
by people living in the towns, and the
owners of small farms. In the towns the
wages in tho hopfields during harvest
times. The small farmers were able to at
tend to their teamwork, and the wages
they earned working out" for the large
farmers gave them the opportunity of pay.
ing for their land and have little spare
money to live on. Both townspeople and
small farmers spent their money in the
many Alameda County towns, and even
when times were dull in the outside world
there was no such thing as want in Ala
media County.
The town of Pleasanton, with popula-
ton of 1900 inhabitants, alone furnished
about 900 hop-pickers, as the school vaca-
tions were arranged so that the services of
the children could be used for this LIGHT
work.
Now times are dull and the small farmer
is crowded to the wall. The number of
little farms and homes with the .'for sale"
signs upon the fences is increasing every
month, because the main source of revenue
has been diverted into other channels and
the Japanese contractors are getting the
benefit.
Citizens who furnished the information
requested that their names be not men,
toned, as the employers OF coolies, being
wealthy, might find means of furnishing
them for talking too much.
w. w. Camron of Oakland visited
Pleasanton 4 week ago, and after looking
into the situation told Commissioner
Fitzgerald that it was an excellent field
for operation from labor standpoint.
He said that if any leverage could be OBJ
tanned to drive cody labor fromI the valley
it should be done at once. If the evil
could not be overcome the fruit industry
would be a curse instead of blessing to
the State, for an increase in the number of
orchards and hopyards means an in