Arizona republican., 1905-03-07
PHOENIX AR1z.. MARCH '. 1sO5
CaIIfornIa's .YelIow Peril"

Tn a resolution duODIeu ly by both houses, the legislature of California has demanded legislation by the national government to exclude the immigration of Japanese iaborers into the United States. In the discussion of the resolution there were few good words for the Japanese. Some of the members pointed out that American labor cannot be obtained for the nee essary work in California's vineyards and orchards, and that reliance must be had on Japanese to a large extent Nevertheless. these legislators agreed that it would be better to waive such advantages as are derived by the fruit industry from Japanese labor, in order that the greater evil of Japanese com petition generally may be overcome.
 Most of the California newspapers are expressing strong opinions on the side of the proposed legislation. The San Francisco Chronicle. one of the most conservative and influential pa pers in the state expresses the prevail ing sentiment in these words:
 d tain proportion of Japanese labor is required to harvest our fruits. If that is true we cannot uproot our orchards and vineyards too quickly. There is no profit to be got from any branch of the fruit industry. or from all branches combined. which will justify the con- tinuance of the present Japanese inva- sion.
 The extent and character of this Japanese invasion as it already exists are not realized. 1t is not only the lab orer who is being displaced it is the farmer. the merchant and the mechan- fc. In one well-knOwn fruit district in this state it is said that half the orchards are rented to Japanese. They are renting farms in all fruit districts In some they have begun to buy them. In the discussion in the legislature it developed that Japanese were not only renting Fresno vineyards but rapidly buying them. When the Japanese of the class now coming to the United States rent or buy farms there is an immediate exodus from the neighbor- hood of every white family that can get away, There is no American read CT of these lines who would willingly accept a Japanese of the coolie class
  already hundreds of American families in this state who are compelled to ac- cept them. They buy or rent what were once attractive rural homes and make wreck of them. Every yestige of rural beauty disappears. The build ings go to ruin, the debris of old wa gons and machines occupy the front yards and the roadsides and decrepit old skates painfully drag the blows and the farm wagons where there were once sleek and well fed horses driven by thriving American citizens That is what We. are coming to. If the Jap anese come in the white men will go out.
 "They will take our land easily The American orchardist who employs a Japanese crew has the time of his life to get decent days work out of them. No persuasion, in case of erner- gency, such as may at times happen in fruit harvest, will induce them to work one minute after the hour of quitting. When. however. a Japanese company has rented or purchased a fruit farm everything changes in the twinkling of an eye. Every soul on the place, em- ployer or employed. is in the field be- fore sunrise and at work as long as they can see. AS not one dollar of ex- penditure is incurred for adornment, or even decency of appearance, the re- suit is inevitable. The American fruit grower is crowded out. In place of an American rural population We have a country full Of Japanese coolies and absentee American landlords congre- gated in the towns"
 In other words, the California agi- tation of twenty years ago against Chi nese immigration-which resulted in the Chinese exclusion law-has It's counterpart now in the agitation against the Japanese. To be sure there are no Denis Kearneys or mobs or threats of violence against the Jap anese, but otherwise the present move ment is just as earnest as was that against the Chinese. And indeed, it is significant that the action of the legislature has been taken. in response to demands from the conservative class of citizens. It is we'll known that Chinese exclusion was delayed, rather than hastened, by the leadership of Kearney and the sand-lot mobs. The people of California have noted with surprise that the immigration from Ja- pan has continued. notwithstanding the heavy drafts made upon Japans pop ulation by the war, and it is feared that with the coming of peace and the inevitable stagnation of business in the mil1ados empire as a consequence of peace. the current of emigration to the United States will take on stu pendOus proportions.