The daily morning journal and courier., 1906-12-21
world. Let us hope that 1t will be. Inc thing is certain. Things are nov iingi
tMETCAIJFs MISSION.

looks like a tempest in teapot, So in significant is the number of Japanese students but-great oaks from little acorns grow. Secretary Metcalf sends in a census, a his ory and summary. He finds sentiment In the state very strong against Japanese young men at tending the primary grades" with which sentiment he is In sympathy So, he recommends an age limit rule as a simple way out of the difficulty. The special message accompanying his re- port declares it to be undesirable that young men, no matter of what nation ality, go to school with children It hopes, however that as matter of comity, Japanese children will not be excluded.
 Still, suit is to be brought The Cal ifornia school board had directed that Mongolian pupils be segregated This is the head and front of the San Fran cisco offending. The direction does not discriminate It applies to all Mongo- Hans of all ages-Chinese, Japanese and Koreans. The yellow journals hailed it with enthusiasm-with talk about the yellow hordes Newspapers not of saffron complexion followed suit in their own way. They declared the schools of California to be a state, and not federal institution. They assert ed the right of the state to extend It's school privileges to aliens upon any terms it chooses to prescribe.
 This is to be tested. The government case will contend to the contrary. In the special message, the President says he authorized Secretary Metcalf, apro- pos of the boycott of Japanese restau- rants, to state that if there was failure to protect persons and property the entire power of the Federal govern ment would be used promptly and vig- orously Ito enforce the observance of our treaty the supreme law of the land" This is the Presidents concep- 4ion of the country's international con tracts According to his interpretation, as soon as they are signed and sealed they become the supreme law of the land And the state that trifles with them runs the risk of enforcement by the executive in his capacity of com mander-in-c chief.
 Earnestly, the President hopes that he will not find 1t necessary to press the suit. Otherwise stated, this means he hopes that the California school board will surrender at discretion, will back down, gracefully CT otherwise. It may, but nothing is less likely segre- gation is endorsed The policy of the school board has the approval of the people of San Francisco. It also has the approval of the people of the state and the commonwealth respectfully re- | fers the government to the organic law of the country, which reserves to Cali fornia all rights not expressly delega- ted, including the right to manage as well as to maintain its schools.
 Sooner or later, settlement will come | Sooner or later, the supreme court oi | the United States will be called upon tf ! hx the state status of treaty, to inces
 it with invineibiity as the supreme law ] of the land or 10 vlndicate such sover
 eighty as California claims in common
 with every other state in the Union | The San Francisco case has ceased tt become acute, which is perhaps all thu | more reason why the test should be ap
 piled. The President has smoothed thu rutfied feathers of Japan, but none car | tell how soon other provocations, SC
 called, will materialize and the govern ment should know where its power be | gins and ends,
 | Three capitals have been stirred up Washington Tokio and London. Ac | cordlng to the Japanese consul in Hon olulu, the Mikado's squadron will no
 visit San Francisco, lest there shoulC be "a repetition of the Maine disaster. And, according to dispatches from Lon don, the British have been profoundl! stirred by the specter of war They ar 1 in alliance with Japan, in such allianc
 as might compel them to take a hanC | in the game, a possibility they ma!
 well regard with apprehension. So, i
 appears that a school board has tn
 power to make trouble all along the ir
 ternational line. It is almost dificul | to resist q smile.
 Secretary Metcalf's trip to the coas
 has been as a begging expedition Ht
 was 1t has been intimated, sent to thu | school board as a sort of suppliant Think of it! A special emissary g0e l from Washington to intercede with
 local school committee, lest the peae'
 of the world be imperiled. This nor l particularly In behalf of one of tn | great powers of the earth, to wit: tn l United States. As the climax of an ae l In comic opera this would make hit l Or. take the other view of it. Take tn
 threat that, should the local committee 1 be obstinate, the naval or militar,
 forces, or both, would be mustered int,
 service Material for comic opera i l there none the less. Against any chanc
 of any repetition of that incongruity
 the country should be saved.
 l It Is almost superfiuous to add tha 1 organized labor must take its share O
 the tempest in the teapot trouble. l has been in evidence whenever ant | wherever prejudice against the Japan l csc in San Francisco has broken out. l
 has gone from boycott to brutality, de facing its agitation with a long list O
 assaults and warranting the readinl
 a sort of Presidential riot act, but tha
 is only phase of a case charged witt
 much more powerful explosives. Thi' country makes contracts with othe nations. It assumes obligations, fulfill
 ment of which will be exaeted-the oth
 CT contracting parties will stand upol
 the letter of the bond. They will no
 accept school board as a scapegoat They will look to Washington for en
 forcement. If certain clauses of tn 1 contracts are. as 1t were, uncertain,