Los Angeles herald., 1906-12-21
BOARD
w WARMLY
REPLIES
Resents Woman'S 5
Charge of States
'ProvincialiSm'
Scores Roosevelt and Met
calf for Erroneous
Assumptions
Says Japanese Situation VIII Take
Care Of Itself Without Assistance
of Meddlers or Ambitious
Politicians
BY Associated Press.

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 20-In reply
to communication from Mrs. Flora
p. Harris, one Of the most widely known
Of the American missionaries now re-
siding in Toxic, on the Japanese school
question in this city the San Francisco
board of education, through its secre-
tary, Elmore C. Lefngwell, has framed
an answer which will be mailed to
Japan.
Mrs. Harris letter is conserved In
friendly attitude, though she does not
hesitate to criticise what she terms the
provincial spirit" of the local officials.
She deprecates the attempt to classify
the Japanese as "orientals" or anything
else calculated to convey derogatory
implication. and has number of sug-
gestions to make which she presents
with the best of good feeling.
Mrs. Harris communication has ap-
parently aroused the ire of the San
Francisco school board, which resents
the interference but welcomes the occa-
sion to put itself on record.
Defiance seems to be the keynote of
the reply, and the president of the
United States is said to have mlsinter-
preted the local situation.
Mrs. Harris Letter
In portion of her letter Mrs. Harris
says:
Il deprecate the misunderstanding in
San Francisco. The Pacific has become
a mere ferry for travel and commerce,
and San Francisco must therefore be
cosmopolitan in spirit rather than pro-
vincial. 1t Is my regret that she has
shown provincial lack of knowledge
as regards our treaty obligations.
1t IS news to us all that the children
of any foreign residents under our
flag can be excluded from the public
schools and segregated without their
consent, solely on account of their ma
tionality. TO found special public
schools of the diverse nations would be
to establish dangerous precedent
In the reply of the board of education
Is found the following:
"The Japanese have not been ex-
cluded from the public schools of San
Francisco. Despite the fact that no
less a parsonage than the president of
the United States has employed a SINH
lar assertion in framing a message to
congress. and notwithstanding the
wholly unf-ir report made of the entire
school incident by the secretary of COM
merce and labor, the Hon. Victor H.
Metcalf, the declaration that the Jap
anese have been excluded from our
schools is an error.
Board Denies "ProvlnciaIsm"
"The' 'provincialism' of Californians,
as you term it, is oddly enough reflected
In the hearts and minds of the people
o. Oregon and Washington American
citizens whose patriotism does not pale
in the soft glow of a far eastern sun
and whose life blood has been shed
more times than once in defense of
treaty rights, of liberty, of justice and
the protection of American institutions.
''The fact that the president of the
United States, basing arguments upon
erroneous assumptions and framing
against a loyal people scathing crit
icisms, regarding a matter which is
purely one of local concern, does not in
the least deter the people of the Pacific
coast, who. after all. are doubtless the
best judges of their own immediate
needs and welfare.
Neither do the misleading deductions
and recommendations of a politician,
high in authority when voiced through
a document which plainly sought the
light of favor and not of truth, impress
the people Of this locality with any
sense of doubt as to their rights as free
born Americans or as to the justice of !
the stand they have taken.
Without the intervention of misin-
formed or prejudiced public men, Cali |
fornia would deeply have appreciated |
an opportunity to exercise the funda- !
mental right to deal with this subject !
alone and unaided i'm which event |
Japan might have spared herself much |
OF the concern that has resulted from
the work of meddlers.
1.-The board of education will not re-
cede from its position, and whether the |
president of the United States who has |
been led by error into using emphatic |
language to the people of this state, or
ambitious secretaries distort
plain facts and shape documents that |
may perhaps be formidable In a poiti~
cal sense, the school authorities of this
city, acting under a state law and with
Out prejudice will doubtless adhere to
The very reasonable stand that has been
,aken."
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