The Washington herald., 1906-12-06
FRISCO TO TEST Law
japanese Case Will Be Pre-
sented to Supreme Court.
SAY THE PRESIDENT IS BITTER
CaIifornians Declare Roosevelt Mis-
stated the Facts fn His Message.
Conferences Between board of Ed
ucatiOn and United States Attorney
Is FruitIess-wiH Prepare Data.

san Francisco. Dec. THAT portion Of
President Roosevelts message relating TO
the exclusion of the japanese children
from the primary public school was the
sole topic in educational circles to-day
TWO important conferences were held in
the morning Henry 3. Miller. consul
general for the United States at Yoke
hama, and George Kennan. the noted au-
thor, had a private conference with the
board of education for the purpose Of
gathering additional statistics about the
number Of Japanese children Of school
age in san Francisco.
In the afternoon President Altman. Of
the board Of education. with City Attor-
ney Burke and assistants. conferred with
United States District Attorney Devlin
about an agreed statement of facts on
which the present cases viii be submitted
in the Supreme Court OF this State TO
test the consttutonaliy of he law under
which the board Of education acted in
excluding children of NOngolian descent
from public schools.
Neither Of these conferences was. par
tcularly fruitful Mr. Miller was in
formed that the board would not recede
from its action, but was promised ali
data he desired. There will be further
I conferences Friday with Devlin. when "a
good statement Of facts will be prepared.
Accuses President OF Bitterness.
President Altman. OF the board of edu-
cation, came out tonight with sensa-
tional interview on the japanese question.
/ President Roosevelt has injected tone
/ Of bitterness into this question: he said,
that one would expect an experienced
statesman to avoid 81 any cost
For enforcing Il law enacted by the
| legislature of this State the people OF
the State are condemned at length by
| the nations Chief Executive He has
/ even gone TO the extreme of misstating
facts, declaring that to shut the japanese
/ out Of the schools Of California is a
wicked absurdity.
THE board of educa ton has not shut
| them out of the schools of this city. It
/ has provided separate schools for them.
maintained by the taxpayers Of San
/ Francisco
! The members of the board of education.
/ while harsh in their criticism Of Presi-
| dent Roosevelt, are charitable enough to
| believe he does not thoroughly under
| stand the situation. 1t is urged the
| President was not aware of the fact that
vetA'e-AAi't SNAAo4elAo " LiD AletAt ltdCitu ilEt
| school and university grades are exempt
| from the order
Wish TO Exclude Coolies.
The intent of the law, say the commits
] sioners. was TO prevent japanese of the
lower classes who came to this country
/ practically as coolies to intermingle with
white children of this country.
! Several teachers to-day i'm talking
/ about the segregation of japanese pupils.
said the whole trouble could be settled
/ by insisting upon an age limit for pupils
in primary and grammar grades.
! There are only eighty-five japanese in
! these two grades, and of these not over
twenty are little children. The remainder
are youths from sixteen to twenty-five
| years old and II is the association OF
/ these grown men with little girls that
parents object IT,
In the high schools there are about
twenty japanese pupils. and a woman
| teacher in one of the high schools said to-
DAY they were neat. orderly. well-man-
nered, and very bright pupils She said
| that they made other scholars work TO
keep up with them. and. SO far as she
had observed. the Japanese youths never
spoke to girls Unless they were addresse
first 1t was her opinion that the whole
question would have been settled quietly
II the President had not stirred I'D a
storm by his message.