Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-12-17
OUR TRADE WITH JAPAN
Commercial Feature of the Con-
troversy Forgotten.
SAN FRANCISCO EXPORTS
Official Report on the School Dis
pute.
COST OF BURNING MARTYRS
Bills Unpaid for Provisioning Gran
mer, Ridley and Latimer, and Fur
nishing Fagots for Their Pyre.
BY WILLIAM r. CURTIS.

or By WILLIAM CUhliS.
Written for The Star and the Chicago Record
Herald
The people of San Francisco who have
been making such an ado about the Japa-
nese evidently have not stopped to consider
the commercial feature of the controversy,
but suppose that those who are interested
in the trade between the two countries are
not engaged in the agitation. You will re-
member the tremendous protest that came
from San Francisco when the Chinese began
to boycott American goods. If such boy
colt were attempted in Japan there would
be even greater cutlery because the
trade is SO much the more valuable. The
Chinese boycott was started because of the
brutal manner in which Chinese merchants
and travellers were treated In the port OF
San Francisco upon their arrival and, as
soon as President Roosevelt stopped that
brutality the boycott was suspended.
1t would not be strange if the Japanese
should declare a boycott against American
goods as long as the San Francisco people
boycott their school children and l do not
know that we could blame them, particu-
larly as our trade with Japan is worth a
hundred million dollars year and there
are only ninety-three japanese children
who attend twenty-three different schools
In the city Of San Francisco. If the board
of education think it is worth while TO- I'M
peril a hundred millions of commerce, most
of which is carried on with the merchants
of San Francisco, for the privilege OF shut.
ting ninety-three Japanese children out or
their schools, l suppose no one can prevent
them from doing So but 1t might De well
for the merchants of that city and the
manufacturers who supply them goods to
stop and think over this suggestion Tor
little while.
Let them drop the question whether the
poVernmant has control over
the state schools, and whether the treaty
between the United States and Japan re-
quires equal school rights for japanese
children let them drop the controversy
over the meaning of the most favored ma
ton clause and consider the situation from
commercial aspect only.
The Facts in the Case.
The official report of the bureau of edu-
cation contradicts the San Francisco news
papers, the members of Congress from
California and others who have reiterated
the statement that most of the japanese
pupils in the schools were grown men,
coolies who were corrupting young girls
and treating other pupils roughly. This
infamous falsehood is disposed of effectu-
ally by the board of education, which fur
nished Secretary Metcalf the following
statement of the number and ages of the
Japanese children:
Lenty years of age. q
Nineteen years of age. 4
Eighteen years of age.
Seventeen years of age. ................ IL
Sixteen years OF age.
Fifteen years of age. ................... III
Fourteen years OF age.
Under fourteen years of age. ............ Al
The two boys twenty years of age and
the four nineteen years of age are coolies
learning the English language in order to
benefit their condition.
These ninety-three children were scat
tered among twenty-three different public
,;t, 10
number attending any one public school
was five, SO that they cannot have crowded
white children out, as alleged and 1t is
scarcely possible that any great harm was
done by them to anybody. 1t is distinctly
asserted that no complaint of the behavior
of these japanese pupils was ever made by
anybody to the board of education or to
any of the school authorities The whole
whose members are receiving very high
wages-S3.5O and 81 a day for ordinary
labor, up to 5000 and $12 a day for the
highest skilled labor; So a month for
cooks, walters, coachmen and other house
servants and naturally they are opposed
to competition from Japanese immigrants
and all other persons who are willing to
work for lower wages.
The Trade With Japan.
The total imports of Japan for the last
fiscal year amounted to s244259,OO9, which
was an increase from $1S5, $50, 800 during
the year 1904.
The imports from the United States In
1905 were So 254, being an increase
from 500 05S,112 in the previous year.
Great Britain led the United States, and
sold Japan S57, $4,000 worth of goods in
1865, an increase from $37 1876, 437 in 1901;
Germany sold sci. 2S9,9sO in 1905, an in
crease from SLABS, 691 in 1904.
The following is list of the principal
articles imported from the United States
into Japan:
Raw cotton, Boilers and engines
Cotton fabrics. Pumps,
Wearing apparel, Bar and rod iron.
Glass and glass goods, Plate and sheet iron
Kerosene OIL lfOsting machinery
Tobacco, lathes.
Eggs, Tin plate,
Dy es and paints. Paper making machinery,
l, lnatI thor ln