Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-11-24
JAP ANESE INVASION
Worrying California Today as
the Chinese Once Did.
DISPLAYING WHITE Men
Enter Into Skilled Labor and Cut
Prices Materially.
ECONOMICAL AND ARTISTIC
Figures That Tell the Tale Of Immi-
grafton to the States Equal
to Pacific Islands.
Written for The Star.

tHdt Stdte IN SuCn mum DerS tnat 1t now re-
CARDS them as a menace. and 1t has called
the attention Of the whole world to the
fact. In an effort to separate Japanese chill
dren from it's own in the public schools 1t
has involved the United States and Japan in
a dilemma Of International proportions. The
mdkado appealed to President Roosevelt to
make intercession on the ground that
treaty has been violated. and the President
dispatched Victor H. Metcah. Secretary of
Commerce and Labor. to the coast to see
how the tangle could be unraveled.
twenty-five years ago the Japanese
landed SO seldom In San Francisco that
they were regarded as curiosities. Now they
come by the shipload. In 1880 there were
only eighty-five japanese in all California
At the present time there are about 35 900,
and they are coming In ever increasing
numbers. most of them flocking to San
Francisco. Since the Pacific coast metropo-
lis was overwhelmed by earthquake and
fire 1t has had a far greater attraction for
these Asiatics than In the days Of its power
and opulence. They do not attempt to tell
how soon San Francisco will be rebuilt in
Its former grandeur, but they are abso-
lutely positive that there will be lots Of
money made during the period Of its recon-
struction. and it's the money they're after
The japanese say that earthquakes bring
good luck, and 1t would seem that they
ought to know. hailing as they do from one
A Different Question.
In dealing with the Japanese. however,
the people of California have a problem far
different from the old time Chinese ques-
ton. The Chinaman antagonized chiefly the
unskilled laboring class. He worked on the
railroads. dug the sewers, picked fruit and
followed the pillow. and he was willing to
accept wages which put the European i'm
business tbox
men of the type of Dennis Kearney rose up
and demanded that the Chinese" be ex-
cluded. But the Japanese Is wholly different
from his Asiatic cousin. He is more versa
tile He prfdes himself that he Is every bit
as smart and quick witted as the Caucasian
He believes himself able to enter any line
OF business In which the white man can
make money, and he has done So Not only
are Japanese picking the fruit of California
orchards. but they are keeping shops in the
cltles. and not a few have offices on the
doors OF which are written beneath their
names Doctor of Medicine" or Attorney
at Law"
About one-half the Japanese who enter
thls country begin as farm laborers, but
even IN this class of work they are unlike
the placid. obedient Chinese. They are not
content long to work for a white master. It
Is their ambition to go into business for
themselves. Many OF them have become
norists and IN certain parts of California
they have monopolized this business. In
San francisco and the neighboring cities.
such Oakland and Alameda. nearly ali
the flower shops at the present time are
houses near Stanford University which vie
with that institution in their attraction for
tourists.
The Japanese is a born gardener He ia
peculiarly skilled In the use of fertilizers.
and can make his flowers grow larger and
more -luxurtantly than the average white
man who calls himself "foricuIturist
He Is constantly introducing new varieties.
to which he gives strange oriental names,
and when he cannot get the capital to run
a flower shop of his own, he is content for
time least. to work as a gardener for
$1.bO day. going from house to house with
a shovel and pick on his shoulder.
Artistic Neatness.
One important Characteristic about the
Japanese which has contributed to his sue
cess as q money maker is his scrupulous
neatness. Not only is it evidenced In his
own personal appearance, but In his stores,
his delivery wagons and the grooming and
Harvesting of his horses. Whether he is d
florist or a cobbler. he Is just as tidy.
Should he repair an old pair of shoes for you
he will not wrap them up in an old news
paper, like his Italian competitor. but put
them In a white pasteboard box. do Up the
package as neatly as a drug clerk and
then. to give the finished product peculiar
artistic touch Of his own, he will paste on
garden.
In some ways it would seem that the
Japanese are too precise. For example.
several days after the fire the Japanese
driver of florists wagon, with some flow
ers for a funeral. attempted to go Though
Octavia street, on the western confine of
the burned district, but was held up by
hoodlums, who threw ashes and charred
wood at the driver and beat the horse with
sticks and stones All undaunted, the Japan
csc drew revolver, and, soaring the crowd
of roughs. he whipped up his horse and
escaped. But, instead of delivering the
ner to which they were consigned, he turn
ed back to the store, changed his uniform
for one that was spotless, harnessed into
the shafts fresh steed in the place of the
bruised and jaded brute that had survived
the attack Of the rowdfes, and then drove
of again with his consignment. When he
arrived at his destination he was told that
the funeral for which the floral offerings
the coffin was on it's way to the cemetery.
"Yes, yes. I know" said the Japanese:
but 1t is better that I come nice and late
than early and dirty"
But you could have delivered the flow
ers," the undertaker's assistant expostu-
lated. They were all right, weren't they?"
yes, yes" said the japanese; but they
would not be beautiful If not delivered by
one that was beautiful"
Favorite Occupations.
The Japanese farm laD0rer has also gone
into the fruit business much as the italian
in eastern cities. You will find him at the
street corner stands, and when not attend
ing to customers he Is busy polishing up
his wares to make them as attractive as
possible to the eye Of the passerby.
As tailors the japanese have ever been
able to crowd the Jews to uncornfort-
able degree. One-tenth of the japanese In
skilled occupations are to be found in this
business. and they have been accused of
resortIng to sweatshop methods In order
to cut prices and gain custom. Officials of
the San Francisco board Of health have
invaded cellars underneath Japanese tailor
ing establishments. where Workmen
worked and slept in the same room. At
one end of the chamber there would be a
stove, where a cook would prepare rice
and fish. And when the tailors had fin
islled their work they would lie down and
sleep on the very clothes upon which they
had been tailoring Yet these places were
all kept remarkably. clean.
The japanese tailor has become especially
popular among the women of San Fran
cisco. for the reason that he seems far
more conscientious about making III"
than the white man. Though he Is fire.
ouently charged with trying to work of
shoddy cloth in place of ''all WOOL" and
to cheat hiss customer in the value sof the
findings" for garment. yet he appears
unwilling that clothes shall leave his shop
unless thew hang without q wrinkle,