The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-10-28
UNIONS WAR ON JAP LABOR.
FIGHT IN CALIFORNIA BEGAN
TEN YEARS AGO.

kekFtkAJADH VI SCnOOl AUIIUrGn UuIY an
Incident In the EmOrt 20 Exclude All
japanese WOrkingmen = ahfOrniR Fruit
Held lnVaded-Struggle In the Cities.
: The fight wased by organized labor
against t~heJapanese on the Pacific Coast, in
Hawaii and Alaska, which has now developed
into an international matter, has been of
about ten years duration and Of q scope
much broader than the present difficulty
over the exclusion Of Japanese children from
San Francisoo's schools indicates. The
Japanese Government doubtless has been
advised before this time Of the character
Of the labor campaign against its citizens,
but has awaited this last manifestation
before taking action
A Law passed by the Legislature Of Cali
fornia five years g providing for the
segregation Of all Orientals into separate
schools is the only legislative act that the
organized labor party has been able to
invoke in its fight. The rest Of the cam
paign has been carried on unaided and in
g manner characteristic of labor agitations. A..
Before the entrance Of the Japanese into
the labor field Of California and the northern
coast States began to be seriously felt
their presence In the cane helds OF Hawaii
and the fish packing plants OF Alaska was
taken by white laborers as a menace. In
Hawaii the labor situation became acute
last year, when in n instance the Japanese
field hands on a plantation on Oahu be-
came so incensed at the effort Of organ-
ized labor to GUST them from their work
that a week OF rioting followed and the
militia from Honolul1 had to be hurried
TO the scene.
MNok 80 khA pIank&;1n. i. EI.-r.st
are worked on the s~ub-contract system.
The contractors, hired directly by the
owners to cultivate and cut the cane, par
Gel out their acres to Japanese sub-con-
tractors, each OF whom is the head OF a
gang, very much after the order OF the
padrone system in the Southern States.
This system, begun about ten years age,
has proved so profitable that now all
the great plantations in the islands are
worked by Japanese, to the exclusion Of
other laborers, and h immigration Of
Japanese coolies has been yearly greater.
save during the period Of the Russo
Japanese war.
In the fish ~canneries OF Alaska and the
Columbia River region OF Washington the
Japanese padrone system OF Hawaii has
been of late years successfully duplicated.
Several thousands of Japanese are now
employed in manual labor Of the lowest
order involved in cleaning, cutting and
packing the salmon. Their a are
paid by the sub-contractor n are lower
than the wages formerly demanded by
white labor. The number Of white laborers
employed in the fish packing plants has
steadily decreased.
In California the Japanese labor first
sought the fruit fields. and it is in the work
Of cutting, drying and packing fruit that
the unorganized, ununionized Jap has the
most strongly ~iptrenched himself. In
this field the padrone system is not in
use, the manager Of the fruit ranches deals
directly with the individual Jap laborer
At a lower wage than that demanded by
white laborers.
In the raisin picking district throughout
the San Joaquin valley region, in the citrus
belt Of southern California n in the apple
country along the foothills the Japanese
have been growing more numerous each
year. Yet the labor field has not been
monopolized by the Nipponese, as is DEM
onstrated each year when the ranch owners
are hard put to it TO get laborers of any
color TO pick their fruit
The other fields Of unskilled labor in
vaded by the JapaneSe are those Of
section work on the railroads, clam and
abolone digging along the coast. and house
service. In the latter occupation he
japanese nave been engaging in greater
nu yearly. Most Of the Japanese
house servants are young men who attend
school between meal times and SIT up over
their books every night.
As a class they have, been found more
efficient than the average Swedish or Ter
man girl from the employment ONCE. Inc
japanese house servants usually ask smaller
nay than that given other servants out Of
consideration for the fact tha they are
absent from their duties certain hours OF
each day, The average pay OF a Jap boy
is from SIS to S25 a month; the girl from
the employment agency gets $50 and more
In the cities the men from the Or1ep
own non-union restaurants, they run nom
union barber shops and ever do non-unlon
carpentry WORK and jobbing. In san fran
cisco from lime to time the unions nave boy
cOtted the Jap restaurants, put sandwich
men in front to ward of custom and even
Tesorted in some instances 10 ylolsnce.
The Japs are not recognized as eligible to
join the unions, nor would they DO 80 II
they could, each individual being, as a
matter of fact, the member OF some Tar
older and far more powerful trade union
In his own n
The organized labor protest against the
crown men in California began first In the
fruit industry, and there IL is stln tne stronB-
est. No attempt to reason the Japanese
out Of working at a wage has
ever been made, and the only recourse mas
been intimidation. In Fresno, n OF tho
greatest fruit centres OF California, there
have been frequent armed clashes between
the whites and the Japs, resulting from an
attempt on the part OF the white aporers
TO drive the little fellows out OF One
Japanese was beaten to death there last
fall and no arrests were made.
As San Francisco grew to be the strongest
union town in the United States there FOL.
lowed a unionizing OF the Legislature OF
California. The Union Labor party APP
peared in San Francisco politics eight years
ago with the election Of Schmitz as Mayor
and has remained in the field, sending
delegates to the Legislature and setting
the lead for other towns Throughout the
State in making organized labor a factor
The Legislature Of Calf ornia atpresent
is very near a union labor party, thougn
Herrin, the Southern Pacific boss, still ID
able to swing things his way by a narrow
majority. Schmitz. the union labor Mayor
Of San Francisco, is a strong bernat0
possibility four years hence. Inc whoie
municipal government OF San Francesca 10
union labor and has been for eight years:
The president Of the San Francisco Board OF
Education, which has decided to enforce the
dead law Of five years ago for the segrega-
Ilcn OF Orientals in the schools, was onoe
President Of the musicians union, as was