The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-02-19
BASIS OF AGREEMENT
 ON SCHOOL CONTROVERSY
MAYOR OF SAN FRANCISCO JS- SUES HIS PROMISED
 STATEMENT.


 [" White SchoOls--SpeciaI Schools to he Established for Those Deficient in
 the Elements of the English Lan-
 guage-Government Plans Treaty
 With Japan Whereby Skilled and Un-
 skilled Laborors of Both Countries VIII be Excluded From the Other.
 Washington. Feb 1S.--The basis of the agreement reached between Presi- dent Roosevelt, Secretary Root, Mayor Schmitz and the members of the San Francisco school board on the Japan. csc school controversy, made public to- night by Mayor Schmitz, provides that "all children of alien races, under six teen years of age, who speak the Eng fish language, may be admitted to the white schools. Special schools are to be established for children of alien birth who are deficient in the elements of the English language" Mayor Schmitz's statement of the agreement follows:
 We find that the administration and congress are entirely alive to the situ- ation in California, and we feel they are anxious to meet the wishes of the Californians. They are also desirous of keeping on the best possible terms with Japan and of doing nothing which can break the ancient friendship be- tween that country and the United States. It has been explained to us vii ta A 41.L form of the action taken by the school board of San Francisco in relation to the Japanese school children has been Icompletely misunderstood and miscon- strued as an attack upon the Japanese as such, and that this misunderstand- ing and misconstruction has been and now is one of the chief obstacles to the achievement of the purpose the people of California really have in, view, this purpose being to secure, by honorable and amicable arrangement with Japan, the mutual exclusion from the two countries of the laborers, skilled and unskilled, of each country This earn l est desire of the people of California, and we may add, in our belief, of the people of the entire Pacific coast. to check the coming hither of Japanese laborers. skilled and unskilled, and our entire willingness and desire that Japan should similarly put stop to the going of American laborers, skilled and un- skilled, to Japan, springs from no mo- 1 tive other than to bring about comrner- cial and industrial conditions to the satisfactory understanding of the two friendly nations
 Events have convinced us, however, that many and probably most of the Japanese laborers who come hither are really brought over to this country in violation of the contract labor law, and that the well-being of our wage work grafton of Japanese laborers to this country. skilled and unskilled. shall cease. There are other countries as well as Japan to which we feel that in Fall probability there will have to be similar legislation, owing to the fact that we are convinced that the laborers who come here from these countries also really come in violation of the con- tract law. We have every reason to believe that the administration now shares, and that congress will share, our way of looking at this problem, and that the result we desire, the cessation of the immigration of Japanese labor CTS, skilled and unskilled, to this coun- try, will be speedily achieved. A Strfk- ing proof of the attitude of the admin- istration, their willingness to meet our desire and yet at the same time to do 1t in a way which will be compatible with continuing on terms of genuine friendship with Japan, is shown by the passage of the immigration bill, which will bar out Japanese coming hither by way of Hawaii Mexico Canada and the canal zone by enforcing the linita- tions which Japan voluntarily puts into the passports issued by her govern ment. More than two-thirds of the Japanese laborers who come hither come from Hawaii, Mexico and Cam ada, and, in our judgment, almost all so coming really reach these shores in violation of the contract labor law, all though such fact would be well-nigh impossible to prove in a court of law.
 We are satisfied from our numerous
 interviews with the president that in the event that the amendment to the
 immigration bill, introduced in both
 houses of congress of the United
 States on the thirteenth day of Feb- ruary, 1907, shall prove ineftectual for the purposes herein mentioned and in-
 tended, every effort will be made by
 him not only to obtain a treaty with Japan authorizing leglislatlon by both Japan and the United States to ex- clude from each of their respective ter-
 ritories the immigration of all subjects
 of the other of said nations who are laborers, skilled and unskilled, but in : any event will favor such form of leg
 islatton that will in the most speedy manner accomplish the results desired, that the national government has no
 purpose whatever 10 attempt to in- ] fringe upon the nights of Caffronia as a sovereign state. and that the purpose of the administration of the national government was merely to fnifll a
 bounden duty to friendly ma San with
 which 1t had treaty to ascertain as
 a matter of international cornaty ard
 courtesy whether or not by the tr1e construction of that treaty such right U or rights had been accorded to the sub- ' jects of Japan Tn view of our numer- s GUS interviews with the president and . our understanding thereof. we felt that