The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1907-01-11
JAPS IN CALIFORNIA.
In Whites Object 50 strongly to
the Little Brown Men.

the Little Brown Men
But the Japanese coolie who comes
to California, for the most part, is not
an unskilled laborer. He is a cob
bier, tailor, gardener, cook, waiter, or
u or other Of a dozen classes OF
workman, as the case may be. He can
n does, live just as cheaply as the
Chinaman. A handful of rice, a little
dried fish, and a cup Of tea make a
square meal for him. And We feel
convinced hat if he be allowed to
come to these shores in undiminished
numbers, he vii ultimately drive out
all Caucasian competition in every
occupation which he enters, just as the
Chinese coolie did a quarter of a CEN
fury ago. He has already driven the
cherry Orchardist out Of the productive
Vaca Valley, about 60 miles north of
a Francisco. But it is In the latter
city that he is the greatest i
To speak specifically, let us take the
case of a cObbler. He has learned his
trade in his own country. He has
scarcely set foot in that city, when he
rents a dingy little room in close prox-
unity TO a white shoemaker who has
been established in hat location for
many years. Then the little brown
man puts up his sign nOunc
his scale of prices. A perusal of the
latter shows that he asks about one
half the amount charged by his white
ne'9hbOr for similar work. Gradually
his business increases, while that of
his white neighbOr diminishes. The
white man, with a white mans habits
OF living, trying to bring up his little
family, decently and honestly, trying.
if YOU please, to give his children the
benefit Of good education, finds that he
has been brought face to face with an
alien competitor whore materia. wants
are few, and who can subsist on fare
on which a Caucasian would starve.
He tries to stand it for a little while,
sooner or later, when he sees the
bTanched faces of his little ones, when
he begins to realize that he cannot
provide for them as has been his wont,
the iron enters his soul. He begins
to understand that this unequal cOnIpe- |
titiOn means that he must come down
to the JapanseS standard of living, or
he must quit the neighbOrhood in
which he has been established these
many years, to begin anew the strug- |
gle for existence in some other sec
ton which the little brown man has
not as yet invaded.
[ have not Overdrawn the picture. It
has its counterpart in practically every
street in San Francisco. 1t is such CON
ditiOns that ultimately lead to blood
shed and race riot. We want, by all
means, to avoid anything of that kind.
We are ~peaceable, laW-abiding citizens,
but we want the japanese coolie kept
out of our state. Nor do we think we
are unreasonable in our demand. If
similar conditions confronted the citi-
zens of Massachusetts,, we feel conf
dent that they too, would feel as we
do. The Japanese in his native 1and
is a great fisherman. Suppose 10000
of these japanese fishermen should
settle near Gloucester and embark In
the codfishing industry. Would the
Gloucester fishermen stand it with
equanimity, or would they, like their
brethren in California, raise their
voices in indignant protest? And so
with every other community and every
other class of workingmen.
Since h disastrous conf1agation Of
last April the situation has been IN
tensifed by the manner in which
many white tenants were practically
evicted from their homes by japanese.
The latter elected to establish themsel-
YES in one of the most desirable resi-
dence sections of San Francisco. They
would open Japanese boarding houses
twice and thrice the amounts hat were
being paid by white tenants, and after
the latter had been dispossessed,
would open japanese boardin-houses
with swarms of occupants, in these de-
sirable residences. When the white
man saw that he was being ousted to
make way for the Oriental it did not
serve to establish a more cordial rela-
tionship between the races. One must
also bear in mind that at this time,
by reason of the con1agration, houses
for rent were exceedingly scarce, and
many of the families thus dispossessed
had to seek homes on the other side of
the Bay of San F'rancisco.-Julius
Kahn in the Tn6a0andent