The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1907-01-18
JAPS in CALIFORNIA
Why the White People Object So
Strongly to the Little Brown Man.

Strongly to the Little Brown man.
Julius Kahn in the independently
BAT the Japanese coolie who comes
10 California for the most part, is not
an unskilled laborer. He is cobbler,
tailor, gardener, cook, waiter or other
of a dozen classes of workmen, as the
case may be. He can, and does, live
juct as cheaply as the Chinaman. A
handful of rice, little dried fish, and
cup of tea make square meal for
him. And We feel convinced that II
he be allowed to come to these
shores in unlimited numbers, he will
ultimately drive out all Caucasian COM
petition in every occupation which he
enters, just as the Chicago coolie did
quarter of a century ago. He has
already driven the cherry orchardist
out of the productive Vaca Valley,
about six miles north of San Francis
co. But it is in the latter city that
he is the greatest menace. 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 room in close proximity to
white shoemaker who has been estab-
lished in that location for many years.
Then the little brown man puts up
his sign and announces his scale OF
prices. A perusal Of the latter shows
that he asks about one-half the amount
charged by his white neighbor 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, II you
please, to give his children the bene-
fit of good education, finds that he
has been brought face to face with
an alien competitor whose material
wants are few, and who can subsist
on fare on which a Caucasian would
starve. He tries to stand 1t for III
tie while. but sooner or later, when he
sees the blanched 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 his I'M
equal competition means that he must
come down to the Japanese's stand
ard of living, or he must quit the
neighborhood in which he has been
established these many years to begin
anew the struggle for existence in
some other section which the little
brown man has not as yet invaded,
| have not overdrawn the picture.
1t has it's counterpart in practically
every street in San Francisco. 1t is
such conditions that ultimately lead
to bloodshed 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 lHlHh We are utii SdSOhaniS ~ IVA
demand If similar conditions con-
fronted the citizens of Massachusetts,
we feel confident that they, too, would
feel as we do The japanese In his
native land is a great fisherman. Sup
pose 10000 of these Japanese fisher
men should settle near Gloucester ard
embark in the codhshing industry.
Would the Gloucester fishermen
stand it with equanimity, or would
they, like their brethren In California;,
raise their voices in indignant pro-
test? And so with every other COM
munity and every other class OF work
ingmen. A