The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-06-08
system frather than emulating the

best.
A striking commentary on the failure
of the japanese to grasp the secret of
business success is their lack of credit
here. The Chinese wholesalers in Port
land s Chinatown are universally liked.
Their reputation for honesty is we'll es-
tablished, and they stand high with
the bankers and big business concerns.
This cannot be said of the Japanese.
Although they were well received when
they came here, and have been given
fair chance, they have failed to make
good. The feeling of prejudice against
them is constantly growing, and instead
of trying to overcome this unfavorable
impression the japanese seem inclined
to encourage it by adopting an air of
Indifferent disdain. They are indeed
shortsighted if they do not recognize
the fact that the success of their resi-
dence in a foreign country depends en-
tirely upon their ability to win and ce-
tain the good viii of the people among
whom they have east their lot.
A notable exception to the prevail
ing anti-Japanese feeling in Portland IS
that all business men speak highly Of
one japanese railroad labor contractor.
He is Mr.. S. Ban, who came here from
Toxic twelve years ago, and who has
succeeded so we'll that he is now rated
at 100000 His principal business is
furnishing Japanese labor to railroads,
although he also conducts a general
merchandise store, a sawmil1 and
dairy. Mr.. Ban is universally respected
by Portland business men, and the anti
japanese sentiment exempts him from
it's condemnation because of his high
character The Portland exporters IF
grain, flour and lumber are on excel
lent terms with the great importing
houses of Japan, and are inclined 10
deprecate any agitation against the
japanese. But in spite of these excep-
tions the Portland public opinion is
well-nigh unanimous.
In Portland, as in Seattle and other
Coast cities, the japanese are employ
ed as servants, although the majority
of householders say they are unrelia-
bic and unsatisfactory. One complaint
is that a japanese servant has no COM
junction whatever about leaving his
employer in the lurch. A gentleman
who lived many years in Japan had
favored a certain Japanese family by
giving the children exceptional edu-
cational advantages. After a time
this gentleman came to Portland to
live and brought with him one of the
boys of the japanese household. The |
boys mother made him promise that
he always would be loyal to his Amer |
lean benefactor and stay with him. |
After living in Portland for a while |
the employer was called away and |
could not take his servant with him. |
He turned him over to a neighbor |
with a history of the circumstances |
and a promise that the boy would |
stick. 1t was but a short time, how
ever, until the boy demanded his |
wages. He even declined to stay until
another servant could be obtained and |
threatened his employer with the law
unless he was paid in full on the in
slant.
Another housekeeper hired a Japa !
nese cook only to find that he spent |
quite as much of his time locked in |
his own room as he did in the kitchen. |
He was quite ready with excuses that |
he fell asleep, or that he was tired, or |
something else. One day he left the |
door open by accident and the man |
of the house walked in upon him. He |
jumped up from the table where he |
had been porting over number of |
maps and drew a knife to defend his |
secret. He was discharged. of course, |
but in that household the belief in the
japanese spy system is still a firm one |
Japanese are employed as bellboys |
in the hotels. but there is much COM !
plant from guests that they are mat |
tentive and inclined to become impu- /
dent upon the least excuse. They will |
not subordinate their feeling of equal |
ity. or even superiority, to the de- |
mands of the position they occupy At |
Seattle the red-cap porters in the rail- |
way station are Japanese. At Port |
land and San Francisco they are ne |
groes. and the travelling public is al |
most unanimous in declaring that the |
negroes are much preferable, being |
more polite and attentive as well as
more efficient. The same verdict is /
heard from travellers on trains where
the buffet porter's job has been taken
away from the negroes to be given to
-