The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-06-18


afford, always leaning TO the college"
variety of extreme style Of course
the Japanese in America receives much
higher wages than in Japan, and one
of the first things his opulence leads
him to do is to form the habit of eat
ing bread. These arguments that the
Japanese in America are consumers of
American products are always adj
vanced by the Japanese. 1t reveals
the curious reasoning Of the Oriental
mind. 1t is taken as a matter of
course that the European immigrant
to the United States consumes Ameri-
can wares, but the Japanese holds it
as an extraordinary work of virtue
that he does not follow the plan, OBJ
vious to him. of buying all his wares
in his home land.
To the objection that the japanese
artisans and mechanics have driven
out the white men, the Japanese bust
ness men reply that it would not have
been so had not the employing white
man desired to take advantage of the
Japanese willingness to work for
lower wages. This is well-nigh I'M
answerab-e. 1t is certainly true that
the Pacific coast cities which so harsh
ly criticize the Japanese continue to
give him a job. But in the rural
districts, especially in California, this
is rapidly changing. Many fruit grow
ers this year are using white labor at
a greater cost in order to keep the
Japanese out of the community. The
railroads, however, stick to the prop
bsition that the japanese labor is the
best they can get, and nearly all of the
section hands west of the Missouri
river are Japanese.
The ability of the Japanese to accept
defeat and make the most Of a situa-
ton was illustrated in an incident
which occurred in Honolulu. A Japanese
importee was caught by the collector
of customs in the act of working out
systematic differentiation of mer-
chandise coming in from Japan. Japan
csc officials, steamship officers and
others were his accomplices. When he
was accused by the collector he prompt
ly admitted his guilt, produced the true
invoice for comparison with the false,
and went his way. In few days a
committee of Japanese business men
came into the collectors office to an
nounce that they had formed an as
sociation to assist the collector in the
work of stamping out smuggling and
among the japanese. The chairman
of the committee was the man who
had been caught in the fraud only a
few days before! He codld see moth
ing inconsistent in his attitude The
japanese in America who was insisting
upon his rights with a loud voice a
few months ago is now talking about
Commodore Perry and traditional af-
feat
In Hawaii, and even in California,
there is much talk of the possible po-
liticaI influence of the japanese in the
future, as the sons of Japanese i'm
migrants born on American soil are
citizens and will be voters. The Jap
anese say that fear of political in
f1uence is foolish, even in Hawaii, be-
cause of the fact that the japanese
almost invariably returns to his native
land after a few years, taking his fam
lily with him.
The intense patriotism of the Jap
anese is such that he VIII not even
pretend to any notion of changing his
allegiance. On this account there has
been much objection urged against him
on the ground that, in time of war,
he would rise against the United
States The great Japanese population
of Hawaii, composed largely of vet
eran soldiers, might be exceedingly
dangerous in case of war. The tracks
and bridges of all the continental rail-
road lines in America would be at the
mercy of the Japanese section hands
in event of war.
The high-class japanese business
man becomes impatient when these
fears are mentioned to him. In Ha-
wall, it is pointed out, the Legislature
compelled all persons to register fire
arms, it being the belief that the Jap
anese were thoroughly armed. The
result showed that fewer Japanese
possessed firearms than any other race
of people. One japanese of high stand
ing said: LAS for spies-Well, that is
merely a case of some ignorant Jap
anese taking photographs for pleas
ure's sake. He doesn't know 1t is
against the rules of nations to take
pictures of fortitications, and when he
is arrested he doesn't know enough
English to make himself understood,
or to understand his captors. AS for
the railroad laborers, they could not
hope to destroy railroad property even
in time of war without facing certain
capture and death. 1t is entirely abb
surd to accuse these ignorant coolies
of such high designs upon the peace
of the country which has given them
a chance to make a good living.
In the end, now that the policy OF
Cancellation is adopted, the intelligent
Japanese of the western cities will al
ways carefully explain that he fully
realizes that the objection to Japanese
immigration is based upon economic
reasons, that there is no feeling OF
racial antagOnism. And then-he VIII
declare that the heart of the japanese
neopIe pulsates with true love for the
Americans. that no matter how great
Nv Americans may mfsjudge. them, the
Japanese will forgive and love on
that ever since Commodore Perry
= anchor etc.