The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1909-04-22

=, tnat lntest tnlS coast nave seen active
l service against the Russians and are dis
t ciplined soldiersH Just one more quota
e tion from the speech of Congressman
! Hayes is applicable at this point. He
: had received a letter from an American
= living in Mexico. He had enough regard
/ for the high character of the writer and
the truth of his statements to ask that
J the letter be printed in the Congression-
al Record. This letter is to lengthy to
| quote in its entirety but it may be
, found in the Congressional Record OF
Feb. 18th, last. The following are ex-
tracts;
! " = l am in a position to give
you few facts which will, I feel, be
of interest to you and those who take
the same position as you"
During the last half of 1906, all
of 1907, and up till Sept. lst 1908, was
in the enjoyment of unusual facilities
for observing the steady movement of
japanese toward the Rio Grande river
from the interior of Mexico. Il =
During the greater portion of the per
, iod to which l refer I was SO employed
as to be in a position where it was i'm
possible for aliens of any kind going
North to escape my observation. In the
case of the japanese, a great throng,
numbering into the thousands, at one
time and another passed North along
the railroad right of way on foot. :
During the daytime 1 was stationed
in an office building about 100 feet
! from the southern entrance to the bridge,
and in consequence it was absolutely i'm
possible for anyone to cross without be-
ing seen by me. At night we had two
watchmen under instruction to permit
no one to pass Beginning with October
of 1906, groups of japanese began pass
!, ing over this bridge sometimes to the
number of 100 or 200 a day. They were
almost without exception clad in por-
!; tions of soldiers uniforms. They seem
ed to have abundance of money, both
/. Mexican and japanese, and there was
, always one man who acted the part of
J an officer and gave orders to the others,
. which were implicitly obeyed. Why men
} so we'll supplied with money should
choose to walk instead of taking the
train was a mystery, although at the
same time that these We're walking the
one train daily to the North usually car
ried a good complement of their fellow
countrymen. OF course those on the
train on landing at Cuidad Porfirio Diaz
4 found themselves at once confronted with
the United States immigration inspect
ors, while those on foot could leave the
railroad track just before entering town
and make their way to some appointed
spot for crossing the Rio Grande unde
tected."
For many months this stream of Jap
anese northward bound, continued, and
} finally from motives of patriotism and
/ thinking that the facts with regard there
to might be of use to the immigration
officials of the border, l communicated
with the person in charge located in
| San Antonio, and after stating the facts,
, offered to furnish information with re-
gard to this remarkable hegira. My
, offer met with such cold reception that
) l did not pursue it further."
l There were several thousand of these
I men, practically all ex-soldiers, who were
brought to this country ostensibly to
/ work in the coal mines of Coahuila.
r. At one time some 20OO were landed at
| group of mines close together and
? within two weeks not one was left.
All had gone north toward the river.
In one case guards were put around the
mine property, but the japanese left in
the night, although they were shot at
by the guards
in the employ of the company for
! which 1 was acting as pay master was a
= Mexican foreman, and native labor being
scarce, he finally persuaded a number OF
z Japanese 10 take temporary employ
| ment under him. This Mexican was
friendly to me, as | had done him some
; favors, and one day he asked me if the
/ Americans thought the japanese were
: friendly to them. l told him good
: many Americans thought so, but that
was from California and knew better
He then told me that ! was quite right
He said that the Japanese thought the
Mexicans did not like the Americans
} (which is largely true) and in conse-
quence they were not afraid to talk to
; them"
| "The Japs he said, boasted among the
Mexieans that they were all soldiers
that they had their expenses paid tc
come to this country, and that they were
all making their way over into the
l United States as fast as they could. When
enough of them had reached the United
States then there was going to be a
war, and the Americans would all b.
killed 90 told the Mexican fore
man 10 find out all he could from Others
e and he repeated TO me that they all talk
ed alike; that they hated the American
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