Los Angeles herald., 1909-10-03

In 1885 the municipality of San Francisco made
investigation in Chinatown of that city The report
says-'There were found living in families, women,
57 children, SO; herded together with apparent IN
discriminate parental relations and no family class
fcation, women, 761; children, 576; professional
women and children living together, women, 5eJ'
children, 81
called Chinatown, and there in all that number
less than hreescore wives, with less than threes
children.
Here chastity is unknown and women are mainly
slaves sold to infamy and trained to vice.
'These conditions still continue, and the Japanese
but little better than the Chinese Their housing
conditions little better but the relations of sexes
fully bad. The of 1900 showed on the
mainland Of the United States total of 24326 Japan
ese of which only 9S5 females 1t is safe to say
that far than majority of these females were
prostitutes. After 1900 larger number of Japanese
were imported for immoral purposes, so that
about one-third of the arrivals women.
"The activity Of the federal government In 1907
brought about change, for during that year while
the number of females was only 2,9S6"
Confrmatory of the foregoing is the fact that it
would not be difficult for government officials to show
that after marriage required by custom
Japanese girls brought to the United States under
the picture marriage" arrangement have only been
imported to add to the already immense number of
their and who follow lives of degradation
in the Pacific coast cities.
Must Be Safeguarded.
No foreign government disposed to fair dealing
could possibly take exceptions to the maintenance by
government of public policy calculated to eradi
cate such conditions described and any ineli
gent person who will give the subject reasonable
sideraton must necessarily reach the conclusion that
it devolves upon the federal authorities to surround
Japanese picture marriages" with every possible
safeguard in order that society may be protected
and that unscrupulous rascals who fatten from the
earnings of shame not enrich themselves through
the importation of innocent Japanese girls. The
Executive Order of President Roosevelt dated March
A. 1907 reads follows-
"And whereas, upon sufficient evidence produced
before me by the Department of Commerce and
Labor, l am satisfied that passports issued by the
of Japan to citizens of that country of
Corea and who laborers skilled unskilled, to
go to Mexico, to Canada and to Hawaii, being
used for the purpose of enabling the holders thereof
to to the continental territory of the United
States to the detriment of labor conditions therein
hereby order that such citizens of Japan and Corea
to wit, Japanese or Corean laborers, skilled un
skilled who have received passports to go to Mexico
Canada or Hawaii and come therefrom be refused
permission to enter the continental territory of the
United States"
The reader will readily recall the agitation in the
Pacific coast cities during 1907, particularly in San
Francisco over the proposal to segregate Oriental
children for school purposes, which resulted, not in
the establishment of separate schools but in friend
ly understanding with the Japanese government for
the restriction of japanese immigration Of the labor
ing this country, the above executive order
forbiddng the admission to continental United States
of'Japanese Corean laborerS holding passports to
Mexico, Canada or Hawaii. 1t hoped that by
restricting Japanese immigration TO this country not
only would labor conditions in the sections where
the agitation most pronounced be benefited but
that the necessity for separate schools would be OBJ
Waited. The influx of Japanese women under the
"pcture marriage" plan (and they coming in large
numbers) will certainly render schools of some sort
necessary, and a further problem will be up for
settlement when reflect that the Japanese multiply
rapidly and that the progeny resulting from picture
marriages" will be citizens of the United States By
birth and entitled to every right and privilege con-
templated in such title
By the comfy of nations" not nfrequently alluded
to by the courts when dealing with international prob
emS under ordinary circumstances when both of the
contracting parties physically within the jurisdic
ton of the laws under which q marriage is consuul-
mated in a foreign country, government should
and does accord such unions full recognition except
ing where polygamy is involved full recognition
being extended to all Japanese marriages where the
ceremony has been performed while both parties were
within the purview Of Japanese statutes
But our government has its public policy to
maintain and prompted by the demands of such pol
ICY uniformly insists that participants in picture
marriages" shall be united by ceremony conforming
to American usage, and the wisdom employing still
other safeguards to insure the genuneness of these
marriages is now under consideration. 1t is firmly
believed before surrender of a japanese bride into
the care of her alleged husband who in nearly every
has had residence of years in the United
States, that thorough investigation should be en-
forced by the government in order that there may be
absolutely no uncertainty to the trustworthiness
the bridegroom. Once admitted to the United States
Identification of japanese girls without the use OF q
photograph is an mpossbiity and addition to tie
other precautions it is deemed essential that the jap
anese government be requested to cause some official
Endorsement to be made the photograph of The
bride, said photograph to be filed with the govern
ments officers when the holder is admitted to his
country, for by this means only it be determined
whether the Japanese females landing in the
United States in increasing numbers under the pct-
ure marriage" system coming to an existence of
chastity vice