Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1912-05-10
HOME OF Mixed RACES
ALL coLoRs or MANKIND MAKE
UP POPULATION OF NEW
STATE.

f
| STATE.
Anyone who has travelled through
| this desert country. with Its red noun
tains and yellow plains, has been I'M
pressed with the violent contrasts IN
colors of the landscape" says Booker
r Washington in the Independent.
| writing OF recent visit to Arizona
For my part, WIS more Impressed
with the variety and contrasts IN the
colors OF the different elements OF the
population met there not only black
men and white men but yellow and
red men. with all the varying shades
between them.
phoenix seems to be sort OF melt
ing pot for all the races on the earth
IN this southweste ! country the tides
Of immigration from Europe and Asia
from north and south meet and inter
mingie II seemed to me. while ! was
there. that ! met white people and
black people from every state In the
Union and from some parts OF Canada
as we'll In fact, am perfectly safe
In saying never had an opportunity
before, in so short a space OF time
to meet. touch elbows and talk with so
many kinds Of white people and so
many kinds Of colored people. as ! did
in Arizona"
All these people seemed to be TAX
ing part directly or indirectly, In
three-day celebration OF Lincolns
emancipation proclamation and excur-
sion trains were bringing in people
from many parts Of the new state. Mr.
Washington had been invited to de-
liver an emancipation address. Part
of the program OF the celebration was
a series OF three baseball games be-
tween a Negro and Mexican team. He
witnessed foot race In which an In
dian. a white man and a Mexican par
ticipated and a Negro was timekeep-
er.
Every one in Phoenix. discovered.
has come from somewhere else.-ex-
cept the Indians" continues Mr.. Wash
ington.
The result is, you find people from
all parts Of the country In the most
unexpected places. The little hotel
in which I stopped. for example, was
conducted by an American white wo-
man from the state Of Idaho. When
shortly after my arrival, I asked to
have some breakfast sent up to my
room, l found / was being served by
Chinaman from a Chinese restaurant.
II had heard of Chinese restaurants
before, but confess l was surprised
to find that a Chinaman was running
restaurant In such close connection
with the hotel in which / was stop
ping. As a matter of fact, as was
afterwards informed. there are only
two restaurants In this city Of 10000
inhabitants which are not In control
Of Chinese. One of these Is conducted
by an American white man and the
other by an American Negro.
1.-THE Chinese have control Of nearly
all the truck gardens in the suburbs
of the city. and wagons driven by Chi
nese drivers supply the hotels and
most of the homes. confess It look
ed very strange to me to see Chinese
squatting on the front seat OF a vege-
table wagon driving a horse. Before
/ came to Arizona. had seen pictures
OF Cinnamon drawing two-wheel carts,
and l had seen other Cinnamon car
rying bundles on their heads. but l
had never before seen a Chinaman
driving real horse"
Meeting for the first time in a posi-
ton where one race either Is or soon
will be. crowding the other in the labor
market. I was eager to learn how the
two races felt toward one another" he
continues. From his inquiries he con-
cluded that the black man and the
yellow man were getting along pretty
well together.
He was much interested in the fact
that the "Chinatown" Of Phoenix has
mayor caller Mayor Dick who seems
really to be the supreme authority.
whenever a Chinaman is arrested for
small crime of any kind-anything
less than a felony. In fact-it has be-
come customary for the police authori-
ties to turn the man and his crime
over to Mayor Dick. They have found
that they can get substantial Justice
more surely and more conveniently
that way than they could by dragging
the culprit into the ordinary police
courts and going through the ordinary
processes. The reason for this seems
to be that the Chinaman has very lit
tie understanding of and apparently
very little confidence in the American
methods of administering Justice. And
so the Chinamap in Phoenix even
though he is not a citizen, gets in this
indirect way a certain amount of self
government.
During the few days that was in
the city. although I was very much
hurried, I took occasion to go down to
Chinatown and to visit Mayor Dick.
He was little. driedup, yellow man
who spoke very broken English He
seemed. however. to have a pretty
clear understanding of American Gus.
toms and manners. When l asked him
how he came to be called mayor, he
said in quite a matter Of fact tone:
Well, you see / am here thirty year.
know American custom. When
Chinaboy get in trouble he come to
see me. When policeman get in trou-
bic with Chinaboy, both come to me.
I know how to make It all right. So
the newspapers say am mayor Of
Chinatown. Yes"
Sometimes people of this country
speak Of the Negro az allen race, Mr..
Washington reflects. and suggests