St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1913-05-03
the matter until Mr.. Bryan could pre-
sent his views

the objections OF the National Gov
eminent and of Japan to the pendini
measures and to give his reasons from
diplomatic standpoint why Califor
mia should not enact such law
When Mr.. Bryan remained silen
other members of the majority part,
urged him to comply with the re
quest. Senator Caminetti, Demo
crat, suggested that a small groul
of members from both houses be Sc
lected to hear Mr.. Bryan's argu
ments, but Mr.. Boynton protested
and carried his point.
After several others had spoken
many of them quoting statistics t.
show the increase of land holding
by Japanese in recent years, Secre
tary Bryan arose. His first state
ment was concerning the secret con
ference, which, he said, he favored
With the support of Governor John
son and the presiding officers o
both houses, Secretary Bryan said h.
! could speak with more frankness tt
the members than he could to 4
promiscuous audience"
Spokesman of Wilson.
CAS- the representative of the presi
dent" he began. 81 feel keenly thu
responsibility that is placed upon me
l would have preferred to have him
come himself, as the head of the ma
tion, but that seemed impossible, and
| he delegated me to speak for him
| I do not pretend to do other thar
express his views. am simply his
| spokesman and will say to you only
| that which he would have me to say
'As to the constitutionality of our
treaty with Japan, you will pardon
| me if decline to act as the Supreme
Court. Further, as to the question
| of immigration, l think we can con
slider that question as Independent OF
the land question with which we are
here concerned"
Questions concerning the treaty
and immigration of Japanese to the
United States had been asked during
the debate.
Continuing Mr. Bryan said:
Il have listened to what you have
said and l assume everything to be
true; that you have not overdrawn
nor exaggerated the feeling of the
people of California in the matter. :!
can assume that the people demand
that something be done.
-s'In that case, the first question i:
whether the legislation is demanded
at this time. If it can be delayed
then the first suggestion that the
president would have ME make is
that you permit an effort to be made
to deal with the question diplomat
cally, with view to reaching the
same results without legislation.
eff the demand is so immediate
that this cannot be done, can actor
he deferred for two years, and in the
meantime have commission appoint
ed to investigate conditions and ac'
with the executive? Would it no
be worth while to try this plan be
fore you adopt the plan that might
result in unfriendiiness from a for
eign nation?
Il am not going to indulge in any
speculation as to what may happen
if you do anything now, but am
here to advise against the use of any
language that would offend any PEG
pie that have dealings with u.s."
Cannot Offend Friends.
In case immediate action was de-
manded. Secretary Bryan said. he
would be in favor of law framed
along the lines of the Illinois law, or
the Federal statute in the District O.
Columbia, both of which are genera
in character.
Either of these measures is pre-
ferable to language that includes the
words ineligible to citizenship ad-
led Mr.. Bryan. President Wilson
believes that If you use these words
you might as well make law de-
claring specifically against japanese
and Chinese ownership.
This expresses the views of the
president. He desires me to say that
If such a law is passed, that he viii
recognize his duty a. president to d.
all in his power to minimize the i'll |
feeling that might be aroused. Al
the sam time, he believes It his duty |
as president to urge earnest consider.
alton of his advice, which Is giver
here with no desire to interfere with
what you may regard as necessary
And, further, he urges that II you
proceed at once. you consider the ad-
of using language that can
not be Justly criticized as offending |
those nations with whom We are