The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1913-05-01
WORKING FOR SETTLEMENT.

The visit of Secretary Bryan to Cali
fornia resulted in an earnest ehort ON
the part of the California Governor, At
torney- General, and Legislature to ac'
commodate their legislation to the De
sires of the administration. The revlsed
land bill which the Legislature or that
State may pass. was given IN run In
Yesterday mornings Tribune lt does
not materially change the effect Oh the
proposed legislation so far as Caiifornia
is concerned; but it shows distlnctlVe
effort to conform precisely TO treaty re.
or;remonts and TO meet the views OF
the administration.
AS Governor johnson says, the con-
ferences between Secretary Bryan ana
the California Legislators and executive
officials were full and free, and there
was a spirit Of accommodation mani
tested to the end that all just criticism
of the proposcd legislation be fairly
met. On the main point, the Governor
insists that no sufficient reason was CIV
en- by Secretary Bryan to 'eause oah'
fornia to halt in any contemplated leg.
islation.n He stated further that IL
any law be enacted it will scrupulously
obserye all treaty obligations. 1t Will
not single out the Japanese in any way
The classification made by the naturah-
zation laws Of the United States ana
those established by the Constitution
of California, these being sanctioned py
the laws of other States, will guide IN
the California law, just rs 1t is plain
they have guided elsewhere. Governor
johnson fairly says that 1t is the iegal
and moral right of California to follow
those lines and precedents, and rlgntly
asserts that "California cannot justly
and logically be either offensive or dis
criminatory in following such enact
ments and precedents. -
Attorney General Webb, who oreW
the compromise act. made full eNPlh,
nation and comparison of the terms OIL
the act and Of the treaty Obligations
The most important part of Attorney
General Webb's statement ls that Inc
new act "does not draw the line upon
aliens who are ineligible to citizepsnip'
Those words are not used, 1t gives nol
only to Japan, but to every nation
whose subjects are ineligible to. clt11en-
shin under the laws Of the United
States. the full rights TO ownership OF
land in California that treaties between
the United States and such nations
oiye,' This is an important conces-
siou and as explained by Attorney
General Webb, the Japanese treaty OF
1911 expresses fully and fairly the de-
s;res of the Japanese Government as
To land holding by Japanese in the
limited States, and specifies the limlta"
tiou which the United States desired to
impose The terms of the treaty on
this point are that Japanese subjects
are permitted to own houses and lana
for residential purposes, factories, man"
ufactories, and shops, and they are al
lowed to lease land for residential and
comm ercial purposes, but there is moth
ing contained in the treaty that gives
them any right whatever to either buy
or lease land for agricultural purposes.
In all this Attorney-General Webb
bases his compromise draft expressly
upon the terms of the treaty itself,
Therefore, there is even less ground to
complain Of this proposed compromise
legislation in California than there
would be for Japan to complain of
the anti-alieu land bills in several of
the States. and specifically less reason
TO complain of it than of the legislation
passed by Congress itself on this same
subject in the District of Columbia
While on the general question, since
Japan does not allow foreigners to hold
land IN Japan, no general complaint
against the prohibition of Japanese
land holding in this country would be
consistent.
1t is reasonable to hope that this
compromise bill, drafted on the precise
lines Of the treaty, will end the whole
controversy. IF it does not, the cause
for continued friction OF irritation must
be laid directly upon Japan. And We
are glad to see that there is a spirit OF
Americanism developing in official cir
cles in Washington that would prob
ably prevent any further ignoble truck
| 70 Ion IN 4hic