Arizona republican., 1913-05-17
GOVERNOR ADVISES
 LAPS 10 REFER BILL
Tells Committee of Local Japanese How They Gan Retain Land
 They Now Have.

| governor Hunt held an audience with the committee from the Japan ese association yesterday morning. l heard what they had to say praised
 the address made by Z Ida, one of ! the committee, expressed his regrets 1 at not being able to accede to their wishes, and wound up by giving the
 subjects of Nippon some advice as i to how they might retain the land | they now hold
 The audience was set for 9:30 yes terday morning at the governors chamber in the Capitol, and the lit tie company of Japanese accom- panied by MT and Mrs Thornton of 1 335 North Sixteenth avenue, were | there promptly on time The mem l bers of the committee present were :. F'ukunaga, ROs Tanaka, T. Nish- l ime, $. Asa, z. Iida and K KaWatsu while Mr and Mrs. Thornton were l present to explain anything that the Japanese could not understand After being presented to the governor the strangers los no time in stating the purpose of their visit, and called on 1 Iida to present their side of the uues- tion. After stating the extent of the Japanese immigration and it's cause and effect on the labor market. Ida requested the governor t0 declare the intentions of the legislature. Gov l ernor Hunt in reply said that the 1 Japanese themselves were better uual- 1 flied to answer that question than he was, as he had spent the best part l of this year trying to figure out the | intentions of the legislature, but had Tailed According to the statements | of Ida the Japanese immigra ton was 1oh a I,x- ;I.I i ployment companies who desired to 1 furnish enough laborers for the rail- way contractors. This was in 1908. 1 but since that time the number of la | borerS on construction works had di- unfinished from 75 per cent of the l total immigration to less than 36 per tcent and the number enga ged in agri- 1 cultural pursuits had increased in like i ratio. 1ida also gave some statistics 1 of the American born children The 1 number of American born boys in | July of last year amounted to 2329 i and the girls were almost equal in number being 2202 He stated that
 the influx of his countrymen into
 Arizona was very small and was of I recent origin, and those who had 1 come here had obeyed the laws and l lived in peace and harmony and on ! the behalf of his coUntrymen he re- quested the governor to provide some measure of relief from the provisions l of the new law
 l The governor congratulated the young man on the excellence of his | address and stated that while he | might veto the section of the law in l question there was a sufficient ma jority in the legislature to pass the bill over his veto. He advised them to try and get verdict from the su-
 | preme court of the United States in
 1 favor of their admittance to citizen
 l ship. or else try and invoke the aid
 of the referendum to get the result
 desired
 Mrs. Thornton told of her experi- ence among the Japanese and said that their standard of morality con l trary to public opinion was of the 1 highest and stated that several Jap tanese women of the underworld who
 l intended to debauch the Japanese
 residents of Maricopa county. had
 l been forced to leave the state and
 the women were told that if ever they
 lappeared in Maricopa county they
 | would be placed in the hands of the
 iauthorities for the punishment they
 deserved Mrs Thornton referred
 1.-the governor to several real estate
 men who had dealings with the
 Japanese for evidence regarding their
 honesty.
 The Japanese in closing the audi
 ence thanked the governor for his
 courtesy and kindness in granting the