The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1913-05-06
JAPANESE IN CALIFORNIA
THEY ARE OBTAINING A STRONG
FOOTHOLD IN THAT STATE.

FOOIHOID IN IhhA FoAhAG'
Racial Hatred Lies at the Bottom OF
Efforts of the CalifOrnians to
Dust the yellow Peril"
The country as whole is deeply
interested in the California situation,
threatening as it does to embroil the
United States and Japan. 1t wishes
to know the underlying causes which
have led to CALIFORNIA; determined
opposition to the Japanese, whom
short time ago the people of the coun-
try were patting on the back and en-
couraging in their upward strides to
the status of a great world power.
Basically the feeling of the Califor-
mans rests upon a deep seated race
antipathy and even race hatred. This
feeling permeates all classes, with the
possible exception of corporation
managers, who find in the japanese
a supply of the cheapest, kind OF la
Dor: those interested in the sale of
real estate, and the few idealists who
believe in mingling of the two races.
The Californians say in effect that
the presence of the Japanese among
them is intolerable. They are wag-
ing legal war against them not, they
say, because they think the state is
entitled to more than any other state
in the union, but because it is in Cal
ifornia that so per cent of the Jara-
nese in the United States dwell. They
assert that in attempting to legis-
late the Japanese out of California
they are really acting in behalf of
peace. Should they fail to act now,
they assert, the situation will grow
worse, so that some day it will be
such that nothing but force can rem
edy 1t.
When the japanese first entered
California they took up the servile,
despised and poorly paid occupations.
When they began encroaching upon
the skilled occupations they aroused
the hatred of organized labor and the
opposition of the latter produced a
double effect. The labor unions sue
ceeded in keeping the japanese out
of the ranks of skilled labor, but
their refusal to admit the Japanese
into their ranks drove the latter to
the farms. There at first the Japa
nese were welcomed as cheap labor
ers. Soon they began to lease and
own farms and the feeling suddenly
changed. The American farmer or
fruit grower now refuses to have the
Japanese as a neighbor with whom
his wife and children must come into
contact, and he breads, and with good
reason, a competitor who by virtue
of his capacity for cheap production
and d cheap manner of living is out
stripping the white farmer. The Cal
ifornians find in the Japanese a non
assailable factor in the population
and they denounce their morals.
According to the latest figures the
number of Japanese now in the
United States is more than 100000,
and of these 10000 are located on
the Pacific coast. About two-thrids
of these are in California. Only
about 1000 of the Japanese in this
country three years ago were women,
but this small proportion has increas-
ed rapidly since
The permanent immigration Of
Japanese, except for the women, has
practically ceased. This is due to the
fairly effective operation of the agree
ment between the government of
Japan and the government of the
United States by which Japanese la
borers are not given passports to this
country, it's dependencies, or Canada
or Mexico while Japanese not having
passports are excluded by this gov
eminent. During the fiscal year of
1901 4,2S2 Japanese were admit
ted to the United States, while 5,S69
departed, leaving a net decrease of
1887. During the fiscal year OF
1911-12 1888 Japanese we're admit
ted and 5 ,437 departed, leaving a net
decrease of 70. These figures Of
course take no account of leaks" in
the barriers.
In another way, however, the num-
Der of japanese in California is in
creasing. This is through the in
creased arrivals of what are known
as picture brides" that is, women
| who have been married in Japan to
men in the United States whom they
perhaps have never seen. Such we'd
dings ARE quite in accordance with
japanese law and custom and conse-
quently these women are given pass
ports by the Japanese government
and presen themselves at San Fran
cisco to join their husbands In
Guiding both Hawaii and the CONT
mental United States more than 1000
of these picture brides" were admit
ted in the last fiscal yea. The chill
| dren born to these parents are by
right American citizens, though none
the less aliens i'll every other respect,
and will so consider themselves for
ordinary purposes. The japanese
have large families as & rule, so that