Cut Bank pioneer press. [volume] (Cut Bank, Mont.) 1909-current, 1914-08-14
FORCED OUT
CALIFORNIA FOUND THAT ONCE
THE JAPs GOT HOLD OF LAND
THEY WON OUT.
THEREFORE, ANTI-ALlEN LAW
Their Hope Is immigration of Farm
Labor From Europe via Panama
canai--Japs Evade Law by In
cooperating Into Companies.

California's experience demonstrates
that, once ? foothold on the land is
gained, Japanese colonization operates
to the exclusion of the whites by
forcing the whites out of employment
on the soil and by the social incom,
patibility of the two aces. Califor-
MAS problem was not only an agri-
cultural problem but a race and social
problem and conditions seemed to
have reached a serious and acute
stage. Therefore, the California
farmer was the source If an unani-
nous and irresistible demand for a
law prohibiting Japanese from acquir-
Ing agricultural lands. To make this
protection real, there must ultimately
be a law %forbidding him to lease agri-
cultural land, but to give the farmer
time for adjustment to the new condi-
tons that must come, the right to
make leases for not more than three
years was provided for in the bill en-
acted-the hoped-for relief being i'm
migration of farm labor from Europe
by way of the Panama canal.
Until recently the Japanese were
permitted to come into this country
freely and without restriction, but
Japanese laborers have been largely
excluded since 1908 under the So
called Gentlemen's Agreement be-
tween the two governments. Later,
the treaty of 1911 expressly comedies
to Japanese the right to lease and oc-
cupy real estate for residential and
business purposes. These are the only
two governmental documents bearing
on the California case.
The state democratic platform of
1912 had declared: 1--WE favor the
passage of a bill that will prevent any
alien, not eligible to citizenship, from
owning land in the state of Califor-
MIA"
When h legislature convened in
1913, bills to the above effect were in
troduced in the assembly by H. B.
Bradford and in the upper house by
Senator Birdsall.
With the passage of the Bradford
bill by a vote of 60 to Is on April 18th,
Japan protested to the president, the
president protested to Governor John.
son and the governor passed the pro
test along to the legislature, which
however, declined to "renig" on it's &C
ton. The Birdsall bill was also passed
and the matter was practically dis
posed of, except for the governors
signature, when President Wilson SEM
Secretary of State Bryan to Sacra
mento to protest against the states
taking action which, it was believed
might contravene the existing treaty
with Japan.
During the reconsideration, a poinr
came out which revealed to Secretar!
/ Bryan that his mission was hopeless
This was an unchallenged statemen'
: that the labor movement in the stat,
had, since the last election campaign
: held the pledges of 90 per cent of tn,
legislators to vote for an anti-alier
2 land bill.
> Undoubtedly the presidents crit
cisms, suggestions and objections re
l suited in a more diplomatic wordin,
. of the document which, in the form il
: which it was finally enacted, wa
called the Webb law. The words Gin
i eligible to citizenship" do not appear
This is avoided by affirming in on
section the rights of aliens eligible t
citizenship and then, in a second sec
: ton, affirming that aliens not coverel
by the first section may acquire, pos
sess, enjoy, transmit and transfer rea
property in the manner and to the e,
tent and for the purposes p~resente
7 by any treaty now existing"
. By this phrasing, the law APPARENT
not only avoids ~contravening tn
treaty of 1911 with Japan but follow
the very lines of that document which
as before stated, secured to the Jal
anese the right to lease and occup
. land for certain residential and bus
ness purposes, but was emphaticall
silent on agricultural lands. 1t is di
ficult to see how the Japanese govern
ment can successfully oppose a la
= which practically enacts a Japanes
treaty into a California statute an
bars Japanese citizens from no PR
ilege in California from which Amer
can citizens are not also barred
. Japan.
= Nevertheless, 1t was believed tn
law would be as effective in operate
as was contemplated in the origin
Bradford and Birdsall bills. The la
was passed and signed by the COVE
nor in May and became effective A
m gust 10, 1913. 1t was not as drast
as the people wanted, however, az
there were movements, particularly
o. the Asiatic Exclusion league, to defe
the law by means of a referendum 7
tition.
ne