The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1917-08-07

By ZOE
| Seaue, Wash, August 6.-(Special)-
oon know which to write about, as mos
typical of Seattle, the shipping and ship.
building, or the Jap babies. Both are
thriving industries and valuable asset.
leach IN its way. Both are encountered
on the waterfront-that interesting
waterfront of Seattle, where vessels docl
from every port under the sun; where
Jumbled shops lure you with Indiar
curios; where outfitters of prospectors
to the perilous north abound. and sailings
are advertised to remote spots in Alaska
ana the Dominion that are little more
tnan mere names to the easterner
doubtless the ship story would be
more improving and more highly recon-
mended by the Chamber of Commerce.
But the Japs have been on my mind ever
since the first neat little smiling jap
porter grabbed my bag in my first coast
city
L have wanted to know more about
these Japs. l have asked people about
them. People and people and people.
And my suggestion to do story on a
Jap has been about as warmly received
as a pacifist speech at patriotic meet
ing.
l saw them working in the fields and
driving motor market wagons and keep
ing shops and acting in the movies. L
heard that, while japanese cannot own
land, his American born baby can, and
frequently does. And that Jap rancher
can get more out of an acre of poor soil
than anybody else can from a whole fat
farm.
OLD STORY WON'T DOWN
But when l tried to get in touch with
one everybody shook violent heads and
led me off the subject. At least 81 per-
sons ended their protests thus: Now,
I'm not prejudiced against the Japs, not
a bit. But they're treacherous lot.
Can't trust EN-. Why do you know, that
in Japan, in the Japanese banks, the
cashiers are Chinese?"
l have heard that moth eaten story of
the Chinese cashiers until l tear my hair
and froth at the mouth when l see symp-
toms of it rising to the lips of the
Then came Seattle, where 1 observe
more Japanese than 1 have seen else
where And the dimplety -dumplety,
squeezely woozzey, solemnly wobbledy
Jap babies, looking SO happy and fat that
began to think they must be better off
in Seattle than in other west coast cities
To be sure, Seattle claims to be the
healthiest city in the United States. 1t
looks healthy. 1t smells healthy. It
seems almost surrounded by water. an
arm of Puget sound making a fine har-
Dor on the west and Lake Washington,
20 miles long and three wide, to the east,
with virgin forests beyond. Just across
the sound loom the snow-whited peaks
of the Olympics.
No wonder the air is sweet and fresh.
No wonder the babies are fat. Yet there
seems something more than mere physi-
cal we'll being in the chubby Jap faces.
My interest dubbed up again with new
hope
SEATTLE OPEN MINDED
Seattle said the editor of substan-
tial daily, docs not share the prejudice
of many coast cities against the Jap. Go
see Judge Burke. He knows more about
the situation than any man in six states.
Burkes the big man of Seattle. You can
ely on anything he says"
So to Burke | went. And to Burke I |
refer any kicks that may be made in
case the Chamber of Commerce does not |
forgive my writing more this time about |
he ambitious little orientals than about
The storage capacity of the water front
I'VE like the Japs,' said the judge |
We find them sober, Industrious, eco
nomical ana exceedingly appreciative of
the glad hand and the square deal. And
let me, right here and now, kill that
ancient story about the honorable Chi |
nese in the position of trust in Japan
Il have Travelled in Japan, and I, too
have seen Chinese cashiers Ccommo-
loresD in banks. But they were foreign |
banks. having bases in China or in Eng |
and, and what more natural than that !
Chinese should have positions in them?
The Chinese have ever been a race of
merchants and bankers. Those cailings |
have held high rank with them. The |
Japanese, on the other hand, were for
centuries taught to look down upon COM
mercial occupations. They were a nation
Of warriors and mobiles. 1t is solely for |
hat reason the Japs were found compar- |
itively seldom in finance.
JAPS MADE WELCOME
This story, which I myself have heard
| thousand times was started years ago
~ travellers In the orient, who judged |
not knowing the underlying |
facts, and it has been kept alive by repe-
ition, like many other tales
1T is absolutely untrue that the Japa- |
lese are not trusted to handle their own |
financial institutions. In Japan today |
you will find Japanese tellers and cash |
ers in Japanese banks
In Seattle we have many Japanese |