Phoenix tribune., 1920-10-02
HARDING and COX
TAKE firm Stand
ON JAP QUESTION
CBy Associated Negro Press }


Japanese situation continues to be a
matter of considerable concern to the
United States. California, with her
recurrent efforts to pass laws de.
signed to exclude the yellow races,
keeps the question agitated The at
tention of our group is being at
tracted particularly at this time be-
cause of the frank admissions being
made by men prominent in public life,
that it is a question purely Of race
and therefore of prejudice and justi-
flying it upon those grounds.
Governor Cox, while currying favor
in California, bursts forth with this
ebullition: God Almighty provided
that the fathers of America should be
white men. Those from other shores
who do not subscribe to that doctrine
have the privilege of going back
where they came from"
Senator Harding, with suave diplo-
matte mien. says quietly, that which
promises much more i'll to the yellow
man. He says, I'VE favor such modi-
ifcations of our immigration laws and
such changes in our international un-
derstandings and such a policy as re-
CARDS those who come among us as
will guarantee the citizens of this re-
public assimiliability of alien born"
All of which the thoughtful mem
bers of the race are turning over
carefully in their minds. We have
been disfranchised and Disseminated
against but it has been done Indirect
1y by states. From a national view
point We have been presumably full
fledged American citizens If the
japanese came in large numbers and
found themselves up against the same
white mans prejudice, they could not
be lynched and maltreated because
the government and navy of Japan
would be standing behind them
Therefore they had better be kept out
The Chicago Journal says:
"The Japanese are not an inferior
race. They are a great race. The
Chinese are a great race, too. When
the ancestors of most Americans were
engaged in the task of herding hogs,
the Chinese were counting the stars,
creating beautiful works of art, and
discussing what life meant General
Grant said that the greatest men he
had ever met were Disraeli, the Eng
lish statesman. Gambetta. the French
statesman, Bismarck, the German
statesman, and Ii Hung Chang, the
Chinese statesman. and that he be-
lieved that Ii Hung Chang was the
greatest of the four.
But the average white man in
America is not likely OF believe that
any Chinese or Japanese gentleman
is as great as the most inferior Ameri-
can whose skin is white. This preju-
dice against color-for it is nothing
but prejudice-must be accepted. It
is annoying, it is unjust, but it is use
less to fight against fact.
Some outlet for overpopulated Japan
must be found, but so long as Ameri-
can white men are prejudiced against
all blood that is not white, it would
be foolish to let down the bars so that
they may come here. But if some
outlet is not soon provided-well, to
speak mildly, there will be friction
between Tokyo and Washington"
Will the United States frankly and
squarely admit that the constitution
is dead letter. that the theory that
all men were created equal, an idle
dream, and give race prejudice ma
tional endorsement? If it be true,
then the outlook for the darker
Americans, is indeed dark.