The New York herald., 1921-01-31
JAPANESE GAINING
GROUND IN HAWAII
Increase of Those Actually
Born on Islands Points to
Ultimate Control.

survey commission, headed by Dr. FRANK
F. Bunker of Washington, which re-
Gently surveyed education conditions in
Hawaii. in a preliminary report de-
clared that the momentum" of the Jap
anese race in Hawaii puts all other
racial groups out OF the running in re-
spect TO numbers. and that the mo-
mentum II continued will carry the Jap
anese race into an increasingly dominant
numerical position, giving their Ha-
waiian born progeny in 1880 about 2s
per cent. of the electorate of the terri
tory.
The report which is freely inter
spersed with tables of figures obtained
from Federal and Territorial official
sources and from the office of the Jap
anese Consulate-General in Honolulu,
says in part:
with an actual population now in the
islands of 114.137 G919), as reported
by the japanese Consulate-General,
against $4,000 Portuguese, the next
largest group. it is clear that the jap
anese race has acquired momentum
which puts all the other groups out of
the running with respect to numbers.
THAT this momentum inevitably will
carry the Japanese race into an increas-
ingly dominant numerical position IL
continued Is clearly shown by tables
compiled from information obtained
from the Office of the Japanese Consul
ate-General and from the records Of the
Territorial Board of Health"
Dealing with the parallel presented by
the methods Of adjustment to island in
9uence represented by the Portuguese
and the Japanese races. the report
says: while both groups originally
were brought into the islands to satisfy
the need for cheap labor on the planta-
tions, there is with both a pronounced
tendency to seek better economic po-
sition by breaking away from the plan
tations and engaging in other activities
giving promise Of a freer and more
ample life.
Japanese Law Abiding.
1.-The Japanese are ambitious to be-
come tenants, to own land. to set up
business, to enter a profession. to rise
above the category of unskilled labor,
and as they individually achieve their
ambition they are, like the Portuguese,
participating more and more in the af-
fairs Of the islands, socially, )education-
ally, politically. Furthermore they are
all at work. There are few triflers and
idlers among them. There are now. ap-
proxima tely, $1,000 male and 1900 fe-
male adult Japanese i'm the islands. A
from the japanese Consulate-General
shows that so. l49 of them are employed
In gainful occupations.
1T should be said in fairness that
there are few japanese children in the
juvenile courts and in institutions for
delinquents: and there are proportion
ately very few Japanese among the con-
vict labor gangs and In the jails. Few,
If any. are supported by public charity.
nor are any begging Ill the streets.
Their per capita savings bank deposits
rank third among those of the island
races, being exceeded by the Americans
and Portuguese only.
"All of which activity. laudable in IT.
self, can be explained adequately on the
basis - racial qualities. inherent in the
Japanese, of patience, persistence,
thrift. initiative. endurance, ambition.
group solidarity, coupled with acumen
and astuteness, which give them the
ability to get on where other races have
failed. Indeed. so well have the Japan
ese adjusted themselves to island con-
ditions and so rapidly are they increas-
ing I'm the number of Hawaiian-born
children that this group soon will have
a majority of the voters of the islands
Maintain Racial Purity.
The commissioners report then de-
duces from a table of births of japanese
children from 1898 to 1919 that 1926
Hawaiian-born Japanese will have be-
come old enough to vote by 1890; that
q, 1921 more will have been added to the
list of eligible voters by 1910, making
total during twenty-five year period
of q, ,137. Deducting 10 per cent. to cover
possible losses by removal and death,
the report estimates that by 1910 there
will be an aggregate of Japanese voters
in the territory of 30,S57. including 2S7
now registered.
Pointing TO the fact that Japanese
children In the public schools OF Hawaii
in 1910 were 27.72 per cent. of the total
enrolment, and that in 1919 this school
group stood at i0.55 per cent of the
whole. the report says this Indicates
that the place in the electorate that the
Japanese will occupy in 1890. and again
in 1870. may indeed be underestimated.
The concrete deduction then follows:
whether or not the Japanese desire
to achieve political control, without
doubt within a few years they will be
in a position to do so IL they choose"
Interesting comparisons OF the degree
of intermarriage INDUCED in by differ
ent races in the islands next are taken
I'D. which bring the commission to the
conclusion that ''in general japanese
marry only Japanese. IL is clear
that all races, except the Coreans and
Japanese, are fiIsing rapidly through IN
termarriages, but that the japanese
group is maintaining It's racial dis
tinctiveness."