New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1921-07-23
House Probes
immigration
OF Japanese
Committee Finds Many Loop
holes in the 'Centlemen's
Agreement by Which ORR.
entails Enter United States
Told of Rush to Hawaii
Practice of Permitting pic
fure Brides Into Country
Denounced as a Menace

WASHINGTON, July 22.--The jap
anese exclusion question broke out in
Congress again to-day
Informed that Hawaii was being
flooded with Japanese, the House I'm
migration Committee asked the State
Department to furnish details of the
'gentlemsn's agreement" of 1908 with
respect to Japanese control Of emigra-
ton to the United States. Diplomatic
correspondence leading to the under
standing, which the committee was told
does not apply to Hawaii, never has
been made public and the committee
decided to investigate.
Despite contentious of some members
that discussion of the matter at this
time might impede plans for interna-
tional conference on disarmament and
Pacific questions, the committee de-
cided to so into the thirteen-year-old
immigration arrangement after it had
heard j. V. A. McMurray, chief of the
division of far Eastern affairs of the
State Department, and had received a
telegram from V. S. McClatchy, Sacra-
mento, Cal, publisher, dealing with the
general subject of Japanese immi-
grafton.
immigration Resolution Put Over
The committee has under considera-
tion a resolution which would authorize
the President to lift the immigration
IN, II x>
ments for labor by importing Chinese
and thus to aid the insuar territory
to get over the rough economic spots.
The resolution was Immediately subor-
dinated to the broader question.
Mr.. McMurray told the committee
that Japan had never regarded the
agreement as applying to Hawaii and
added, incidentally, that inasmuch as
1T was voluntary proposition from
Japan this country was automatically
bound until the other party to the
understanding should withdraw.
HIS statement concerning Hawaii
brought from Chairman johnson the
exclamation that the time had arrived
for a declaration that Hawaii is q
to Japan and all others
Mr.. McMurray said that the Japanese
government had regulated the number
of laborers to whom passports to
Hawaii were issued through an infor-
NAL arrangement with the sugar plant
ers of the islands by the Japanese
consular officers, who were informed
each season of the number required.
Mr.. johnson interrupted to say that
he understood the number allowed to
go to Hawaii each year was really be-
low the requirements, a position taken
by japan in order to prevent break in
wages.
The statement concerning the agree
ment between the employers and the
Japanese government was immediately
denied by Royal D. Mead, secretary of
the planters organization.
Loopholes in Agreement
From that point, every angle of the
exclusion question was touched on in
some form or other and members of
the committee freely expressed dis
satisfaction with loopholes, which they
said apparently we're left in the agree
ment. They denounced the practice of
permitting picture brides" to enter
this country, which Chairman John
SON said continued despite the diplo-
matte understanding.
Because of the delicacy of The sub
Ject, Mr.. McMurray answered most
questions guardedly and some were
not answered at all. 1t was said that
if the correspondence was forthcoming,
it would be gone into behind closed
doors. Mr.. Johnson was not at all
certain that the diplomatic exchanged
would be supplied by the department
and he planned to confer on that phase
with Secretary Hughes and other de-
partment heads. He said, however,
that he saw no reason why the docu-
ments should not be made available
to Congress and deplored the fact that
half dozen or more such understand
ings as that entered into with Japan
had not required ratification by the
Senate.