Japan and the California Problem Part 3

Canada.

Until recent years, no record was kept of the number of j.a.panese immigrants arriving in Canada and consequently the development of the movement cannot be accurately traced. The Canadian census of 1901 shows that 4674 persons born in j.a.pan were in the Dominion at that time; 4415 were in the Province of British Columbia, the rest being scattered in the Provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta. After that year the number of j.a.panese immigrants coming to Canada gradually increased, and when the United States placed restrictions on the influx of j.a.panese from Hawaii, and the latter began to seek entrance into Canada, the number grew considerably and soon caused serious concern to the people of Western Canada. It was estimated that in 1907 the j.a.panese domiciled in Canada had reached eight thousand. Determined opposition soon arose among the western provinces, and protests were sent by the Canadian Government to Hawaii and Tokyo requesting them to control the sudden immigration tide.

An agreement was reached in 1908 between j.a.pan and Canada by which the number of pa.s.sports to be granted in any one year to j.a.panese emigrating to Canada was limited to four hundred. In this way the question was satisfactorily settled.

Canada's treatment of the Asiatic races lawfully admitted has been marked by leniency. She has extended to the Orientals the privilege of naturalization and of securing homesteads. Even in British Columbia, the center of anti-Oriental agitation, the j.a.panese and Chinese are permitted to conduct business and cultivate land on an equal basis with British subjects in Canada. They may own land, both urban and rural, and in provinces other than British Columbia they are ent.i.tled to voting privileges when naturalized; only in that province the Orientals are not allowed to cast ballots, though free to become citizens. It is reported that there are 13,823 j.a.panese residing in Canada to-day, engaged in fis.h.i.+ng and logging and sawmill industries, as well as in agriculture.

South America.

For some years past a number (about six thousand) of j.a.panese immigrants has been sent every year to Brazil in compliance with the request of the Republic. They have been mostly engaged on coffee plantations in Sao Paulo. The colonization is still in an experimental stage, and it is a little premature to forecast its future at this time. Altogether about twenty thousand j.a.panese immigrants have gone to the South American Republic.

The United States.

Perhaps attracted by the wonderful stories of the discovery of gold in the Sacramento Valley, or possibly cast ash.o.r.e in boats on the Pacific Coast of America, there seem to have lived in the early sixties in California about a hundred j.a.panese. Early California papers record the story of quaint-looking j.a.panese settlers, who were received with great favor.

Although accurate records are lacking, it would seem that the number of j.a.panese did not begin to increase until the late eighties, when a few hundred began to come in every year. The census of 1890 reported the number of j.a.panese residents as 2039. From that time on the number of immigrants steadily increased, reaching the highest mark in 1907, when about ten thousand of them entered continental America in one year.[5]

The direct incentive for j.a.panese emigration was furnished by a few large emigration companies,[6] which were formed with a view to supplying contract labor to Hawaii and America, where the demand for labor was insatiable. In the former case, the rapid growth of the sugar plantations demanded a large supply of cheap labor. In the latter case, the need for cheap labor was urgent, due to the enactment of the Chinese Exclusion Law in 1882, which soon began to effect a decrease in the number of Chinese laborers, resulting in a dearth of labor on the farms and in railroad work. It was in response to the urgent demand of capitalists and landowners in Hawaii and America for j.a.panese labor that the emigration companies sprang into existence with the object of facilitating the complex process of immigration.

The j.a.panese coolies so brought in were welcomed and prosperous--at least for a while. Their industry and frugality won them the confidence of their employers. In agriculture, in railroad-building, in mining and fis.h.i.+ng, they proved useful hands. They saved money and remitted to their native country a considerable portion of it. Some of them returned home with a fortune and a degree of refinement which a superior environment could bestow upon a laborer. These incidents stimulated the desire of ambitious j.a.panese to leave for and work in California and Hawaii, and the number of applicants for emigration greatly multiplied.

In the meantime, between 1895 and 1900, changes had taken place in the att.i.tude of the people of California toward the j.a.panese. For various reasons the friendly feeling of the Californians was gradually replaced by a more or less hostile sentiment. It so happened that just about this time California was the stage for a struggle between organized labor and capital. It was with a great deal of effort and sacrifice that the organized labor of California succeeded in excluding the Chinese coolies.

But their hard-won victory was shattered to pieces by the advent of j.a.panese laborers, whom capital, taking advantage of their ignorance of American customs and language, wisely utilized as a powerful weapon to defeat the unions. To the union men it made no difference whether the strike-breakers were Chinese or j.a.panese; whether strike-breaking was voluntarily or unwittingly performed; they were enemies just the same.

The cry for exclusion was a natural consequence.

Then there also seems to be some truth in the report[7] made in 1908 by W.

L. Mackenzie King, the Deputy Minister of the Government of Canada, which states that it is suspected that much of the anti-j.a.panese agitation in California was deliberately fermented by the interests of the Planters'

a.s.sociation of Honolulu, who, alarmed by the tendency of j.a.panese laborers engaged on the sugar plantations to seek work on the Pacific Coast of America, where wages were much better, started a campaign to check the exodus by causing ill feeling toward the j.a.panese along the Pacific Coast.

The report states in part:

It is believed ... that the members of the Asiatic Exclusion League in San Francisco were not without contributions from the a.s.sociation's incidental expense fund, to a.s.sist them in an agitation which by excluding j.a.panese from the mainland would confine that cla.s.s of labor to the islands, to the greater economic advantage of the members of the a.s.sociation.[8]

For these two chief reasons, and perhaps for many other minor ones, there arose the persistent social movement for j.a.panese exclusion in California, which first took definite shape in 1900, when a ma.s.s-meeting held at San Francisco for the express purpose of more rigidly excluding the Chinese, adopted a resolution urging Congress to take measures for the total exclusion of j.a.panese other than members of the Diplomatic Staff.

Following this came the first of the anti-j.a.panese messages delivered by the Governor of California, and of the resolutions voted on by the State Legislature calling upon Congress to extend the Chinese Exclusion Law to other Asiatics. The climax of the movement was reached when, immediately after the earthquake, the Board of Education of San Francisco pa.s.sed the "separate school order," and j.a.pan protested. A series of diplomatic negotiations followed, which finally resulted in the repeal of the school discriminatory order and the conclusion of the "Gentlemen's Agreement,"

whereby j.a.pan pledged herself to restrict the number of immigrants to the United States.

Leaving to a later chapter the detailed discussion of the result which the "Gentlemen's Agreement" has brought about in the status of j.a.panese immigration, it will suffice to mention here that the agreement has faithfully and loyally been carried out by j.a.pan, and that since then the j.a.panese problem has in fact ceased to be an immigration issue.

Results.

Twenty years of emigration attempts, chief of which we reviewed in this chapter, have resulted in failure in every case, and j.a.pan's effort to plant her race in other lands has proved futile. There are many causes for this failure, for which j.a.pan is partially, but not wholly, responsible.

But this is a matter which we shall more fully discuss in the next chapter. Excluded and maltreated wherever they went, the j.a.panese returned home with shattered hopes and wounded feelings, and the mooted question of population once more confronted them with intensified severity. Giving up as entirely hopeless the attempt at settling in places where the white races held supremacy, they now appear to have made up their minds to migrate towards the north, where climatic and economic disadvantages, together with political revolution in Eastern Europe, have freed the land temporarily from the strong white grip, offering the line of least resistance for j.a.panese.

CHAPTER VI

CAUSES OF ANTI-j.a.pANESE AGITATION

Modern Civilization.

The major cause of the agitation against j.a.panese in California must be attributed to modern civilization, which, with scientific devices, has conquered time and s.p.a.ce and thereby destroyed the high walls of international boundaries. Indeed, had it not been for the steamboat, railroad, telegraph, and other civilized instruments, which bind the nations of the world into a composite whole, and modern industrialism, which civilization brought about and which in turn a.s.sisted in unifying the world, j.a.pan for one would have remained a peaceful hermit nation, undisliked or unsuspected by any other. She, of course, has no reason to regret the adoption of European culture, which brought her untold values and happiness; but the fact remains that the present anti-j.a.panese agitation in California, as well as elsewhere in the world, would never have occurred had she not followed the lead of Occidental nations.

Clearly, such a conflict is one of the by-products of the complex international relations brought about by modern science, which, simply because of the lack of experience and regulation due to their short history, remain deplorably defective. This suggests the point already brought out in our introduction, that the principle of the solution of the California problem lies not in an attempt at separating j.a.pan and the United States, which time and destiny brought together, but in a yet closer, more regulated relations.h.i.+p, and in the promotion of a better mutual understanding.

Various Att.i.tudes Towards j.a.panese.

With reference to the att.i.tude toward the j.a.panese, it is possible to discern four cla.s.ses of critics in California. There are the veteran exclusionists, whose only hope in this world seems to be the realization of the slogan, "All j.a.ps must go!" There is the majority of people which is too preoccupied with its own affairs to investigate the facts and is ready to accept anything said or a.s.serted by the exclusionists. Then there are those, intellectually more critical, who hold independent opinions as to why the j.a.panese must be excluded. There are also others who stoutly oppose, rationally or irrationally, any attempt at excluding the j.a.panese.

The reasons offered for justifying the exclusion of the j.a.panese widely vary according to the cla.s.s of people, and they are often mutually contradictory and conflicting. To those agitators whose motive is purely self-interest, agitation is a profession, and hence it transcends the consideration of justice or international courtesy. They have no scruples about lying or resorting to any means which they think would serve their purpose. The ma.s.ses, generally speaking, accept what is given to them by the agitators, unthinkingly echo their voices, and so play directly into their hands. Only fair, rational exclusionists study the facts of the case, consider the significance involved therein, and present arguments supporting their conviction. It is in this cla.s.s of people, and not in professional agitators or whimsical populace, or irrational friends of the j.a.panese, that the hope of the solution of the problem may be found.

From the fact that so much agitation is going on in California, some may think--especially those in j.a.pan--that all Californians are unkind or hostile to the j.a.panese. This, however, is far from being the case. It is precisely in California that the most earnest, devoted friends of the island people are found--found in great numbers.[9] These sympathizers are wholly unable to share the opinions of the exclusionists, and are simply at a loss to comprehend the reason why so much fuss should be made because of a handful of j.a.panese who compare favorably with European immigrants.

Psychological Nature of the Cause.

The fact that right in the midst of the hotbed of the j.a.panese exclusion movement there are goodly numbers of unqualified friends of the j.a.panese suggests that the motives of exclusion as well as inclusion are primarily personal; that is, psychological. We are all human and are p.r.o.ne to pa.s.s judgment from personal incidents or experience. A single disagreeable experience with a j.a.panese may drive a level-headed politician to a frenzy of j.a.panese exclusion, just as the memory of one j.a.panese friend may make another individual a consistent advocate of a friendly att.i.tude toward all j.a.panese. Inevitably limited in the scope of experience, we can only generalize from a few particulars. This is why there are such contradictory att.i.tudes to be found among Californians toward the same problem. In generalizing from particular experience we are more apt to arrive at a conclusion which suits our desires and emotions. We reach our conclusions in ways which we think promote our interests and please our feeling. Gain or loss, like or dislike, are two pivots determining our judgment. Those who think they gain from the presence of j.a.panese and those who like the j.a.panese, from whatever reason, naturally tend to welcome them; those who feel the contrary, incline to advocate their exclusion. At bottom, therefore, the effort of discrimination arises from a direct or indirect personal experience with j.a.panese which resulted in some sort of an unfavorable impression.

Chinese Agitation Inherited.

With this preliminary we shall see what are the more obvious factors which give rise to anti-j.a.panese sentiment on the Pacific Coast. It is perhaps beyond doubt, as most authorities insist, that the j.a.panese inherited the ill-feeling that early prevailed against the Chinese, and this for no other reason than that the j.a.panese are similar to the Chinese in many respects and were placed under the same conditions which caused hostility to the Chinese. We have already discussed how the j.a.panese coolies were used by capital as weapons to pit against the ascendency of organized labor. Under the general term "Asiatics" the j.a.panese shared at first, and later inherited, the painful experience of the Chinese.

Local Politics.

That the j.a.panese issue was frequently made the football of minor political games in California is an undeniable truth. Wholly apart from the consideration of right and wrong, we cite a case of political activity which ill.u.s.trates such a situation. Writing in the January (1921) issue of the _North American Review_, Mr. R. W. Ryder observes:

All during the late war--while the j.a.panese fleet was protecting our commerce and other interests by patrolling the Pacific--the most cordial relations.h.i.+p existed between the two peoples. But the Armistice had hardly been signed before agitation against the j.a.panese again manifested itself; however, not until it had been resuscitated and energized by one of California's United States Senators who was soon to be a candidate for reelection. This Senator, Mr. Phelan, appeared in California early in 1919, and at once made a visit to the Immigration Station at San Francisco and Los Angeles; whereupon he issued a statement characterizing the j.a.panese situation as a menace.

Next, he addressed the State Legislature on the j.a.panese question.

Prior to his address, although the Legislature had been in session for almost two months, it had done nothing regarding the j.a.panese. But a few days afterward several anti-j.a.panese measures were introduced....

The particular susceptibility of the j.a.panese issue to political agitation in California may be attributed to the safety and advantage with which it may be manipulated. The j.a.panese in California having practically no vote are safe toys for play. The possibility of magnifying the "menace" of the Asiatic "influx" is immensely tempting in this case, rendering it a most effective smoke screen for the tactics of private interests.

The San Francisco _Chronicle_ stated, in its editorial on October 22, 1920, under the heading, "It Would Probably Have Been Settled without Trouble but for Politicians," as follows:

Had no attempt been made to drag California's j.a.panese question into politics we would probably have settled the question satisfactorily and with no fuss....

We think it probable that if the question had not been appropriated by politicians seeking to make capital for themselves it would have been possible to have obtained the cooperation, at least the acquiescence, of the intellectual j.a.panese leaders in the State, in measures designed to prevent the presence of their countrymen from being or becoming an economic menace to California....

That the question has been brought into politics, where it was not an issue and could not be, that it has been made a cause of irritation between j.a.pan and the United States, and has given j.a.pan a lever to use against us in all matters affecting the Orient, is due to the senior Senator from California, who sought to use the problem to advance his own personal interests.