J2ortf)toc£tem QHntbersttp Hibrarp
Cbanston, Illinois
THE GIFT OF
THE JAPANESE
INVASION
A Study in the Psychology
of Inter-Racial Contacts
A DISSERTATION
submitted to the faculty of the graduate school of
arts and literature in candidacy for the degree of
doctor of philosophy
(the graduate divinity school:
practical theology)
by
JESSE FREDERICK STEINER
A Private Edition
Distributed by
The University of Chicago Libraries
The Trade Edition is Published by
A. C. McCLURG & CO.
CHICAGO
1917
THE JAPANESE INVASION
Hutoraitg of (Eljinujo
THE JAPANESE
INVASION
A Study in the Psychology
of Inter-Racial Contacts
A DISSERTATION
SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF
ARTS AND LITERATURE IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
(THE GRADUATE DIVINITY SCHOOL I
PRACTICAL THEOLOGY)
BY
JESSE FREDERICK STEINER
A Private Edition
Distributed by
The University of Chicago Libraries
The Trade Edition is Published by
A. C. McCLURG & CO.
CHICAGO
1917
U"'W>
( i.t.W 27 1917
\
' J ' J
^ -1^0382
Copyright
A. C. McCLUEG & CO.
1917
Published February, 1917
V f, MALL COMPANY, CHIOAQO
PREFACE
' I THOUGHTFUL students of our immigration prob-
-®- lem are more and more turning their attention to
the immigrant invasion from the Orient, now small in
volume but impelled by powerful forces that may some
day be beyond our control. The overwhelming num¬
bers of the Asiatics, the social and economic discontent
of the people, and the aggressive nationalism of the
Japanese are danger signals that are arousing us from
our complacent feelings of security. Vast possibilities
for both good and evil are bound up in the rapidly
developing Orient. It is of the highest importance that
our Government work out an Oriental policy based
upon a thorough understanding of the Far Eastern
situation and designed to conserve the best interests of
all concerned.
This book is an attempt to study one phase of this
Oriental problem — the racial aspects of the Japanese
immigration. Its interest is psychological rather than
historical or economic. Emphasis is laid on the chang¬
ing mental attitudes of the Japanese immigrants and on
their reaction to the race prejudice they are compelled
to face.
The writer tries to show that the problem is deeper
than that of social assimilation. The fundamental dif¬
ficulty is a difference of color and physical character-
v
vi
Preface
istics so marked that the Japanese cannot merge them¬
selves unnoticed into American life. This makes inevi¬
table the establishment of a color line between the East
and the West, no less real than that between the White
and the Black.
Nothing is gained by ignoring the racial aspects of
the question as is now the tendency in some quarters. A
frank statement of facts is one step toward a better
mutual understanding and lays the basis for a more sat¬
isfactory solution of the Oriental immigration problem.
The author's first interest in this problem arose dur¬
ing his seven years' residence in Japan as a teacher in a
mission college in Sendai. Without the background
gained by this long contact with the Japanese people,
this study could not have been carried out.
Among the many friends, both Japanese and Ameri¬
can, who have furnished data of various kinds, special
mention should be made of Dr. William G. Seiple, of
Sendai, Japan, who has been at great pains to keep the
author in close touch with public opinion in Japan. The
author wishes especially to acknowledge his great in¬
debtedness to Dr. Robert E. Park, of the University of
Chicago, under whose patient and stimulating super¬
vision this book was written.
J. F. Steiner
Chicago, January, igi'j
INTRODUCTION
' | ^HERE is a conviction, widespread in America at
the present time, that one of the most fruitful
sources of international wars are racial prejudice and
national egotism. This conviction is the nerve of much
present day pacifism. It has been the inspiration of
such unofficial diplomacy, for example, as that of the
Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in its effort
to bring about a better understanding between the Jap¬
anese and America. This book is an attempt to study
this phenomenon of race prejudice and national ego¬
tism, so far as it reveals itself in the relations of the
Japanese and the Americans in this country, and to
estimate the role it is likely to play in the future rela¬
tions of the two countries.
So far as I know, an investigation of precisely this
nature has not hitherto been made. One reason for
this is, perhaps, that not until very recent times did the
problem present itself in precisely this form. So long
as the nations lived in practical isolation, carrying on
their intercourse through the medium of professional
diplomats, and knowing each other mainly through
the products they exchanged, census reports, and the
discreet observations of polite travellers, racial preju¬
dice did not disturb international relations. With the
extension of international commerce, the increase of
vii
viii
Introduction
immigration, and the interpenetration of peoples, the
scene changes. The railway, the steamship, and the
telegraph are rapidly mobilizing the peoples of the
earth. The nations are coming out of their isolation,
and distances which separated the different races are
rapidly giving way before the extension of communi¬
cation.
The same human motives, which have led men to
spread a network of trade-communication over the
whole earth, in order to bring about an exchange of
commodities, are now bringing about a new distribu¬
tion of populations. When these populations become
as mobile as the commodities of commerce there will
be practically no limits—except those artificial barriers,
like the customs and immigration restrictions, main¬
tained by individual states—to a world wide economic
and personal competition. Furthermore, when the
natural barriers are broken down, artificial barriers
will be maintained with increasing difficulty.
Some conception of the extent of the changes which
are taking place in the world under the influence of
these forces may be gathered from the fact that in
1870 the cost of transporting a bushel of grain in
Europe was so great as to prohibit its sale beyond a
radius of two hundred miles from a primary market.
By 1883 the importation of grains from the virgin
soil of the Western prairies in the United States had
brought about an agricultural crisis in every country
in Western Europe.
One may illustrate, but it is scarcely possible to esti-
Introduction
ix
mate the economic changes which have been brought
about by the enormous increase in ocean transporta¬
tion. In 1840 the first Cunard liner, of 740 horse¬
power with a speed of 8.5 knots per hour, was
launched. In 1907, when the Lusitania was built,
ocean-going vessels had attained a speed of 25 knots
an hour and were drawn by engines of 70,000 horse¬
power.
It is difficult to estimate the economic changes which
have been brought about by the changes in ocean trans¬
portation represented by these figures. It is still less
possible to predict the political effects of the steadily
increasing mobility of the peoples of the earth. At
the present time this mobility has already reached a
point at which it is often easier and cheaper to trans¬
port the world's population to the sources of raw mate¬
rials than to carry the world's manufactures to the
established seats of population.
With the progressive rapidity, ease, and security of
transportation, and the increase in communication,
there follows an increasing detachment of the popu¬
lation from the soil, and a concurrent concentration in
great cities. These cities, in time, become the centers
of vast numbers of uprooted individuals, casual and
seasonal laborers, tenement and apartment house
dwellers, sophisticated and emancipated urbanites, who
are bound together neither by local attachment nor by
ties of family, clan, religion, or nationality. Under
such conditions it is reasonable to expect that the same
economic motive which leads every trader to sell in the
X
Introduction
highest market and to buy in the lowest will steadily
increase and intensify the tendency, which has already
reached enormous proportions of the population in
overcrowded regions, with diminished resources, to
seek their fortunes, either permanently or temporarily,
in the new countries of undeveloped resources.
Already the extension of commerce and the increase
of immigration have brought about an international
and interracial situation that has strained the inherited
political order of the United States. It is this same
expansive movement of population and of commerce,
together with the racial and national rivalries that have
sprung from them, which first destroyed the traditional
scheme of international control which rested on it.
Whatever may have been the immediate causes of the
world war, the more remote sources of the conflict
must undoubtedly be sought in the great cosmic forces
which have broken down the barriers which formerly
separated the races and nationalities of the world, and
forced them into new intimacies and new forms of
competition, rivalry, and conflict.
Since 1870 the conditions which I have attempted
to sketch have steadily forced upon America and the
nations of Europe the problem of assimilating their
heterogeneous populations. What we call the race
problem is an incident of this process of assimilation,
and is an evidence of its failure.
The present volume touches but does not deal with
the general situation which I have briefly sketched. It
is, as its title suggests, a study in "racial contacts," and
Introduction
XI
is an attempt to distinguish and trace to their sources
the attitudes and the sentiments—that is to say, mutual
prejudices—which have been and still are a source of
mutual irritation and misunderstanding between the
Japanese and American peoples.
Fundamentally, prejudice against the Japanese in the
United States is merely the prejudice which attaches
to every alien and immigrant people. The immigrant
from Europe, like the immigrant from Asia, comes to
this country because he finds here a freedom of indi¬
vidual action and an economic opportunity which he
did not find at home. It is an instance of the general
tendency of populations to move from an area of rela¬
tively closed to one of relatively open resources. The
movement is as inevitable and, in the long run, as re¬
sistless as that which draws water from its mountain
sources to the sea. It is one way of redressing the
economic balance and bringing about an economic
equilibrium.
The very circumstances under which this modern
movement of population has arisen implies then that
the standard of living, if not the cultural level, of the
immigrant is lower than that of the native population.
The consequence is that immigration brings with it a
new and disturbing form of competition, the competi¬
tion, namely, of peoples of a lower and of a higher
standard of living. The effect of this competition,
where it is free and unrestricted, is either to lower the
living standards of the native population; to expel
them from the vocations in which the immigrants are
xii
Introduction
able or permitted to compete; or what may, perhaps,
be regarded as a more sinister consequence, to induce
such a restriction of the birth rate of the native popu¬
lation as to insure its ultimate extinction. The latter
is, in fact, what seems to be happening in the New
England manufacturing towns where the birth rate
in the native population for some years past has fallen
below the death rate, so that the native stock has long
since ceased to reproduce itself. The foreign peoples,
on the other hand, are rapidly replacing the native
stocks, not merely by the influence of new immigra¬
tion but because of a relatively high excess of births
over deaths.
It has been assumed that the prejudice which blinds
the people of one race to the virtues of another, and
leads them to exaggerate that other's faults, is in the
nature of a misunderstanding which further knowledge
will dispel. This is so far from true that it would
be more exact to say that our racial misunderstandings
are merely the expression of our racial antipathies.
Behind these antipathies are deep-seated, vital, and in¬
stinctive impulses. These antipathies represent col¬
lision of invisible forces, the clash of interests, dimly
felt but not yet clearly perceived They are present in
every situation where the fundamental interests of
races and peoples are not yet regulated by some law,
custom, or any other modus vivendi which commands
the assent and the mutual support of both parties. We
hate people because we fear them; because our inter¬
ests, as we understand them at any rate, run counter
Introduction
xiii
to theirs. On the other hand, good will is founded in
the long run upon cooperation. The extension of our
socalled altruistic sentiments is made possible only by
the organization of our otherwise conflicting interests
and by the extension of the machinery of cooperation
and social control.
Race prejudice may be regarded as a spontaneous,
more or less instinctive defense-reaction, the practical
effect of which is to restrict free competition between
races. Its importance as a social function is due to
the fact that free competition, particularly between
people with different standards of living, seems to be,
if not the original source, at least the stimulus to which
race prejudice is the response.
From this point of view we may regard caste, or
even slavery, as one of those accommodations through
which the race problem found a natural solution. Caste,
by relegating the subject race to an inferior status,
gives to each race at any rate a monopoly of its own
tasks. When this status is accepted by the subject peo¬
ple, as is the case where the caste or slavery systems
become fully established, racial competition ceases and
racial animosity tends to disappear. That is the ex¬
planation of the intimate and friendly relations which
so often existed in slavery between master and serv¬
ant. It is for this reason that we hear it said today
that "the Negro is all right in his place." In his place
he is a convenience and not a competitor. Each race
being in its place, no obstacle to racial cooperation
exists.
xiv
Introduction
The fact that race prejudice is due to, or is in some
sense dependent upon, race competition is further
manifest by a fact which Mr. Steiner has emphasized,
namely, that prejudice against the Japanese is nowhere
uniform throughout the United States. It is only
where Japanese are present in sufficient numbers to
actually disturb the economic status of the white popu¬
lation that prejudice has manifested itself to such a
degree as to demand serious consideration. It is an
interesting fact, also, that prejudice against the Jap¬
anese is now more intense than it is against any other
oriental people. The reason for this, as Mr. Steiner
has pointed out, is that the Japanese are more aggres¬
sive, more disposed to test the sincerity of that state¬
ment of the Declaration of Independence which de¬
clares that all men are equally entitled to " life, liberty,
and the pursuit of happiness"—a statement, by the
way, which is merely a forensic assertion of the laissez-
faire doctrine of free and unrestricted competition as
applied to the relations of individual men.
The Japanese, the Chinese, they too would be all
right in their place, no doubt. That place, if they find
it, will be one in which they do not greatly intensify
and so embitter the struggle for existence of the white
man. The difficulty is that the Japanese is still less
disposed than the Negro or the Chinese to submit to
the regulations of a caste system and to stay in his
place. The Japanese are an organized and morally
efficient nation. They have the national pride and
the national egotism which rests on the consciousness
Introduction
xv
of this efficiency. In fact it is not too much to say
that national egotism, if one pleases to call it such,
is essential to national efficiency, just as a certain
irascibility of temper seems to be essential to a good
fighter.
Another difficulty is that caste and the limitation of
free competition is economically unsound, even though
it be politically desirable. A national policy of national
efficiency demands that every individual have not
merely the opportunity but the preparation necessary
to perform that particular service for the community
for which his natural disposition and aptitude fit him,
irrespective of race or " previous condition."
Finally, caste and the limitation of economic oppor¬
tunity is contrary, if not to our traditions, at least to
our political principles. That means that there will
always be an active minority opposed on grounds of
political sentiment to any settlement based on the caste
system as applied to either the black or the brown man.
This minority will be small in parts of the country im¬
mediately adversely affected by the competition of the
invading race. It will be larger in regions which are
not greatly affected. It will be increased if immigra¬
tion is so rapid as to make the competition more acute.
We must look to other measures for the solution of
the Japanese problem, if it should prove true, as seems
probable, that we are not able or, for various reasons,
do not care to hold back permanently the rising tide
of the oriental invasion.
I have said that fundamentally and in principle preju-
xvi
Introduction
dice against the Japanese in America today was iden¬
tical with the prejudice which attaches to any immi¬
grant people. There is, as Mr. Steiner has pointed out,
a difference. This is due to the existence in the human
mind of a mechanism by which we inevitably and auto¬
matically classify every individual human being we
meet. When a race bears an external mark by which
every individual member of it can infallibly be identi¬
fied, that race is by that fact set apart and segregated.
Japanese, Chinese, and Negroes cannot move among
us with the same freedom as the members of other
races because they bear marks which identify them as
members of their race. This fact isolates them. In
the end, the effect of this isolation, both in its effects
upon the Japanese themselves, and upon the human
environment in which they live, is profound. Isolation
is at once a cause and an effect of race prejudice. It
is a vicious circle — isolation, prejudice; prejudice, iso¬
lation. Were there no other reasons which urge us to
consider the case of the Japanese and the oriental peo¬
ples in a category different from that of the European
immigrant, this fact, that he is bound to live in the
American community a more or less isolated life,
would impel us to do so.
I have called what I have here written an introduc¬
tion. It is perhaps less an introduction than an inter¬
pretation. As such, however, it may serve its purpose,
which has been to add, if possible, something to the
significance of this study by a review of the larger
situation, in which its special problem lies.
Introduction
xvii
In conclusion, I may perhaps say in a word what
seems to me the practical bearing of Mr. Steiner's
book. Race prejudice is a mechanism of the group
mind which acts reflexly and automatically in response
to its proper stimulus. That stimulus seems to be, in
the cases where I have met it, unrestricted competition
of peoples with different standards of living. Racial
animosities and the socalled racial misunderstandings
that grow out of them cannot be explained or argued
away. They can only be affected when there has been
a readjustment of relations and an organization of
interests in such a way as to bring about a larger meas¬
ure of cooperation and a less amount of friction and
conflict. This demands something more than a diplo¬
macy of kind words. It demands a national policy
based on an unflinching examination of the facts.
Robert E. Park.
The University of Chicago,
January 25, 1917
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I Our First Acquaintance with the Japanese i
II The Japanese Attitude Toward the West . 16
III The Closing of the Open Door .... 34
IV The Problem from the Japanese Viewpoint 54
V The Japanese "Menace" 68
VI The Isolation of Japanese in America . . 93
VII The Reaction of the Japanese to American
Economic Conditions 112
VIII Organization and Solidarity of Japanese
Immigrants 130
IX The Problem of Intermarriage .... 149
X The Japanese in America as a Race Prob¬
lem 175
XI The World Significance of Waking Asia . 195
Bibliography 211
Index 227
CHAPTER I
OUR FIRST ACQUAINTANCE WITH THE JAPANESE
HE first Japanese to set foot upon the American
continent came to Mexico early in the seven¬
teenth century as guests of Spanish colonists who
then were the only Europeans residing on the western
coast of America. The same aggressiveness and
organizing ability and capacity for leadership, which
have been such prominent factors in the recent develop¬
ment of Japan, were also characteristic of the Japanese
of that day.
Under the leadership of ambitious rulers a Japanese
mercantile fleet was organized and trade routes were
established to such distant points as India and Java.
Their three-masted, square-rigged vessels, very little
smaller than those used by European sailors, were well
adapted for long ocean voyages, and under the direc¬
tion of skilled Japanese navigators, became familiar
objects in every far eastern port. Japanese colonists
took advantage of this opportunity to go abroad in
large numbers. Over 15,000 Japanese, it is said, were
residing in the Philippines during the sixteenth century.
The Japanese were quick to see the advantages of
foreign trade so eagerly sought by the progressive
nations of Europe, and were developing a policy of
I
2
The Japanese Invasion
expansion that seemed destined to make them leaders
of the Orient. Spanish vessels plying between Spain's
far eastern possessions and Mexico were urged to call
at the ports of Japan. Japanese sailors employed on
these Spanish ships learned the route across the Pacific
and brought back glowing reports of the New World.
In 1610 and 1613 two Japanese embassies proceeded
in Spanish ships to Acapulco, Mexico, where they
remained a few months studying the conditions of
trade in New Spain. The desire of the Spaniards
to promote friendly relations between the two countries
led them to extend a cordial welcome to their visitors,
who were given every opportunity for observation and
travel.1
Whatever may have been the plans of the Japanese
for securing a foothold on the American continent,
they were destined not to be carried out, for soon after
the return of these embassies to Japan the foreign
policy of the country was so radically changed that
further foreign intercourse became impossible. The
desire of the Japanese rulers to profit by foreign trade
was outweighed by their fear of foreign aggression.
The Roman Catholic missionaries residing in Japan
were no longer regarded as mere religious propagan¬
dists but as political agents of their home governments,
whose real purpose was to undermine the loyalty of
their converts.2 In the minds of the Japanese authori-
1 Nuttall, Z., Earliest Historical Relations Between Mexico and
Japan, Univ. of Calif. Publications of Arch. & Eth., rv, 1-47, i9°6.
2 Murdoch, J., A History of Japan During Century of Early
Foreign Intercourse, Kobe, Japan, pp. 45-48.
Our First Acquaintance 3
ties, the safety of their country lay only in seclusion.
To accomplish this end all foreigners were banished
and Japanese subjects were forbidden to go abroad.
In 1636 during the shogunate of Tokugawa Iyemitsu
all intercourse with Mexico was cut off and thus ended
what might have been the beginning of Japanese
expansion in the West. If it had not been for this
change in Japan's foreign policy, aggressive Japanese
traders and colonists might have explored our whole
western coast and established settlements in California
long before the arrival of the people of the white race.
It is of course futile to discuss what might have been,
but it takes no great stretch of the imagination to
picture the changed conditions that would now prevail
on our western coast if Japan had not lost her chance
to gain the mastery of the Pacific in the seventeenth
century.1
For more than two hundred years Japan maintained
this policy of seclusion so rigidly that very few Japa¬
nese managed to get abroad. Occasionally, Japanese
fishing junks, driven far out to sea by sudden storms,
were carried by the Black Current across the Pacific
and finally stranded on the western coast of America
and its outlying islands, a fact which some writers
have used to support the theory that the Japanese are
the ancestors of the American Indians.2
As early as 1840, American vessels crossing the
1 Kennan, George, " How Japan Lost Her Chance in the Pacific,"
the Outlook, June 27, 1914, pp. 488-93.
2 Davis, H., "Japanese Wrecks in American Waters," the
Overland, Monthly, Sept., 1872, pp. 353-60.
4
The Japanese Invasion
Pacific rescued shipwrecked Japanese fishermen and
brought them to America. One of the first of these
rescued Japanese to stay for any length of time in
America was Nakahama Manjiro, a boy of fifteen,
who was taken to Fair Haven, Massachusetts, where
he attended school for six years. Upon his return to
Japan in 1849 he was treated harshly by the Japanese
authorities because he had broken the laws which
forbade any Japanese to go abroad. Fortunately he
escaped severe punishment, and when Commodore
Perry arrived in Japan in 1853, Nakahama acted as
one of the interpreters and helped to convince the
Japanese of the friendliness of America.1
1 Hawks, F. L., Narrative of the Expedition of Perry to Japan.
D. Appleton & Co., p. 60.
I. Nitobe. The Intercourse Between the United States and Japan,
gives the following account of one of these Japanese fishermen:
"Sentaro — better known by his American nickname, Sam
Patch—was one of seventeen unfortunates who, while manning
a junk, were blown out to sea, rescued by an American vessel and
taken to San Francisco. Sam Patch accompanied the Perry squad¬
ron. All the while they sailed, he was apprehending that some ill
would befall his neck and was constantly repeating 'shimpai,
shimpai' (Japanese word for troubled in mind), showing with
what fear and trembling he came once more to take a glance at
his native land. He was asked by the Japanese officials to stay in
the country and engage in building 'black ships'; but nothing
could free him of his ' shimpai' which became almost a part of
his constitution insomuch as it gave him the sobriquet of ' Sam
Patch.' He was placed under the care of Mr. J. Goble, who took
him to Hamilton, New York, where the poor heathen was dubbed
a Christian by being dipped into water. In i860, when Goble came
to Japan as a missionary, he took Sam with him; but at that time
when a scrappy knowledge of English might be turned to very
good account, Sam lacked Yankee pluck and he lived and died a
poor house servant." (p. 157.)
Our First Acquaintance 5
It was not, however, until i860 that America re¬
ceived an important visit from the Japanese. In that
year a special embassy was sent to Washington by the
Japanese government to exchange the ratifications of
the treaty of 1858. Through the efforts of our repre¬
sentative in Japan, Townsend Harris, the Embassy was
given passage in American naval vessels and was
received as guests of the American government. This
Embassy consisted of a Chief Ambassador and a Vice-
Ambassador, who were princes of the highest rank in
the Empire, a Censor and a Vice-Governor, who were
also of high rank, and a retinue of officers, interpreters,
physicians, and servants, the whole party numbering
seventy-one persons.
The reception of the Embassy at San Francisco was
very enthusiastic. Twenty thousand dollars was
appropriated from the city treasury to provide for
their entertainment. The city authorities and leading
citizens showed the Japanese every possible consider¬
ation and did all in their power to make their stay in
the city pleasant. Under the auspices of the state and
city authorities, a public reception was given the Em¬
bassy in the largest hall in the city, which was attended
by an immense crowd of people.1
The trip from San Francisco to the eastern states
was made by way of Panama, the Embassy arriving
in Washington on May 13, i860. The Government
had made thorough preparation for the reception of
the Japanese visitors and treated them with the dis-
1 Harper's Weekly, April 28, i860.
6
The Japanese Invasion
tinction and courtesy befitting their rank. They were
granted interviews by the President and chief officers
of state, receptions and banquets were held in their
honor, and facilities were given them to visit the places
of interest in the city and become acquainted with
American institutions.1 The newspapers of that day
devoted a large amount of space to the movements
of the Embassy and published much information about
Japan and things Japanese. The friendly tone of the
newspaper press can be seen in the following quotation
from an editorial:
This Japanese Embassy is a matter of the highest
national and commercial importance. The Japanese are
the British of Asia. Like our ancestors of the British
Isles, they are of insular origin and full of insular virtues
and insular prejudices. They despise foreigners; but
they know how to take care of themselves. Many of their
customs seem absurd to us; but they are honest in their
adoption and thorough in their observance. Their coun¬
try produces a number of commodities which would find
a sale here, and they consume many articles which we
produce. Satisfy them that commercial intercourse with
us would be beneficial to them, and a valuable trade will
be created
Independently, however, of immediate commercial
benefits, the establishment of friendly relations with the
Japanese cannot fail to be of marked advantage to our
Pacific States. The State of Oregon and the future
State of Washington will necessarily become intimately
connected with their nearest neighbors over the water.
Of those neighbors, Japan is the one best worth cultivat¬
ing. . . By and by there will necessarily grow up an
1 Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, June 2, i860.
Our First Acquaintance 7
interchange not only of commodities but of men between
our Pacific States and the Empire of Japan. Our people
will go to Japan and will endeavor to show the Japanese
the best side of the American character. On the other
hand, the Japanese — if good relations be established be¬
tween the two countries — will send out some of their
people to plant Japanese colonies in our territory. Of
this interchange, the benefit will be obvious and mutual.
Civilized as we boast of being, we can learn much of the
Japanese; if nothing more, we can learn the duty of
obeying the laws. In every point of view the visit of
the Japanese is an important event, and we fervently
trust that all classes of people will combine to do them
honor.1
During their six weeks' visit in the eastern states,
great excitement prevailed wherever they appeared.
Every city they visited strove to outdo its rival in pro¬
viding entertainment for the distinguished guests of
the nation. Record-breaking crowds assembled in the
streets to see them pass by. The climax of their
American visit was the Grand Ball given at the Metro¬
politan Hotel by the city of New York on June 25. On
this occasion it is asserted that more than ten thousand
of the leading citizens of New York and neighboring
cities were present. No money or pains were spared
in the effort to make it a brilliant affair. A contem¬
porary writer states that " the whole thing was arranged
on a scale of unsurpassed splendor, prodigality, and
magnificence. It was a scene of festivity altogether
unparalleled in the history of New York." The arrival
of the Japanese guests at the reception is thus described:
1 Harper's Weekly, May 26, i860.
8
The Japanese Invasion
The Prince Ambassadors and the principal officers of
the Embassy on their entrance from the hotel to the ball¬
room were received by the Joint Committee of the Com¬
mon Council and conducted through the various apart¬
ments appropriated to the festivities of the evening. On
their entrance the beautiful tune of " Kathleen Mavour-
neen " was struck up by the band. On entering the prin¬
cipal ballroom, chaperoned by the members of the Naval
Commission, they were conducted through the throng
of guests, who opened right and left, leaving a lane for
them to pass through to the pavilion which had been
prepared for their exclusive accommodation at the north
of the building on the stage of the theater. The interest
at this juncture was intense. The guests spontaneously
rose, while the cry ran round the immense building of
"the Japanese, the Japanese!" Every eye was strained
and everyone present stood on tiptoe to see the members
of the unique corps diplomatique Of the appear¬
ance of the guests we can only say that it was in every
respect in keeping with the brilliancy of the scene amid
which they moved with so much taste and refinement.
The Japanese Princes were, of course, the principal
attraction, and during the evening were the observed of
all observers. They were placed in a position which
suited them exactly, for, like the performers in a theater,
they could see and yet be seen. Our eastern visitors
seemed to be greatly delighted at the appearance and
animation of the festive throng. Never before in their
distant eastern homes did these Japanese gentlemen get
entangled in such an ocean of satins, silk, and crinoline as
revolved around them last night. They could do nothing
else than sit down in quiet amazement at the rapid evolu¬
tions made by the lady dancers, who twirled around in
the giddy waltz with a rapidity that would have done
credit to an artificial fire-wheel. The Japanese could not
Our First Acquaintance
9
help expressing their delight at all they saw and felt,
which they did by briefly articulated expressions, by
gesticulations and smiles.1
No reader of the contemporary accounts of the
reception of the Embassy can doubt the sincerity of the
welcome extended by the American government. The
officers of state in their addresses of welcome and in
their thoughtful planning for the comfort of the Em¬
bassy made every effort to convince the Japanese of
our friendly attitude toward their nation. The official
welcome in all its formal aspects passed off in the most
successful manner and reflected great credit upon those
who had it in charge.
If we wish, however, to understand the real estimate
that was placed upon the Japanese at that time, we
cannot depend entirely upon the story of their official
welcome. We must take note also of the conduct of
the mass of the people, in this their first contact with
the Japanese, in order to learn what sentiments and
attitudes they revealed. On the occasion of the Em¬
bassy's visit to Philadelphia, a correspondent gives a
vivid picture of the insults the Japanese had to face.
The most disgusting and brutal language was unspar¬
ingly used by the crowd while the procession was passing
over the route. This was especially the case in the lower
portion of the city where the " governing classes " most
do congregate. For instance, at one point, a Naval Com¬
missioner was greeted with the cry of " Say, you man
with the epaulets, is that your monkey you have got with
1 Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, July 7, i860.
10
The Japanese Invasion
you?" And this is but one in a hundred of the humors
of the crowd. It is to be particularly regretted that many
of these remarks were plainly understood by a portion of
the Embassy. This morning some of them came to Cap¬
tains Du Pont and Porter and said they feared from
their conduct yesterday that the American people con¬
sidered them very ridiculous, and intimated that they
should not be so severe in their sarcasms, as the Japa¬
nese considered the dress and manners of the people of
this country equally curious, if not outlandish. They
were evidently under the impression that anything but
respect had been shown to them by many of the roughs,
and the Imperial interpreter had reported that they had
been called " niggers," while it was ascertained that an
attempt had been made to pull one of their number out
of his carriage A drunken fellow carelessly let off
a pistol while conversing with a Japanese, who was so
enraged at what he supposed was an attempt to murder
him that he drew his sword and rushed at the offender,
who would have been undoubtedly decapitated, had it not
been for the bystanders.1
Of course we must not give too much weight to the
unrestrained actions of an American crowd, which in
its treatment of foreigners and even of its own political
heroes has often gone far beyond the bounds of pro¬
priety. Without doubt the fact that the Japanese
invariably appeared dressed in their native costume
helped to magnify in the eyes of the people their for¬
eign peculiarities and further stimulated curiosity.2
1 Harper's Weekly, June 23, i860.
2 Harper's Weekly, May 26, i860, describes the appearance of
the Japanese as follows: "The hair is shaved from all parts of
the head excepting the sides and back, from which it is gathered
in long bands to the crown and there fastened with a white string,
Our First Acquaintance n
Nevertheless it is true that the mass of the people
failed to take the Japanese seriously and persisted in
treating them with the condescending familiarity
bestowed upon children rather than with the respect
due men in their position of power in the state. After
their arrival in their hotel in Baltimore we are told
that —
. ... a party of firemen mounted the balcony and intro¬
duced themselves to the Ambassadors. At last one of
these noble fellows gave a characteristic and playful vent
by taking off his heavy and dripping fire-cap and clap¬
ping it affectionately on the head of the Chief Ambassa¬
dor. This was received with such shouts of laughter that
two other facetious firemen dropped their caps on the
heads of the other Ambassadors, and the applause was
terrific. The Japanese took the matter with great philos¬
ophy, but we have no doubt the historian of the party
leaving a lock three or four inches long, which is stiffened with
oil and brought forward to the forehead where it rests. They
wear silk or crepe undercoats of various hues, looser robes of the
same material and mostly blue being thrown and folded over them.
In their belts of crepe they wear two swords, one short and the
other longer, which are borne in neatly wrought scabbards of
thick skin, inlaid with ornaments of gold and jewels. Their
trousers are very wide and short, descending only to within five
or six inches of the ground, and are made of silk which is some¬
times covered with beautifully embroidered figures of buds and
flowers. Upon their feet are white cloth coverings, half sock,
half gaiter, closely fitting and fastened by cords. Their sandals
are of straw and are composed of a small flat matting for the
foot, and two cords — one passing over the instep, the other
between the large toe and its neighbor — which serve to keep it
in place. For pockets they use a part of their flowing sleeves and
the front of their robes above their belt, the customary occupation
of which by goodly sized packages gives the wearers a protuber¬
ance of stomach quite unaccountable at first sight."
12
The Japanese Invasion
will make his own comments upon these practical jokes
when he submits it to the Tycoon. In the evening fire¬
works were let off, and the persecuted dignitaries were
left to their repose.1
There was a disposition on the part of the Americans
in general to look upon the Embassy as a show
intended to furnish them amusement. Surprise was
manifested when the Japanese conducted themselves
with dignity as men of culture. It was plainly evident
that they were regarded as men on a lower plane of
civilization from whom not much could be expected.
Thus we are told that when the Japanese sat down to
their first dinner at Willard's Hotel in Washington,
"greatly to the disappointment of all who were on the
outlook for something funny, the Japanese took wine
and used knives and forks like any other well-bred
people." Also on the occasion of their first interview
with President Buchanan the reporter writes:
The interview, far from being absurd or amusing, as
was anticipated, was of a solemn and serious character.
Through the strange differences of dress, language, and
custom, it was evident that the Ambassadors were men
of high character, honor, intelligence, and refinement,
and that the New World could teach them no lessons in
propriety of demeanor or in a due sense of official re¬
sponsibility.1
The following account of the Embassy's visit to
Congress shows clearly the attitude of even the more
intelligent Americans toward the Japanese:
1 Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, June 23, i860.
Our First Acquaintance 13
They were led over the building and shown the splen¬
did ceiling, but, to the astonishment of those introduced,
they manifested much more interest in the mode of con¬
ducting the legislative proceedings than in any other
part of the show. They remained but a short time and
then retired, followed, of course, by a loud laugh from
the representatives and by a wild mob rush of men and
women from the galleries, which were left nearly empty.1
Another instance of the indignities to which the
Japanese were subjected is brought out in the descrip¬
tion of their inspection of the United States Mint at
Philadelphia:
It is worth mentioning that the female employees at
the Mint behaved in a modest and ladylike manner,
neither pressing up close to the Japanese nor clasping
their hands nor annoying them in any manner whatever.
It is said that this was almost the first instance since the
Japanese have been in this country when the princes and
suite were not literally annoyed by females when the
latter had the opportunity to do so. It should be borne
in mind, however, in justice to our fair countrywomen,
that those who have thus annoyed them have been prin¬
cipally of the brazen and ignorant sort.2
It is no wonder that a writer in Harper's Weekly
should make the following indignant protest against
the rudeness of the American public:
There are undoubtedly gentlemen and ladies in Amer¬
ica, but what a pity that the Japanese will never know it!
They have seen some probably during their visit here,
1 Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, June 6, i860.
2 Ibid., June 23, i860.
14
The Japanese Invasion
but they could not know them in the multitude. They
know the gentleman who smashed his hat over their eyes
in Baltimore; the lady who filled up the window in Phil¬
adelphia ; the shouting, staring, insulting mob which has
dogged them everywhere The drollest part of the
whole thing is that we speak of the Japanese as if they
were barbarians and savages. But we have yet to read
of the moment during these proceedings in which the
Japanese gentlemen have not been quite as dignified,
intelligent, and well bred as any gentlemen in any country
or time. The barbarian and savage behavior has been
entirely upon our part; and it is a fair question whether
the princes will not return with a profound regret that
Japan has so far foregone her ancient traditions as to
open her ports to the desolating influx of western
civilization.1
It thus appears that our first experiences with the
Japanese resemble somewhat our treatment of them at
the present day. In i860 as well as in these opening
years of the twentieth century there was the friendly
attitude of our national government endeavoring in
every possible way to promote peace and good will
between the two countries. Then as now shrewd
business men were quick to see the advantage of trade
with the Orient which offered such a wide market for
American goods. There were people in those days as
well as at the present who admired the culture of the
Japanese and pointed out the lessons we could learn
by contact with the Far East. In the attitude of the
mass of the people we notice the same tendency to look
upon the Japanese in a condescending way, to assign
1 Harper's Weekly, June 23, i860.
Our First Acquaintance 15
them to a position of inferiority, and even to subject
them to rude insults.
But in spite of all these points of similarity, our
attitude toward the Japanese has undergone a vast
change within recent years. An undercurrent of sus¬
picion and dislike has spread over America and has
broken out in certain sections in expressions of open
hostility. The development of Japan into a world
power, our contact with Japanese immigrants under
the stress of modern labor conditions, are among the
new factors in the situation that have made inevitable
the rise of our American-Japanese problem.
It is very evident that we are no longer dealing with
an obscure nation getting its first glimpse of the
western world. The Japanese are now a highly organ¬
ized and efficient people who are seeking an outlet in
the West for their surplus population. The over¬
crowded East is making its first advance upon the more
sparsely settled West. Hitherto the Japanese have
come as suppliants asking to share the opportunities
we enjoy. Whether they will later follow Commodore
Perry's example and back up their demands with a fleet
of battleships it is impossible to predict. The situation,
however, is serious enough to warrant the consideration
of those interested in promoting more cordial relations
between the peoples of the East and of the West.
CHAPTER II
THE JAPANESE ATTITUDE TOWARD THE WEST
' I AHE first Westerners to arrive in Japan were a
party of Portuguese who in the early part of the
sixteenth century were forced by a storm to take shelter
in a Japanese port. These foreign sailors were received
with great kindness by the Japanese and were sent on
their way with the assurance that trade between the
two countries would be welcomed. In a few years
Portuguese ships bringing merchandise and mission¬
aries came to Japan and inaugurated an era of friendly
intercourse mutually satisfactory to both nations. The
open-minded, liberal attitude of the Japanese at that
time is evidenced both by their ready response to the
teachings of Christian missionaries and by their deter¬
mined efforts to share in the advantages of foreign
trade. In their first contact with the western world
the Japanese gave no signs of the existence of an
unreasoning race prejudice. Writes Captain Brinkley:
In 1541, we find the Japanese celebrated, or notorious,
throughout the whole of the Far East for exploits abroad ;
we find them known as " Kings of the Sea"; we find
them welcoming foreigners with cordiality and opposing
no obstacles to foreign commerce or even to the propa-
gandism of foreign creeds; we find them so quick to
recognize the benefits of trade and so apt to pursue them,
that in the space of a few years they established com-
16
Attitude Tozvard the West
i7
mercial relations with no less than twenty oversea mar¬
kets ; we find them authorizing the Portuguese and the
English to trade at every port in the Empire; we find,
in short, all the elements requisite for a career of com¬
mercial enterprise, ocean-going adventure, and inter¬
national liberality.1
After almost a century of this foreign intercourse,
the tide of national sentiment turned and a revolution¬
ary change was made in Japan's foreign policy. Every
Westerner was expelled from the country. No Japa¬
nese was permitted to go abroad upon pain of death.
Ships large enough for ocean voyages could no longer
be constructed. The government, in its efforts to
uproot every trace of the Christian religion that had
spread so rapidly among the people, entered upon an
era of severe persecution equaled only by the horrors
of the Spanish Inquisition. An edict promulgated at
that time said:
So long as the sun warms the earth, let no Christian
be so bold as to come to Japan; and let all know that if
the King of Spain, or the Christian's God, or the Great
God of all violate this command, he shall pay for it with
his head.2
Through the enforcement of the most rigid laws,
foreign influence was driven out of the country, and
Japan followed the policy of strict seclusion for more
than two hundred years.
1 Brinkley, F., Japan, Its History, Arts, and Literature, vol. 3,
p. 129.
2 Cary, Otis, History of Christianity in Japan, F. H. Revell
Company, vol. 1, p. 231.
i8
The Japanese Invasion
The reasons for this revulsion of feeling are not
hard to find. The Japanese could not long be blind to
the fact that the Europeans of that day, whether mer¬
chants or missionaries, were by no means mere pro¬
moters of western civilization and culture.1 There
grew in their minds the suspicion that even the propa¬
gation of Christianity was being used as a cloak to hide
the political designs of the foreigners. They believed
that their country was endangered by the presence of
foes masquerading as friends. Their only safety, they
felt, lay in taking stern measures before the foreigners
had secured a firm foothold in their country.
1" It must ever be borne in mind that after the discovery of
India by Da Gama in 1498, the eastern trade was always main¬
tained as a royal monopoly, and that the early Portuguese dis¬
coverers were not, as were the English afterwards, mere traders
or private adventurers, but admirals with a royal commission to
conquer territory and to promote the spread of what was called
Christianity. So much appears for example in the case of Calral,
who was in command of the fleet of thirteen sail that left the
Tagus for India in 1500. The sum of his instructions was to begin
with preaching, and if that failed, to proceed to the sharp de¬
termination of the sword. As for Da Gama and his method of
propagating 'the true religion,' in spite of his well-deserved and
undying fame as a discoverer, his career is a record of brutal
atrocities that make one blush for civilization, for religion, and
for humanity alike These pious ruffians seem to have been
thoroughly convinced that it was not only their right, but their
duty, to conquer and convert the heathen by any and every means
whatsoever. Possibly when the keen-witted Japanese came to
grasp the import of this fact — as there are grounds to believe
they did, in the early seventeenth century — their expulsion of
the foreign missionaries and their stern and ruthless suppression
of Christianity in the country became merely matters of course."
A History of Japan During Century of Early Foreign Intercourse,
P- 45 ff.
Attitude Toward the West 19
From this time dates the beginning of Japanese
prejudice against the West, a prejudice so deep-seated
that it caused Japan to drop out of touch with the
progress of the world and to become almost hopelessly-
outdistanced in the race of material civilization. What
little knowledge of the western world filtered into
Japan during its two centuries of seclusion came largely
through Dutch traders who, by accepting humiliating
restrictions, carried on a little trade at the port of
Nagasaki. Some Dutch books were secured by the
Japanese and translated, but so violent was the preju¬
dice against things western that this new learning could
not be widely disseminated.1
It is easy to understand, therefore, why so much
suspicion and fear were aroused by Commodore Perry's
visit to Japan in 1853, when he demanded that the
country be opened to foreign intercourse. If his
demand had not been backed up by the presence of
American battleships, the Japanese would doubtless
have given it scant consideration. Their laws against
foreign trade were still in full force and there was no
disposition on their part to violate the traditions of the
past. It was only their inability to cope with the situ¬
ation that caused them to consent to open their country.
The Japanese, who were then as now past masters in
the art of courtesy, did not allow their feelings of
chagrin to affect their treatment of the foreigners. No
unpleasant incidents occurred to mar the first visit of
1 Kikuchi, Baron, "Introduction of Western Learning into
Japan," Japan Advertiser, Mar. 4-5, 1915.
20
The Japanese Invasion
the Americans to Japan. Even the common people
showed a friendliness and civility hardly to be expected
under the circumstances.1 A contemporary account
of Perry's expedition to Japan states that —
. . . . throughout these negotiations the Japanese showed
none of the captiousness and arrogance usually attributed
to them, but as much forbearance and courtesy with the
strangers as the most graceful European diplomatists
exhibit toward each other.2
During the years immediately following the opening
of Japan, many of the Japanese leaders as well as a
large portion of the common people seemed favorably
disposed toward the foreigners. The hostile attitude
was confined very largely to the samurai, the armed
retainers of the daimios, who as the protectors of their
nation felt it their duty to rid the country of the
western invaders. This proud military class, accus¬
tomed to receive the homage of all whom they met,
bitterly resented the humiliating way in which their
nation had been compelled to bow to the foreign
demands. The samurai were acquainted with the his¬
tory of their past and knew the sad results that had
1 In the Journal of Dr. Williams, the interpreter of the Perry
expedition, we find the following testimony to the friendliness of
the people: " The surveying boats have had considerable friendly
intercourse with the people along the beach and in boats today
and on Saturday, and ere long there seems likely to spring up a
pleasant understanding. The people are evidently willing to cul¬
tivate kindly feelings with their visitors." Trans. Asiatic Soc. of
Japan, vol. 37. part 2, p. 108.
2 " Japan Entering the Commercial World," the Living Age, vol.
42, 1854, p. 189.
Attitude Toward the West 21
followed the first foreign invasion in the sixteenth
century. They must have been at least dimly aware
that the coming of the Westerner heralded a new era
which would mark the downfall of their prestige and
power. In their eyes the foreigner was a dangerous
intruder who must be expelled at all costs. On the body
of a Japanese killed in an attack on the British legation
at that time was found a paper which contained these
words: "I, though I am a person of low standing,
have no patience to stand by and see the sacred empire
defiled by the foreigners."1 These zealous patriots
not only tried to drive out the foreigners, but also
directed their assaults against the Japanese ministers
of state who were using their influence to promote
closer relations with the West. Some of the best Japa¬
nese leaders of that day gave up their lives in their
attempt to lead their nation away from its old policy
of seclusion. Over the head of one of these victims
was placed this inscription: "This is the head of a
traitor who has violated the most sacred laws of Japan
— those which forbid the admission of foreigners into
the country."1
This anti-foreign feeling was still further aggravated
by the treaties which Japan was practically compelled
to make with western powers. In the treaties of 1854
and 1858 between Japan and America, the Japanese
government granted the right of extra-territoriality
and agreed to impose only a fixed minimum tariff rate,
1 Macgowan, "Japanese Foreign Relations," the Continental
Monthly, vol. 4, 1863, p. 338.
22
The Japanese Invasion
thus surrendering two fundamental privileges of an
independent nation — the right of jurisdiction over all
the people in its territory, and the right to protect its
own industries against foreign competition. The intel¬
ligent Japanese who were aware of the nature of these
treaties felt keenly this humiliation. Filled with patri¬
otic enthusiasm for the welfare of their country it was
natural that they should take up the cry of Joi (" expel
the barbarians "), and put forth every effort to accom¬
plish their purpose.
Moreover, the haughty, insolent attitude of some of
the foreigners in Japan played no small part in increas¬
ing their unpopularity among the people. In 1863 a
writer well acquainted with actual conditions criticized
in the following frank manner the conduct of foreigners
residing in that country:
While for good political reasons some daimios have
endeavored to render the treaties inoperative and to
frighten foreigners out of the land, there has been spring¬
ing up among the people a strong antipathy toward them
for which they have themselves alone to blame. Who
that read the glowing accounts of the reception at first ac¬
corded to our people, did not admire the suavity and
hospitality of the Japanese? This friendly intercourse
lasted only until the parties came to understand each
other. Now, we are told, when a western man passes
through the streets, he is hooted at as Tojin baka ("a
foreign fool")
The practical joking in which many foreigners are apt
to indulge is often carried too far, and being accom¬
panied by an arrogant demeanor of superiority, proves
highly offensive. Again, we find the Tojin baka often
Attitude Toward the West
fail to discriminate between different classes of females.
Discovering that the Japanese were lewd beyond all other
peoples, with institutions fostering vice, without even
the flimsy pretext of hygienic considerations, they take
liberties which rouse the vindictive rage of husbands.
. ... In the use of firearms the prejudices of the natives
have been needlessly offended. Shooting game is not
generally allowed to the people, yet foreigners have been
reckless in the pursuit of sport, regardless where they
sought it, and terrifying the people. Again, riding on
horseback is allowed only to nobles, and it is a source of
provocation to all classes to witness the equestrian per¬
formances of foreigners of every station in life, whose
amusement at times consists in making pedestrians scatter
as they gallop through the crowded streets.1
In all the dealings of Westerners with the Japanese
during the first years of the Meiji era, there was this
assumption of superiority, a tendency to treat Japan
in a condescending and patronizing way which was
very galling to the proud and sensitive Japanese people.
The more hot-blooded among them came out boldly
and demanded that the matter should be settled by an
appeal to the sword. The leaders of the nation, how¬
ever, advocated a different policy. Realizing the weak¬
ness of their nation, they hid their bitterness beneath
a cloak of deferential politeness, and set about the task
of building up an empire that could demand respect
and defend itself against foreign aggression. With
them it was not merely a question of avenging insults,
but of preserving the independence of their nation.
The arrogant foreigners who had so little regard for
1 The Continental Monthly, vol. 4, 1863, p. 339.
24
The Japanese Invasion
their customs and institutions might at any moment
attempt to exploit their nation as they were already
exploiting China. Their safety lay only in strength.
Medieval means of defense were inadequate to cope
with the situation. The more efficient western methods
must be adopted if they were to succeed in their forced
competition with the western world. "We will learn
all you can teach and then — we will fight you" was
the frank statement of many Japanese patriots of that
day.1
Later, when the Japanese government was more
strongly established and the people had gained a wider
1 De Forest, J. H., Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom, p. 24.
The feelings of the Oriental in the presence of western aggres¬
sion have been interpreted as follows by Dr. Gulick: " The
aggressive, domineering white man has recently begun to overrun
the earth; he has destroyed many peoples, overthrown their
governments, seized their lands, and murdered countless millions.
He regards neither right nor heaven. Might alone is his god. We
have never interfered with him, but here he is all around us
holding his conquered lands with a mighty grip, demanding trade
and an open door, and so-called rights in our part of the world.
His uncouth ways, his materialistic civilization, and his strange
beliefs are dangerous to our ancient and noble life. It is true
that at present we are weaker than-he, for we have never believed
in fighting. For war is neither the rational nor the right way to
settle difficulties. But since that is his way and the only way he
understands, we will learn his secrets; master his methods; re¬
organize our government; establish army and navy; and intro¬
duce the instruments of western civilization, adding all its good
points to ours; thus shall we be able to resist his aggressions,
maintain our independence, and take our rightful dominant place
among the nations of the earth. For we are inherently superior
to the white man, not only in economic efficiency, but in brain
power, general culture, and moral character."—Gulick, S. L., The
American Japanese Problem, pp. 7-8-
Attitude Tozvard the West 25
knowledge of the West, this attitude of hostility was
pushed into the background. Fear of western aggres¬
sion was superseded by a strong desire to win western
recognition. The achievements of the West convinced
them of the real backwardness of their nation. Says
Kawakami:
Like a docile pupil the Japanese frankly admitted and
recognized the superiority of not only western civiliza¬
tion, but also the western race. When I was in school
in Japan as a small boy, my textbooks taught me that
" the people of the Occident are exceeding industrious,
always rising early in the morning, and never taking a
noonday nap." They told me that the Westerners were
" our superiors physically, mentally, and morally." It
was not only the school children but their teachers and
parents who believed such sweeping statements with
unquestioning simplicity.1
The Japanese were painfully aware that they were
outside the circle of social and political equality, a fact
to which their treaties with western nations bore
constant witness. Their great ambition was to escape
from this humiliating position by securing as soon as
possible a revision of these treaties. To this end de¬
liberate attempts were made to gain foreign favor by
adopting the civilization of the West. The strongly
centralized government under the control of able and
progressive leaders reconstructed as far as possible
their old institutions along western lines. Efforts were
made to conform to western social standards. Counts
1 Kawakami, K. K., Asia at the Door, p. 47-
26
The Japanese Invasion
Inouye and Ito attempted to Europeanize high society
in the Japanese capital. Court ladies ordered gowns
from Paris and learned to waltz in western style. A
suitable foreign building was erected in Tokyo where
expensive balls were given to members of the diplo¬
matic corps. At these functions Japanese ladies of
high rank put aside their traditional ideas of modesty
and retirement and associated with men on terms of
equality.1 These innovations made by the leaders of
the government set the fashion for the people. West¬
ern ideas and customs were adopted bodily, regardless
of their utility under oriental conditions. Leading
men in Japan urged that Christianity be accepted
merely as a matter of good policy, and it was even
proposed that the Emperor receive the rite of Christian
baptism.2 To such an extent did the craze for things
foreign prevail during the period of western popularity
in the eighties that many thought the Japanese nation
would be occidentalized in the course of a very few
years.
Having thus conformed in such large measure to
western standards, the Japanese felt that they had a
right to new treaties that would admit them into the
circle of civilized nations. All the resources of diplo¬
macy were called into requisition in their endeavor
to convince the powers that further discriminatory
treatment was an act of injustice.
1 Atkinson, J. L., "Treaty Relations of Japan with America,"
Our Day, Sept., 1892, p. 277.
2 Clement, E. W., Christianity in Modern Japan, p. 24.
Attitude Toward the West 27
When all their efforts ended in failure, there spread
over Japan a wave of indignant protest that carried
with it a reaction against things western. Native cus¬
toms came back into favor and the cry of Japan for the
Japanese was raised. Oriental reserve no longer con¬
cealed their anti-foreign feelings which had been
repressed for a number of years. Hundreds of
Christian converts shook off their allegiance to the
foreign religion and drifted back into their former
mode of life. Enthusiastic missionaries who had pre¬
dicted the speedy christianization of Japan found them¬
selves doomed to disappointment. The mad rush to ape
foreign custom ceased and in its stead a more conserva¬
tive spirit prevailed. Japan's victory over China in
1895 greatly strengthened the national consciousness
of the Japanese, and gave them the prestige and con¬
fidence they needed to deal more aggressively with the
West. Their renewed demands for treaty revision
could no longer be denied and in 1899 there went into
effect new treaties that granted Japan equal rights and
privileges in her international relations.
This tardy recognition of Japan removed one source
of friction with the West, but the long-drawn-out
struggle had left feelings of bitterness that could not
easily be forgotten. Moreover, the West still main¬
tained its assumption of superiority and in various
ways made clear to the Japanese that they were
regarded as a people on a lower plane of civilization.
Because of the wide difference between the standards
of living in Japan and in the West, such an attitude
28
The Japanese Invasion
on the part of the foreigners residing in Japan was
almost inevitable. Even the foreign missionary lived
in a house much larger than the average Japanese could
afford and received a salary five times the amount that
was granted to the native pastor. Foreigners employed
by the government in any capacity had to be paid a
much larger salary than Japanese in similar positions.
Indeed, in almost all the relations between foreigners
and Japanese, the fact that one was on a higher level
than the other was unavoidably apparent. As far as
the external possession of political rights was con¬
cerned, the Japanese had gained their point, but it was
continually forced upon their attention that they were
as far as ever from being admitted into the inner circle
of western society. Under these circumstances it was
inevitable not only that their old feelings of dislike of
foreigners should be perpetuated, but that with the
growth of national power they should become more
openly a characteristic of the Japanese nation.
Professor Ladd in an article published in 1895 made
the following clear statement of the way the foreigner
was looked upon in Japan :
The real and predominating attitude of the popular
mind toward the " foreigner " is still the same unreason¬
ing sentiment that it has ever been. A few and only a
few, even of the educated Japanese, have any intelligent
and sympathetic knowledge of that type of mental life
which has been developed by a western and Christian
civilization. Among the people of all classes, unin¬
formed, unreasoning feeling towards all foreigners still
underlies the crust of enforced or selfish and conven-
Attitude Toward the West 29
tional politeness. This sentiment is a mixture of sur¬
prise and admiration with repulsion and contempt. A
well-principled or even a cosmopolitan feeling toward all
humankind, an " enthusiasm of humanity," is a rare
and difficult thing to find in Japan. What but the knowl¬
edge of this mental attitude of his countrymen could
have influenced an intelligent native preacher to say in
extremest praise of the power of divine grace: " It can
make you love even a foreigner."1
Ten years later Dr. Gulick wrote even more strongly
concerning the Japanese feeling of antipathy for men
of a foreign race:
Few foreigners have received a hearty welcome from
the people at large. They are suspected and hated; as
little room as possible is made for them. The less of
their presence and advice the better. So far as there is
any interest in them, it is on the ground of utility, and
not of inherent good will because of a feeling of ab¬
original unity. Of course there are many exceptions to
these statements, especially among the Christians. But
such is the attitude of the people as a whole, especially
of the middle and upper classes, toward the foreigners.2
That these statements are even today not wide of
the mark can be verified by anyone who has an inti¬
mate knowledge of the life of the Japanese people.
The passing visitor may see nothing of this anti-
foreign prejudice, for the well-bred Japanese usually
conceals his feelings under an impassive mask and
plays the part of host to foreign guests with a suavity
1 Ladd, G. T., "Mental Characteristics of the Japanese," Scrib-
ner's Magazine, 17: 85.
2 Gulick, S. L., Evolution of the Japanese, p. 365.
3o The Japanese Invasion
of manner that conveys the impression of sincerity.
As a matter of fact it is to some of Japan's distin¬
guished visitors that we owe many of our misconcep¬
tions of the attitude and feelings of the Japanese
nation. After being feted and dined and shown every
possible courtesy, they either become too bewildered
to see beneath the surface or they feel under obligation
to make some return for the compliments showered
upon them. At any rate the highly colored views they
make public after their return from the East frequently
give us an inaccurate picture of real conditions.
Within recent years many Japanese have been quite
candid in expressing their attitude toward the western
world, as is evidenced by their published articles in¬
tended for foreign readers. Yone Noguchi, a Japanese
journalist, after his return to Japan from his trip
abroad in 1914, sent to the Nation a letter in which
he expressed with surprising frankness his opinion
of western culture. In the course of this communica¬
tion occur these words:
What does the present European war mean to us Ori¬
entals? It means the saddest downfall of the so-called
western civilization; our belief that it was builded on
a higher and sounder footing than ours was at once
knocked down and killed; we are sorry that we some¬
how overestimated its happy possibility and were de¬
ceived and cheated by its superficial glory. We now see
that it was merely a mirage or optical illusion of a thing
which in its truest sense never existed; it was simply
a changed form or crafty masquerading of an avaricious
instinct of primitive barbarism. The western people
Attitude Toward the West 31
with all sorts of colleges and institutions in their most
advanced order are after all like their naked friends in
far-away Asia or Africa We Orientals will insist
in future not to believe whatever high philosophy on love
or peace or humanity the western scholars and theologians
might write I have.been losing for some long time
my own respect towards the West and her own civiliza¬
tion Having much dissatisfaction with the western
life, I returned to a country whose immediate, most im¬
portant determination should be a refusal to the western
invasion.1
Not the least significant aspect of the foregoing
statement is the attitude of mind which prompted the
writer to go out of his way to inform the Westerners
of his opinion of them. An occasion had arisen when
it was possible for the Japanese to assume an attitude
of superiority and point out an apparent failure of
western civilization. The expression of his views
through the medium of the Japanese press was not
sufficient for his purpose. His mind could only be
relieved by sending back to the countries he had just
visited his repudiation of their institutions.
While Noguchi's statement may be considerably dis¬
counted because of his well-known propensity for
radical opinions along various lines, similar anti-
foreign articles have been published by the Japanese
newspaper press with such frequency during the last
few years that they can hardly be regarded merely as
the rabid utterances of sensation-mongers. To a far
1 Noguchi, Y., " The Downfall of Western Civilization," the
Nation, Oct. 8, 1914, P- 432-
32
The Japanese Invasion
greater extent than is usually realized, they represent
the development of a public opinion that openly ex¬
presses itself, regardless of what may be the official
attitude of the government. When delicate situations
have arisen with foreign nations, the calm, dispassion¬
ate statements of official Japan have frequently been
contradicted by chauvinistic sentiments published by
certain newspapers, which are widely quoted abroad.
Japanese leaders try to counteract the influence of these
anti:foreign utterances by stating that they are merely
emanations from an irresponsible jingo press. The
truth is, however, that they do represent the feelings
of a portion of the Japanese people and that they
exercise no little influence on the molding of public
opinion throughout the nation.
The Japanese newspapers have, in general, a marked
tendency to be sensational and to indulge in frank
j statements quite at variance with oriental reserve.
The third page of the average Japanese newspaper
in its reports of scandals and unsavory gossip puts to
shame even the yellowest of American journals. It
may be that the newspaper is too new an institution
in Japan to be subject to their ancient code, and so is
regarded as a legitimate safety valve for their pent-
up emotions. At any rate the frank editorial expres¬
sions directed against the actions of foreign powers,
their threats of war because of real or fancied insults
from abroad, and their sharp criticism of the govern¬
ment when it shows any signs of weakness in its
foreign policy possess a real significance for those
Attitude Toward the West 33
who wish to understand the attitude of the Japanese
nation and make it a fair assumption that the old
anti-foreign sentiment still exists in spite of all official
assurance of friendliness for the West.
CHAPTER III
THE CLOSING OF THE OPEN DOOR
I ^ HE following striking statement by Yamato
Ichihashi gives one reason for our changed atti¬
tude toward Japan, and contains more than one element
of truth:
There existed, and still does exist, a group of men
and women in America who liked or like Japan because
Japan was or is so fundamentally different from all
other countries of the world. To these people charm
and strangeness are inseparable qualities in Japan. The
Mt. Fuji is charming, but only because she is strangely
unique among the mountains of the world. Nikko is
charming, but because there nature and art are brought
into harmony strangely unrealized in the West
But more strange is the author of these strange and,
therefore, charming arts. He is so unwestern, therefore
so unhuman, that is to say, beyond the comprehension
of western minds. Nevertheless he is charming because
he is strange; indeed every act of his is strange and his
surrounding is fantastic. The blacksmith squats at his
anvil. The carpenter pulls his plane and saw. The Jap¬
anese speak backwards, read backwards, and write back¬
wards. Surely they are a strange folk. And this was or is
the world of unreality in which Lafcadio Hearn and his
curio friends refused or refuse to face reality. The vision
was so enchanting. The Westerner thus sought in Japan,
as did the Chinese in legendary days, to enjoy a life no¬
where else to be enjoyed. Of course they liked this Japan.
But to their utter astonishment, not to say their dis-
34
Closing of the Open Door
35
appointment, these strange, unhuman Japanese gradually
took on human shape and the still worse human mind.
They began to learn to speak, to read, and to write a la
Occident, if necessary. The blacksmith squats or stands,
as the occasion demands. The carpenter pulls or pushes,
according to the kind of tool he uses. The art of gar¬
dening is not forgot. Curios are still produced, not so
much now by mysterious hands, but by horrible western
machinery, the very destroyer of art. So in addition to
netsuke, medicine chests, and thousands of other " little
grand" things, even much-despised dreadnaughts, float¬
ing toys of civilized men, are being manufactured by the
once unhuman, incomprehensible Japanese. The speed of
telegraphy is now valued in Japan as in the West. Sedan
chairs disappeared, but railroads traverse the Empire
from end to end. Picturesque native junks are no more.
Instead, stately, indeed palatial steamers plow the ocean.
The flag of the Rising Sun now disgraces several ports
of Europe and America by its presence.
Thatched roofs are fast being eliminated. Dwellings
are now bricked and stoned. The ding-ding-ding of
street cars and the toot-toot-toot of automobiles have
shattered the music of Japanese urban silence. It is be¬
yond repair. Not a few have cast away their footgear
so strange, and barbarous western shoes now cover their
dainty feet. Many now fail to pray at Asakusa Shrine.
But then these go to Christian churches, hideous con¬
structions devoid of art and — in brief, curio Japan is
no more, or at least it is not Japan complete. Her
strangeness has disappeared; with it her charm. Japan
is the skeleton of a beauty. And now she is conspicu¬
ously human. She is too common. Of course nobody
likes her now. But who can help it?1
1 Ichihashi, Yamato, "Japan Liked and Disliked," New York
Japan Review, Aug., 1913, pp. 109-10.
36
The Japanese Invasion
There is no doubt but that there was something
romantic and attractive about old Japan. Its quaint
customs and elaborate politeness and artistic fame
gained added glamour through distance and unfamili-
arity. Above all there was no commercial or industrial
rivalry to cause unpleasantness, and the Japanese very
courteously assumed the subordinate role which the
West assigned them. In i860 the Japanese were
merely a newly discovered people whose strange cos¬
tumes and novel appearance piqued our curiosity. Our
reaction toward them was instinctive, spontaneous, and
unreflecting. We never stopped to consider what our
association with them would involve. Now the situ¬
ation has entirely changed. The Japanese no longer
flatter our pride by showing astonishment at our great¬
ness, but have become our competitors in the industrial
and political world. Human nature being as it is, old
Japan with its works of art and teachable people would
naturally be more popular than modern Japan with its
battleships and aggressive nationalism determined to
compete with us in every field of human endeavor.
Says Professor W. I. Thomas:
«
The Japanese for fifty years have been diligently ac¬
quiring our habits, with the view of equaling our activ¬
ities, and in the degree that they showed ability equal
to ours along our own lines, we began to have a fellow
feeling for them and even a very warm admiration.
They looked charming to us in their own country, and
we were progressing toward social, political, commercial,
and matrimonial alliances with them when the genial
currents of our soul were frozen by the discovery that
Closing of the Open Door
37
they were dangerous. In our own country they are
better fruit growers and farmers than we are and their
standard of living is lower. They are therefore a men¬
ace, and there begins to be a reinstatement of the hate
attitude, especially on our western coast.1
The beginning of our awakening to the fact that
Japan was to become a serious rival of western nations
dates back to 1894-5, when Japan waged a successful
war against China and clearly demonstrated her mili¬
tary prowess. After this unexpected display of Japan's
fighting power, it was no longer possible to regard her
ambitions and national policies with indifference. For
more than a generation the Japanese had been made
to feel that they were almost hopelessly outdistanced
in their efforts to catch up with western progress, but
now the goal of equal treatment and recognition as a
world power seemed about to be realized. Under these
circumstances their old pride of race naturally re¬
asserted itself. Their military successes inflamed the
masses of the people and gave them inflated ideas of
their own importance. In the eyes of many Japanese
their adaptation of western civilization was regarded
as a greater achievement than all the scientific dis¬
coveries of the West. It began to be asserted that in
Japan would be developed a blend of oriental and
occidental civilizations far superior to anything the
world had ever seen. Their nation was to produce
the universal religion and become such a center of
1 Thomas, W. I., " The Significance of the Orient for the Occi¬
dent," Amer. Jotirn. Soc., 13:732.
38
The Japanese Invasion
knowledge that western scholars would some time come
and sit at their feet.1
This development of national pride and self-
consciousness was reflected in the Japanese emigrants
who went abroad and also in the attitude of the govern¬
ment which jealously watched over their interests. The
Japanese, who, after their war with China, began to
arrive in America in rapidly increasing numbers, were
filled with a new sense of dignity and pride. They
did not come as humble immigrants from a decadent
land, but as representatives of a victorious and pro¬
gressive nation. While temporarily, by virtue of neces¬
sity, they might be willing to occupy a servile position
as did the Chinese, this was regarded only as a stepping-
stone to something better. They possessed the ambi¬
tion to rise out of the ranks of unskilled laborers and
took advantage of every opportunity to do so. It was
this laudable ambition, together with a bold assertion
of their rights, that first marked them out as different
from the Chinese, who had always meekly accepted
a subordinate place. It was also their possession of
these same characteristics that helped to make inevi¬
table the rise of the Japanese problem.
As early as 1884 Japanese peasants and coolies
began to arrive on our Pacific coast, but their numbers
were too small to attract much attention. For more
than a quarter of a century it had been the Chinese
who constituted our oriental problem. The people in
the western states believed that the Chinese invasion
1 Evolution of the Japanese, pp. 137-40.
Closing of the Open Door
39
was the great menace to their welfare. In their eyes
all the vices of the Orient were summed up in the
Chinese coolies, who were coming in such increasing
numbers that it was felt their absolute exclusion was
imperative. The few Japanese who came to America
either were looked upon with indifference or were
regarded with favor, for they seemed to possess the
virtues, but not the vices of the Chinese. A writer in
Bradstreet's in 1884, commenting on the arrival of 200
Japanese peasants in San Francisco, said:
It appears that emigration to the United States has
at last commenced in Japan America is to be con¬
gratulated on these adjuncts to western industry. The
Japanese peasants are as industrious as they are frugal,
temperate, and skilled in agriculture.1
As far as can be gathered from the few references
to the Japanese in the press of that day, this seems
to have been the general attitude of the American
public. Because of the enforcement of the Chinese
exclusion law, employers were hard pressed to find
enough laborers to carry on their work. To supply
this need they looked to the new Japanese immigrants
who were regarded as more capable and efficient
workmen.
In the early nineties, however, when the tide of
Japanese immigration began rapidly to increase, the
Japanese became unpopular in those communities in
which they had congregated, and suffered the same
1 Bradstreet's, Oct. 25, 1884, p. 268.
4°
The Japanese Invasion
odium that had formerly attached to the Chinese.
Yoshio Markino gives the following vivid picture of
the feeling then existing against the Japanese in San
Francisco:
The next day I went to the Golden Gate Park with
another Japanese. Whenever we passed before the
crowds, they shouted "Jap" and " Sukebei" (the latter
word is too rude to translate). Then some of them
even spat on us. When we came out to the corner of
Geary Street, pebbles were showered on us. This was
my first and very last visit to the Golden Gate Park.
By the experiences day by day I had learnt that there
was nothing but domestic work left for my livelihood,
because the Californians didn't recognize us as the
humans and they wouldn't accept any of our brain
work
Once while I was passing the spare ground on the
corner of Fillmore Street and Geary Street some big
fellow threw a large stone at me. It struck my head.
My hat was broken and my head got hurt. I never
took any notice but walked on.
A young lady was walking on the opposite side. She
came to me and said, " Why don't you get a policeman
to prison him?" I said, "No ma'am, it is quite useless,
ma'am. I tried it once or twice before, but police don't
take any notice of us Japanese."1
At this time the Japanese were arriving on the
Pacific coast at the rate of about 1,500 a year. By the
year 1895 there were less than ten thousand Japanese
in the United States. The fact that in spite of the
1 Markino, Yoshio, When I Was a Child, pp. 215-27.
Closing of the Open Door
41
smallness of their numbers they had so soon become
thoroughly disliked gives an inkling of the strength
of the prejudice that existed then in our western states
against the oriental races.
This unpopularity of the Japanese by no means
checked their desire to come to America. In the year
1900 our Japanese immigrants numbered more than
12,000. For the next seven years those arriving direct
from Japan together with those coming from Hawaii
averaged about 11,000 a year. The Japanese authorities,
who were fully aware of the American attitude toward
oriental immigrants, tried to avoid the growth of
further opposition by placing restrictions upon emigra¬
tion to the United States. The strong demand, how¬
ever, for Japanese laborers to work on the sugar
plantations in Hawaii caused thousands to go there for
employment. Once in Hawaii they were out of juris¬
diction of the Japanese government, and there was
nothing to prevent them from going on to the mainland
where wages were higher and more congenial work
could be found. Japanese agents and contractors were
not slow to avail themselves of this opportunity, and
as a result an almost continuous stream of Japanese
was poured into our western ports through this gate¬
way of the Pacific.
Even this comparatively large number of Japanese
laborers could easily have been absorbed in our large
western states without producing much friction, if they
had been distributed more evenly in different places.
But California was the most convenient, as well as the
42
The Japanese Invasion
most attractive place for them to settle and as a conse¬
quence fifty-five per cent of the Japanese immigrants
crowded into a few of its cities and country districts.
San Francisco, the chief port of entry, became their
most important place of rendezvous and residence
while searching for work. This concentration of the
Japanese in a small section of our country served to
call attention to their presence and made their com¬
petition in the labor market more keenly felt.
As soon as American laborers realized that the
presence of the Japanese was making their struggle
for existence harder, their latent prejudice against
them as Orientals broke out into open hostility. Poli¬
ticians and labor leaders were quick to make capital
out of this issue in order to promote their own interests.
Racial differences were emphasized and race prejudice
was appealed to until the economic factor was almost
pushed into the background, and the problem assumed
the proportions of a racial struggle between the East
and the West.
The active campaign against the Japanese may be
said to have begun with the publication in February,
1905, in the San Francisco Chronicle of a series of
articles which in sensational language pointed out the
dangers of this new Yellow Peril. Said the Chronicle:
The issue involves the entire structure and character
of American society and concerns the manual laborer
not one whit more than others Sufficient has al¬
ready occurred here to make it plain that if Japanese
immigration is unchecked, it is only a question of time
Closing of the Open Door
43
when our rural population will be Japanese, our rural
civilization Japanese, and the white population hard
pressed in our cities and towns. The Chinese were
faithful laborers and did not buy land. The Japanese
are unfaithful laborers and do buy land. There is
all the difference in the world. They are driving their
stakes in our fruit-growing districts where they intend
to stay and possess the land. The people of California
are determined that they shall do neither. And we
are prepared to take that stand and insist upon it, re¬
gardless of the consequences to our fruit industry, our
sugar beet industry, or any other industry. What work
cannot be done without oriental labor, that work must
go unperformed. Our fruit industries are important.
Our land, our homes, and our civilization are far more
important. And they are in danger.1
1 On May 7, 1905, the first anti-Japanese convention
met in San Francisco and adopted a resolution protest¬
ing against the national policy which permitted Japa¬
nese immigrants to come to our shores and lower the
standards of American civilization. About the same
time the San Francisco Board of Education passed
an action stating that it would be necessary to segregate
Japanese from white pupils in the public schools. In
the autumn of that year, the newly organized Japanese
and Korean Exclusion League urged the Board of
Education to carry into effect the policy of the segre¬
gation of Japanese pupils. The Board of Education,
however, did not deem it wise to do so at that time.2
1 Quoted by the Literary Digest, Mar. 25, 1905, pp. 420-21.
2 Kawakami, K. K., American-Japanese Relations, pp. 305-6.
44
The Japanese Invasion
Meanwhile the attention of the whole country was
called to the anti-Japanese sentiment in California,
which threatened to involve the nation in international
complications. The American public in general mani¬
fested surprise and indignation at the attitude of the
Californians. Those who had been watching sympa¬
thetically the remarkable progress of the Japanese
nation and whose contact with the Japanese was
limited to their association with a few Japanese stu¬
dents or officials utterly failed to comprehend the
situation on the Pacific coast. From their point of
view an act of injustice was being done to a people
who merited our kindest consideration. The Washing¬
ton Evening Star in the following words expressed
the general attitude of the people in the eastern states:
To the extent that there has been any actual outbreak
of anti-Japanese feeling anywhere in this country, the
people of the United States have occasion to be ashamed
of themselves If the people of the coast are in
truth engaged in any form of anti-Japanese crusade or
are showing a prejudice against the Japanese, they are
open to the emphatic condemnation of the whole people
of this country. Our interests in the Far East, to speak
commercially, are too heavy and important to be placed
in jeopardy by a wanton insult of the dominant power.
Our good faith as a nation is pledged to the observance
of certain international proprieties. Let proper repre¬
sentations be made to the Japanese people that will re¬
pudiate the mistakes and follies of those who are now
engaged in this foolish, dangerous propaganda."1
1 Quoted by the Literary Digest, Nov. 3, 1906, p. 622.
Closing of the Open Door
45
[ President Roosevelt, in his message to Congress
in December, 1905, gave considerable space to the
California-Japanese problem and in strong terms
repudiated the exclusion movement. ] Later in the
month, after receiving Secretary Metcalf's special
report on the situation in California, he sent another
message to Congress in which he reiterated his former
views and spoke of the injustice of discrimination
against the Japanese pupils.1
This Federal opposition to the segregation of Japa¬
nese pupils had some influence on those in authority
in San Francisco, for no immediate attempt was made
^to carry their segregation policy into effect. On
[April 18, 1906, occurred the San Francisco earthquake
which caused the destruction of thirty-six out of
seventy-five schools in the city. In the autumn of that
year the Board of Education of San Francisco, claim¬
ing that because of the recent calamity their school
accommodations were inadequate, ordered the oriental
children to attend a separate school. ) When this order
was issued there were ninety-three Japanese pupils
attending twenty-three schools and it was asserted
that, distributed as they were in various parts of the
city, they could have been accommodated without
overtaxing the capacity of any school. JI The school
board endeavored to justify their action by pointing
out the danger of allowing Japanese young men to sit
in the same classes with white girls in the primary
1 The Congressional Record, 59th Congress, 2nd Session, Sen¬
ate Doc. No. 147.
46
The Japanese Invasion
grades.^ Since they did not make public the fact that
there were but six Japanese boys above fifteen years
of age in the primary grades at that time, their cry
of the moral peril of innocent children served the
purpose of gaining much sympathy for their cause.
The Japanese on their part were so offended at this
act of discrimination against them that they refused
to send their children to the oriental school. Formal
protests received from Japan through the regular
diplomatic channels further complicated the affair and
made it necessary for the Federal government to take
a hand in bringing about a settlement. After con¬
siderable negotiations the San Francisco school
authorities ended the difficulty by adopting regulations
which defined the age limits within which alien children
could attend the different grades of the public schools,
an arrangement which was perfectly satisfactory to the
Japanese, since it avoided invidious race distinctions.
This compromise was agreed to by the authorities in
San Francisco upon the consideration that the Federal
government should take steps to stop the immigration
of Japanese laborers.1
During the progress of these negotiations, the bitter
eling against the Japanese in San Francisco broke
out in open acts of violence^ | Japanese places of busi¬
ness were attacked and wrecked, and assaults were
made upon Japanese in different parts of the city^
Dr. T. Omori, recognized as an authority on seismog-
1 Kennan, George, " Japanese in San Francisco Schools," the
Outlook, 86:246.
Closing of the Open Door
47
raphy, who had been sent to San Francisco by the
Tokyo Imperial University to investigate the causes
and effects of the earthquake, was stoned by a crowd
of ruffians while engaged in his scientific observations.
It should be remembered, however, that San Francisco
at that time was in a disorganized condition and that
the disorderly elements in the city were with difficulty
kept under control.
I In February, 1907, Congress, in response to the
demands of the people of California, took its first step
toward the exclusion of the Japanese by incorporating
in the Immigration Act the following provision: ^
Whenever the President shall be satisfied that pass¬
ports issued by any foreign government to its citizens
to go to any other country than the United States, or
to any insular possession of the United States, or to the
Canal Zone, are being used for the purpose of enabling
the holders to come to the continental territories of the
United States to the detriment of the labor conditions
therein, the President may refuse such citizens of the
country issuing such passports to enter the continental
territory of the United States from such other country
or from such insular possessions or from the Canal
Zone.1
In accordance with this action President Roosevelt
on^March 14, 1907, issued a proclamation excluding
from continental United States "Japanese or Korean
laborers, skilled or unskilled, who have received pass¬
ports to go to Mexico, Canada, or Hawaii, and come
therefrom." \ This regulation stopped the flow of
1 Senate Documents, 61st Congress, 21:110.
48
The Japanese Invasion
Japanese immigration from Hawaii as well as that
across the border from Canada and Mexico, but it was
still within the power of the Japanese government to
grant passports that would give the right of entrance
into the United States. £ Japan, however, knowing full
well that further Japanese immigration might lead
to a direct act of exclusion, asserted its intention to
issue passports to continental United States only to
non-laborers, or to laborers who were former residents,
or settled agriculturalists. This so-called " Gentlemen's
Agreement" has been strictly adhered to by the
Japanese authorities and has effectively stopped the
immigration of Japanese laborers.1")
In 1911, when America and Japan entered upon
negotiations for a new treaty, the people on the Pacific
coast and especially in California demanded that the
treaty should expressly provide for the exclusion of
Japanese laborers. The American government, how¬
ever, thought it unnecessary to subject Japan to this
humiliation, since the problem was being satisfactorily
solved by a voluntary agreement. The following note,
1 The Commissioner General of Immigration in his report for
the year 1909 (p. 121) expressed the following opinion about the
"Agreement": " The experiment certainly with the cooperation
of the Japanese government, much more completely accomplished
the exclusion of Japanese laborers, as defined in the regulations
putting the arrangement into effect than have the Chinese ex¬
clusion laws ever operated to prevent the immigration of Chinese
laborers as defined in such laws, and is working at this moment
with a greater degree of relative success."
Mr. Tokutomi in an article in the Kokumin Shimbun of Dec.
26, 1914, said that "the 'Agreement' has made it almost as diffi¬
cult to get to America as it is to get to heaven."
Closing of the Open Door
49
issued by the Japanese Ambassador at Washington,
reasserted Japan's willingness to continue her policy
of restriction of emigration and still stands as the only
barrier in the way of our invasion by hordes of
Japanese laborers:
In proceeding this day to the signature of the Treaty
of Commerce and Navigation between Japan and the
United States, the undersigned, Japanese Ambassador
in Washington, duly authorized by his government, has
the honor to declare that the Imperial Japanese Govern¬
ment are fully prepared to maintain with equal effec¬
tiveness the limitation and control which they have for
the past three years exercised in regulation of the emi¬
gration of laborers to the United States.1
In such a manner has the door of the United States
been closed to Japanese laborers. As far as external
appearances were concerned, the door was not slammed
in their faces as it was in the case of the Chinese in
1882 when actual exclusion laws were enacted. ^It is
nevertheless well known that all diplomatic negotia¬
tions were at a deadlock before the Japanese very
cleverly got out of the difficulty by adopting a policy
which proved satisfactory to America and at the same
time did not cut them off entirely from the privilege
of immigration to this country?) In discussions of the
Japanese immigration problem, it does not always seem
to be clearly recognized that the existing agreement
applies only to unskilled laborers and that with the
exception of this one class there is no bar to the
1 Treaties, Conventions, and Agreements between the United
States of America and Other Powers, vol. 3, p. 82.
So
The Japanese Invasion
entrance of Japanese into the United States. A glance
at the accompanying table will reveal the fact that since
1909, when the effects of the agreement were first seen,
there has been a gradual increase in the number of
Japanese immigrants until now more are landing on
the Pacific coast than arrived twelve years ago when
matters first reached a crisis.
NUMBER OF JAPANESE ARRIVALS1
/Year
Continental U.S.
Hawaii
Total
/ 1902
5.325
9T30
14,455
I9°3
1904
6,990
13,051
20,041
7.771
6,6ll
14,382
1905
4,319
6,702
11,021
1906
5T78
9,065
14,243
1907
10,230
20,415
30,645
1908
9,544
8,694
18,238
1909
2,432
U493
3,925
1910
2,598
1,527
4,125
1911
4,282
2T59
6,441
1912
5,358
3,231
8,589
I9I3
6,771
4,901
11,672
1914
8,462
4,554
13,016
I9U
9,029
3,208
12,237
\ 1916
9,IOO
3,607
12,707
(j While
it is true that
the Japanese
authorities ai
living up to their agreement in regard to the restriction
of the emigration of laborers, it is also true that the
Japanese are still achieving their purpose of .main¬
taining the open door into the United States.] The
exclusion agitation has simply resulted in raising the
1 Taken from Annual Reports of the Commissioner of Immi¬
gration of the United States.
Closing of the Open Door
5i
standard of Japanese immigrants instead of barring
them from the country as is often popularly supposed.
The experience of the past few years has proven that
the exclusion of Japanese coolies will not necessarily
be a check to Japanese immigration. The industrial
and economic conditions in Japan are such that thou¬
sands of the middle classes — farmers, shopkeepers,
and skilled artisans — are eager to come to America,
where opportunities for success are so great. The
gradual increase of Japanese immigrants during the
past five years would seem to indicate on the part of
the Japanese government a tendency to issue an in¬
creasing number of passports to America as long as
no determined opposition would make such a course
inadvisable. It is also worthy of note that a large pro¬
portion of recent Japanese immigration has consisted of
women, a fact which is making possible the establish¬
ment of families and a further increase of our Japanese
population through the birth of children. According to
the Japanese-American Yearbook, 3,054 Japanese chil¬
dren were born in the United States in 1914.1
1 The Report of the Commissioner General of Immigration,
1915, classifies the Japanese arrivals during that year according
to occupation as follows:
Professional Six
Skilled 509
Farmers and farm laborers 1,896
Laborers 817
Merchants 637
Miscellaneous 1,610
No occupation, including women and children. .3,049
Total 9,029
52
The Japanese Invasion
While this attempt to close the door to the Japanese
has resulted in at least a partial failure, there is no
evidence of a change of heart on the part of the
American people. The public opinion of practically
the whole nation demands the restriction of Asiatic
immigration, whether it be from Japan or China or
India.
In 1909 Mr. Roosevelt gave expression in the fol¬
lowing words to an opinion which is now shared even
by many of those most favorably disposed toward the
Japanese:
The Americans who go to Japan and the Japanese who
come to America should be of the same general class —
that is, they should be travelers, students, teachers,
scientific investigators, men engaged in international
business, men sojourning in the land for pleasure or
study.
As long as the emigration from each side is limited to
classes such as these, there will be no settlement in mass,
and therefore no difficulty. Wherever there is settle¬
ment in mass — that is, whenever there is a large immi¬
gration of urban or agricultural laborers, or of people
engaged in small local business of any kind — there is
sure to be friction. It is against the interests of both
nations that such unrestricted immigration or settlement
in mass should be allowed as regards either nation. This
is the cardinal fact in the situation; it should be freely
recognized by both countries and can be accepted by each
not only without the slightest loss of self-respect, but
with the certainty that its acceptance will tend to pre¬
serve mutual respect and friendliness.1
1 Roosevelt, Theodore, " The Japanese Question," the Outlook,
92:61.
Closing of the Open Door
53
The necessity of our placing restrictions upon orien¬
tal immigration is no longer questioned even by the
Japanese. Our present injustice in their opinion con¬
sists in our discrimination against them, our closing
the door to their people while holding it open to
laborers from all the countries of Europe.
CHAPTER IV
THE PROBLEM FROM THE JAPANESE VIEWPOINT
'TAHE opposition shown to the Japanese immigrants
in America has stirred the Japanese nation pro¬
foundly, and has aroused such deep feelings of resent¬
ment among the people that at times war has seemed
almost inevitable. The Japanese government itself,
while maintaining its attitude of friendliness toward
America, has, in its efforts to adjust the difficulty by
diplomacy, followed a firm and aggressive policy that
plainly recognizes the seriousness of the questions at
issue. The more frank and outspoken among the
Japanese have not hesitated to express their indigna¬
tion against America in words of open defiance.
During the progress of the negotiations in 1906 to
restrict Japanese immigration, Marquis Okuma, then
not officially connected with the government, voiced
the feelings of many of his countrymen in a telegram
to the New York World which read in part as follows:
Any repetition of the injustices against Japanese will
seriously impair our warm feelings toward America, and
our traditional friendship will be weakened thereby.
Fair and just treatment is essential to maintain friend¬
ship. Repeated outrageous acts will not only damage
American interests, but also disgrace American civiliza¬
tion America has no enemy at present, and it will
be a thoughtless policy if America purposely makes an
54
The Japanese Viewpoint 55
enemy by inflaming public opinion against Japan. The
United States is the wealthiest country in the world, but
it has not sufficient defense in the Pacific if the two
nations are to come to hostilities.
~ There is nothing more dreadful than crazy persons.
The Japanese are a crazy nation in fighting, and will dis¬
play their madness as in the late war. The Japanese are
always ready to throw away their lives for their nation;
they regard their lives as lightly as they do the weather.
On the other hand, Americans and Europeans attach the
chief importance to money. £ Those who love money love
their lives. Suppose the two nations, whose ideas toward
death are fundamentally different, should fight. The
final result is easily seen, and the understanding of this
fact seems to be the cause of America trying to expand
the navy on a great scale.1
Another Japanese, Mr. Adachi Kinnosuke, in an
article in the Independent in 1907 on "The Attitude
of Japan toward the United States," expressed himself
even more frankly to the American public:
Is the Japanese government a special institution es¬
tablished for the sole purpose of comforting an unrea¬
sonable whim of American labor unions, at the expense
of the material interests of say 200,000 Japanese laboring
class who may manage to come into this country within
the coming ten years? Why not the same undaunted
front which we had turned upon our friends, the Rus¬
sians, a few years ago? It is the pleasure of the Cali-
fornian to place us on the same plane with the Chinese
and with the extinct race called the Korean. And we
ask for an exclusion convention and beg for the sweet
humiliation before anybody suggests it.
1 Quoted in Lawton, L., The Empires of the Far East, vol. i,
pp. 362-64.
56
The Japanese Invasion
Is Japan, then, afraid of America? When a question
of national honor is before us, we would not hesitate a
moment to take up arms against all the gods and the
devils, let alone an earthly power. This is no rhetoric.
When we declared war against China everybody thought,
ourselves included, and even the most enlightened press
of that torchbearer of civilization called the United
States, all thought that the Middle Kingdom had a rather
light before-the-breakfast job; and today we of Nippon
certainly do not think that America is anything as seri¬
ous a foe as Russia seemed to us in 1904.
Some wise people, gentlemen in the Foreign Office at
Tokyo, and some of your Washington officials, take you
for innocent babies and seriously tell you that it is the
national policy of Japan to keep her working people at
home, in Korea, and Manchuria; in just that portion of
the globe, in short, where she is more likely to be called
upon to take serious measures. But reflect for a moment
upon this: We are supporting well nigh fifty millions
of people on 190,534 square miles (I have counted in
everything, Formosa, Sakhalin, Pescadores), sixty per
cent of which are volcanic rocks unavailable for cultiva¬
tion ; while California supports not very much more than
two millions on her 158,360 square miles; we are increas¬
ing at the rate of about 700,000 a year, our Californians
at about 28,000. Don't you think that our country may
spare a few hundred thousand laboring class to come
over to this paradise of laboring people and share in
its blessings?1
There is no doubt that the above fairly represented
the feelings of a large portion of the Japanese people
when the exclusion agreement went into effect.^ This
rejection of their immigrants seemed to them an insult
1The Independent, vol. 62, 1907, p. 1458.
The Japanese Viewpoint 57
which no first-class power could afford to overlook.
After having made so much progress in western civil¬
ization, they bitterly resented being treated as though
^they were still ignorant and undesirable Asiatics.1
Both their pride as a nation and their prestige in the
''world were injured, and many felt that even though
it involved recourse to desperate measures their
national honor must be vindicated.)
The leaders of the Japanese nation, however, did
not allow themselves to be swayed by public opinion.
In accordance with their agreement, passports to
America were refused to Japanese laborers, and every
effort was made in an official way to maintain the old
friendly attitude toward the American people.
The excitement occasioned by the exclusion agree¬
ment had hardly died down before the passage of the
.Cajiiorma-alien lanrl law2 in TOT3 again hrooght the
immigration problem before the attention of the public.
This new act of discrimination against the Japanese
immigrants caused another wave of anti-American
feeling in Japan which threatened to result in serious
complications, j From the viewpoint of the Japanese
this new move of the Californians seemed entirely
unjustifiable. Their part of the exclusion agreement
had been carried out so strictly that the immigration
1Tokutomi, "America Forward, Japan Backward," Kokumin
Shimbun, Dec. 29, 1914.
2 This law provided that only aliens eligible to citizenship under
the laws of the United States could possess land in the state.
Since the Japanese are not eligible to citizenship, this deprived
them of the right to purchase any land, whether for agricultural,
business, or residential purposes.
58 The Japanese Invasion
/ .—__
of Japanese laborers had practically ceased. The old
cry of the Californians that they were in danger of
being overrun by Asiatic hordes could no longer be
made. In the eyes of the Japanese this attempt to
dispossess their countrymen in California was simply
an act of unwarranted hostility inspired by race hatred.
It brought them new evidence that they were still
regarded as an inferior race, unfit to associate with the
West on terms of social equality. ^
I Their contention with America seemed to them to
involve far more than an outlet for Japan's surplus
population. (They regarded it as a struggle for rights
the possession of which were necessary for the honor
of their nation.j In the war with Russia Japan fought
against European aggression which threatened her
continued existence as an independent power. In the
diplomatic struggle with America Japan was still
continuing her efforts to overcome the domineering
attitude of the West.1 How vital this struggle seemed
1 Professor Ryotaro Nagai of Waseda University in an article
on "The White Peril" (Japan Magazine, May, 1914) wrote as
follows: "If one race assumes the right to appropriate all the
wealth, why should not all the other races feel ill used and pro¬
test? If the yellow races are oppressed by the white races, and
have to revolt to avoid congestion and maintain existence, whose
fault is it but that of the aggressors ? .... If the white races truly
love peace, and wish to deserve the name of Christian nations,
they will practice what they preach and will soon restore to us
the rights so long withheld Any suggestion that we must
be forever content to remain inferior races will not abide. Such
an attitude is absolutely inconsistent with our honor as a nation
and our sovereign rights as independent states. We therefore
appeal to the white races to put aside their race prejudice and
meet us on equal terms in brotherly cooperation."
The Japanese Viewpoint 59
to them is revealed in the following statement by Dr.
Masao Kobe, a professor in Kyoto Imperial University:
If we let the California anti-Japanese movement stand
where it is now, it simply means increasing injury to the
dignity of our country If our government could
not see the anti-alien land law nullified and naturaliza¬
tion rights affirmed by the American people, if there
were any signs of weakness in diplomatic negotiations
with the United States, China might begin to mock us
and the Koreans might become disobedient to the Japa¬
nese administration. The position of Japan, then, is worse
than the defeated nation in a big war. As Japan stands
now, she is a badly whipped nation by the Americans,
and the American jingoes tell us that the Americans
would, if war started between the two countries, in the
end whip Japan. But they have already whipped us.
Japan therefore neither loses nor gains, whether she went
to war with United States and got whipped just as the
American jingoes predicted. So she might just as well
go to war. Of course we do not like war, but do the
Americans know what they are doing against us?
If the Japanese have less human rights in any shape
or form, and have to enjoy less life and property than
any first-class power in the world, Japan loses her pres¬
tige in Asia, which position corresponds to complete de¬
feat after she dared to go to war.1
This same view is expressed in a more temperate
form by Dr. Juichi Soyeda, former Vice Minister of
Finance:
The fundamental question in the California land trou¬
ble is that of discrimination. It is a matter of honor.
If for the purpose of self-protection the United States
1 New York Japan Review, Sept., 1913, p. 163.
6o
The Japanese Invasion
determine that no alien should hold land, that would be
all well and good. The United States would have a per¬
fect right to do so, and everyone would respect that
right. But when we alone are discriminated against, we
feel that we must protest.1
From the Japanese viewpoint this is the crux of the
whole problem. Those who criticize the Japanese
government for taking so seriously a seemingly trivial
affair, overlook the fact that an important principle
is involved. The Japanese insist that they have devel¬
oped far enough in western civilization and culture
to receive equal treatment in all their foreign relations.
If they meekly submit to discrimination, it is a con¬
fession of their inferiority. Their national honor is
at stake and so all the forces of their nation are united
in a determination to win out in this struggle against
what they feel is western arrogance.
For more than ten years this irritating problem has
been before the Japanese people. It has formed a
fruitful theme for discussion both in the newspaper
press and on the public rostrum. The constant reiter¬
ation of the wrongs endured by their countrymen in
California has done much to arouse in Japan a public
opinion if not hostile to America at least unfriendly
and suspicious. Especially was this unfriendly spirit
manifest in Japan during the closing months of 1914,
when a large portion of the American press showed
marked sympathy for China and expressed disapproval
1 Quoted in editorial in New York Japan Review, Dec., 1913,
p. 278.
The Japanese Viewpoint 61
of Japan's aggressive oriental policy. This was the
added fuel necessary to cause their resentment against
America to burst forth into flame. Their newspapers
began to publish bellicose articles and even the common
talk of the people on the street was about war with
America. In the pamphlet entitled The Friendship
of America for Japan, issued in connection with the
visit of Dr. Shailer Mathews and Dr. Sidney L. Gulick
to the Orient, appear the following quotations from
letters written by residents of Japan for the purpose
of informing this "Christian Embassy" of the attitude
of the Japanese toward America:1
For a long time I was unwilling to believe that the
Japanese people at large cherished feelings of enmity
towards America, but the evidence that they are wait¬
ing eagerly for an opportunity to go to war with us is
getting too strong to be any longer ignored except by
those who are wilfully blind or wholly out of touch
with conditions here. Not only is the "jingo" tone of
much of the press very pronounced (I have been shocked
at some of the offensive things I have seen in the Jap¬
anese papers), but the common talk is all toward war.
— Kyushu, Sept. 4, 1914.
It is remarkable what a common opinion there is
among the common people that war between Japan and
the United States is inevitable. The jingoistic press has
pounded that idea early and late until the people are
coming to believe it.— Central Japan, Oct. p, 1914.
You cannot fail to have recognized in the Japanese
press the tone of bitterness and irritation that charac-
1 For obvious reasons these quotations were published in the
pamphlet unsigned.
62
The Japanese Invasion
terizes many of their articles on American-Japanese re¬
lations, and also the fact that they tend to put a sinister
interpretation on many of the acts of our government
and of individual Americans. I find unmistakable evi¬
dence of the widely spread feeling of irritation and re¬
sentment.— Kyoto, Nov. 9, 1914.
I regret to say that the campaign of virulence against
the United States still goes on in the vernacular press,
and since the outbreak of war in Europe seems to be
more bitter than ever. That this is not my opinion alone
you will see from the clippings showing protests from
both Japan and America. It is the same thing that went
on for some time before the rupture of relations with
Russia, and I fear it will lead to trouble again unless
the people of Japan be given an opportunity of knowing
the other side.—Tokyo, Nov. 16, 1914.
This series of quotations is closed with the following
frank statement written by a Japanese of international
standing:
I am indeed sorry to say that a strong undercurrent
of anti-American sentiment is flowing in Japan and it
may burst out at any opportunity. It is not simply an
effect of the California question, but the more powerful
and irritating cause lies in China. Concession after con¬
cession made to America by China, and a most irritating
one, a proposal of conceding a naval station for America
in Fukien (opposite Formosa), are causing suspicion and
resentment against America to grow without a check.
In spite of all this outcry against America, it would
be a mistake to suppose that this unfriendly attitude
is characteristic of all Japan. Many Japanese recog¬
nize that there are two sides to the immigration
The Japanese Viewpoint 63
problem. They willingly admit that the economic
and racial questions involved offer difficulties that
cannot be settled in any offhand way. Unmoved by
the popular clamor for drastic measures they are seek¬
ing to promote a better understanding of the real issue
involved in their international relations. Some of these
Japanese leaders are moved by a genuine friendship
for America. Others have at heart only the economic
welfare of their country. But whatever their motives
they believe that a peaceful solution of the difficulty
can and must be found.
It is not at all unusual for influential Japanese in
their discussions of the American-Japanese problem
to place a large share of the blame upon the immigrants
themselves. Dr. Soyeda and Mr. Kamiya, two promi¬
nent Japanese who were sent to America to investigate
conditions in California and to study American senti¬
ment, gave this advice to their countrymen:
There is much to be done by the Japanese themselves
both in America and at home. In the first place those
who are already in the States must strive more and more
for assimilation with the people and observance of the
laws and customs of the land. They must work stren¬
uously to remedy their faults and do nothing to startle
and irritate the people with whom they are living. Noth¬
ing must be done which would furnish material for at¬
tack, but any criticism, if well founded and reasonable,
must be welcomed
A part of the unnecessary expenses incurred by the
Japanese for clothes and food might far better be used
for the betterment of their dwellings and sanitation.
64
The Japanese Invasion
Their living in segregation or near the Chinese and fre¬
quenting Chinese gambling houses must be stopped, while
more church-going and rest on Sundays should be en¬
couraged. Noisy Buddhistic rituals, playing of samisens,
keeping of tea-houses which arouse opposixion and afford
room for criticism might better be avoided. Studying the
language, customs, and manners of the Americans, and
closer intercourse especially among the women and chil¬
dren will go far towards bringing about a better under¬
standing. A better use of savings could be made by
means of- credit associations, and opening public halls
and libraries for the common benefit will do much toward
mental and moral improvement. Every effort must be
made to cast off the old undesirable customs and to adapt
themselves to the new environment, so far as it is re¬
quired by decency and courtesy.1
The above represents an attitude toward the problem
that is becoming more usual among well-informed
Japanese. Their leaders who investigate actual con¬
ditions see that many of the Japanese immigrants are
more or less uneducated laborers who would not be
regarded as desirable associates even by the better class
of Japanese themselves. Consequently, while they
regret the prejudice that exists against their people,
they do not condemn the Americans wholesale as acting
in an entirely unreasonable way. One of Japan's
leading business men, Mr. K. Otani, who has been a
frequent visitor to America, frankly said :
The majority of Japanese working in America are
without education and cannot adapt themselves to the
1 Soyeda, J., and Kamiya, A Survey of the Japanese Question
in California, 1913, PP- 12-13.
The Japanese Viezvpoint 65
customs of their new country. They cannot associate
on equal terms with their new friends. Such being the
case, only the lowest section of the Japanese are being
discriminated against or excluded in America. The more
respectable classes of Japanese are well treated and re¬
spected by the Americans. It is a striking illustration of
this fact that there has been no anti-Japanese movement
in Chicago or New York. In California and other Pacific
coast states only has unfriendliness been shown toward
our people. This is because many Japanese in those re¬
gions are unworthy.1
It is worthy of note that articles of this nature are
found not only in books intended for American readers,
but are quite frequently published in Japanese periodi¬
cals. When a Japanese who has traveled in America
returns to Japan, the question upon which he is asked
to talk and write most frequently is the condition of
the Japanese immigrants. Usually these reports
frankly recognize the harm that is being done Japan's
reputation by the large number of low-class Japanese
in California. They admit that the indiscriminate
immigration in the past was a serious mistake and they
urge the Japanese government to send worthy men to
America who will be a credit to their country.
Some influential Japanese writers are taking the
viewpoint that the problem can be settled best in a
peaceful way and that upon the Japanese in America
rests a large share of the responsibility of bringing this
about. Dr. Ukita, in an article in the Taiyo, May,
1913, said that the right of naturalization which the
1 Japan's Message to America, p. 62.
66
The Japanese Invasion
Japanese are demanding can best be gained if the Japa¬
nese immigrants will give due regard to the following
points : (i) They must resolve to reside permanently
in America. (2) They must not segregate themselves
in separate communities, but must associate with the
Americans freely. (3) They must try to adopt the
manners and customs of the Americans. (4) They
must have high regard for the American form of
government. (5) They must endeavor to become
faithful and loyal Americans.
This aspect of the problem, however, has not as yet
been emphasized sufficiently to modify to any great
extent the attitude of the Japanese people. In general
they simply regard the discrimination against their
immigrants as a reflection upon their national honor,
without giving due consideration to all the different
factors involved. The racial and national aspects of
the problem are the only ones they are willing to see.
America, they believe, has treated their nation unjustly.
The first and important thing to be insisted upon is
their rights, and as long as these are being disregarded
they are in no mood to consider the whole situation
calmly. The present view of many intelligent Japanese
is thus summed up by Dr. S. Suyehiro, professor in the
law school of Kyoto Imperial University:
In this condition of affairs it is only a question of
time when our people in California will be entirely wiped
out, with which the anti-Japanese elements in the state
should be contented. But far from that they want to
destroy Japanese industry there as quickly as possible;
The Japanese Viezvpoint 67
hence the enactment of the Alien Land Law. Further,
there are rumors that a bill for depriving us of our right
of leasing agricultural land will be introduced to the
state legislature next year. They have already smitten
us on our right cheek; now they seem to demand of us
to turn our left to them. What would America do if
she were Japan? Would she endure all this discrimi¬
nation and humiliation without a murmur ? I for one do
not think that the self-assertive Americans would submit
to such treatment as we are receiving at their hands.
We are a peace-loving nation. Our endurance has
stood the successive tests of the Manchurian railway
question, the school affair, the immigration flurry, the
California land law dispute; it will stand more because
we are bent on the maintenance of peace. But with a
view to a speedy and amicable settlement of the out¬
standing complication, we claim that America accede to
one of the two alternatives — the granting of the right
of naturalization to the Japanese, or the conclusion of
a treaty to guarantee their rights of owning land or of
leasing farms. I venture to say this is no extravagant
claim. Justice demands that America shall treat the Jap¬
anese on equal terms with European immigrants, since
she has permitted the former to enter and live on her
land. If it is a question of granting such rights to mil¬
lions of Japanese, it may be too serious for America to
consent; but it is a matter that involves only 90,000 res¬
idents. Is she still reluctant to comply with our claim?
If she rejects it, I am afraid that the day will come when
our friendship toward her shall cease.1
1 Japan's Message to America, pp. 68-69. A similar view was
expressed in an editorial on the Japanese-American problem in
Kahoku Shimpo, Sendai, Dec. 6, 1914. Mr. Oshikawa in the
Michi, Dec., 1914, says that " for a solution of the American prob¬
lem we must not depend upon diplomacy but upon the actual
power of the country."
CHAPTER V
THE JAPANESE "MENACE"
A NY attempt to interpret the present status of
American public opinion toward the Japanese
must give due recognition to the fact that no unanimity
of opinion exists. America is not a united nation with
a sufficiently fixed national policy to dominate the
whole country. In regard to most of our national
problems there are sectional differences of opinion
which are likely to render national policies unstable.
Consequently, the sweeping statements that are so
frequently made regarding America's friendliness for
or hostility toward the Japanese are entirely mislead¬
ing to both parties concerned. As a matter of fact
public opinion in different localities varies from open
hostility to admiration, depending upon the nature of
the contact with the Japanese and also upon what is
known about them through the various sources of
information. Moreover, it is also true that widely
divergent attitudes may be found in the same com¬
munity or even in the same individual. Thus admira¬
tion and fear are frequently found side by side. It is
often difficult to decide which is our predominating
attitude until something happens to bring our latent
feelings to the surface.
Americans who have returned home after a long
68
The Japanese "Menace "
69
residence in Japan have sometimes experienced a revul¬
sion of feeling against Japanese residing in the West.
While in Japan, the Japanese peculiarities never struck
their attention because they were the common thing,
but here they diverge so much from the usual type that
they seem objectionable. Even missionaries, noted for
their kindly feelings for the Japanese, have confessed
that it is difficult for them to maintain this same atti¬
tude toward the Japanese whom they chance to meet
while home on furlough. Prestige and prejudice are
in fact not far apart. One attitude sometimes gives
way to the other even when changes in the situation
do not seem sufficient to justify it. It is the existence
of these divergent and contradictory attitudes that
complicates our Japanese problem and makes it so
difficult for the American people to be consistent in
their treatment of the Japanese.
These divergent attitudes can be accounted for only
by the fact that the presence of the Japanese constitutes
a race problem which brings in all the conflicting emo¬
tions involved in race prejudice. The Japanese show
such wide variations from our ways of appearing and
acting that our elemental feelings of antipathy are
aroused against them. This makes an inevitable con¬
flict in our minds when we attempt to judge them fairly
according to their merits, and as a result inconsistencies
appear in our dealings with them. How this comes
about is made clear by Bailey's analysis of race preju¬
dice, which he classifies into race enmity, race pride, and
race conscience. Race enmity, he says, is found chiefly
7°
The Japanese Invasion
among those in economic competition with the opposing
race on the lower levels; race pride is more social and
aesthetic and is a loyalty to race traditions which seem
to be endangered by the encroachments of outsiders;
race conscience appears on a still higher level, and
while recognizing the existence of different racial types
estimates them from a more scientific and humani¬
tarian point of view. The feeling tones that accompany
these three attitudes he designates as "anger, fear, and
love; or putting them into the language of attitudes
we might call them 'hate, anxiety-obsession, and
benevolent kindliness.' "1 A study of American public
opinion regarding the Japanese reveals the existence
of these three well-defined attitudes around which may
be grouped our discussion of the problem from the
American viewpoint.
Without doubt, there exists among many Americans
a feeling of genuine friendliness for the Japanese. The
attitudes of antipathy and distrust, which are more or
less widespread, must by no means be regarded as
shared by all the people in America. It is very easy,
in fact, to get an exaggerated view of the opposition
to the Japanese, because stories dealing with that phase
of the question make better news than facts expressive
of our friendliness, and consequently get wider pub¬
licity. This attitude of friendliness and good will is
based partly on our former tendency to idealize the
Japanese, a fact which has already been mentioned.
1 Bailey, T. P., Race Orthodoxy in the South, p. 47. Neale
Pub. Co.
The Japanese "Menace " 71
The novelties of their civilization and their great eager¬
ness to acquire our culture aroused a deep interest in
their welfare. Their later victories on land and sea
and their success in organizing their nation along
modern lines have caused many to think highly of
their ability and greatness. In American periodicals
have appeared numerous articles on Japan in which
such statements as the following were made:
Japan is today one of the most thoroughly and highly
organized countries in the world; it is doubtful if there
is in any other country such unanimity of opinion, such
passionate devotion to the ruler, such eagerness to die
for the sake of the country.1
While the Japanese stand on the same general plane
of culture as the peoples of Europe and North America,
they are distinct rivals with them for preeminence on
that plane, by reason of the number of points wherein
they are demonstrably supreme.2
It is difficult to take in the moral greatness of the
Japanese whose Imperial line has never been broken;
whose family life persists through centuries; whose
heroes, men and women, show a spirit of sacrifice that
is the very key to the highest moral life; and whose
virtues are so virile that they can appropriate within the
narrow limits of one generation all the great liberties
of our modern civilization and all the humanity that is
embodied in the world-wide Red Cross society.3
1 Editorial, the Outlook, June 4, 1904.
2 Buckley, E., "The Japanese as Peers of Western People,"
Amer. Journ. Soc., Nov., 1905, p. 327.
sDe Forest, J. H., "Moral Greatness of the Japanese People,"
the Independent, July 9, 1908, p. 87.
72
The Japanese Invasion
It is very natural that those who share views similar
to these should be very indignant at the opposition
shown to the Japanese immigrants on the Pacific coast.
In their eyes it is not only an insult to a great nation
but it is a shortsighted policy to exclude the Japanese,
who seem more likely to make a better contribution to
our country than do the immigrants from southern
Europe. The efficiency of Japanese laborers, their
adaptability to new surroundings, and their efforts to
conform to American dress and customs, are pointed
out as qualities which prove their fitness for American
life. It is held, furthermore, that the West as well
as the East will profit by the mingling of the two civil¬
izations. Our dislike of the Orient, they claim, is based
upon our ignorance. A more careful study of oriental
culture would deepen our appreciation and put to shame
our spirit of intolerance.
Ever since the rise of the Japanese problem in Cali¬
fornia, the Japanese have not lacked for champions
among intelligent Americans, who, moved both by a
sense of justice and by a genuine admiration for this
oriental nation, have tried to overcome the opposition
against them. The desire to treat Japan in a just and
friendly manner has always been the attitude of our
Federal government. Even when the differences be¬
tween the two countries seemed most difficult to adjust,
this friendly attitude has been maintained.
An incident related in a recent address in Chicago
by Dr. Edward A. Steiner well illustrates the policy
of our government. During the long negotiations
The Japanese "Menace " 73
between the two governments regarding the California
Alien Land Bill, Secretary Bryan and Ambassador
Chinda had many consultations in regard to the best
means of adjusting the difficulty. In the course of
one particularly unsatisfactory conference, Viscount
Chinda abruptly arose to leave, and said: " Is this the
last word America has to say about the matter?" If
Bryan's answer had been "yes," diplomatic negotiations
would likely have been broken off and serious conse¬
quences might have occurred. The situation, however,
was saved by Bryan's more tactful reply, " There is ho
last word between friends."1 Further negotiations
were resumed and the matter was temporarily adjusted
upon the basis of friendship.
The present attitude of our government toward
Japan is well expressed in this sentence from a letter
written by President Wilson to Dr. Shailer Mathews
on December 14, 1914:
That the feeling of our government toward Japan is
one of genuine friendship, I think you believe as strongly
as I do, and any message of friendship and cooperation
and mutual good will is undoubtedly from the American
people themselves.2
This feeling of friendliness and good will toward the
Japanese can be found even in California, the strong¬
hold of anti-Japanese sentiment. There is a disposition
1 To commemorate this incident Mr. Bryan has had a bayonet
made into a paper weight in the shape of a small plow on which
are inscribed the above words.
2 The Friendship of America for Japan, p. 32.
74
The Japanese Invasion
on the part of some of its citizens to give due recog¬
nition to the part the Japanese are taking in developing
the resources of that state. Their patience and skill
in turning barren wastes into fruitful fields are com*
mended. Miss Alice M. Brown, of Florin, California,
in describing the work of the Japanese in her com¬
munity, said:
By their sheer pluck and wonderful industry they
have changed the whole face of the land from barren,
unfertile fields to the fairest of vineyards and straw¬
berry patches. And to do so they had to face tremen¬
dous obstacles which the white man never would have
surmounted. Beginning with no capital they make the
place pay for itself. They know how to live within
their means, to live frugally, but when they are on their
feet and their home is paid for, they spend for the
American food and comfort for which they yearn.
They are crowding no one out of the land by their
industry; that very land would be lying bare and idle
if they did not occupy it. The whites spurned it for
thirty years and they are no more ambitious today.
They want better land, which does not entail such con¬
stant, ceaseless effort to wring a profit from it. There
is always a class who are jealous of anyone who works
and prospers, and because of the peaceable, humble dis¬
position of these people they are doubly bold in their
attacks upon them. It is the dog in the manger atti¬
tude. There is plenty of room in this great state for
all who want land and who want to work. We are no
overpopulated country like Belgium or Japan. We want
people here who will till our sml and make our lands
blossom with fruitfulness. They are a tremendous asset
to the community and the state, and if it were not for
The Japanese "Menace" 75
the racial bias that darkens and poisons the mind, they
would be thrice welcome.
The Japanese are peaceable, law-abiding, tirelessly in¬
dustrious, home-keeping, moral, temperate, grateful, and
generous. They require no policing, there are no dis¬
turbances; no woman has ever been molested. That is
a fit test for their worthiness as a people. What other
alien race has such a record ?1
While such sentiments as these seem to be shared
by only a small minority in California, there is an
increasing tendency to admit the usefulness and effi¬
ciency of the Japanese in agriculture. Even those
opposed to them on grounds of race admire the skill
with which the Japanese farmers have reclaimed bar¬
ren lands and thus added to the wealth of the state.
Without doubt the Japanese have made a secure place
for themselves in the fruit industry in certain sections
of the Far West, and since the fear of a large increase
in numbers has been removed, the more intelligent
Americans do not resent their presence as much as
was the case in the past.
The attitude of some of the leaders in educational
circles in California is sho"wn by the following state¬
ment regarding America's relations with Japan issued
in 1914 by the presidents and deans of the various
colleges and universities of southern California:
In view of the recent events which have tended to
bring regret and distress to those persons who have
cherished deeply the historic friendship between the
1 Brown, Alice M., Education — Not Legislation, p. 4.
76
The Japanese Invasion
United States and Japan, and in view of the popular
impression that a feeling of international ill will has its
special source on our western coast and particularly in
the state of California, the undersigned take the liberty
of making public the following statement:
As American citizens and residents of California, we
wish to express our deep conviction that the manifesta¬
tion of genuine good will, happily characteristic of our
relations with Japan, has been one of the most fortunate
experiences of our whole international history. And,
notwithstanding all appearances to the contrary, we be¬
lieve that an appreciation of the great benefits accruing
to both nations by reason of this friendship is firmly
established among the thoughtful people of our coast and
is rightfully a source of confident expectation that this
friendship is permanently to continue.
In this connection we desire not only to assert our
strong opposition to any additional anti-alien legislation
. . . . but we are also opposed to any and all anti-alien
legislation of whatever sort, which is discriminating in
character, desiring only to preserve to each country in
friendliest fashion those best elements of national per¬
sonality which shall ultimately be of the largest mutual
advantage. In this, also, we believe we are voicing the
thoughtful citizenship of our state.
Many of those most interested in the promotion of
good will toward Japan feel that a campaign of educa¬
tion is necessary in order to overcome existing suspi¬
cions and prejudices. The most recent important effort
to this end was the establishment by the Federal Coun¬
cil of the Churches of Christ in America1 of a Com-
1 This Council represents thirty different denominations. The
number of local churches in these denominations is about 136,000
and the membership 17,000,000.
The Japanese "Menace " 77
mission on Relations with Japan. This commission,
in addition to its study of the problem of the relations
of the two countries, appointed Dr. Shailer Mathews
and Dr. Sidney L. Gulick —
. ... to serve as a Christian Embassy to carry to the
Christians of this land (Japan) the greetings of the
Christians of America and the assurances that, in spite
of certain appearances to the contrary, the real attitude
of America as a whole is that of continued good will.1
This " Christian Embassy" made an extended trip
through Japan during February, 1915, and addressed
large audiences in a number of the leading cities. The
Japanese press gave their speeches wide publicity and
in general commented favorably upon their efforts to
convince the Japanese that a vast majority of the
American people were not in sympathy with the anti-
Japanese movement. After their return to America
a similar campaign was carried on in this country for
the purpose of developing a public opinion more favor¬
ably disposed toward the Japanese people.
That it was felt necessary to send this " Christian
Embassy " to Japan with its message of good will bears
witness to the existence of misunderstandings and feel¬
ings of dislike which at times have threatened to rup¬
ture the friendship of the two nations. As would be
expected, this attitude of hostility and antipathy mani¬
fests itself particularly in those sections of the West
where the Japanese have settled in the largest numbers.
For the past ten years or more the Californians have
1 The Friendship of America for Japan, p. 3.
78
The Japanese Invasion
felt that the Japanese were a menace to their welfare.
It was their violent protest against the coming of Jap¬
anese immigrants that brought the problem to the
attention of the American public. Through their per¬
sistence and determination the inertia and indifference
of the eastern states have been overcome and a public
opinion formed that demands the exclusion of the
Japanese. In order to gain their point the Californians
marshaled every possible argument and appealed espe¬
cially to the latent prejudice that the West has for the
Far East. A California editor wrote:
Do the American people realize that they are now
facing on our Pacific frontier what may easily become
the most significant crisis which the western world has
confronted since Thermopylae — a question not of policy
or prosperity or progress, but of existence?
Nothing can keep our Pacific coast essentially a white
man's country except our continual determination to keep
it so It is a question on which a blunder once made
can never be rectified. The frontier of the white man's
world must be established some day, somewhere. Un¬
less this generation establishes it at the Pacific coast no
future generation will ever have the chance to establish
it so far west, or to maintain it anywhere, except by war
and permanent lines of garrisoned fortresses. The prob¬
lem is ours in the next few years in California, Wash¬
ington, Oregon, and in the Capitol and White House.
The consequences are the whole world's, everywhere,
forever
Asia has found us out, too, and the flood from the
Orient has started. Nothing can stop it unless we do.
We did stop it from China because China was helpless,
but that helplessness will not last long. It has been
The Japanese "Menace " 79
checked from Japan by the grace of Japan, but that
grace may not last long. And we may stop it from
India because we do not have to deal with India about
it. But the reservoir that is tapped is limitless. Lit¬
erally hundreds of millions of brown men, yellow men,
and bronze men would now like to come to America for
the same reasons that the Europeans wanted to come;
for they will come, just as the Europeans have come,
if they are equally free to do so. And then — the deluge.
The worst of it is that, temporarily and economically,
we need them, and therefore some of our shortsighted
capitalists desire them. It is a fair and empty land that
awaits development, and it is capable of being exploited
far more rapidly than the white man alone can do it.
Industrially, the West can be full-grown in one gener¬
ation, if we will permit it, but not by the labor of all
the white men it can get. The West can absorb men
faster than white men are consenting to come. A de¬
liberate dog-in-the-manger policy is the only way to re¬
serve for future generations of our race the resources
which we have not time nor men to develop ourselves.1
In the opinion of many people on the Pacific coast, a
resolute stand must be taken in order to repel a possible
yellow invasion. They feel that the coming of the
Oriental, whether Chinese or Japanese, endangers their
institutions. It is assumed that no matter how long
the Japanese may reside in America they can never be
assimilated.2
On the other hand, some Californians deny that their
opposition to the Japanese is a matter of race prejudice.
1 Rowell, C. H., " Orientphobia," Collier's, Feb. 6, 1909, p. 13.
2 Woehlke, W. V., "Two Aspects of the Japanese Problem,"
the Outlook, 105 : 480.
8o
The Japanese Invasion
They place it frankly upon economic grounds, claiming
that the white man cannot compete successfully with
Orientals without lowering his standard of living.
Thus a writer in Sunset said:
California's opposition is not because of race-hatred —
there is no racial problem involved in the determination
to eliminate the Japanese from economic consideration.
Candidly, California acknowledges that Japanese given
free rein within her borders would become commercial
competitors against whom the white man could not hope
to struggle successfully, for the Japanese, through sacri¬
ficial effort, are capable of accomplishing greater results
than the white man, ever eager for his own personal
pleasures and comforts. One is willing to work, work,
work; the other insists upon varying his industry with
a little honk-honking along the highway of joy. One
will pillow his head upon a rock, if need be, and rest
content; the other insists upon the maintenance of a
standard which refuses the rock. Tokyo may assert
that her national pride has been pricked, but neverthe¬
less she knows that the real cause of the tempest is that
her subjects figuratively have been picking California's
pockets of profits and rapidly are attaining complete
mastery of the communities in which they have set¬
tled.1
Without doubt, both economic and racial factors
are involved in the Japanese problem. It is impossible
to find a single isolated cause of all the friction that
exists. Viewed in its larger aspect, it is the meeting
of the widely different civilizations of the East and
the West, with all of its disturbing effect upon our
1 Dunn, A., " Keeping the Coast Clear," Sunset, 31: 124.
The Japanese "Menace" 81
labor conditions and problems. Difference in standards
of living that makes competition upon equal terms
impossible, fear of being overwhelmed by numbers,
differences in customs, language, and physical appear¬
ance, the ambition of the Japanese, which unfits them
for servile positions — all these have in some measure
contributed to the unpopularity of the Japanese in our
western states.
f Not every part of the West shares equally this feel-
mg of dislike. Southern California looks upon the
Japanese with far more tolerance than does northern
California. While anti-Japanese feeling exists in both
Washington and Oregon, neither of these states has
followed California's example in the matter of radical
anti-Japanese legislation. Fruit growers and other
employers of labor are often favorably inclined toward
the Japanese workmen.1 Many sincerely believe that
the Japanese are the best solution of the seasonal labor
problem in the West, and protests are frequently made
by large employers against the policy of shutting off
such a valuable source of labor supply,
r But the voices raised in favor of the Japanese are
not able to drown the clamor for their continued exclu¬
sion and for the restriction of their opportunities.\ In
many localities the Japanese are regarded as unfit to
associate with Americans. ^ There is in most western
cities a strong feeling against permitting even wealthy
Japanese to live in good resident sectionsa The Jap-
1 Bramhall, J. T., "The Orient in California,? the World
Today, 20: 464.
82
The Japanese Invasion
anese Consul General at San Francisco, a well-educated
and cultured gentleman, rented a house in one of the
fashionable sections of the city. His neighbors strongly
resented his presence, and it was only after consider¬
able negotiations that their objections were withdrawn.
The high-salaried representatives of some of the largest
banks and business houses in Japan receive similar
treatment if they attempt to live among Americans
who are their equals in education and income. When
one of these managers rented a house in Berkeley, the
people threatened the provision dealers with boycott
if they dared to sell him any food. Shima, a wealthy
ranch owner, known as the " Potato King," purchased
a home in a fashionable part of Berkeley, furnished
it in good style, employed a large number of servants,
and prepared to live as befitted a man of his means.
Indignation was at once aroused in the city, and the
newspapers published insulting articles referring to the
yellow peril in the college town.1 In university circles
like Berkeley, Palo Alto, and Los Angeles, American
families as a rule refuse to rent rooms to Japanese stu¬
dents. In Los Angeles the prejudice against the Jap¬
anese made it impossible for the Japanese students' club
to purchase a desirable site on which to build a club-
houseA
This'antipathy to the Japanese extends even to reli¬
gious circles. In California, the Young Men's Chris¬
tian Association will not give the Japanese the right
of full membership. As a rule, they are permitted to
1 Asia at the Door, pp. 147-50.
The Japanese "Menace " 83
attend the English classes and religious meetings, but
are denied the use of the gymnasium, swimming tank,
and athletic field. Fraternal orders and trade unions
are not open to the Japanese, and as far as possible they
are kept out of the skilled trades.1 This attitude of
opposition to the Japanese has been manifested in the
attempt to keep their children out of the public schools
in San Francisco, in the passage of the alien land bill,
and in the introduction of other measures designed to
limit the opportunities of Japanese laborers in Cali¬
fornia.2 The public press has thrown its influence
upon the side of the anti-Japanese agitation and by its
inflammatory articles has done much to keep the
problem before the attention of the public.
This concentration of attention upon the Japanese
question makes the people more open to suggestion,
and so the wildest stories about Japan's designs are
circulated widely and are listened to in all seriousness,
no matter how widely they may be removed from
actual facts. Even though the danger of an influx of
a horde of Japanese laborers has not existed for the
past ten years, yet the old fear seems still to remain.
The coming of the " picture brides " is deplored because
it means the birth of Japanese children who will grow
1 Report of Immigration Commission, vol. 23, p. 163.
2 In 1913, thirty-four bills of this kind were presented to the
California legislature. They provided that the license fee of
Japanese fishermen should be increased, that Japanese school
children should be segregated, that liquor licenses should not be
issued to Japanese, that Japanese should be forbidden to use
power engines, that Japanese should not be allowed to employ
white women, etc.— Asia at the Door, pp. 161-62.
84
The Japanese Invasion
up as American citizens. If it had not been for the
fear of injuring the interests of the Panama-Pacific
Exposition, further bills against the Japanese would
probably have been introduced into the California
legislature during its session in 1915. The opposition
to the Japanese in California may almost be said to
have assumed a pathological form, and seems to have
developed a phobia that is contagious and which does
not require much basis in fact to support it.
This campaign of opposition to the Japanese has
exerted a wider influence upon the public opinion of
the whole country than is generally realized. Mr.
Holman, in speaking of California's dislike of the
Japanese, said:
Deeply as this is to be deplored, it is less regrettable
than the fact that this seemingly localized manifestation
is but a surface symptom of a deeper and more wide¬
spread affection which concerns not merely the Pacific
coast region, where racial antagonisms are freely avowed,
but practically our entire body politic, including even
eastern centers of light and learning, where the solidar¬
ity of the human race is preached and the spirit of uni¬
versal brotherhood is most professed. For the candid
observer must, to himself at least, admit that an obses¬
sion of prejudice against men of the black, brown, or
yellow races marks with an unfavorable distinction the
American people above those of any other nation, despite
all our boastful pretension of belief in mankind's dis-
tinctless equality of birth and nongainsayable right to an
impartiality of social and political opportunity.
It is doubtless part of our heritage of shame from cen¬
turies of wrongdoing toward the African race, and its
The Japanese "Menace " 85
periodical manifestations will involve penitential repara¬
tion for uncounted time to come.
But it is necessary to recognize unblinkingly that this
ungracious and mischief-making spirit exists, and in
greater or less degree permeates our entire people, be¬
fore we shall be able either to foresee its portentous
possibilities for evil or to grapple intelligently with the
Herculean task of formulating remedies even appreciably
adapted to the outworking of its cure.1
It seems very evident that the past ten years of agita¬
tion against the Japanese on the Pacific coast, together
with the aggressive policy of Japan both in demanding
its rights in this country and advancing its interests in
the Far East, have produced an undercurrent of oppo¬
sition that comes to the surface upon slight provocation.
In a recent conversation with a well-informed Japanese
official in America, I asked him why his government
did not encourage the Japanese living in California to
move east of the Rocky Mountains, where they would
be made more welcome. He replied that this was a
common mistake of Americans, who took it for granted
that the anti-Japanese spirit was limited only to the Far
West, and that, as a matter of fact, any settlement of
the Japanese in mass in any state of the Union would
arouse opposition.
In support of this statement he cited several instances
where attempts had been made by small groups of
Japanese farmers to establish themselves in states
where there had been no indication of any feeling
1 Holman, C. V., " Our Insult to Japan," the Arena, 37 • JI-
86
The Japanese Invasion
against the Japanese. One of these attempts was made
in 1914 in Michigan, but as soon as it became known
that the Japanese were trying to buy land, protests
were made and a bill was introduced into the state
legislature similar to the alien land law of California.
Similar efforts were made by Japanese to settle in rural
communities in Florida and Louisiana, and in both
these states anti-Japanese feeling at once manifested
itself. In order to prevent the spread of this agitation
against the Japanese, their government has discouraged
as far as possible all migration of Japanese laborers
into our eastern and southern states. The Japanese
authorities feel that it is wiser to localize the opposition
in the West and not allow it to extend over the whole
country. In the opinion of this Japanese official, almost
the only places in the East that are open to the Jap¬
anese are the large cities, where a few can engage in
small business enterprises or do domestic work. The
four hundred Japanese living in Chicago are scattered
throughout the city, and as they have established no
business street, as have the Chinese, their presence is
but little noticed. They do, however, experience diffi¬
culty sometimes in renting rooms and apartments in
the more desirable sections of the city. Only last year
a Japanese student and his wife, because of the pro¬
tests of neighbors, had to give up their lease of an
apartment in Hyde Park within the very shadow of
the University of Chicago.1
1 Unmarried students, however, find no difficulty in securing
rooms. The Housing Bureau of the University of Chicago states
The Japanese "Menace " 87
While Japanese students, who form a considerable
portion of the Japanese population in the eastern
states, are given a warm welcome to our educational
privileges, they are made to feel that they cannot share
fully in our social affairs. In response to inquiries
made in a number of our colleges and universities, it
was learned that there was a strong sentiment against
a college girl appearing alone in public under the escort
of a Japanese man. There is perfect freedom in class
parties and college functions, but the line is drawn upon
any association that might be interpreted as a personal
attention to an American girl. Even in communities
where there seems to be no race prejudice against the
Japanese, intermarriage with them is regarded as
highly unfortunate.
It is, however, the attitude of suspicion rather than
dislike that seems to characterize the American public
in general today. Japanese aggressiveness and military
preparedness, the frank statements in a portion of the
Japanese press that they are not only willing to fight
us but regard us as an easy opponent to crush, and the
frequent publication in our newspapers of alleged de¬
signs of the Japanese upon our possessions in the
Pacific as well as upon our Pacific coast, have aroused
a rather widespread feeling of suspicion. We know
that they are an ambitious nation, and we are not sure
how far their ambitions will lead them in their relations
that American families usually prefer Japanese students because
they are quieter and demand fewer privileges than do other
students.
88
The Japanese Invasion
with us. An American editorial writer, in commenting
on American nervousness concerning the Japanese,
said:
If the Japanese were not so disciplined in politeness
they would be spilling their tea all over Japan in merri¬
ment over our fidgets. Our apprehensions are not only
ludicrous but natural. They are unescapable. They are
the tributes paid by an uncertain, amiable, unorganized
nation which has no defined intent, to a resolute, efficient,
organized nation which has its plans clearly outlined and
well in hand
Our imagination puts nothing beyond the ability of
our bland friends. The Japanese fishermen and the Jap¬
anese schoolboys may be brigadier generals; a tea store
may be the headquarters of the general staff; Japanese
submarines may be ready for assembling down in the
sand dunes by Miller, Ind.; Hawaii may contain four
army corps, and Mexico a couple.1
Efforts of the Japanese to float one of their cruisers
that ran aground in Turtle Bay were construed as an
attempt to fortify a naval base on the Pacific coast.
Upon the occasion of the visit of the American fleet
to Japan a few years ago, it was predicted that our
war vessels would be blown up in Yokohama harbor.
In a recent effort to find out the real attitude of
America toward Japan, Dr. Shailer Mathews and Dr.
S. L. Gulick sent out to representative Americans a
questionaire in which was included the following ques¬
tion: "What is the ground of the suspicion of Japan
more or less widespread in the United States ? " Replies
1 The Chicago Tribune, April 15, 1915.
The Japanese "Menace " 89
were received from more than sixty men, all of whom
occupied positions of responsibility where they had op¬
portunity to be familiar with public opinion throughout
the country. The following quotations from their letters
will indicate the different views that were expressed:
There is suspicion more or less widespread in the
United States that the Japanese government and the
Japanese people would like to acquire territory some¬
where, and that she may be looking to this western hemi¬
sphere for such an outlet. There is also a belief that the
Japanese government some years ago entered upon a
campaign of educating the Japanese people in the belief
that a war with the United States was imminent.
The ground for the suspicion of Japan more or less
widespread in the United States is the fear of the expan¬
sion of the Japanese population on the American conti¬
nent, which expansion of population would inevitably
result in Japanese territorial expansion.
I would not say that there was widespread suspicion
of Japan in the United States. I would rather say that
there was a large amount of indifference and ignorance
about Japan. Whatever suspicion there is probably arises
from fear of mingling with eastern races and from the
fear by labor unions of competition.
There is no suspicion of Japan in the United States
and there is no ground of suspicion except that which
may be created within a small circle by the infamous
yellow journals, or the labor unions of the country who
fear the introduction of coolie labor. If such is to be
considered a ground of suspicion it is wholly an economic
ground and is not a racial prejudice or suspicion.
9°
The Japanese Invasion
Whatever suspicion exists is based upon the following:
low moral standards; their aggressive attitude as immi¬
grants in this country; their attempts to get control of
strategic positions in this continent; the militarism which
dominates the national life; the detailed preparedness for
the recent wars they have waged; their industrious
efforts to secure information as to the defenses and
resources of our country. Added to these is the racial
suspicion and antipathy which is general in those sections
which contain the greatest number of Orientals.
If there is any widespread suspicion of Japan in the
United States, I am not aware of it. If there is any such
feeling, I believe it proceeds entirely from a vague, ill-
defined fear of the so-called yellow peril which has been
permitted to creep into certain minds and has never been
tested by any real investigation of facts.
The suspicion of Japan is due, I think, largely to the
feeling that the Japanese are commercially untrustworthy
and that it is difficult to know when one can take their
word about anything. With our habits of thought, this
defect in the national character counts for more than it
should and makes us suspicious of them even in those
fields where we ought to trust them.
Japan maintains a persistently menacing attitude toward
us. She strains at a gnat in San Francisco and swallows
a camel in Vancouver. The actions of Australia, New
Zealand, Canada in matters of Japanese immigration pass
unnoticed, but the local action of a single state in America,
in matters over which the national government has no
control, as fully understood by the Japanese government,
action far less drastic, continues always open, and period¬
ically the Japanese government delivers to our govern¬
ment what is equivalent to an ultimatum.
The Japanese "Menace"
9i
The ground for suspicion of Japan, which is undoubt¬
edly widespread in the United States, is that for the
purposes of her expansion she might desire to disturb
the present status of the United States in the Pacific.
As far as conclusions can be drawn from the replies
received, it is evident that there is no unanimity of
opinion on the subject. The minority who deny that
there exists any suspicion of Japan in America seem
to mean that there is no justifiable suspicion. Some
admit that there is suspicion, but claim that it is not
widespread enough to be called the attitude of our
nation. Others believe that this feeling of distrust
characterizes our whole country.
Our chief grounds of fear of Japan may be sum¬
marized as follows: (r) Japan's national interests run
counter to ours, therefore we are in danger of acts
of aggression on the part of the Japanese. (2) A deluge
of cheap labor will lower western standards. (3) The
entrance of Orientals will cause us to face a new race
problem.
However unjustifiable these fears may seem to be,
they cannot be brushed aside as unworthy of our atten¬
tion. The sentiments that they create are real, even
though the reasons upon which they are based may
be false. All refusals to recognize the significance of
these sentiments can only result in deception and in
further loss of confidence.
What, then, shall be our conclusions about the Jap¬
anese " menace " ? Is it an illusion fostered by military
propagandists, or is it a real peril which we must sooner
or later face? To such a question no final answer can
92
The Japanese Invasion
now be given. The forces at work are so complex,
the situation presents itself in such varied aspects to
different observers, that any agreement about the
future outlook is impossible. It may be said, however,
that the time is past for us to be lulled into a feeling
of security by frequent exchanges of honeyed euphe¬
misms. The custom of patting each other on the back
has been carried to the point of absurdity by well-
meaning people of both nations. The historic friend¬
ship of the two countries is held up as something so
remarkable that it is sacrilege to suggest that it might
be broken. Such talk may help in creating a kind of
public opinion, but in so far as it ignores very evident
causes of friction, it does more harm than good. If
there really is a Japanese menace it will be made none
the less so by refusing to recognize its existence. The
issue does not depend entirely on our feelings of good
- will. We must remember that we have arbitrarily
arranged the present status of affairs, so far as immi¬
gration from the East is concerned, to suit our interests
and not those of the Japanese. The issue is therefore
up to them. What their next move will be, no one
can tell. It is only our thoughtlessness or abounding
egotism that leads us to assume that the Japanese will
never take up arms against us because we are kindly
disposed toward them. Japan is an ambitious nation
and very jealous of her national honor as well as keen
to promote her welfare. Her immediate interests may
prompt her now to cultivate America's friendship. Let
us not be too sure that this will always be the case.
CHAPTER VI
THE ISOLATION OF JAPANESE IN AMERICA
THE entrance of Japanese into American life in¬
volves radical changes in their old habits and
mental attitudes. Their success in the new environ¬
ment depends upon their ability to readjust themselves
to conditions far different from those to which they
have been accustomed. The readjustments they are
compelled to make are far greater than those which
are expected of Americans who go to the Orient.
No matter how much the foreign missionaries and
foreign business men in Japan may try to adapt them¬
selves to their surroundings, they will still live in
foreign houses, eat foreign food, and wear foreign
clothes. They are under no economic necessity of
adopting Japanese customs, nor are they supposed to
carry out wholesale the process of denationalization.
Even the missionaries who have resided in the country
for more than a quarter of a century do not attempt
by their manner of life to merge themselves unnoticed
into the Japanese nation. The language may be so
well learned and native custom^ so well copied that
when occasion requires they can mingle with the Jap¬
anese without causing any friction, but in their private
life at least it is assumed that American ideals shall
be maintained. The children of missionaries are not
93
94
The Japanese Invasion
sent to Japanese schools, for there is not the slightest
intention of bringing them up as Japanese citizens.
With but few exceptions, the foreigners residing in
Japan in any capacity whatever have followed the
policy of remaining as a race apart.
The Japanese immigrants, on the other hand, are
under the necessity of conforming to American stand¬
ards because they are competitors in our economic life.
To the extent that they live in their own groups and
retain their native customs, they are not only criticized,
but their economic opportunities are lessened. In order
to succeed they must make themselves as much like
Americans as possible.
While this is the same problem that all our immi¬
grants must face, it possesses peculiar significance in
the case of the Japanese because of the widely prevail¬
ing belief in the incompatibility of the two civilizations.
So far apart has the East seemed from the West that
many have taken it for granted that any large mingling
of the two races is impracticable. As Kipling says:
Oh, East is East, and West is West,
And never the twain shall meet,
Till Earth and Sky stand presently,
At God's great Judgment Seat.
For the popular impression that the Japanese dwell
in a world of thought and action diametrically opposite
to our own, such writers as Lafcadio Hearn and Per-
cival Lowell are largely responsible. In their descrip¬
tion and interpretation of the Japanese occur these
striking passages:
Isolation in America
95
The ideas of this people are not our ideas; their senti¬
ments are not our sentiments; their ethical life represents
for us regions of thought and emotion yet unexplored, or
perhaps long forgotten. Any one of their ordinary
phrases translated into western speech makes hopeless
nonsense; and the literal rendering into Japanese of the
simplest English sentence would scarcely be compre¬
hended by any Japanese who had never studied a
European tongue. Could you learn all the words in a
Japanese dictionary, your acquisition would not help you in
the least to make yourself understood in speaking unless
you had learned also to think like a Japanese — that is
to say, to think backwards, to think upside down and
inside out, to think in directions totally foreign to Aryan
habit.1
Intellectually, at least, their attitude sets gravity at
defiance. For to the mind's eye their world is one huge,
comical antithesis of our own. What we regard intui¬
tively in one way from our standpoint, they as intuitively
observe in a diametrically opposite manner from theirs.
To speak backwards, write backwards, read backwards, is
but the A B C of their contrariety. The inversion extends
deeper than mere modes of expression, down into the
very matter of thought. Ideas of ours which we deemed
innate find in them no home, while methods which strike
us as preposterously unnatural appear to be their birth¬
right. From the standing of a wet umbrella on its handle
instead of its head to dry, to the striking of a match
away in place of toward one, there seems to be no action
of our daily lives, however trivial, but finds with them
its appropriate reaction — equal but opposite. Indeed,
to one anxious of conforming to the manners and customs
of the country, the only road to right lies in following
1 Hearn, Lafcadio, Japan, an Attempt at Interpretation, p. 12.
g6 The Japanese Invasion
unswervingly that course which his inherited instincts
assure him to be wrong.1
Overdrawn though these statements may be, they
are nevertheless based on striking differences between
the East and the West that cannot be denied. That
the Japanese immigrants have much farther to go than
the European immigrants in adapting themselves to
American ways, is undoubtedly true. Their language,
habits of thought, methods of work, social customs,
and moral ideals are handicaps to them in their struggle
for existence under American conditions. Many West¬
erners have been so impressed with the contrast be¬
tween the two civilizations that they believe they are
based on fundamental racial differences which cannot
be eradicated. In their opinion, something deeper than
social heritage is involved, and therefore assimilation
with the West is impossible. The following statements
taken from American periodicals present clearly this
point of view:
For the Japanese in the United States will always be
Japanese. They will not become Americans. They will
neither wish to merge with our people nor shall we wish
to have them. Our capacious hospitalities are equal to
the accommodation of a good many of them. They are
clean, well mannered, and industrious; better folk by far
in many particulars than a good many other newcomers.
But they are not our kind, and will not merge. They
belong to Asia. Their hearts are there; their interests
are there. In this country we believe that they will
always deserve good treatment, and that they will get it.
1 Lowell, Percival, The Soul of the Far East, p. 2.
Isolation in America
97
But if there ever is danger that any part of the country
will be overrun with them as Hawaii has been, there can
be no doubt that proper and peaceable means will be taken
to avert that danger.1
The Japanese adopts our dress and manners, but his
Americanization never extends beyond external appear¬
ances. The yellow and white races are as immiscible as
oil and water. No forces of education or civilization
can make aught but an Asiatic out of a Chinese or
Japanese. There can be no assimilation, nor do they
desire it.2
Within recent years there has been a tendency to
challenge these radical statements. Modern ethnology
is laying less emphasis upon biological aspects of ra¬
cial differences. "The real variable," says Professor
Thomas, "is the individual, not the race."3 Because
of the wide variations that exist within a single racial
group, it is impossible to get any general consensus of
opinion as to what actually constitutes racial differ¬
ences. The fact that is coming to be more recognized
is the similarity in the mental activities of mankind,
which has resulted in a remarkable agreement in many
of the fundamental ideas held all over the world. The
customs of a people, their ways of reacting to given
conditions, their peculiarities of manner which help
to differentiate them from other racial groups, are
1 Editorial in Harper's Weekly, Dec. I, 1905, p. 1699.
2 McLaughlin, A., " Chinese and Japanese Immigration," the
Pop. Sci. Mo., 66: 121.
3 Thomas, W. I., Sex and Society, p. 288. Cp. Spiller, G.,
"Science and Race Prejudice," Sociological Review, 5 : 346-47-
98
The Japanese Invasion
the results of social and not biological heredity. Race
is no longer thought to determine types of civilization
or the nature of moral ideas. These factors have
grown out of the social environment and consequently
will be modified as the environment changes.1 The
application of this point of view to the assimilability
of the Japanese is well brought out by Dr. Sidney L.
Gulick in his recent discussion of this subject:
That there are no psychological differences between
East and West is by no means our contention. There
certainly are Our general contention is that such
psychic differences as distinguish the East from the West
are products of social life, belong to the social order, and
are, therefore, subject to rapid change. The psychic
nature, however, is identical East and West because it is
human. That which unites them is universal and cosmic,
while that which separates them is superficial and insular.
On first acquaintance they may seem inscrutable and non¬
assimilable ; in fact, however, there is no insuperable
obstacle to complete mutual understanding and assimila¬
tion Old Japan, Japan before the advent of Perry,
was apparently so fixed, and her mode of thought and life
and reasoning so different from those of the West, that
the contention of unassimilable race differences might
have seemed logically and experimentally defensible. But
that contention can no longer stand. New Japan has
destroyed it, for she is rapidly assimilating our entire occi¬
dental civilization and thereby bringing her inner life into
increasingly close harmony with ours.2
1Boas, Franz, The Mind of Primitive Man, p. 155 Thomas,
W. I., "The Psychology of Race Prejudice," Amer. Journ. Soc.,
9: 593 ff ■
2 The American Japanese Problem, pp. 145-46-
'Isolation in America
99
But this statement of the assimilability of the Jap¬
anese must not cause us to minimize unduly the wide
differences between the civilizations of the East and
the West. These differences do exist as a serious
handicap to the Japanese immigrants, and are an im¬
portant factor in isolating them from many of the best
things in American life. It is too early in the history
of the contact of the two races to dogmatize about the
rapidity and the success with which the isolation will
be overcome. All we can do is to consider certain
factors which will throw light on the present position
of the Japanese in American environment.
Obviously, the ability of the Japanese to adjust them¬
selves to their new environment depends to a great
extent upon their mental preparation. How familiar
are they with western civilization, and what is their
attitude toward it? The Chinese, as is well known,
still maintain so thoroughly their old attitude of supe¬
riority that they borrow with great reluctance from the
West. The Japanese, however, have not allowed their
dislike for foreigners to blind them to the advantages
they may gain by learning the foreigners' secrets of
success.
One of the striking facts about the Japanese is their
frank appreciation of western civilization. From the
time when the late Emperor at the beginning of his
reign in 1868 issued his famous edict in which he said
that "knowledge shall be sought for throughout the
whole world," the Japanese leaders began to revolu¬
tionize their national institutions. The patterns for
IOO
The Japanese Invasion
their wide-sweeping changes were found in the West
and were adopted with a rapidity that surprised
the whole world. The form of government, the
educational system, the means of communication,
the army and the navy, were modeled along western
lines.
This example set by the government has been fol¬
lowed by the people as far as economic considerations
make it possible. Foreign-style business buildings are
found in every large city, and it is becoming the fashion
for the wealthy to build a foreign annex alongside
their native houses. Foreign uniforms have been
adopted by all boys' schools above the primary grades,
and foreign clothing is frequently worn by men in the
better classes of society. Bakeries, meat shops, and
restaurants that serve foreign food are quite common
in large cities and are well patronized by the people
who can afford a more expensive standard of living.
English forms a very prominent part of the curriculum
of schools above the elementary grades. Students in
even the secondary schools are required to read in the
original a considerable number of the English classics.
Says Dr. Nitobe:
It is through the channels of the English language that
Anglo-Saxon ideas exert a tremendous influence intel¬
lectually, morally, politically, and socially. In this way
are the great leaders of English thought made familiar to
us, and being constantly quoted they are perused both
in the original and in translations. Several works of
Shakespeare can now be read in Japanese; Bacon, Emer-
Isolation in America
101
son, George Eliot, Poe, Stevenson, Longfellow, Words¬
worth, Tennyson, are names on the lips of everyone.1
It is thus clear that as far as the more intelligent and
well-to-do portion of the Japanese nation are concerned,
they are well prepared to enter sympathetically into
American life. They not only possess some familiarity
with western institutions and customs, but have a de¬
sire to adopt western standards of living as soon as
their economic condition permits it. If the Japanese
immigrants had been largely drawn from these more
intelligent classes, the fact of the wide differences be¬
tween the two civilizations could not be regarded as a
very serious barrier to their entrance into American
environment.
Unfortunately, however, the majority of the immi¬
grants have come from the lower classes, which have
been only slightly affected by the transformation of
modern Japan. One of the striking contrasts in Japan
is the progressive modern government, on the one hand,
and the medieval aspects of the smaller towns and
rural communities, on the other. With the exception
of the school system and the government organization,
rural Japan has not yet been drawn into the current
1 Nitobe, I., The Japanese Nation, p. 186. Professor Togawa,
in an article entitled " Western Works of Literature, Religion, and
Philosophy Translated and Introduced in Japan," enumerates a
large list of western books which are familiar to the Japanese.
He says: " The assiduity with which these translations were made
and the eagerness with which they have been and are being wel¬
comed attest the attitude of the minds of the people who wish to
study the natural characteristics of the nations of the world in
order to enrich their own."—Japan's Message to America, p. 221.
102
The Japanese Invasion
of modern life. The agricultural class, from which
come three-fifths of all the immigrants, is the most
conservative and backward portion of the nation.1
1 Report of Immigration Com., 23:8-9: "Perhaps three-
fifths or even more of the Japanese immigrants to the United
States have been of the agricultural classes. The various city-
classes have been small in comparison. This is shown by the
occupations of Japanese aliens arrived at the ports of the United
States (including Hawaii) and Canada (from 1901 to 1909) as re¬
ported by the Commissioner-General of Immigration I0.3
per cent of the immigrants for the nine years had been farmers in
Japan, while 43.5 per cent had been farm laborers, most of whom
were youths or young men working on their fathers' farms with¬
out wages, for farm laborers working regularly for wages have
been relatively few. Moreover, 21.8 per cent, including women and
children, had not been gainfully occupied. A large percentage of
these were the wives and small children of farmers and farm
laborers and should be added to the percentage given above in
order to obtain an estimate of the relative number of the farming
class emigrating from Japan. As opposed to the 53.8 per cent
who had been gainfully employed in agricultural pursuits, 2.1 per
cent were professional men (physicians, teachers, preachers, ac¬
tors, etc.) ; 5.8 per cent were merchants, grocers, and bankers; 3.8
per cent skilled laborers in a great variety of trades; 6.7 per cent
common laborers; 1.3 per cent had been occupied in the various
branches of domestic and personal service, and 4.7 per cent in
other occupations of which fishing was no doubt one of the most
important. Thus, the majority of the Japanese immigrants have
been drawn from the rural sections of the country."
Y. Ichihashi in his pamphlet, Japanese Immigration, pp. 8-10,
has attempted to present the social and economic status of the
Japanese in a more favorable light. According to his statement
only 35-5 per cent of the Japanese immigrants have come from
the farming and laboring classes. He evidently secured these
figures by leaving out of account the large numbers of Japanese
who came to the mainland from Hawaii during the early nineties,
many of whom went to these islands as contract laborers to work
on the sugar plantations and so were drawn largely from the
lower classes in Japan. In the year 1906, ninety per cent of those
who entered Hawaii were classed by the Japanese government as
farmers and laborers. The importance of the early immigration
Isolation in America
103
Yoshida, in an article on the " Sources and Causes
of Japanese Emigration," described this class of rural
emigrants as follows:
They belong to the lower classes of the Japanese
community, if not to the lowest of all. They are the real
cornerstone of the nation but they are poor. In this class
of emigrants the most conservative, uneducated, and inno¬
cent persons can be found. The greater number of them
being quite ignorant of foreign conditions, they are usu¬
ally cared for and transported by the so-called " emigra¬
tion companies." Farm laborers whose daily wages are
an average of only thirty-two sen (sixteen cents) have
hardly an opportunity to accumulate money enough to
escape from their own group. The sole motive of this!
emigration is to make money, and nothing more.1
Because of the isolation and low economic condition
of the farming class in Japan, modern ideas and meth¬
ods of work have not gained as yet wide acceptance
among them. In general, they cultivate their land
without the help of modern machinery. The ground
is prepared in the most primitive way. Rice, which is
the principal crop, is transplanted and tended by hand,
harvested with a sickle, and threshed with a flail. The
conditions of life, moreover, are hard. In proportion
to its cultivatable area, Japan is the most densely popu¬
lated country in the world. Consequently, the farms
of Japanese from Hawaii can be seen by the fact that more than
37,000 came from there to the mainland from 1902-1908, while
the direct immigration from Japan to our Pacific coast amounted
to about 40,000 during this period.
1 Annals Amer. Acad., 34: 385.
104
The Japanese Invasion
are in many cases too small to give adequate support
to the families dependent upon them.1 A life of un¬
ceasing toil and a low scale of living is the usual lot
of the small farmers in Japan. Holidays with them
are rare, for in winter and in inclement weather they
must support themselves by some subsidiary occupa¬
tion. Their schooling is usually limited to the minimum
prescribed by law, and their outlook on life extends
rarely beyond their own community. The small farm¬
ers and farm laborers who have sought to improve
their economic condition by emigration have therefore
little preparation for their new life in America except
their habits of industry and their willingness to put up
with hard conditions.
( It is inevitable that immigrants of this type should
show a tendency to segregate themselves in communi¬
ties of their own people where they can keep up their
own language and customs. Difficulties of language
would alone be sufficient to cause them to desire to
dwell together. While it is usually said that the Jap¬
anese are more zealous and successful in learning
English than some of our other immigrant groups, the
fact still remains that forty per cent of the Japanese
1 The cultivated land in Japan comprises only about seventeen
per cent of the total area, a tract of land about one-third of the
size of the state of Illinois. Counting the whole area of Japan,
the average density of population is about 280 to the square mile.
Seventy per cent of the total population belong to the farming
class, who must support their families on farms the average size
of which is less than three acres. It is estimated that only three
farmers in a hundred cultivate as much as eight acres.
Cp. Porter, R. P., The Full Recognition of Japan, p. 260.
Isolation in America
105
in America speak only their mother tongufj. Moreover,
among those who are classified as English-speaking
Japanese, comparatively few show much facility in the
use of our language. As a matter of fact, the Japanese
are notoriously poor linguists. Japanese students, who
have had good opportunities to learn English, often
express themselves with difficulty even after years of
study. That uneducated laborers who have come to
America as adults should find English an almost insur¬
mountable difficulty need not occasion surprise. Mr. K.
Mikami, a New York business man, expressed himself
in this way concerning his countrymen's lack of knowl¬
edge of the English language:
I have no doubt — nay, I can assert — that if our coun¬
trymen on the west coast of the United States could speak
and write English in their daily life and transaction of
business and in association with their American neighbors,
there would have been few, if any, unpleasant contro¬
versies. I want it, however, to be understood that I do
not expect Japanese laborers to speak and write English
with such excellence as experts in the language, but I
do expect them to use English to show their American
neighbors that they are appreciative of the language which
is the only instrumentality for giving expression to the
customs and manners of the communities in which the
Japanese laborers live.1
There can be little doubt that this lack of facility in
the use of English is one of the strong factors tending
to isolate the Japanese laboring class. It is natural that
1 New York Japan Review, April, 1914, p. 135.
io6
The Japanese Invasion
they should prefer to live in a group where their own
language is understood.
Economic necessity also practically compels the new
immigrants to seek shelter in a Japanese community.
Their best method of securing employment is through
contractors of their own race who hire them out in
gangs to those in need of laborers. Even after having
lived some time in this country, they find it to their
interest to congregate in "Japanese quarters." Their
peculiarities in diet, ways of living, and forms of rec¬
reation tend to draw the Japanese into racial groups.
There must be business houses to cater to their demand
for things Japanese. Lodging houses must be estab¬
lished for the accommodation of the Japanese who
have no homes of their own. Japanese families enjoy
a more congenial companionship among people of their
own nationality.
( The Japanese, in fact, have tended to segregate them¬
selves for the same reasons that have led many of our
European immigrants to establish themselves in sepa¬
rate national groups. The only difference is that this
tendency has been accentuated in the case of the Jap¬
anese by the strong race prejudice existing against
them. It is the outside pressure of a hostile environ¬
ment as well as the inner compulsion of common inter¬
ests that forces them to live in segregated quarters in
most of the cities on our western coast. J
In San Francisco there are two districts which are
largely given over to the residence and business of the
Japanese. In Los Angeles few Japanese are found
'Isolation in America
107
outside of the two well-defined colonies that have been
established there. Sacramento has a "Japanese quar¬
ter" consisting of five or six blocks. The Japanese
in Seattle live and have their places of business in a
section of the city which has been gradually given over
to their use. Even in cities like Denver and Salt Lake
City, where the Japanese population is not much more
than five hundred, there is this same tendency to live
in colonies.1
The Japanese, however, have never shown the spirit
of exclusiveness to the same extent as the Chinese, who
have no desire to settle outside their " Chinatown."
While for social and economic reasons the Japanese
find it to their interest to live together in groups, there
exists also a tendency among the more intelligent and
well-to-do classes to secure houses in good residence
sections of the city. Indeed, one of the charges re¬
peatedly brought against them in the West is that they
exhibit a determination to spread out over the city
and country and live where they find it best suited to
their purpose. "Far from being clannish," says Mr.
Kawakami, "the Japanese in America endeavor to
adjust themselves to their new environment, mingling
with their American cousins as freely as circumstances
allow."2
This statement is undoubtedly true of the best type
of Japanese immigrants. The race prejudice in the
1 Report of Immigration Com., 24: 251, 277.
2 Kawakami, K. K., " Naturalization of Japanese," North Amer-
ican Review, 185 :401.
io8
The Japanese Invasion
West, which practically forces the mass of the Japanese
to segregate themselves, arouses also an intense desire
among the better classes to escape from the odium that
rests upon them as residents of the "Jap Quarter."
To the extent that they have taken over American
standards of living and regard them as more desirable
than their old mode of life, they feel uncomfortable
in their own group and resent the necessity of sharing
a criticism that they believe they no longer deserve.
The Chinese immigrants have seemingly never admit¬
ted the greater desirability of American civilization.
Prepossessed with their idea that their customs are
best, it has been easy for them to maintain group soli¬
darity. Outside criticisms serve merely to strengthen
the bonds which bind them together, because they do
not accept the criticisms as just or reasonable. While
this attitude of mind prevents their assimilation, it is
largely responsible for the decline of the feeling of
hostility against them. By remaining in their own
group and accepting the position in life accorded them,
they have given the least possible disturbance to the
communities in which they live.1
It must not be thought, however, that the more
aggressive type of Japanese, who have refused to be
confined in the narrow limits assigned them, are always
able to escape from their former isolation by a mere
change of residence. In extreme cases where prejudice
against them is strongest, this isolation is effected by
1 Simons, S. E., " Social Assimilation," Amer. Journ. Soc.,
7: 539-42-
Isolation in America
109
the white people moving out of the community in which
the Japanese have entered. More generally the same
result is secured by refusing to associate with them
upon terms of social equality, or by simply ignoring
their presence outside of business relations.
Even in such a cosmopolitan city as Chicago, where,
because of the comparatively small number of Japanese,
prejudice against them is at a minimum, the Japanese
residents, with the possible exception of the students,
are made to feel that they are not an integral part of
the social life of the city. They are not welcomed in
social functions of Americans who are their equals
in income and business position. As a rule, the Jap¬
anese who are engaged in business do not have a suffi¬
cient command of English to make them acceptable in
American social circles. Their vocabulary is adequate
for their business needs, but when it comes to social
intercourse they are handicapped by lack of facility of
expression. It is noticeable that when the Japanese
and Americans do meet in a social way there is a
tendency for them to separate into racial groups.
At the large Japanese-American banquet held in
Chicago in the autumn of 1914, a special effort was
made by the Japanese in charge of the occasion to have
the Japanese and Americans occupy alternate seats at
the different tables. When all were seated, however,
it was found that two tables were occupied exclusively
by Japanese, while an undue proportion of Americans
crowded other parts of the room. Of course this may
be partly accounted for by the fact that the two groups
no
The Japanese Invasion
were not well acquainted with each other, but a more
fundamental reason was a tacit recognition of differ¬
ences in language and interests which made each feel
more at ease with people of his own nationality.
It might be mentioned that the same thing occurs in
Japan in social meetings attended by both missionaries
and Japanese Christian workers. In this case it is to
the interest of both parties to cultivate cordial relations
and a special effort is made to mingle freely with each
other. On these occasions there is usually seen this
same tendency to break up into small groups composed
entirely of one nationality. Even though all may pos¬
sess a working knowledge of each other's language,
there is a certain strain and tension in using a foreign
tongue which makes one feel more comfortable among
his own people. Besides, sufficient familiarity with
the foreign tongue to make possible the understanding
of jokes and allusions and to give skill in repartee is
not often attained by either Japanese or Americans.
At any rate even under the most favorable circum¬
stances, there exists a sufficient barrier to prevent com¬
plete freedom in social intercourse, and as a result more
or less isolation is inevitable.
In spite of all these difficulties in the way of social
intercourse with Americans, the more intelligent Jap¬
anese immigrants cannot be accused of exclusiveness
or a desire to perpetuate their own social customs.
They are willing to come more than halfway in an
effort to meet the Americans and to share in their social
life. The great difficulty is that this process of assimi-
Isolation in America
iii
lation must be carried on in an unwelcome environ¬
ment. Instead of being encouraged to live among the
American people, they are either forced to segregate
themselves in their own communities or at least are
driven in upon each other to satisfy their social crav¬
ings. This dwelling together in mass intensifies their
sentiments and makes more persistent their race char¬
acteristics. An individual alone is not the same as
when he is in a crowd of like-minded persons. For the
same reason a Japanese living alone in an American
community will think and act quite differently from
his countrymen massed in one section of a city or
living in a country district where Japanese predomi¬
nate. The most serious barrier to their assimilation is
not the wide differences in civilization between the
two races, but is rather the race prejudice which pre¬
vents them from entering fully into American life.
CHAPTER VII
THE REACTION OF THE JAPANESE TO AMERICAN
ECONOMIC CONDITIONS
HE entrance of the Japanese immigrants into new
callings, the necessity of adapting themselves to
different methods of work, their struggle for existence
under strange conditions of life involve mental changes
of great significance. The nature of their occupations
limits their activities to definite lines and determines
the objects of their attention as well as the class of
people with whom they associate. For these reasons
a study of the reaction of the Japanese to American
economic conditions is important in any attempt to esti¬
mate the fitness of these people for American life.
The characteristic occupation of the early Japanese
immigrants was that of domestic service. They were
attracted to this kind of work not because they were
particularly well qualified for it, but because they found
it an employment in wThich there was a demand for
their services. Many of the Japanese who came to
America at that time were young men so desirous of
securing a western education that they were willing to
do any kind of work to support themselves while pur¬
suing their studies. Their purpose was to carry back
to Japan not a large amount of money, but an educa-
112
Reaction to Economic Conditions 113
tion that would fit them for good positions in their
native land. The work of domestic service was espe¬
cially popular among the poor student class because
they were able to impfove their English by living and
working in American homes. Dr. Nitobe, in his de¬
scription of the Japanese in California in 1890, wrote
as follows:
The Japanese in California range generally from eighteen
to thirty years in age, and represent by no means the labor¬
ing classes. Many of them are the sons of old samurai
full of ambition and energy, yet without means to obtain a
liberal education. As to their means of subsistence, there
are very few who are professional men or who are mere
drudges. There are two Japanese physicians practicing
in San Francisco. Law students are debarred by statute
from pleading in the state courts. Very few Japanese
names are to be found in the college catalogues of the
state. There is, however, an instructor of Chinese and
Japanese languages in the Maclay Institute of Theology
at San Fernando. The majority — we might say nearly
all —of the Japanese in California make their living as
waiters, domestics, and shop boys, while the stronger
serve as sailors or coasters. It is usual with many of
them to make an arrangement with their employers by
which they are allowed an hour or two each day in order
to attend schools; this, of course, at the sacrifice of their
wages. One cannot too much admire the pluck of some
of the boys who, by laboring under unaccustomed dis¬
advantages, are still ambitious to carry home the learning
of the West.1
1 Nitobe, I., The Intercourse Between the United States and
Japan, p. 184.
114
The Japanese Invasion
Another writer, in an article published in 1897,
emphasized this same characteristic of the Japanese
immigrants:
Most of the Japanese are employed as household
servants and as waiters in hotels and restaurants
They are generally inspired with a desire to possess an
American education, and they have visions of some day
attaining this and returning to Japan equipped to engage
in some of the higher, more profitable occupations of life.1
The reaction of an ambitious Japanese student to
the conditions imposed by the work of a domestic serv¬
ant can be very clearly seen in an interesting article
entitled "The Confession of a Japanese Servant,"
which appeared in the Independent of September 21,
1905. The author, a Japanese boy of the middle class,
came to America determined to acquire a western edu¬
cation. Lack of funds compelled him to seek employ¬
ment soon after his arrival. He thus states his first
experience in securing work:
Great disappointment and regret I have experienced
when I was told that I, the boy of seventeen years old,
smaller in stature indeed than ordinary fourteen years
old American boy, imperfect in English knowledge, I can
be of any use here, but become a domestic servant, as the
field for Japanese very narrow and limited. Thus reluc¬
tantly I have submitted to be a recruit of the army of
domestic servants of which I ever dreamed up to this
time. The place where I got to work in the first time
was a boarding house. My duties were to peel potatoes,
1 Bennett, J. E., " The Japanese on the Pacific Coast," the
Chautauquan, 26: 186.
Reaction to Economic Conditions 115
wash the dishes, a few laundry work, and also I was
expected to do whatever mistress, waitress, and cook has
told me.
When I first entered the kitchen wearing a white apron,
what an uncomfortable and mortifying feeling I experi¬
enced. I thought I shall never be able to proceed the
work. I felt as if I am pressed down on my shoulder with
loaded tons of weight. My heart palpitates. I did not
know what I am and what to say. I stood by door of
kitchen motionless like a stone, with a dumbfound silence.
The cook gave me a scornful look and said nothing
What would the boys in Japan say if they found me
out. I am thus employed in the kitchen receiving the
orders from the maidservant whom I have once looked
down and thought never to be equal while I was dining at
my uncle's house. I feel the homesick. I was so lone¬
some and so sorry that I came to America. Ignoring
the kind advice of my friends, rejecting the offer of help
from my uncle at home, quickened by my youthful senti¬
ment to be the independent, and believing the work alone
to be the noble, I came to this country to educate myself
worthy to my father's name. How beautiful idea it
was while it existed in imagination, but how hard it is
when it came to practice. There was no honor, no respon¬
sibility, no sense of duty, but the pliancy of servitude was
the cardinal requirement. There is no personal liberty
while your manhood is completely ignored.
The unaccustomed work and the humiliation in¬
volved in the position of a servant were more than he
could endure, and so he asked to be discharged. The
reasons he gave for wishing to leave illustrate the lack
of frankness and indirectness of the Japanese, which
have caused so many misunderstandings with their
American employers:
ii6 The Japanese Invasion
She wanted me to state the reason. My real objection
was that the work was indeed too hard and unpleasant for
me to bear, and also there were no time even to read a
book. But I thought it is rather impolite to say so, and
partly my strange pride hated to confess my weakness,
fearing the reflection as a lazy boy. Really I could not
think how smoothly I should tell my reasons. So I kept
silent rather with a stupefied look. She suggested me if
the work were not too hard. It was just the point, but
how foolish I was; I did positively denied. " Then why
can you not stay here?" she went on. I said childishly,
" I have nothing to complain; simply I wants to go back
to New York. My passion wants to."
According to his Japanese training it was his duty
to bear silently his unpleasant lot. No matter how
much his indignation was aroused over the way he was
treated, etiquette demanded that his feelings should
be concealed. Even when the proper time came for
him to explain his desire to leave, he felt it was neces¬
sary to say the pleasant thing rather than to tell the
truth. When finally he did leave secretly during his
mistress' absence, his incomprehensible action was
charged up to Japanese unreliability and was regarded
as an additional proof of the tendency of the race to
break agreements without any adequate reason.
In all of his varied experiences as a servant in Amer¬
ica, he was not able to overcome his feeling of resent¬
ment against those who treated him as an inferior.
He recognized the fact that he was a servant, but he
wanted nevertheless to be treated as a man. To obey
orders slavishly was impossible for him. He desired
Reaction to Economic Conditions 117
a larger place in the management of the household than
is usually granted to a servant, and at times even
attempted to give advice to his employers.
Once I worked for a widow lady whose incomes are
derived from the real estate, stock, and bonds. She is
economizing so strictly that often handicapped me. One
day taking the chances of her good humor, I told her
that her well-meant efforts are the misapplication of her
energy, trying to save her pin money through the economy
of gas bill and grocery bill in the old-fashioned way, while
neglecting to avail herself to the "modern high finance
scheme " whereby she may improve her resources. The
reward of this speech was an honorable discharge. To be
a successful servant is to make yourself a fool.
One summer he secured employment as a cabin boy
on a steam yacht where he was thrown into contact
with people of wealth. Here he had his first experience
with American tips, a custom which he despised be¬
cause they were usually given in an offensive manner
that injured his feelings. He thus describes how he
felt about it:
I hate the rich people who display their wealth and give
me a tip in a boastful manner. I felt I am insulted and
I have protested. Sometime the tip was handed down
indirectly from the hands of the captain. Each time
when I have obliged to take the tip, I am distinctly felt
"the gift without giver is bare." I, however, thankfully
accepted the offer from a lady who give me the money in
such a kind and sympathetic manner. A gentleman gave
me one dollar, saying " I wish this were ten times as
much; still I want you keep it for me to help your study."
n8
The Japanese Invasion
Indeed this one dollar, how precious I felt. Once a fas¬
tidious lady was on the board. She used to kick one thing
to another. Of course I did not pay any attention. When¬
ever she scold me, I said at heart, " It's your pleasure to
blame me, lady. I, on my part, simply to hear you. I
am not almighty; I cannot be a perfect. If I made mis¬
take, I shall correct. You might bully me as you please
and treat me like a dog, I shall not object. I have a soul
within me. My vital energy in self-denying struggle could
not be impaired by your despise. On the contrary, it
will be stimulated." That the way I used swallowed down
all the reprimand she gave me. I, however, getting tired
to hear her sharp tongue and hoping to be on the good
term with her. One morning I have exerted an excep¬
tionally good care to clean her cabin. Right after I got
through her compartment, she called me back and told
me that I did not take a good care of. I replied emphat¬
ically with a conviction, " I did my best under the circum¬
stance." But she insisted I must do better next time.
Then she took out a dollar bill and gave it to me. I
refused to take it. She thrust the money into my hand.
I have thrown back the paper money to her feet. " Madam,
this is the bribe and graft. I am amply paid from the
owner of the yacht to serve you," said I. "No, madam;
no tip for me." Without waiting her answer, while she
seemed taken entirely surprised, I quickly withdrew
from her.
It is clear that such a high-spirited, sensitive Jap¬
anese would not fit well into American life as a serv¬
ant or, as he defines it, a "coworker with the Venus
in the American commissary department." His ex¬
perience led him to the following conclusions about
the effect of this kind of work upon many of his coun¬
trymen :
Reaction to Economic Conditions 119
Some says Japanese are studying while they are work¬
ing in the kitchen, but it is all nonsense. Many of them
started so, but nearly all of them failed Many
Japanese servants has told me as soon as they saved suffi¬
cient amount of money they would start the business. But
many young Japanese, while their intentions are laudable,
they will find the vile condition of environment in a large
city like New York has a greater force than their moral
courage could resist. Disheartened from the hard work
or excessive disagreeableness of their environment often
tempt them to seek a vain comfort in the misdirected
quarter; thus dissipate their preciously earned money.
Even those who have saved money successfully for the
capital to start the business, their future is quite doubt¬
ful. When they have saved enough money, it will be a
time that their business ability melted away or by no
means are sharp. Years husbanding of domestic work,
handicapped and over-interfered by mistress, their mental
agilities are reduced to the lamentable degree. Yet ma¬
tured by these undesirable experience, most of them are
quite unconscious of this outcome as little by little sub¬
missive and depending habit so securely rooted within
their mind. It will be an exceedingly hard to adjust
themselves immediately to the careful and shrewd watch
required in the modern business enterprise, though they
may be assisted by the instinct of self-interest. The
sooner they quit the kitchen the better, though needless to
say, there are a few exceptions.
This frank statement of the experiences of a Jap¬
anese servant in America throws much light on the
difficulties they face in their efforts to adapt themselves
to work of this nature. Few of those who become
domestic servants have had experience in such work in
Japan. They usually regard themselves as above the
i2o The Japanese Invasion
servant class and accept this employment only as a
stepping-stone to something better. Those who are
sensitive and ambitious bitterly resent being held off at
a distance and treated as an inferior, which is the usual
lot of servants in American families.
In Japan, the servants occupy a lowly position, but
they are made to feel that they belong to the family
and share in its interests. Students in Japan, who
supplement their slender income by working for their
board and room in some family, may perform menial
tasks about the house, but they are called shokkaku
("table guests") and not servants, and are treated in
such a way that they do not feel any humiliation.
A striking characteristic of the industrial life of the
Far East is the attitude of personal relationship be¬
tween employers and workmen. When Japanese are
permitted to work on this basis in American homes,
they often manifest a spirit of loyalty that arouses the
admiration of their employers. A housewife in Cali¬
fornia wrote:
There is certainly one splendid trait that Japanese
inherit almost without exception, and to a greater degree
than almost any other nation — that is loyalty. I could
give a hundred instances of unselfish devotion and loyalty
of Japanese servants that could be equaled only by the
splendid record of the older generation of black servants
in the South. One cannot treat them as one would an
English, Swedish, or German servant.1
1 Farnham, M. H., " Mr. Ishiboshi, My Japanese Servant and
Friend," the American Magazine, Aug., 1913, p. 75.
Reaction to Economic Conditions 121
Unfortunately the Japanese do not usually receive the
kind of treatment that would develop this spirit of
loyalty, and as a consequence there result misunder¬
standings and friction which handicap the Japanese in
their efforts to make a place for themselves in the
industrial life of our nation.
Since the beginning of the present century there has
been a change in the type of the Japanese immigrants
which has brought about a considerable modification of
their economic interests. The distinctively student ele¬
ment in the Japanese immigration has become over¬
shadowed by the large number of farm laborers who
naturally seek openings in agricultural pursuits. Under
the direction of small contractors and bosses of their
own race, the Japanese have begun to spread out into
the rural districts and secure work as seasonal farm
laborers. While the Japanese had found employment
to a certain extent in agriculture since 1887, there was
no mass movement along this line until Japanese peas¬
ants formed a large proportion of the new arrivals.
According to an investigation made in 1909, sixty-five
per cent of the Japanese in California were engaged in
agriculture, fifteen per cent in domestic service, fifteen
per cent in business enterprises generally connected
with supplying the wants of the Japanese communities,
and five per cent were students, officials, etc.1
This tendency of the Japanese to take up farm work
cannot be explained entirely by the fact that the ma¬
jority of the immigrants have been drawn from the
1 The American Japanese Problem, p. 322.
122
The Japanese Invasion
rural classes in Japan. Race prejudice, which has
limited their sphere of employment along many lines,
has been an important factor in the rural movement.
With the exception of employment in domestic service
or in small Japanese business establishments, there are
very few openings in the city for the new immigrants.
About the only way for them to get a start in their new
life is to join a group of their countrymen under a
Japanese boss and hire themselves out as railroad or
farm laborers.
The hard, monotonous life of the railroad section
hands is not at all attractive to the Japanese. They
prefer farm labor and usually take the first opportunity
to get transferred to that kind of work. While farm¬
ing conditions and methods are quite different from
those with which they were familiar in Japan, the
nature of the work, especially in the fruit and vegetable
industries, is more congenial to them than to white
laborers. The Japanese are peculiarly well fitted to
do hand work that must be done in the stooping pos¬
ture. In regard to this Kawakami says:
The picking of grapes, strawberries, and vegetables, and
the thinning of beets and celery require a stooping atti¬
tude that is not natural to the Caucasian. To the Japa¬
nese, however, stooping or kneeling is not very difficult,
partly because of his short stature and his limber body,
partly because he was accustomed while in his native
country to farming without machinery. In grape picking,
for instance, a white laborer can pick only one-third of
what a Japanese harvests in a day. The white laborers,
naturally averse to this kind of work, reluctantly if not
Reaction to Economic Conditions 123
gladly, assigned it to the Japanese. If the whites were to
be substituted for the Japanese, the cost of producing
these fruits and vegetables would be so greatly increased
that the growers would have to abandon the industry.1
In farm work of this kind the Japanese have made
a secure place for themselves not only because they are
so well adapted to such work, but because it is a field
in which white laborers do not care to compete.
The Japanese at present have very little to do with
farms where crops are raised which require the use
of machinery. Race prejudice limits the activities of
the Japanese even in farm work. They have not yet
been permitted to become serious competitors of white
men in the kinds of farm labor that the latter desire
to keep for themselves. What success they have at¬
tained as farm laborers has largely been due to the
fact that they have organized themselves in groups
under the control of a Japanese contractor who attends
to all the business dealings between them and their
employers. While this method makes Japanese labor
popular among large ranch owners because of its easy
availability, it deprives the Japanese of that personal
association with Americans which they need in order
to learn American ways of living. Their work in
agriculture, which ought to be a strong factor in their
assimilation, isolates them about as completely as does
residence in the Japanese quarter of a large city.
It is partly because of the prejudice against the Jap¬
anese in California that they have been stimulated to
1 Asia at the Door, p. 136.
124
The Japanese Invasion
buy or lease farms and thus become independent pro¬
ducers. The Japanese are too ambitious to submit
tamely to the limitations placed upon them. With the
exception of the more ignorant classes which are unable
to help themselves, they possess characteristics which
unfit them for the position of servile laborers in the
less desirable occupations. They are confident of their
own ability to adapt themselves to their new environ¬
ment and are quick to combine to promote their own
interests. Because they possess qualities like these, race
prejudice has acted as a stimulus rather than as a deter¬
rent to those who are best qualified to succeed.
Confronting a situation in which their economic
activities were seriously restricted, they have tried to
secure greater freedom for themselves by buying land
of their own. Far more than the European immigrants,
they have been made to feel the limitations of the wage-
earning positions because their employment is almost
entirely limited to the less desirable kinds of work.
This fact, together with their ambition to rise, has
been largely responsible for their aggressive efforts to
secure land. The recent closing of this door of oppor¬
tunity to the Japanese in California has therefore been
a more serious blow to them than it would have been
to other immigrants against whom there is less
prejudice.
Outside of the western states, the most notable ex¬
periment of the Japanese in American agriculture has
been going on in the rice fields near Houston, Texas.
Unlike the ordinary immigrants, the Japanese who
Reaction to Economic Conditions
started this colony are well-to-do men of good social
position who came to America with sufficient capital to
buy at once farms of their own. Some of them had
no farming experience in Japan, but were journalists
and business men who, for various reasons, invested
their money in Texas land expecting to make it their
permanent home. As far as possible their own coun¬
trymen are employed to supply the labor necessary to
run their farms. Negroes seem to be so thoroughly
disliked that they are seldom employed by the Japanese.
In regard to their success and their adaptability to
American conditions, Kawakami says:
None of the Japanese farmers in Texas had ever seen
such heavy machines or handled such heavy teams as are
used on American farms, yet these colonizers, after a
brief experience of a year or two, are already thoroughly
at home with those instruments, without at the same time
losing any of their characteristic individuality. Aside
from their color, these Japanese immigrants closely re¬
semble the Americans. They live in American houses,
wear American clothes, read American books and news¬
papers, and subsist on American food with a slight tinge
of Japanese cookery. In intelligence and ingenuity they
are not excelled by any ordinary American farmers. Their
capital is not large, ranging from $5,000 to $10,000. With
strict economy and vigilant frugality, however, they
accomplish more than their American rivals possibly could
with the same amount of money.1
As far as their adaptability to American occupations
is concerned, the Japanese have not laid themselves
1 Kawakami, K. K., "Japanese on American Farms," the Inde¬
pendent, 59: 964.
126
The Japanese Invasion
open to serious criticism. They have proved themselves
to be efficient in the lines of work in which they have
been permitted to engage. Even their enemies agree
that they are thrifty, industrious, capable, and ambi¬
tious. From the economic standpoint the chief charge
brought against the Japanese has been their tendency
to live below the American standard of living. It is
claimed that one important factor in their success is
their willingness to put up with conditions that the
white man will not tolerate.
Without doubt the Japanese have been less success¬
ful in adapting themselves to American standards of
living than to American methods of work. Accus¬
tomed as they were in Japan to live on what we regard
as a low economic scale, they have faced in America
the temptation to increase their savings by retaining
their old standards as far as possible. Cheap living
and long hours they regard as a matter of course. Their
simple diet suits their taste better than the more expen¬
sive American food. Long hours of labor in Japan are
the ordinary thing. The farmers toil from sunrise to
sunset while in the small shops and factories work fre¬
quently goes on from early in the morning until as late
as ten or eleven o'clock at night. The laborers have
never learned to protest against bad working condi¬
tions. That unscrupulous American employers should
take advantage of these facts and employ Japanese on
terms with which Americans could not compete is to
be expected. It is still more unfortunate that even
after most of the inequalities in wages have been abol-
Reaction to Economic Conditions 127
ished, many of the Japanese still tend to live on a lower
economic scale than their wages would seem to justify.
The rigid economy practiced by the ordinary Japanese
laborer in America is thus described by Kawakami:
Wherever he may be employed, he has reduced subsist¬
ence into a science. Not the cost of food alone enters
into his scientific solution of the problem, but his entire
existence is regulated on a basis of rigid economy, so
that he reduces the expenditure for essential subsistence
to approximately twenty per cent of his average wages.
He practices economy on the basis of his earning power
and does not permit his expenditure to increase in the
same ratio as his earnings may increase. The Japanese
earning from $1.25 to $1.50 a day will spend from twenty
to thirty cents a day for subsistence, while the average
maximum cost of subsistence for those earning from
$1.75 to $2.50 is thirty-five cents. Though spending so
small a portion of his earnings for subsistence, he is
enabled to subsist comfortably by eliminating unnecessary
waste.1
While this economy is commendable from the stand¬
point of thrift, it is at once apparent that it is a scale
of living with which Americans cannot compete. To
the Japanese peasant, however, this amount of expen¬
diture seems amply sufficient when compared with his
former mode of life in Japan. The following quota¬
tion from a Japanese writer shows the wide gap be¬
tween the standards of living in America and in the
Far East:
1 American-Japanese Relations, pp. 349-50-
128
The Japanese Invasion
Though rice is considered the staff of life in Japan, it
is not freely indulged in by the peasants who raise it. The
poorer classes cannot afford to take unmixed rice; there¬
fore they boil with it cheaper barley and millet. In some
southern provinces sweet potatoes form the chief part of
daily food A laboring man can get his food for
about twenty sen a day, and he can feed his family (wife
and a couple of children) on an additional thirty sen}
In fact, if he makes eighty sen and his wife thirty sen, a
sum total of a yen and ten sen a day, they can keep a
little house with two rooms, paying a rent of three yen
per month, read newspapers (for the humblest can read),
take daily baths (a racial necessity), send their children
to school (for education is compulsory), and put in the
savings bank two or three yen a month. Does this sound
delectably Arcadian? And yet of families like these the
duties of modern citizenship are demanded, viz., the pay¬
ment of taxes, service in the army, and attendance at
school on the part of the children.2
While the low social and economic status out of
which many of the Japanese immigrants have come
does influence their reaction to American environment,
there is noticeable a growing tendency on the part of
those who can afiford it to live according to American
standards. In so far as they have failed, it must be
recognized that this has largely been because of eco¬
nomic reasons and not because of a dislike of American
food and ways of living. Within recent years the Jap¬
anese have been insisting on high wages to such an
1 A sen equals one-half cent and a yen one-half dollar, approxi¬
mately.
2 The Japanese Nation, p. 216.
Reaction to Economic Conditions
extent that the charge of underbidding can no longer
be made against them. They have even availed them¬
selves of the western method of strikes, and as they
are highly organized they usually win the point for
which they are contending.
When due consideration is given to the enforced
segregation of the majority of the Japanese in America,
it can readily be seen that they have made considerable
progress in their attempts to compete with American
workmen. Probably no other people, handicapped as
the Japanese have been by race prejudice, could have
surpassed them in making so large a place for them¬
selves in American economic life.
CHAPTER VIII
ORGANIZATION AND SOLIDARITY OF JAPANESE
IMMIGRANTS
ONE of the striking characteristics of the Japanese
in America is the thoroughness of their organi¬
zation. Practically all the Japanese immigrants are
bound together in groups of some kind, ranging in size
and importance from laborers' gangs and local guilds
to a national association. In their tendency to organize
and in their ready response to group control, the Jap¬
anese have been equaled by few, if any, of the Euro¬
pean immigrant groups. Probably the only immigrants
who have surpassed them in this respect are the Chi¬
nese, whose marked leaning toward exclusiveness has
served to bind them very closely together.
Among the various Japanese organizations, the one
that is most helpful to the mass of the Japanese
immigrants, who belong to the laboring class, is the
" gang" system, or the organization of laborers into
groups under a Japanese boss or contractor. When a
Japanese laborer wishes to secure work, he does not
usually apply to employers directly. If this were neces¬
sary, language difficulties together with his ignorance
of local conditions and rates of wages would seriously
handicap him and result in dissatisfaction for both
parties concerned. The simplest method for him to
130
Organization and Solidarity 131
follow is to join a group of his countrymen under a
Japanese boss who takes entire charge of all negotia¬
tions with the employers. These contractors usually
have full supervision and control of their men, not only
paying their wages and overseeing their work but con¬
ducting lodging houses where the men live on the
cooperative plan. Some of these bosses have under
them small groups consisting of about a dozen men,
while others control hundreds of laborers. These or¬
ganized gangs of Japanese have proved very acceptable
to employers because it offers them an adequate labor
supply with the least amount of trouble on their part.
In the report of the Immigration Commission this fact
was forcibly brought out in these words :
The convenience to ranchers of this organization of
Asiatics has been one of the most important things in
helping the Asiatics to displace white men where the latter
were formerly employed, and to prevent the employment
of white men where Asiatics were already established in
the industry. This "gang" system has greatly appealed
to employers in all agricultural communities requiring
large numbers of hand workers, and in some industries
where the work is especially disagreeable and especially
large numbers are required, as in the beet fields and vine¬
yards, it has come to be looked upon as absolutely essen¬
tial to the continuation of the industry.1
The success of this " gang " system in promoting the
interests of both employers and Japanese laborers has
been largely brought about by the efficiency of the
1 Report of Immigration Commission, 24 : 18.
132
The Japanese Invasion
Japanese contractors. These men watch very carefully
the state of the labor market and make a survey of the
important places where there is likely to be a demand
for Japanese labor. They keep themselves fully in¬
formed of the number of acres under cultivation and
of the probable yield of the different crops. They also
make it their business to keep in touch with the large
ranch owners in order that they may take advantage
of every opportunity to get control of the labor
supply.1
This organization of Japanese labor is even carried
out to the extent of eliminating competition between
the different groups of Japanese laborers. Each gang
has its territory assigned to it and is not allowed to
invade a district belonging to another group. Efforts
have been made by different bosses to get together at
the opening of the season and agree upon a scale of
prices so as to avoid underbidding. This thoroughness
of their organization has frequently enabled the Jap¬
anese to drive out of a community competing laborers
of other nationalities. The usual method followed was
to secure contracts by underbidding the laborers already
in the field and then later to raise the price to its
normal level. Within recent years the Japanese con¬
tractors have found it increasingly difficult to secure
enough laborers to maintain effective organizations.
The exclusion agreement has cut short the supply of
new laborers while thousands of the old immigrants
have either gone into business for themselves or have
1 American-Japanese Relations, p. 350-
Organisation and Solidarity
i33
secured steady employment on Japanese farms. But
in spite of these handicaps, organized Japanese labor
is still an important factor in many of the agricultural
communities in California.1
Another phase of the organization of Japanese la¬
borers is seen in their arrangements for cooperative
housekeeping. As board is seldom given them by their
white employers on the large ranches, they are com¬
pelled to provide for their own subsistence. In case the
Japanese contractor does not furnish their board at a
fixed rate, they buy their own supplies, appoint mem¬
bers of the group to do different tasks, and all share
equally in the actual cost. A recent writer gives the
following description of this kind of housekeeping as
carried on by Japanese laborers:
One of the best samples of housekeeping I have ever
seen was done by the 140 Japanese who lived in the House
of the Good Shepherd in South Omaha. A board of
managers had charge of the affairs of the group. The
secretary of the group kept all accounts and transacted
all business with outsiders; the commissary had charge of
the feeding of the group; the cooking, washing, and scrub¬
bing were systematized; and each member was bound by
a set of rules that secured peace and order. The men
were constantly changing, some going and others coming;
but the total number of the colony remained about the
same. Whatever differences and difficulties arose, they
were settled within the group. If any member got into
trouble, the colony was back of him to the fullest extent.
It was the most perfect organization on the communal
basis I have seen, and, as far as I know, nothing like it is
1 Report of Immigration Commission, 24: 591-94-
134
The Japanese Invasion
found in America among the peoples of southeastern
Europe.1
This efficiency in organization is found not only
among the Japanese farm laborers but also among those
engaged in farming on their own account. In commu¬
nities where there is a sufficient number of Japanese
farmers, there have been organized Japanese produ¬
cers' associations which include in their membership the
majority of the farmers of that race. These organiza¬
tions are designed to protect the Japanese against un¬
just discrimination in the disposal of their crops and
to advance the interests of the Japanese community in
every possible way. They give out information about
American methods of agriculture especially as they
apply to local conditions; select tenants for farms that
can be leased; advise prospective tenants in regard to
available land and in some instances have taken steps
to control the acreage and marketing of the crops.2
Besides these direct economic aims, others of a more
general nature are included in their statements of the
purpose of the association. Thus in one case the object
of the organization is said to be —
. ... to advance the interests, uphold the dignity, and
protect the happiness of the members and of the Japanese
in general To assist in improving and ameliorating
their moral, social, and economic conditions To
maintain and insure cordiality between landlord and
tenant, thus guaranteeing against all unnecessary mis-
1 Roberts, P., The New Immigration, p. 124.
2 Report of Immigration Commission, 24: 396-97-
Organization and Solidarity 135
understanding between them In case of dispute
between landlord and tenant, to act as arbitrators and
mediators with a view to seeing justice done to both par¬
ties To take a united and decisive stand against all
unscrupulous parties and irresponsible tenants To
make a concerted effort to procure for this section the best
quality of Japanese labor available, in order more effectu¬
ally to develop the fertile bottoms now so scantily popu¬
lated.1
The Japanese who reside in the large western cities
are also highly organized. Very few of their business
men hold membership in the American business men's
organizations. Usually they form their own associa¬
tions which are designed to promote the business enter¬
prises in which they are engaged. Their most effective
city organizations are those which are limited to one
special business, trade, or industry, such as the Board¬
ing and Lodging House Keepers' Association, Barbers'
Union, Tailors' and Dressmakers' Union, Suit Clean¬
ing Union, Restaurant Keepers' Association, Express¬
men's Union, etc. As an illustration of the activities
of these organizations the work of the Japanese Bar¬
bers' Union of San Francisco may be cited. The
members of this organization pay fifty cents per month
as dues. Regulations are made fixing the time for
opening and closing the shops and the scale of prices.
Sunday closing is enforced to conform to the city ordi¬
nance. The matter of apprenticeship is kept under
careful control. The organization also serves as a
1 The American Japanese Problem, p. 97-
136
The Japanese Invasion
mutual benefit society. In case a member, because of ill
health, is compelled to return to Japan, the money is
provided to pay his fare. If any member is disabled
by sickness longer than a month, an assessment is made
to provide for bis support. Upon the death of a mem¬
ber his family is given a sum of money equivalent to
the fare from San Francisco to Yokohama.1
Strong pressure is brought to bear upon the Japanese
to get them to join their trade guild or business asso¬
ciation. Usually they find it to their advantage to do
so because of assistance given in time of sickness or of
financial embarrassment. The success which the Jap¬
anese have attained in city employments and in busi¬
ness has been greatly promoted by the thoroughness
of their organizations, which have minimized competi¬
tion among themselves and have enabled them to
present a united front to the forces that have been
hindering their advancement.
Another form of organization popular among the
Japanese is the prefectural club which limits its mem¬
bership to those who have come from the particular
province in Japan that the club represents. Variations
in dialect and in social characteristics, which are espe¬
cially noticeable among the lower classes in the differ¬
ent provinces, together with the fellow feeling which
naturally arises because of a common birthplace have
tended to draw many Japanese together in these pre¬
fectural societies. In 1909, twenty-seven different
prefectures were represented by these organizations in
1 Report of Immigration Commission, 24:25-29.
Organization and Solidarity 137
San Francisco. In general they serve as centers of
social life and give assistance to those of their number
who may be in need.
Probably the most important and influential of the
Japanese organizations in America are the Japanese
associations which have been established in more than
fifty cities and communities. In each center of Jap¬
anese population there exists one of these associations
which serves as a headquarters for the Japanese com¬
munity as well as a clearing-house for all things of
interest to them. Each association is controlled by a
board of directors and employs at least one salaried
secretary. All of these associations are federated in a
central organization called the Japanese Association of
America, which has its offices in San Francisco. The
purpose of these associations as set forth in their con¬
stitutions is rather general and vague. The Japanese
association in San Francisco states its aim as follows:
"to elevate the character of Japanese immigrants; to
promote association between Japanese and Americans;
to promote commerce, agriculture, and other in¬
dustries; and to further Japanese interests." In a
number of cases the incentive to form these organiza¬
tions was the prejudice against the Japanese, which
made them feel that they must stand together in order
to protect their rights.
Their work, however, has by no means been re¬
stricted to protests against unjust treatment. These
associations, which include in their membership the best
and most progressive leaders of the Japanese, have
138
The Japanese Invasion
made special efforts to elevate the moral standards of
the Japanese immigrants and to eliminate some of the
objectionable features of Japanese life. In Fresno,
California, the Japanese association in 1908 took the
initiative in a vigorous campaign against the Chinese
gambling dens and the Japanese houses of prostitution
which were doing a flourishing business in that city.
The city authorities, who had been acting on the as¬
sumption that the wrongdoing of the Asiatics was of
no special consequence so long as it was confined to
their own communities, were aroused to action by the
demands of the Japanese and made strong efforts to
abate the evil. The Japanese associations have always
been willing to cooperate with the American authorities
in securing the observance of law among the Japanese
immigrants. In some cases they have even deported
Japanese whose evil conduct was bringing the Japanese
community into disrepute. Their secretaries keep care¬
ful statistical records of all Japanese living in their
jurisdiction and frequently cooperate with their consul
by supplying him with information about their coun¬
trymen.
An interesting phase of the work undertaken by
these associations is the part they take in the so-called
"picture-bride" movement. A Japanese in America
who wishes to secure a wife from Japan without the
expense of crossing the ocean for her, is required to
make application to the association of which he is a
member. The secretary of the association then care¬
fully investigates the financial standing and moral char-
Organisation and Solidarity
i39
acter of the prospective bridegroom and makes a full
report to the Japanese consulate. If the report is sat¬
isfactory, the consul informs the Tokyo authorities,
who then issue a passport to the girl who has consented
to come to America as a bride. Because of the careful
cooperation of these secretaries who are in a position
to know the Japanese in their jurisdiction, the attempts
of a few Japanese to use the " picture-bride " movement
as a means of importing women for immoral purposes
have been very largely foiled. The amount of work
and responsibility involved in these investigations of
Japanese bridegrooms can be seen by the fact that
in 1914 more than twenty-five hundred "picture-
brides " arrived in the United States and Hawaii.1 It
is claimed that the secretaries exercise great care in
deciding about the fitness and ability of a man to sup¬
port a family, and that they rigidly reject all unworthy
applicants. Since this method of arranging for a mar¬
riage is not so different from the ordinary Japanese
procedure, it seems more satisfactory to them than it
would to an American and results generally in a
1 According to the Annual Report of the Commissioner General
of Immigration for 1914, the number of " picture-brides" who
arrived at the port of Honolulu during the year ending June 30,
1914, was 1,407; at Seattle, 511; the exact number who arrived at
San Francisco is not stated. However, the total number of fe¬
males who arrived at this port was 1,845, of whom the report says
that the " picture-brides are the predominating factor."
The Commissioner General's report for 1915 does not state the
exact number of picture-brides for that year. It is estimated that
ninety per cent, or more than 3,000, of the Japanese females en¬
tering continental United States in 1915 came in the capacity of
picture-brides.
140
The Japanese Invasion
permanent union.1 These marriages are undoubtedly
doing much to give a permanent and settled character
to the Japanese communities and are occurring in suf¬
ficient numbers to produce a substantial increase in our
Japanese population.
The Japanese who have settled in the large cities in
the eastern part of the United States, where race preju¬
dice against Orientals is less in evidence than in the
West, have also found it to their advantage to organize
themselves as thoroughly as possible. The Japanese
editor of the New York Japan Review describes as fol¬
lows their association which has been established in
New York City:
A new society, the Nippon Jin Kai, " Association of the
Japanese," has recently been organized with headquarters
in New York to foster friendliness and cooperation
among the resident Japanese as well as to strengthen the
friendly ties which bind the people of Japan and of the
United States. The Nippon Jin Kai will take cognizance
1 Dr. Gulick states that only about one per cent of these mar¬
riages end in divorce. (The American Japanese Problem, p. 95.)
The Commissioner of Immigration presents a different opinion in
a recent report: "Many of the 'proxy' brides conclude shortly
after arrival that they have made a bad bargain and desert their
husbands, and sooner or later enter upon an immoral life. Realiz¬
ing this, the consul for this district is endeavoring to discourage
the bringing of 'proxy' brides to the United States In view
of this I would recommend that competent officers who under¬
stand the Japanese language make investigations occasionally in
order to ascertain whether or not these 'proxy' wives are living
with their husbands. They might also investigate as to the occu¬
pations of recent female arrivals. I believe the results would be
somewhat surprising." Report of the Commissioner General of
Immigration for 1914, p. 305.
Organization and Solidarity 141
only of such matters as affect the general interests of
Japanese, and will have no connection with official acts or
opinions of the Japanese government. With this new
society has been embodied the Kio Sai Kai, " Mutual Aid
Society," organized here a half-dozen years ago; and the
new inclusive organization, among its other beneficent
activities, will aim to help, out of its membership
funds, any Japanese who are ill or in other need
As Japanese and American interests become more and
more interwoven, there will naturally arise manifold prob¬
lems directly or indirectly affecting both peoples. In
facing these problems, the Japanese who have organized
this Association feel that it is incumbent upon them to
take concerted instead of individual action. They also
feel the importance of bettering their status — moral,
mental, physical — by helpful counsel. With such con¬
victions in mind the members of the society will strive for
the promotion of welfare, the safeguarding of rights, and
the better understanding of international questions.1
The two leading Japanese organizations in Chicago
are the Mutual Aid Society, and the Young Men's
Christian Institute. Mr. Shimazu, who is the efficient
secretary of the latter, is doing an important work for
the Japanese in that city. The institute, which serves
as the headquarters for the Japanese residing in and
passing through Chicago, attempts various kinds of
work. Lodging and board are provided as far as facil¬
ities permit; employment is secured for those out of
work; a reading room is maintained which is supplied
with both Japanese and English books and periodicals;
a tennis court, billiard room, and other facilities for
1 Editorial, New York Japan Review, May, 1914, p. 194.
I42
The Japanese Invasion
recreation are provided; religious services are held
every Sunday in the Japanese language; assistance is
given to strangers passing through the city; and the
secretary by frequent visitation keeps in touch with the
three hundred or more Japanese living in Chicago and
vicinity.
Religious organizations not only of this type but
of various kinds play an important part in promoting
the solidarity of the Japanese immigrants. In their
religious activities the Japanese are seldom associated
with American Christians. In order to provide for
their religious needs, special Christian missions are
established with Japanese pastors in charge. Language
difficulties and the prejudice against the Japanese
make necessary the segregation, as far as religious
worship is concerned, of that element of our Japa¬
nese population which is most in sympathy with Amer¬
ican ideals. In regard to this religious work which
is being carried on by American churches, the
report of the Immigration Commission makes this
pointed observation : " These missions are for the Jap¬
anese alone, a recognition of a difference between them
and other races and a condition which lessens their
value as an assimilative force." 1 The number of Jap¬
anese Christian missions now maintained in California
is forty-eight, with a total membership of about twenty-
five hundred, or four per cent of the Japanese popula¬
tion in the state.
The great majority of the Japanese in America who
1 Report of Immigration Commission, 23 : 163.
Organization and Solidarity
i43
manifest any religious interest are more or less closely
identified with the Buddhist religion. The Buddhists
in Japan and more especially those of the Shin sect
have been very active in sending priests to America to
carry on their propaganda among their own people.
In California there are nineteen temples and twenty-
one priests with a steadily increasing constituency.
Buddhist missions are also located in Seattle, Portland,
Salt Lake City, and Ogden, and very successful work
is being carried on in Hawaii. To a considerable
extent the Buddhist priests have adapted their methods
of work to American conditions. Their buildings are
usually a radical departure from the traditional type of
Buddhist temple, and their religious activities are by
no means limited to the reading of Sutras and their
customary acts of worship. An American Buddhist
plant with its gymnasium, library, auditorium, and
various rooms for educational and social purposes
bears little resemblance to the picturesque temples in
Japan, so far removed from the active life of the
people.
The Buddhist priests have not only succeeded in
adapting themselves to the new situation, but have still
further tried to promote their cause by an appeal to
patriotism. Buddhism and patriotic devotion are joined
together in such a way as to make it appear that the
rejection of their old religion would mean disloyalty
to their country.1 Such an appeal exerts considerable
influence among the more ignorant and lower classes
1 Asia at the Door, p. 233.
144
The Japanese Invasion
of immigrants who form the largest part of the
Buddhist constituency. In these and in various other
ways the Japanese are making a determined effort to
perpetuate their native religion on American soil, a
fact of considerable importance in promoting the soli¬
darity of the Japanese immigrants.
Another important phase of the organized activities
of the Japanese immigrants is seen in their efforts to
give their children a Japanese education. In British
Columbia, where there is no compulsory public school
law, the Japanese maintain their own schools patterned
after the schools of Japan, with the instruction in the
Japanese language. The public schools of British Co¬
lumbia are open to the Japanese, but the majority of the
Japanese parents prefer to give their children a Jap¬
anese education. In the United States, where there is a
compulsory public school law, the Japanese very will¬
ingly send their children to the public schools. In order,
however, to provide for the Japanese side of their edu¬
cation, they have established supplementary schools
which usually hold their sessions for two or three hours
in the afternoon after the regular schools are closed,
and give instruction in Japanese language and compo¬
sition as well as in Japanese history, geography, and
ethics. Mr. Kawakami justifies the existence of these
supplementary schools on the ground that they are
performing a real service by giving instruction in sub¬
jects which are neglected in the American curriculum.
In his opinion these Japanese schools are not open to
the criticism that they interfere with the assimilation
Organization and Solidarity
i45
of the Japanese children.1 Others hold that they do
teach a narrow patriotism and cause the Japanese to
be regarded with more disfavor by their American
neighbors. In the spring of 1913 a prominent Japanese
resident of Seattle paid a short visit to Japan, and while
there met an old American friend with whom he dis¬
cussed topics of mutual interest. In the course of their
conversation, the Japanese-American problem naturally
came up for consideration, and upon this subject the
Japanese expressed himself as follows :
The Japanese must bear their share of the blame for the
race prejudice against them, which is so often aroused
by their attitude toward American institutions. For in¬
stance, I have often been chided by my Japanese friends
in Seattle for not sending my children to the Japanese
school, where they would be taught the Japanese lan¬
guage and loyalty to the Emperor and reverence for Japa¬
nese traditions. I always reply to them that I am an
American and that I want my children to grow up as
American children. Furthermore, the teachers in the
Japanese schools are likely to be Buddhist priests or
acolytes, who know just enough English to enable them to
swear. They smoke cigarettes in the schoolroom and set
a bad moral example to the children. Through their
desire to prevent the children from becoming Christians,
they try to prejudice them against all American customs
and institutions, and do their best to make the children
loyal to Japan instead of to America. This is one of the
reasons for the prejudice against the Japanese. As soon
as the Americans found out that the Japanese immigrants
had such an attitude toward American ideals, the feeling
against them arose.
1 Asia at the Door, pp. 81, 243-44.
146
The Japanese Invasion
Entirely apart from the criticisms that may be passed
upon these schools because of incompetent teachers and
because of their attempt to perpetuate in America their
native language and traditions, the maintenance of
these schools tends to draw the Japanese more closely
together and reveals something of the strength of their
national feeling.
In this connection there ought also to be mentioned
the great influence of the Japanese vernacular press in
promoting the growth of a common public opinion
among the Japanese immigrants. Says Dr. Gulick:
It is doubtful if the immigrants from any other land
are as alert as those from Japan in the use of the press
for the promotion of their interests. Is there any other
national group in America which, in proportion to its
numbers, supports so many publications?1
The Japanese people are great newspaper readers.
The periodical press in Japan circulates widely even
among the lower classes, the majority of whom possess
enough education to read the newspapers. This same
desire to read is characteristic of the Japanese in Amer¬
ica. In spite of their limited numbers they support
twelve daily, six weekly, and thirteen monthly news¬
papers and periodicals, all published in the Japanese
language. Besides these larger publications, many of
the small groups and organizations issue a kind of bul¬
letin or news letter at frequent intervals in order that
their members may keep in touch with one another.
1 The American Japanese Problem, p. 100.
Organisation and Solidarity 147
Through these various channels of communication
news is presented from the Japanese viewpoint and a
public opinion is formed which makes united action
possible.
That a people so sensitive to their environment and
so open-minded in their attitude toward western civ¬
ilization should maintain such strong racial organi¬
zations must largely be explained by the prejudice
existing against them. The hostile attitude of the
American people has compelled them to organize in
defense of their own interests. It is only by standing
together that they can establish themselves in an unwel¬
come environment. They have felt that united action is
necessary in order that employment may be secured,
and their need of recreation and social intercourse has
driven them still more closely together. They have
faced in an intensified form the same problem that has
confronted immigrants of all nationalities, and their
response to the situation has differed from that of the
others only in degree. The reaction of nearly all immi¬
grant groups to their new environment has been
organization to protect their interests. In so far as the
Japanese have followed this natural tendency, they
merit no special attention.
What is striking about the Japanese is their success
in maintaining organizations that exert such strong
control over all their members. The explanation of
this fact must be sought in the social structure of the
Japanese nation. In the Far East individuals have
always been kept in the background. Such an idea as
148
The Japanese Invasion
personal liberty has never gained wide popularity in
Japan. The individual has been taught to subordinate
his interests to those of the family, the community, and
the State. The principle that private interests must
conform to the general good has permeated all the
philosophy of the Orient. Consequently, subjection
and obedience to authority are a characteristic of the
Japanese people. They have learned how to increase
their strength by standing together. That a people
who have learned so thoroughly the lesson of social
solidarity should present a united front in their con¬
tact with American environment is to be expected.
Schooled as they have been in the idea of the suprem¬
acy of the group, the individualistic American spirit
has affected them more slowly than it has the immi¬
grants from Europe.
CHAPTER IX
THE PROBLEM OF INTERMARRIAGE
T7VER since the beginning of the white invasion of
the Far East in the fifteenth and sixteenth cen¬
turies, there has been going on to a greater or less
extent an intermixture between the white races of the
West and the colored races of eastern Asia. Foreign
sailors while in eastern ports have formed alliances
with native women which have sometimes resulted in
illegitimate offspring as inferior in character and social
position as their parents who gave them birth. As soon
as Westerners began to take up settled residence in the
East for the purpose of engaging in business or in
administrative work, more permanent unions with na¬
tive women were entered upon, some being registered
as legal marriages, while others, and these were by far
the most numerous, were merely a state of concubinage
winked at by the law and regarded as a necessary evil
by the foreign communities. This aspect of the mix¬
ture of the white and colored races can best be seen in
India, where the process has been going on for more
than two hundred years and has brought about the for¬
mation of groups of Eurasians and Anglo-Indians suf¬
ficiently large to constitute one of the problems of that
country.
In Japan, where free association with foreigners has
149
The Japanese Invasion
existed for only a comparatively short period, the
Eurasian problem has not had time to assume much
significance as far as numbers are concerned. There
has been, however, an unusual amount of illicit rela¬
tionship between foreign men and Japanese women of
the lower classes. The attractiveness of the Japanese
women together with their reputed willingness to hire
themselves out to foreigners for a small sum has made
the ports of Japan popular with sailors, traders, and
visitors with a tendency to loose living. The few chil¬
dren that have resulted from these liaisons have gener¬
ally, as might be expected, turned out badly and have
served to strengthen the popular impression that Eura¬
sian children are necessarily of an inferior type. This
idea was given scientific expression by no less an
authority than Herbert Spencer who, in a personal let¬
ter to Baron Kaneko, strongly condemned the practice
of mixed marriages.
To your remaining question respecting the intermar¬
riage of foreigners and Japanese, my reply is that, as
rationally answered, there is no difficulty at all. It should
be positively forbidden. It is not at root a question of
social philosophy. It is at root a question of biology.
There is abundant proof, alike furnished by the inter¬
marriages of human races and by the interbreeding of
animals, that when the varieties mingled diverge beyond
a certain slight degree the result is inevitably a bad one
in the long run. I have myself been in the habit of look¬
ing at the evidence bearing on this matter for many years
past, and my conviction is based on numerous facts de¬
rived from numerous sources By all means, there-
Problem of Intermarriage 151
fore, peremptorily interdict marriages of Japanese with
foreigners.1
While Spencer did not quote the sources from which
he drew his conclusions, he must have had in mind the
progeny of promiscuous unions found in the ports of
the Far East where the type of parents and the social
heritage of the children were usually of the worst.
His attempt to support his conclusions by drawing an
analogy between the intermarriage of different races
of men and the interbreeding of different species of
animals is by no means convincing to modern students.
In spite of all differences in external appearance and
habits of life, it is now quite generally held that the
human race is biologically one. The modern races
which are continually being brought into closer con¬
tacts with each other because of better facilities of
communication and travel are themselves by no means
pure, but are the result of a vast intermixture of dif¬
ferent peoples going back into the remote past. In so
far as the offspring of mixed marriages in Japan fail
to measure up to the usual standard, the more probable
explanation of this fact must be found in their bad
social heredity and in the handicap such children must
face because of the strong prejudice against them.
The correctness of this view is borne out by a study
of the mixed marriages in Japan that have taken place
in the higher social circles. Well-educated and success¬
ful Westerners like Professors Seymour and Eastlake
1 From a letter to Baron Kentaro Kaneko written Aug. 26, 1892,
and first made public by the London Times of Jan. 22, 1904.
152
The Japanese Invasion
of the Japanese government schools; Captain Brinkley,
editor of the Japan Mail; Lafcadio Hearn, author
of a number of books on Japan; Mr. De Becker,
a Yokohama attorney, and others almost as well
known, married Japanese wives of good social posi¬
tion and established themselves as permanent resi¬
dents of Japan. Their children, with few exceptions,
have turned out well and do not seem to be in health,
ability, or moral character in any wise inferior to Jap¬
anese or European children of corresponding social
rank. The great problem has been to give them a suit¬
able education. The foreign fathers have been unwill¬
ing in most cases, to have the children enter Japanese
schools and grow up as Japanese citizens. As far as
possible they have tried to give them a foreign educa¬
tion by employing tutors or by sending them abroad.
In either case they are unfitted for residence in Japan
in the status of Japanese, which would seem to be the
natural course for them to follow. Whether they have
remained in Japan or have tried to gain their living
abroad, they have had to face a prejudice, wherever
their family history was known, that largely accounts
for any failures that may be charged up against them.
It is, indeed, this prejudice against intermarriage
which lowers the social status of not only the children
but the parents as well, that is one of the chief argu¬
ments against the formation of such unions. The Jap¬
anese woman who marries a foreigner must brave the
criticism and displeasure of nearly all her relatives and
friends and suffers more or less social ostracism. She
Problem of Intermarriage 153
finds herself cut off from many of her former asso¬
ciations with her own people and is given no social
standing in the foreign community of which her hus¬
band is a member. It is hard to overestimate the feel¬
ing against mixed marriages in the Far East. Both the
Japanese and the foreigners regard those who have
entered upon such an alliance as having lowered their
social position, and in countless ways they make plainly
evident their disapproval. This taboo is undoubtedly
responsible for the small number of mixed marriages
found among the higher classes. Even though the
foreign men are willing to face this social disapproval
for the sake of a home, few Japanese girls of good
family have sufficient courage and independence to
marry contrary to the wishes of their parents, who
almost invariably disapprove of foreign marriages
for their children.
Practically no Japanese girls educated abroad have
married foreigners during their long residence in a for¬
eign land. While the characteristic subjection of Jap¬
anese women to parental authority might be sufficient
to explain this, there is no available evidence that these
girls have received desirable offers of marriage from
foreign friends. In the first stages of race amalgama¬
tion the initiative comes from the men who happen to
be isolated from women of their own race. Under
normal conditions of association foreign wives are sel¬
dom chosen in preference to those of native birth.
Within recent years the most common type of inter¬
marriage with the Japanese is that formed between
i54
The Japanese Invasion
Japanese men and foreign women. This has come
about because of the large number of Japanese men
who have gone abroad, especially to America, for a
more or less protracted stay. Unlike the Japanese
women, they have felt themselves less under the influ¬
ence of parental restraint and have in a number of
instances contracted a foreign marriage. In case such
families go to Japan to live, this type of intermarriage
is very likely to result unhappily because the wife finds
herself suddenly transplanted into a new social envi¬
ronment for which she is by no means fitted. Without
a knowledge of the language and unfamiliar with the
social customs of the new country, she must adapt her¬
self to a family system in which the wife plays a much
more subordinate part than is customary in the West.
Not only is she received coldly by her husband's par¬
ents but she is also largely cut off from association with
people of her own nationality, who assign her a lower
social position because of her marriage with a Japanese.
Especially is her lot unfortunate if her husband's in¬
come is not sufficient to enable them to live in foreign
style. It is a rare foreign woman who can successfully
adapt herself to a Japanese house and Japanese food
and at the same time endure the isolation that is in¬
evitable because of the existing prejudice against inter¬
marriage. She also must bear in mind that in becoming
the wife of a Japanese she has placed herself on an
equality with Japanese women and must expect to re¬
ceive the treatment accorded them. However consid¬
erate her husband may be, the weight of social custom
Problem of Intermarriage 155
will naturally cause his attitude toward his wife to con¬
form to the ideals of his own people. The Japanese
family system demands as one of its first principles
the recognition of the inferiority of woman and the
subjection of her will to man. While this may be much
modified by her husband's kindness and foreign train¬
ing, yet her identification with the Japanese people
makes her a part of this system, to which she must
either conform or remain an outsider isolated from the
people with whom she has cast her lot. Lawton in his
Empires of the Far East expresses the following opin¬
ion about this type of intermarriage:
While the advocates of assimilation claim that the
advancement of Japan as a nation entitles her people to
be regarded as the equal of any other race, few if any
of them are prepared for the marriage of western women
with Japanese men. In making this reservation they
completely spoil their whole case. It is in the nature of
a recognition that the social standard in Japan is inferior
to that which prevails in western countries. For it is
indisputable that the marriage of a western woman to a
Japanese lowers her status in society and exposes her to
the indignities that are inseparable from the operation of
the Japanese social system To anyone who chooses
to inquire, facts are available proving beyond the merest
shadow of a doubt that mixed marriages, in which the
woman is of the white race and the man an Oriental,
are attended by unutterable misery — misery that is inva¬
riably confined to the unfortunate lot of the wife. It
may be urged that this state could only result where the
Japanese belonged to the lower orders. Instances that
have come within the knowledge of the writer conclu-
The Japanese Invasion
sively show this not to be the case. Japanese men of all
classes are more or less imbued with a common idea in
regard to womanhood, and it is the better classes who are
generally seen abroad. Obviously names cannot be men¬
tioned, but I have in mind more than one instance where
members of the nobility and government officials, whose
status in their own country gave them an open door to
European society, have treated foreign wives with a de¬
gree of indignity, and often with a callous disregard for
even the most elementary of human principles, that should
place them outside the pale of civilization.1
The foreign wife, however, is not the only one to
suffer through these mixed unions. The Japanese hus¬
band residing abroad faces a delicate situation when he
is recalled by his government to his native land, or
when business interests demand his return. He is well
aware that his foreign wife will not be made welcome
by his own people, and knows that her presence -may
even hinder his social and official advancement. These
considerations have sometimes resulted in the abandon¬
ment of the foreign family and in the securing of a
divorce immediately upon the return to Japan. An
example of this kind occurred in England a few years
ago. A Japanese count, while residing abroad, mar¬
ried an English lady of good social position. Upon
his return to Japan he left his wife behind with the
understanding that she would follow him later. His
family, not knowing of his foreign marriage, immedi¬
ately took steps to bring about his betrothal to an im¬
perial princess. The count, who was very desirous of
1 The Empires of the Far East, 2: 761-63.
Problem of Intermarriage 157
forming such an alliance, determined to secure quietly
a divorce from his English wife. In order to bring
this about he first registered his marriage in a local
police station so as to make it legal, and then shortly
after dissolved the marriage by canceling the registra¬
tion, a procedure that is permitted in Japan in case the
wife does not offer any objections. He then removed
to another section of the city where he would be under
the jurisdiction of a different police district and con¬
tinued the preparations for his wedding. Unfortu¬
nately for his plans, the newspapers got hold of the
matter and gave it wide publicity. His engagement
with the princess was broken off and he was deprived
of his patent of nobility. From the Japanese view¬
point his greatest offense was not his abandonment of
his lawful wife but rather the fact that his mixed mar¬
riage injured the prestige of the Japanese nobility.
On the other hand, it sometimes happens, especially
in the diplomatic circles, that the desire to live in for¬
eign style may cause a foreign wife to be regarded as
a decided advantage. Japanese government officials
who reside a great deal of the time abroad find it much
easier to carry on their social duties when aided by a
foreign wife. Viscount Aoki married a German lady,
and their daughter is now the wife of a German baron.
Mr. Ozaki, formerly mayor of Tokyo, and Minister of
Justice in Marquis Okuma's cabinet, married a very
accomplished Eurasian. Marriages of this kind, where
the husband has sufficient income to live in foreign
style and where his official position gives him prestige
158
The Japanese Invasion
in social circles, do not seem open to such serious objec¬
tions provided the welfare of the children can be se¬
cured. An American, who for a number of years has
been in close touch with Japanese higher social circles,
writes in a private letter as follows concerning this
aspect of intermarriage:
I feel that the Japanese are sufficiently prejudiced
against foreigners, as such, to believe that while socially
a foreign wife is no advantage to one of their subjects,
such a possession might be sometimes an advantage in get¬
ting on with foreigners abroad and therefore is under
such circumstances pardonable from the utilitarian point
of view. In discussing the subject with Baron Kanda
once, he admitted to me that the main objection of the
Japanese to marriage with foreigners is the disadvantage
it brings upon the offspring, as Eurasians are despised
alike by Japanese and Occidentals. But so long as Japa¬
nese of high class show no disposition to want wives of
equal class abroad, prejudice of a powerful kind must
exist, but whether it is more on the foreign than the
Japanese side may be a question, though I fancy it is
stronger on the Japanese side. The recent coronation
ceremonies, wherein the Imperial family spent nearly a
month going about worshiping their ancestors, shows that
the Japanese believe it possible to have a god of their
own, or, if not that, that God Almighty is a Japanese,
whom others ignorantly worship under another name. All
this, to me, proves the existence of a racial and national
self-conceit that could not believe a foreign woman fit to
be the wife of a Japanese, except in an inferior way. As
Viscount Aoki was believed to have also had a Japanese
wife, he was, it is said, excused for taking a foreign
mistress while abroad; and many Japanese never look
upon the foreign wife as any more than a mistress of con-
Problem of Intermarriage 159
venience. I have heard Dr. Nitobe criticized by Japanese
as " more than half foreigner," but whether it was because
of his foreign marriage was not stated, though I suspect
that was the reason. On the whole, then, you will see that
my conviction, backed up by numerous inferences, is that
the Japanese regard it as derogatory to marry foreigners;
and, other things being equal, it would work out disad¬
vantageous^ to a Japanese in official circles ; while, as we
know, no high-class Japanese woman has ever married a
foreigner.
The sad side of this problem appears where a Jap¬
anese of the middle class marries a foreign wife and
then takes her back with him to Japan. This has been
done in a number of cases by Japanese men in profes¬
sional life whose income is not sufficient to enable them
to maintain a foreign standard of living. A Japanese
dentist, a graduate of an American dental college, mar¬
ried an American wife and returned with her to Japan
to practice his profession. He was a well-trained and
capable man and had no difficulty in securing work, but
when his prices were lowered to the Japanese scale he
was unable to maintain a foreign establishment for his
family. His wife, who could not adjust herself to the
Japanese mode of living, found herself an Unwelcome
member of the foreign community and has been liv¬
ing, to all outward appearance, a very unhappy life.
She stated to some of her friends that she went to
Japan believing that it was a land of sunshine and
flowers where life would be ideal, but that her disillu¬
sionment had been complete.
Mr. Y. resided for a number of years in America as
l6o
The Japanese Invasion
an art student. In 1910 he married in New York City
a German-American girl who accompanied him back
to Japan. He set up a studio in Tokyo where he made
an unsuccessful effort to earn a living as a portrait
painter. He then went to Omori, an inland town north
of Tokyo, and established himself as a photographer,
using the last of his wife's money to buy the necessary
equipment. This business brought in too small an
income for him to provide foreign food for his wife,
who was unable to accustom herself to Japanese diet.
Finally he became so involved in debt that he had to
give up his business and was left penniless with a for¬
eign wife and two small children dependent upon him.
Their plight was discovered by an American mission¬
ary who took the family to Yokohama and made an
effort to find employment for him. Since no work
could be found which would enable him to support his
family in reasonable comfort, it was decided to send
them back to America. A purse of several hundred
dollars was raised among the foreign community, their
debts were settled, and their fare paid back to New
York. The wife found, to her chagrin, that by her
marriage to a Japanese she had forfeited her American
citizenship and consequently had to suffer all the
trouble and indignities an Oriental must face in secur¬
ing entrance to America.
Dr. K., a graduate of the medical department of
the University of Michigan, married a well-educated
American girl of good family. The bride at the time
of her marriage had several thousand dollars, all of
Problem of Intermarriage 161
which was used to pay the expenses of a prolonged
stay on the Pacific coast. After their arrival in Japan,
Dr. K. established a hospital in Tokyo and became a
successful physician. His attitude, however, toward
his wife changed and he treated her with such harsh¬
ness that her life became unhappy. Her distress was
further increased by the fact that her husband brought
Japanese girls into the home who lived there openly as
concubines. Constant brooding over her unhappiness
undermined her health, and although she was but a
young woman, her hair turned snowy white. Since
her position in her home was becoming more and more
unendurable, some American friends furnished her
with transportation and sent her back to America to
her parents.
An English lady came out to Japan to visit her
brother, who was a medical missionary in Tokyo. Soon
after her arrival in Japan she fell in love with a Jap¬
anese whom she married in spite of the protests of
friends and relatives. In the course of a few years it
was discovered that her husband had a Japanese wife
and family in another part of the city whom he visited
at frequent intervals. The strain of supporting two
families was too much for his slender resources, and
his foreign wife and children would have fared badly
if her brother had not given them needed financial
assistance.
Similar instances as tragic as the above might be
cited if further proof were required of the unhappiness
likely to result from such marriages. Dr. Gulick, after
The Japanese Invasion
strongly denouncing the theory that Eurasian children
are of an inferior type, registers his conviction that
intermarriage of Americans and Japanese is at present
inadvisable.
It may be set down as a universal rule that intermar¬
riage of races should follow, not precede, social assimila¬
tion. Suppose that a Japanese man of ordinary social
rank and corresponding means marries an American wife
in America and takes her back with him to Japan. He
has his ideal of a home — a Japanese home — and she
has hers of an American home. Her position in her
Japanese home, however, is largely determined by the
ideals and demands of his mother (her mother-in-law)
and by all his kindred. Now, for an American girl to
take up life in a Japanese home, first coming to know it
in adult years ; for her to begin then to learn the language
and customs of Japan, to cook and to eat their food, and
to live entirely as they do, would be such an awful experi¬
ence that, no matter how much her husband might love
and seek to help her, it would be a fearful ordeal and
could hardly end in permanent happiness. Her health
would probably give way under the strain. Moreover, it
would be impossible for her to impart to her children a
Japanese social heredity. Although she might seek to
suppress her social influence, that would be only partly
possible. The children she rears could not but be partly
foreign in manner and thought as well as in looks.
The case, however, would be quite different if the man
is a wealthy Japanese, with high social rank, who, even in
Japan, can afford to live and prefers to live in foreign
style and desires his children to be foreign. The proba¬
bility of a happy marriage would, in this case, be largely
increased. But unless the Japanese husband adopts to a
large degree the wife's ideal of the social freedom of
Problem of Intermarriage 163
women, the American wife would find her secluded life
almost intolerable. Such cases are not unknown in Japan.
The American wife who goes to Japan to live should, of
course, be prepared to accept the Japanese ideal as to
the home and the duties, obedience, and responsibilities of
the Japanese wife. Even though the husband may seek
to relieve and help her, there are the relatives, and peace
demands acceptance also of their ideals, or collision will
result and unhappiness follow.1
The fundamental objections to such intermarriage
must be based upon social considerations — differences
in standards of living, social customs, family system,
ideals of home, and even moral standards — rather
than upon the contention that the offspring are inferior
in type and show a tendency to degeneracy. No valid
conclusion can be drawn on the biological side from the
unfortunate condition of some of the illegitimate Eura¬
sian children found in the ports of Japan. The very
circumstances in which they were brought up, the atti¬
tude of the better classes of the community toward
them, would make their degradation almost a matter
of course. Even the majority of the Eurasian chil¬
dren of the better classes cannot be said to enjoy in
Japan a favorable opportunity for proper development.
Prejudice closes many doors in their faces and makes
it hard for them to succeed unless gifted in a more than
ordinary way. Detailed studies of the careers of Eura¬
sians in Japan have unfortunately not yet been under¬
taken, but two valuable expressions of opinion on this
1 The American Japanese Problem, pp. I57-5&
164
The Japanese Invasion
subject have been made by Dr. Baelz and Captain
Brinkley, two well-known authorities on things Jap¬
anese. Dr. Baelz says:
As a physician in Tokyo during thirty years I have
had the opportunity of examining an unusually large
number of Ainoko (half-breeds) and I have paid par¬
ticular attention to them. The result of my observations
is that they are a healthy set of people They are,
on an average, well built, and show no tendency to organic
disease more than Europeans or Japanese do. This is
the more remarkable as many of them grow up under
unfavorable circumstances, the father often having left
them with little money to the care of a mother who has
no authority over them. This is a particularly important
point if the moral qualities are considered. In Europe,
too, we know that abandoned, illegitimate children very
often turn out badly, and a fair comparison must take that
into serious consideration. To make quite sure about the
intellectual and moral qualities of the Ainoko, I have
asked the opinion of the man who is more than any other
qualified to give an authoritative judgment — Mr. Hein-
rich, Director of the School of the Morning Star. He
has had in his classes, side by side, Europeans, Japanese,
and almost all the male half-breeds in Tokyo. His opinion
is, that if properly brought up and well looked after, the
half-breeds are morally and intellectually in no way infe¬
rior to the children of both races. As a rule, they are
taller and more robust than the Japanese, and in every
branch of learning they are fully up to the standard of
their fellow scholars.1
Captain Brinkley corroborated this testimony in the
following words:
1 Quoted in The Empires of the Far East, 2:772-74.
Problem of Intermarriage 165
We desire to submit .... the following figures, em¬
bodying the results of our own observation, spread over
some thirty years. The total number of Eurasian chil¬
dren that have been known to us directly or indirectly
throughout that period is 179. Out of these seven have
died, and the causes of death were: childbirth, two; ty¬
phoid fever, one; peritonitis, one; whooping cough, one;
and disease of the lungs, two. Among the remaining 172,
one is hysterical and two are below the normal standard
of intelligence, but all three cases are directly attributable
to an aged, intemperate, or diseased parent. Two of the
men are mauvais sujets, and one, though now a respect¬
able member of society, sowed a good deal of wild oats
in his youth. It results, then, that 169 have grown to
maturity, and we may add that 166 of them are endowed
with more than the average of normal and physical prop¬
erties, though many have not by any means enjoyed aver¬
age opportunities.1
While this testimony seems conclusive as far as the
normality of the Eurasian children is concerned, a
more detailed account of their experiences would reveal
a dark picture of difficulties such children must con¬
tend with while living in Japan. Without doubt there
exists in Japan, among both the Japanese and the
foreigners residing there, a much stronger prejudice
against intermarriage than is usually found in Amer¬
ica. The foreign communities in cities like Tokyo and
Yokohama show their intolerant attitude in such a
marked way that social isolation is the usual lot of
Eurasian families. The Japanese show, if possible,
1 Quoted in The Empires of the Far East, 2:772-744.
166
The Japanese Invasion
even greater intolerance, as would be natural among a
people who are not accustomed to mixed marriages
even with nations as closely allied with their own as
the Chinese and Koreans.
In America, while the feeling, at least outside of
California, is less bitter, the general consensus of
opinion that the Asiatic is not our equal socially causes
such marriages to be regarded as highly unfortunate.
The social discrimination which all Japanese, includ¬
ing even students in university circles, must face,
makes practically impossible any general tendency to
marry into American families. In a university town
of the Middle West a popular American girl found
herself almost entirely "cut" by her social set because
she persisted in publicly associating with a Japanese
fellow student. Both of the young people were thor¬
oughly in love with each other, but the idea of marriage
was finally abandoned because of the earnest protest
of friends. It is very evident that it is the social taboo
rather than any innate feeling of repulsion that pre¬
vents amalgamation from taking place.
Some Japanese, however, claim that American
women are not attractive to them and that they would
never be chosen in preference to women of their own
race. The fact that American women are as a rule
larger than Japanese men, together with the striking
contrast between the characteristic independence of
American wives and the submissiveness of Japanese
wives, would seem to be a sufficient explanation of
this feeling in so far as it really exists. But even after
Problem of Intermarriage 167
due consideration is given to the influence of differ¬
ences in ideals of beauty, intellectual traits, and family
customs, it still remains true that the real bar to inter¬
marriage is the strong feeling of disapproval that is so
widely prevalent. Japanese residing in America seldom
have the opportunity of meeting and associating with
the best type of American girls. The association that
leads to marriage is most frequently made possible by
business relationships of various kinds. The Japanese
may be a lodger or servant in the home where girls
of a marriageable age live; he may become acquainted
with them as stenographers or clerks in his office or
store; or he may be thrown in contact with chamber¬
maids and waitresses while employed in hotels and
restaurants. Even in these cases the courtship cannot
be carried on publicly without provoking serious criti¬
cism, and as a natural consequence intermarriages are
infrequent.
According to the best figures obtainable, there are
about three hundred Japanese-American families now
living in America, fifty on the western coast and two
hundred and fifty scattered throughout the eastern
states. Some prominent Japanese are numbered among
them, men like Mr. Kawakami, Dr. Takamine, Consul
Kurusu, and others who have married into good Amer¬
ican families, and who possess the financial ability and
prestige to maintain comfortable American homes.
By far the majority of such marriages have been made
by Japanese of the middle or lower classes, and the
women who have consented to share their lot have
i68
The Japanese Invasion
largely been drawn from the ranks of European
immigrants.
In California a strict law exists against such mar¬
riages, and in all parts of the country they are regarded
as a serious violation of the social code.
The following examples of mixed marriages that
have taken place in America may be regarded as fairly
typical, and give a more vivid picture of actual condi¬
tions than would any amount of theorizing.
A Japanese student, a member of a prominent
family, while attending Dennison University in Ohio,
joined a fraternity and was encouraged by his friends
to participate in social functions. A young lady who
lived in the house where he had secured a room asso¬
ciated with him freely, and in course of time they
became engaged. The Japanese then wrote to his
parents for permission to arrange for his marriage, a
request that so angered his father that his financial
allowance was entirely stopped. When the young
lady's parents heard of this, they broke off the engage¬
ment. The young man, who found himself suddenly
thrown upon his own resources, left college, went to
Columbus, Ohio, and secured employment in an amuse¬
ment park. While there he became acquainted with
an American girl of doubtful reputation, whom he
married, the ceremony, in the hope of avoiding pub¬
licity, being performed by an obscure colored minister.
The minister, however, told of the affair, and the
newspapers published scathing criticisms of the mar¬
riage. In a few days the Japanese left his bride, partly
Problem of Intermarriage 169
because of the unpleasant notoriety, and disappeared
from the city. He finally drifted back to Japan, where
he became involved in a love affair with a geisha girl
and ended his life by committing suicide.
A Japanese traveling for a Japanese business house
became acquainted in St. Louis with an American girl
whom he later married. She was an orphan, with few
friends, and entered upon the marriage with no thought
of what it involved. Since her husband did not earn
much money, she supplemented the income by working
as a nurse. Because of their unsettled life, they have
not set up housekeeping. In some places they have
found considerable difficulty in renting rooms. In
spite of the prejudice which they have had to face,
they seem to be happy. They have no children.
A Japanese established a small restaurant in a city
in Indiana and hired as a waitress a Polish girl who
was unable to speak much English. In the course of
time the two fell in love with each other and were
married, an arrangement which proved satisfactory at
least from a business standpoint.
A Japanese photographer with fair income married
an American girl and moved to Chicago. They found
prejudice so strong against them that they were for a
time unable to rent a satisfactory apartment.
A Japanese engaged in the tea business in Chicago
married an American girl who has been able to adapt
herself successfully to Japanese ways. Because of
the difficulty in securing an apartment, they bought a
small home on the installment plan and have made it
170
The Japanese Invasion
a very attractive place. They have two small children
who resemble their father in physical appearance. The
children living in the neighborhood do not play with
them readily. Although they do not have many
friends, the family seems to be perfectly happy.
A Japanese employed as a butler in the home of an
Episcopal clergyman in California succeeded in win-
wing the love of the daughter of the house, a very
accomplished and popular girl. As the laws of Cali¬
fornia would not permit their marriage, they went to
Seattle, where the ceremony was performed. A few
months later a child was born. The marriage has
proved to be very unhappy.
A Japanese while employed as butler by a wealthy
family near Palo Alto, California, became acquainted
with their seamstress, a woman of English birth,
thirty-seven years of age, who was generally described
as unusually ugly and "queer." Considerable gossip
was caused by his attentions to her. Several months
later they were married and lived in the lodge of the
family where they had previously worked, the Japanese
still retaining his position as butler. They have a
daughter now about ten years old.
A Japanese doctor, a masseur, married an American
girl and is now living in a city of the Middle West.
He is very successful in his profession and is well liked
by the people who know him. Because of his popu¬
larity and his ability to support his family comfort¬
ably, the marriage has aroused very little unfavorable
comment.
Problem of Intermarriage 171
A Japanese boy worked in a Chinese restaurant in
Minneapolis, where he received good wages and was
able to save some money. In order to have social
diversion, he learned to dance, and at a public ball
became acquainted with an American girl with whom
he fell in love. He wrote to Japan for permission to
marry her, but was told that if he did so he would
be disowned. Although his parents have offered to
send him a Japanese bride, he has thus far refused
to give up his American girl, and still hopes to marry
her.
It can readily be seen from these examples that when
these marriages take place on the lower levels of society
the parties concerned face a serious handicap which
it is hard for them to overcome. Prejudice usually
thrives best among the more ignorant and lower
classes, and those who are the victims of this preju¬
dice are seldom able to rise above it. So keenly do
some of these Japanese-American couples feel the
power of social disapproval that they rarely appear
together in public. If they enter the same street car,
they will occupy different seats. In communities where
Japanese children are popular, the Japanese-American
children are likely not to enjoy this same popularity,
but are sharply discriminated against by the American
children living in their neighborhood.
In order that intermarriage prove successful it is
not only necessary that there be congeniality and a
sufficient income to make possible the maintenance of
a good standard of living, but it is also of the highest
172
The Japanese Invasion
importance that those who enter into such marriages
should possess a personality and strength of character
that can win friends in spite of prejudice and rise
above the petty insults and social discrimination they
must face. The problem of mutual adjustment is
naturally a more difficult matter when the contracting
parties are members of a different race. The real
difficulty is, however, that the problem is only half
settled when an adjustment is satisfactorily made.
Public opinion will not allow it to remain a merely
personal matter. The social code has been violated,
and the penalty of outraged social feelings must be
paid. What this means in bitterness of heart and in
lifelong unhappiness varies according to the character
of the persons involved and the locality in which they
live, but it is something from which they can never
entirely escape.
Nevertheless, in spite of all the arguments that
might be brought against intermarriage, we must be
prepared to take a broader view of the problem than
is ordinarily done. Race prejudice, or national preju¬
dice, or even color prejudice, will not ultimately be
allowed to say the final word. In these modern times
the whole world is being brought more closely together.
What this will mean in the breaking down of national
lines and in the furthering of the process of amalga¬
mation, only the future can reveal. The following
statement by Dr. Conklin, professor of biology in
Princeton University, expresses clearly a scientific
view of the problem which is of deep significance in
Problem of Intermarriage 173
connection with the increasing contact of the peoples
of the East and West:
In the human species the only absolute barrier to the
intermingling of races is geographical isolation. Every
human race is fertile with every other one, and though
races and nations and social groups may raise artificial
barriers against interbreeding, we know that these arti¬
ficial restraints are frequently disregarded and that in the
long run amalgamation does take place
Whether we want it or not, hybridization of human
races is going on and will increase. Partition walls
between classes and races are being broken down; com¬
plete isolation is no longer possible, and a gradual inter¬
mixture of human races is inevitable. We are in the
grip of a great world movement and we cannot reverse
the current, but we may to a certain extent direct that
current into the more desirable channels.
There is a popular belief that hybrid races are always
inferior to pure-bred ones, but this is by no means the
case. Some hybrids are undoubtedly inferior to either
of the parents, but, on the other hand, some are vastly
superior; only experience can determine whether a cer¬
tain cross will yield inferior or superior types. Society
can well attempt to prevent those crosses which pro¬
duce inferior stock, while encouraging those which
produce superior types.
It is this fact which makes the problem of immigration
so serious. In general, immigration is regarded merely as
an economic and political problem, but these aspects of it
are temporary and insignificant as compared with its bio¬
logical consequences. In welcoming the immigrant to our
shores we not only share with him our country but we
take him into our family and give to him our children
or our children's children in marriage. Whatever the
174
The Japanese Invasion
present antipathies may be to our racial mixture we may
rest assured that in a few hundred years these persons of
foreign race and blood will be incorporated in our race
and we in theirs. From the amalgamation of good races
good results may be expected; but fusion with inferior
races, while it may help to raise the lower race, is very
apt to pull the higher race down. How insignificant are
considerations of cheap labor and rapid development of
natural resources when compared with these biological
consequences.1
1 Conklin, E. G., Heredity and Environment in the Development
of Men, pp. 417-19.
CHAPTER X
THE JAPANESE IN AMERICA AS A RACE PROBLEM
HE Japanese invasion of America, while insig¬
nificant as far as numbers are concerned, has
brought this country face to face with a serious prob¬
lem which does not admit of an easy solution. It has
meant the coming of a people too different from our¬
selves to gain ready acceptance on terms of social
equality, and yet too proud to occupy a position that
would imply their inferiority. Similar invasions on a
much larger scale by European immigrants have con¬
fronted us with various problems. But however low
their social and economic status may be, the Europeans
at least belong to nations that have much in common
with us and against whom there exists no such deep-
seated prejudice as is generally felt for the Asiatics.
It is this that differentiates our oriental problem from
the general immigration problem and makes it difficult
to apply the same policy to both.
A calm recognition of facts makes clear the inevi¬
tability of Americans' preference for European immi¬
grants. America and Europe are bound closely together
by common ties of blood, customs, and traditions.
America is what it is today largely because of what
it has received from Europe. Eor more than a cen¬
tury an increasing stream of European immigrants
175
176
The Japanese Invasion
has been pouring into our cities and permeating the
social life of the whole nation. Our open-door policy
has become a sentiment among us to a larger extent
than is often realized. We still like to look upon
America as a haven for the oppressed in Europe, an
attitude that is the more easily perpetuated because
many of our population are either immigrants or
recent descendants of immigrants with ties of blood
and friendship binding them to the people of the
Old World.
Our attitude toward the Japanese immigrant is
entirely the reverse. As far as past history and tradi¬
tions are concerned the Japanese have little in common
with us, and the type of civilization they have built
up differs greatly from ours. There is no sentimental
bond binding us to them as is the case with the people
of Europe. Already overcrowded as we feel ourselves
to be with European immigrants, we are in no mood
to silence the voice of economic warning and grant
the same privileges to Asiatics that we do to Euro¬
peans. Here, it is felt, is a good place to draw the line
that cannot yet be drawn against the European immi¬
grants because of the prestige of past precedent and
ties of common race. Human nature being as it is,
the first discrimination would naturally be against
those with whom we have least in common. Whether
in the dealings of nations or in those of individuals, fa¬
vors are almost inevitably shown to those to whom we
are most closely attached. In one aspect our treatment
of the Japanese is merely the reception of a stranger
Japanese as a Race Problem 177
in a home whose doorway is already overcrowded
with friends demanding the continuance of past hos¬
pitality.
Europe, it also should be remembered, is a smaller
country than Asia and has a much smaller population.
We have no great fe.ar of being overrun by the people
of Europe. The teeming Asiatic millions, however,
eager and likely, if not prevented, to come to America
in hordes, is a picture that has impressed itself so
deeply upon our minds that a vague feeling of fear is
always associated with the thought of Asiatic immi¬
gration. Whether these feelings are justified or not,
they do exist, and are partly responsible for our
unwillingness to allow these strangers from the East
to get a foothold in our midst.
But this discussion only hints at a more fundamental
issue which is involved in our Japanese problem. The
real cause of the discrimination against the Japanese
is that they belong to a race which in color and physical
characteristics is so sharply distinguished from the
people of the West that they cannot merge themselves
unnoticed into American life. Wherever they appear,
the most evident fact about them is that they are
Japanese. In their dress and speech and manner they
may conduct themselves so much like Americans that
they would not attract the least unfavorable attention
if it were not that their external racial differences mark
them out and stand as a symbol of the undesirable
qualities we have been accustomed to associate with
the lower classes of Asiatics. This point has been well
i78
The Japanese 'Invasion
brought out by Dr. Robert E. Park in his recent dis¬
cussion of racial assimilation:
The chief obstacles to the assimilation of the Negro and
the Oriental are not mental but physical traits. It is not
because the Negro and the Japanese are so differently con¬
stituted that they do not assimilate. If they were given an
opportunity the Japanese are quite as capable as the
Italians, the Armenians, or the Slavs of acquiring our
culture and sharing our national ideals. The trouble is
not with the Japanese mind but with the Japanese skin.
The Jap is not the right color. The fact that the Jap¬
anese bears in his features a distinctive racial hall mark,
that he wears, so to speak, a racial uniform, classifies him.
He cannot become a mere individual indistinguishable in
the cosmopolitan mass of the population, as is true, for
example, of the Irish and to a lesser extent of some of
the other immigrant races. The Japanese, like the Negro,
is condemned to remain among us an abstraction, a sym¬
bol, and a symbol not merely of his own race but of the
Orient and of that vague, ill-defined menace we some¬
times refer to as the "Yellow Peril." This not only
determines to a very large extent the attitude of the whole
world toward the yellow man, but it determines the atti¬
tude of the yellow man to the white. It puts between the
races the invisible but very real gulf of self-conscious¬
ness.1
The significance of this aspect of the Japanese
problem has not been sufficiently emphasized. Those
who have regarded the problem as fundamentally
racial have usually based their arguments on mental
rather than physical grounds. The claim that they
1 Park, R. E., " Racial Assimilation in Secondary Groups,"
Amer. Journ. Soc., March, 1914, PP- 610-11.
Japanese as a Race Problem 179
put forth is that the Japanese are incompatible with
American civilization because of their mental traits,
mode of life, and ways of doing things, an argument
that is by no means convincing, because it can be
shown that all these characteristics are a result of social
heredity, and therefore are capable of being modified
in a new environment. It is not a mere matter of
capacity for mental assimilation. This is all that is
involved in the case of the European immigrants, who
do not diverge radically from the physical type most
common in the West. When they have adopted Amer¬
ican standards and ways of living, they are to all
outward appearance American citizens and become
accepted members of American communities. The
problem, however, is not so simple for the Orientals.
They may show just as much skill as the Europeans
in making a place for themselves in their new environ¬
ment. The Japanese, as a matter of fact, are peculiarly
responsive to strange surroundings, and, if given a
fair chance, might surpass other nationalities in their
ability to acquire American culture. But the difficulty
is that they are not given a fair chance. Belonging
as they do to a divergent physical type, they are set
apart in a group of their own, and are denied the best
opportunities for assimilation. Even though they
overcome this handicap and succeed in Americanizing
themselves, they still to all outward appearance remain
Japanese and are classified as such by those with whom
they associate.
The possession of racial marks or of physical char-
i8o
The Japanese Invasion
acteristics that differentiate the incoming from the
predominant group is a factor in the oriental immi¬
gration problem that cannot be ignored. The im¬
migrants whose physical appearance is such that they
cannot within a reasonable time conceal their identity
by the mask of Americanism inevitably bring in a race
problem. Entirely apart from the question of differ¬
ences in the type of civilization, the German and the
Japanese immigrants cannot be regarded as having an
equal chance in their struggle for existence under
American conditions. In the one case prejudice dis¬
appears as soon as the necessary adjustments are made,
while in the other it tends to be perpetuated because
external marks continually proclaim their foreign
origin and arouse the antipathies that are felt for
people of a widely different race.
It is not a question whether their physical character¬
istics are attractive or repulsive to Americans. The
problem is not lessened by the fact that the color of
the Japanese is hardly more pronounced than is that
of the people of southern Europe. Even when due
allowance is made for their changes in physical appear¬
ance brought about by their reaction to their new
environment — changes in the cast of countenance and
in the peculiar mannerisms which play an important
part in intensifying racial distinctions — the funda¬
mental fact still remains that their physical type marks
them out as Orientals wherever they are, and suggests
to us all the undesirable connotations that are bound
up with the word "Asiatics."
Japanese as a Race Problem 181
It is only by a recognition of this fact that the eco¬
nomic issue which complicates the problem can be seen
in its right perspective. It has become the fashion in
some quarters to ignore or minimize differences of
race and to treat the question as though it were merely
a matter for economic adjustment. Thus Dr. Clay
MacCauley in a recent article published in a Japanese
magazine says:
As I see it, " The American-Japanese Problem," how¬
ever much other factors may affect it, is primarily and
essentially economic It is altogether a radical error
to burden this economic question with an influence so
irrelevant and, in reality, so fictitious as " difference of
race." The issue is essentially economic, and upon eco¬
nomic grounds it should, and I believe will, receive its
solution.1
Such a point of view which would regard racial
differences as irrelevant factors is based more upon
what ought to be than upon what actually seems to be
the case. In the rise and development of the Japanese
problem nothing has been more real than the preju¬
dice existing against the Japanese. It has been the
agitation against them as a race which has given this
problem its peculiar quality. The economic aspect of
the question has, of course, been an important factor,
for the Japanese immigrants have been engaged in a
struggle for existence that has naturally aroused the
fear of severe economic competition. It is, however,
1 MacCauley, Clay, "The American-Japanese Problem," Rikugo
Zasshi, April, 1915.
The Japanese Invasion
a superficial view which would find the root of the
problem in economic rivalry. The discrimination
against the Japanese, which has debarred them from
many of the desirable trades, is economic in the sense
that it is an attempt to decrease competition, but it has
been made possible only by the fact that the Japanese
are unable to conceal their race affiliations. If they
had been able, like the Europeans, gradually to merge
themselves unnoticed among American workingmen,
there would have been much less tendency to over¬
emphasize the economic difficulties.
As a matter of fact, within the past few years the
chief economic problems connected with the Japanese
immigrants have been to a large extent adjusted. With
the coming into effect of the " gentlemen's agreement,"
the people of California need no longer fear an inva¬
sion of Japanese laborers. Thousands of Japanese
have succeeded in making a place for themselves in
the kind of agricultural work that is not attractive to
white workmen, and so are not considered as rivals.
Many large ranch owners have found the Japanese
so satisfactory as seasonal farm laborers that they are
making strong protests against any policy designed to
cut off all Japanese immigration. As the Japanese
have become more accustomed to American conditions
they have raised their standard of living and are no
longer making a practice of underbidding in the labor
market. Yet in spite of this lessened economic fric¬
tion, the prejudice against the Japanese remains, seem¬
ingly, as strong as ever. Even in places where there
Japanese as a Race Problem 183
is practically no competition with the Japanese, there
are very few signs that racial barriers are breaking
down. They are still held aloof, not primarily on eco¬
nomic grounds, but because they wear a racial uniform
which stands as a symbol of all the vague, half-
conscious fears, as well as of the feeling of strange¬
ness and unlikeness that we have had for the Orientals.
It is this same fact of a divergent physical type that
intensifies many minor causes of difficulty which other¬
wise would not attract serious attention. The low
status of many of the Japanese immigrants, their agi¬
tation for their rights, their tendency toward clannish-
ness, their reputation for business dishonesty, their
overzealous patriotism, and their religious differences
easily become magnified out of all due proportions
because they are associated with the people of a race
widely different from our own. In themselves these
supposed characteristics of the Japanese do not pos¬
sess great importance. They can, in fact, be affirmed
of many of our immigrants from Europe, and are
merely factors that enter into the immigration problem
as a whole.
Their increased significance in the case of the
Japanese arises from the fact that they must live
among us as a separate racial group, thus making it
inevitable that the undesirable attributes of the few
should be regarded as peculiar to the whole race. This
has been the real reason why the organized campaign
against the Japanese in California has been carried
on with such a large degree of success. The labor
184
The Japanese Invasion
leaders and the politicians could never have made the
Japanese problem a national one without the aid of
this background of racial difference. The economic
difficulties and the various charges against the Japa¬
nese which were used as campaign issues gained their
significance because the Japanese could be easily dis¬
tinguished as a separate group from among the mass
of the American people.
When due recognition is given to this fact, the diffi¬
culty of arriving at a satisfactory solution is easily
seen. It is not merely a matter of economic adjust¬
ment, although this is highly important. More is
involved than the promotion of a better mutual under¬
standing between the people of the two countries. The
fundamental problem is how to make possible the
mingling of the white and colored races on terms of
social equality based on mutual friendship and good
will. This is an experiment that has never yet been
worked out satisfactorily in any part of the world,
whether with the dark races from Africa or with the
more light-colored peoples of the Far East. When¬
ever there has been a meeting of the white and colored
races, the whites have always assumed an attitude of
superiority, regardless of the ability and the state of
culture of their colored associates.
The Japanese are the first among the colored peoples
to possess sufficient national prestige and military
power to make a strong protest against this humiliat¬
ing treatment. Instead of acquiescing in the position
assigned them, as, on the whole, the great mass of
Japanese as a Race Problem 185
the Negroes seem disposed to do, they have taken a
bold stand for their rights and insist that there shall
be no discrimination against them. Back of all their
demands in connection with the problem of immigra¬
tion is their determination to be received and treated
as equals in every way, both socially and politically.
No matter what terms they may be willing to accept
now for the sake of expediency, they will ultimately
be satisfied with nothing less than the recognition of
manhood equality with all that it involves in the way
of political rights and social intercourse.
It is, of course, obvious that a problem of this nature
cannot be solved entirely by legislation. Even though
laws were enacted guaranteeing to the Japanese all
the rights now enjoyed by Europeans, the present ten¬
sion between the two nations would by no means be
relieved. On the contrary, to the extent that the
Japanese would avail themselves of their opportunity
to emigrate to America in unrestricted numbers, fric¬
tion would increase and would likely lead to unfor¬
tunate results. The necessity of restricted immigration
must be recognized. Says Professor Millis :
Injury would come to both parties in the event that
immigration brought any considerable number of Asiatics
to our shores to share the soil with the elements in the
white population of the West. Any immigration policy
adopted must be based upon a recognition of this fact.
Otherwise it will only create problems; it will not solve
them.1
1 Millis, H. A., The Japanese Problem in the United States, p.
288.
186 The Japanese Invasion
Dr. Gulick states this same point in an even more
forcible way:
Were immigration as freely granted to Asiatics as it has
been to Europeans, the Pacific coast states would un¬
doubtedly be invaded by millions in the course of a few
years. Coming by the hundred thousand annually, they
could not learn our language, nor we theirs. Assimila¬
tion and mutual understanding would be impossible. The
result would be Asiatic and American institutions and
customs struggling side by side, an imperium in imperio,
with endless rivalry and serious danger of collision.1
It is generally agreed that legislation designed to
grant the Japanese the rights they desire to obtain
would result only in a more aggravated situation. On
the other hand, the passage of an exclusion law, or
even the continuance of the existing "gentlemen's
agreement," is objectionable to the Japanese because
of its discrimination against them. In order to avoid
this dilemma and make possible restriction without
discrimination, Dr. Gulick has proposed the enactment
of a general immigration law which would apply
impartially to all nations.
A law which would, in his opinion, meet the needs of
the case has been stated by him in the form of the fol¬
lowing amendment. to the Immigration Act now in
force:
Provided, That the number of aliens of any race (single
mother-tongue group), who may be admitted to the
United States in any fiscal year shall be limited to five
1 From an address delivered before the Senate Committee on
Immigration and Naturalization, Jan. 31, 1914.
Japanese as a Race Problem
187
per cent of the number of native-born persons of the first
generation, together with the number of naturalized citi¬
zens of that race in the United States at the time of the
national census next preceding; except that aliens return¬
ing from a temporary visit abroad; aliens coming to join
a husband, wife, father, mother, son, daughter, grand¬
father, grandmother, grandson, granddaughter; aliens
who are government officers, and aliens who are travelers
or visitors and who do not engage in any remunerative
occupation or business in the United States, shall not be
included within the five per cent limit above provided.
Provided, further, that all laws relative to the exclusion
of Chinese persons or persons of Chinese descent are
hereby repealed.1
The fundamental purpose of this proposed law is to
make possible the treatment of all races on the basis of
equality, and at the same time to prevent the coming
of a larger number of immigrants from any one race
than could be readily assimilated. As it would practi¬
cally work out, it would allow full immigration from
the countries of northern Europe except Russia, would
decrease the number of immigrants from southern
Europe about eighty per cent, and would permit about
one thousand each year to come from China and the
same number from Japan. While such a law theo¬
retically seems adapted to meet the present situation,
it is such a radical departure from our traditional
policy concerning European immigration that it is
doubtful if in the near future it would receive the
support of the American public. It contains the impli-
1 From address before the Senate Committee on Immigration
and Naturalization, Jan. 31, 19x4.
188
The Japanese Invasion
cation that the very evident and practical differences
between the Asiatic and European immigration are not
of sufficient importance to deserve recognition. There
is in it also the tacit assumption that all alien peoples
have the right to equal treatment, irrespective of what
may seem to be to the best interests of all concerned.
The possible effects of this upon our rights of sover¬
eignty, as well as upon our international status, ought
to be carefully weighed before the adoption of such
a change in our immigration policy. Furthermore,
such a law is unlikely to prove pleasing to the Japanese
people, who to all practical intents and purposes, even
if not theoretically, would be discriminated against
because they would still be deprived of the privilege
of coming to the United States to a much greater
extent than would the majority of the European
peoples. It would seem far better to recognize frankly
the existence of a different problem in the Asiatic
immigration that makes necessary for the present the
adoption of a special policy which can only gradually
approximate that designed to regulate the immigration
from Europe.
Efforts to secure legislation that would ignore the
existence of race factors may not be the best means
of overcoming race prejudice. On the contrary, such
legislation, unless it is satisfactory to those most
vitally affected by it, would involve us in more serious
difficulties. Laws designed to remove the disabilities
of the Japanese can by no means be regarded as the
final solution of the problem. The fault is not pri-
Japanese as a Race Problem
189
marily with our laws, but with our attitude of mind
toward the eastern races. Notwithstanding the tend¬
ency in some quarters to ignore it, our attitude toward
the Oriental is very different from our attitude toward
the European. The natural feeling of difference of
race that is called out by the presence of any foreigner
is intensified in the case of the Orientals by the fact
that we instinctively place them in a different social
category from ourselves. We are ready to admire
their skill in art and have a wholesome respect for
their military efficiency, but we feel quite sure that
they do not belong in our social circle. In the minds
of many Westerners the Orientals seem mysterious
and uncanny — inhabitants, so to speak, of another
world, with whom we do not care to associate and
about whose accomplishments we have a tendency to
manifest surprise. Their different physical type pre¬
vents them from becoming an indistinguishable part
of our American population, and this aids in perpet¬
uating this feeling of their strangeness and inferiority.
As long as such a feeling as this exists to any general
extent, legislation, however favorable to the Japanese,
will be of little avail in giving them full entrance into
all the privileges and opportunities of American life.1
1 Viscount Kaneko in a recent letter to Dr. Shailer Mathews
voiced this same opinion: " I feel that so long as the racial
prejudice is dominating the question, the change of heart of the
people is necessary. Until that was accomplished, no matter what
treaty or diplomatic agreement might be reached between the two
governments concerning the question, it could not be regarded as
a final solution of the problem."—The Biblical World, June, 1915.
The Japanese Invasion
The first step toward a solution of the Japanese
problem must be a willingness on the part of both
Japanese and Americans to recognize the importance
of the racial factors involved. This is naturally a
sensitive point with the Japanese, for they are in the
position of outsiders trying to get accepted in a more
attractive social circle. Any suggestion that the real
difficulty is racial implies their lack of the necessary
qualifications and, of course, arouses their resentment.
In order to avoid giving offense, the fact of race differ¬
ences is usually kept in the background, except by those
who are strongly anti-Japanese. During the negotia¬
tions at Washington in 1913 between Viscount Chinda
and the Federal government concerning the California
alien land law, the Japanese ambassador was given
repeated assurances by both the President and the
Secretary of State that "the enactment was based on
purely economic considerations and was not the out¬
come of racial prejudice." This official hypocrisy may
perhaps be justified on diplomatic grounds, but it can
hardly be contended that such declarations convince
anybody, least of all the Japanese, that race prejudice
has played such an insignificant part in the American-
Japanese problem. The fact that race prejudice is
always unreasoning, that it is found in its most virulent
form among the lower classes, and that it betrays a
narrowness of mind and a provincialism incompatible
with an ideal state of culture, does not justify us in
minimizing its importance or in pretending that it does
not exist. Such a policy results only in further mis-
Japanese as a Race Problem
191
understandings and in more strained relations because
of its lack of frankness and sincerity.
The fact that the fundamental point at issue is a
problem of race need not make us despair of finding
a satisfactory way out. Race prejudice is not so deeply
rooted that it cannot be eradicated. It is largely a
superficial matter and tends to break down with con¬
stant association. In so far as our antipathy to the
Japanese is based upon their strangeness and their lack
of conformity to our western type, it will gradually
disappear as the two races become more familiar with
each other. Even now the peculiar physiognomy of
the Japanese is not repulsive to us. It arouses preju¬
dice largely because it stands as a symbol of the Orient,
continually reminding us of the gulf between the two
races.
While all this tends to break down in time, under
favorable conditions, we must not forget that a satis¬
factory solution will not follow necessarily as a matter
of course. When strong prejudice exists against such
a clever and ambitious people as the Japanese, there
is a real danger that the final result will not be assimi¬
lation, but mere adaptation. Instead of becoming a
real part of all our varied activities, they may be driven
into a separate group that is compelled to maintain
itself by feeding upon rather than furthering the
interests of the American community. They will never
occupy the subordinate position we assign to the
Negroes and be content to do the drudgery expected
of inferiors. Their reaction to segregation will more
192
The Japanese Invasion
likely be similar to that of the Jews, who, in spite of
their many excellent qualities, have tended to make a
place for themselves in the European countries where
prejudice against them was strongest by taking advan¬
tage of the moral weakness and disorganization of
the people among whom they lived. A clever people
like the Japanese will make a place for themselves in
America in spite of all obstacles. Just what will be
the nature of the place that our race prejudice will
compel them to occupy is worthy of serious con¬
sideration.
This suggests the importance of a strict limitation
of the problem by bringing about the mingling of the
people of the East and the West only under circum¬
stances most favorable to a proper appreciation of each
other's essential character. In order to bring this
about, patience as well as mutual forbearance is neces¬
sary. The Japanese must see the wisdom of permitting
only the best representatives of their race to come to
America. We Americans, on our part, must rise above
our petty provincialism which makes us unwilling to
recognize true worth in men of different race. It is
too much to expect that either nation will suddenly
make such a radical change in its attitude. The best
that we can hope is that wise statesmanship will guide
the policies of the two countries while necessary ad¬
justments are being made in their international rela¬
tions. Race problems admit of no categorical solution
by the fiat of the legislator or by the exhortations of
peace advocates, for they gain their strength from
Japanese as a Race Problem
i93
slow-moving and powerful forces that have made
possible the development of race solidarity. The
American-Japanese problem must be worked out by a
gradual process which it may take generations in order
to make complete.
In the meantime nothing is more fraught with peril
than the continuance of our present half-hearted and
irresolute policy toward the Far East. We are so
obsessed with our feelings of self-sufficiency and supe¬
riority that we fail to appreciate the real significance
of the oriental problem. We seem to lose sight of the
fact that the few thousand Orientals in our country
are but the vanguard of many millions in Asia who
are eagerly awaiting the chance to cross the Pacific.
The movement is one that it will be difficult to repress,
because the motive force behind it is economic — the
struggle for existence under conditions that are too
hard to be borne.
From the standpoint of Asia the problem is of vital
importance. It is the outward thrust of a surplua
population seeking a better place for itself in the
world. When this oriental horde reaches America it
is inevitable that the situation should be further com¬
plicated by the factor of racial conflict. The Orientals
face here a different civilization, and cannot be readily
assimilated because of differences of race. The in¬
creased economic competition and their lower standards
of living intensify the racial animosities and make
more remote the possibility of a satisfactory solution.
For two generations a few thousand Chinese have
194
The Japanese Invasion
been living among us, and hardly a step has been made
toward their assimilation. After twenty-five years'
contact with such an adaptable people as the Japanese,
we find them still forced to live in segregation, deprived
of the best opportunities for success in our industrial
life. In spite of this, the Japanese insist upon their
right to enter America. Back of their insistence is the
pressure of economic necessity, which is being increas¬
ingly felt throughout the whole Orient. To the sig¬
nificance of this situation we remain blindly indifferent.
Our present temporizing policy, together with our lack
of military preparedness, is earning for us the con¬
tempt of the Far East, and may help to precipitate the
conflict we are trying to avoid.
CHAPTER XI
THE WORLD SIGNIFICANCE OF WAKING ASIA
WHAT Japan has now to do is to keep perfectly quiet,
to lull the suspicions that have arisen against her,
and to wait, meanwhile strengthening the foundations of
her national power, watching and waiting for the oppor¬
tunity which must one day surely come in the Orient.
When that day arrives, she will be able to follow her own
course; not only able to put meddling Powers in their
places, but even, as necessity arises, to meddle with the
affairs of other Powers. Then truly she will be able to
reap advantage for herself.—Count Hayashi.
We have no choice, we people of the United States, as
to whether or not we shall play a great part in the world.
That has been determined for us by fate, by the march of
events. We have to play that part. All that we can
decide is whether we shall play it well or ill.—Roosevelt.
As students of the West we are vitally concerned with
the awakening of half our world. Whether we will or not
the East is upon us. For good or evil, Asia is at our
door. We must help to solve the problem we have done
so much to create, and for the solution of which we hold
the key.—Sherwood Eddy.
That Asia is awake and is becoming increasingly
conscious of its strength is a fact that can no longer
be ignored. For many years the West has found it
very convenient and quite to its own interest to regard
195
196
The Japanese Invasion
the Orient as a sleeping giant which could be exploited
or insulted as the occasion seemed to demand. It has
been assumed that the white man, because of his supe¬
rior intelligence and culture, has the first right to all
the desirable places in the world; that men of color
should do the bidding of the white man and contribute
to his prosperity; that our self-imposed task of uplift¬
ing these backward races should atone for any seeming
wrong and injustice that we may cause them to suffer.
Such assumptions have proved so advantageous to the
West that we have been loath to believe that the revo¬
lutionary changes in the East have any serious signifi¬
cance for us. While Japan's rapid growth in military
power, her victory over a western nation, and her
imperialistic ambitions have provoked much comment
in Europe and America, there has been too little effort
made to see the bearing of it all upon the future rela¬
tions of the East and the West.
In many quarters it has been the tendency to regard
the awakening in Asia as confined largely to Japan
alone. Western writers usually describe the Japanese
as a peculiarly adaptable people who possess far more
than other Orientals the gift of profiting by contact
with foreign civilization. When our attention is called
to a possible yellow peril, we comfort ourselves with
the thought that ambitious Japan is only a small island
empire and that the vast mass of the Orient is still
asleep. But the whole trend of recent events in the
Far East makes it clear that the awakening of Asia
cannot be limited to any one nation. The past failure
Significance of Waking Asia
197
of the Chinese to profit by western intercourse must
be attributed not to any racial inability, but to their
strong prepossession in favor of their own civilization.
Under the stress of the necessity of protecting their
national existence they are showing a remarkable
facility in learning the lessons that the West has to
teach. It is now plainly evident that the Chinese mil¬
lions are abandoning their complacent, self-sufficient
attitude and are gathering their strength in a more
determined and effective manner than has ever charac¬
terized them in the past.
That the general awakening in eastern Asia will
eventually mean a military struggle between the East
and the West is a possibility about which it is useless
to speculate. We may be sure, however, that these
changes now going on in the East will involve radical
readjustments in our international relations with
oriental powers. The West has already learned the
necessity of dealing with Japan as an equal. When
China has gained sufficient prestige to demand similar
treatment our old attitude of superiority and conde¬
scension toward the yellow races can be maintained
only at our peril. Foreign aggression in the Orient
will then be no longer tolerated. The right of oriental
nations to govern their own territories will be recog¬
nized as the natural thing. The sorry spectacle of the
great Chinese nation split up into a number of foreign
principalities will only be a matter of historical interest.
It is conceivable that the revolutionary readjustment
of western relations with the Orient may take place
198
The Japanese Invasion
without force of arms. Eastern peoples have too great
a recognition of the value of trade to wish to drive
the West out of the East. They will insist on their
right to rule themselves, but economic necessity will
insure a ready welcome for foreign capital and will
make the presence of foreign business men a necessary
factor in their business and industrial life.
The world significance of waking Asia must be
found not so much in a military yellow peril that will
close the open door in the East, but rather in the in¬
creased stimulus that will be given to emigration from
the Orient to the West. Up to the present time western
opposition to oriental immigration has kept back the
stream of Asiatics that has threatened to pour into the
more sparsely settled regions of the western world.
Whenever the Orientals have tried to better their lot
by sharing in the opportunities to be found in the coun¬
tries dominated by white men, they have met with a
stern rebuff. Their exclusion thus far has not caused
serious trouble. With the balance of power in our
hands, they did not dare to question the justice of
our decision.
But with Asia thoroughly awake the problem may
not be so easily solved. It is not merely a question of
the oriental nations gaining sufficient military power
to compel us to adopt a different policy. The point of
even more vital significance is the fact that an awak¬
ened Orient will have new desires that their country
cannot satisfy and which will make almost resistless
the tendency to emigrate to lands that offer better
Significance of Waking Asia
199
opportunities. When five hundred millions of Asiatics
become filled with the restless spirit that results from
contact with a higher standard of living, existing
treaties may prove to be ineffectual barriers to the
oriental invasion.
It is this aspect of the oriental problem that vitally
concerns the western world. On the one hand, we
have the sparsely settled countries of the West, with
their wonderful opportunities for exploitation and
development; on the other, the constant push of eco¬
nomic forces literally driving the people of the crowded
East out into the more favored lands where the condi¬
tions of life are not so hard. It is at once evident that
here exists a situation with which it will be difficult to
deal. It involves more than the question of an armed
Orient ready to fight for its honor and for the things
it may choose to demand. The motive power back of
the movement is stronger than political force. It is
nothing less than hunger, the desire for food to sustain
life and make possible the rearing of their children —
a fundamental need for the satisfaction of which men
will stop short not even of death.
A glance at present conditions in the Far East will
at once make clear how actively these economic forces
are at work. Japan is now in a stage of industrial
transition. The old handicraft system is giving way
to factories, thus throwing out of employment thou¬
sands of skilled artisans. The rapid development of
industry has caused a movement of population to cities,
with all of its attending evils of congestion, improper
200
The Japanese Invasion
sanitation, hard working conditions, and low wages.
These workmen are forbidden by law to try to better
their condition by organization. They are ground
under the heel of an industrial despotism that has
served to increase their wants without giving them an
adequate chance to satisfy them. The new regime has
meant a great increase in prices without a correspond¬
ing increase in rates of wages. Modern science has
greatly lowered the death rate, while the birth rate
has not been checked. With an annual increase of
about 700,000 people, competition is becoming so keen
that many are forced to the wall. The government,
instead of coming to the rescue of its people, makes
excessive demands both in military service and in direct
taxation. The Japanese are in fact the most heavily
taxed people in the world.
All this has brought in an era of discontent that at
times threatens the stability of the government. So
hard is the struggle for existence of the mass of the
people that thousands look eagerly for a chance to go
abroad, where they can make a new start in life. The
government, in their attempt to guide this movement,
have sought outlets for their people in Korea and Man¬
churia. Thus far this solution of their problem has
resulted in failure. The difficulty is that they are
countries where already live plenty of laborers who
have even a lower standard of living than the Japanese.
The only immigrants who can succeed there are those
with capital to invest in business enterprises. Penni¬
less and unskilled laborers find themselves driven
Significance of Waking Asia
201
against worse conditions than they had to face in
Japan.
Consequently, the stream of emigration tends to go
to America, where even the most poverty-stricken
workman has a fair chance to succeed. Only those
who have lived in Japan and have come in sympathetic
touch with the common people can realize how preva¬
lent is this desire to go to America. As is sometimes
said, America is the land of their dreams, a goal far
more attractive to them than even the enchanting para¬
dise pictured by popular Buddhism. This strong
desire to go to America has been kept in check only
by the strict regulations of the government. If the
bars were let suddenly down, the emigration to
America would not be by thousands but by tens of
thousands. The pressure brought to bear upon the
government to make this possible can hardly be over¬
estimated. In their statement of their case to America
they usually assert that the motive back of this move¬
ment is the vindication of their national honor, the
determination to share in the rights granted to other
nations. In reality, although the Japanese may not be
fully conscious of it, the motive force behind it all is
economic, the elemental desire for a better chance in
life, a force that may soon be beyond the power of their
government to control unless impassable barriers are
erected abroad.
When we turn to China we see a situation as yet
less acute but fraught with still greater consequences
because of its vast population and the extent of its
202
The Japanese Invasion
territory. The Chinese people, who outnumber us
five to one, are facing all the evils of overpopulation.
Abject need has taught them how to exist on the low¬
est possible scale of living. Very few Americans
realize what a narrow margin separates the masses
of the Chinese from starvation. Dr. Ross gives this
vivid picture of the poverty of the common people:
Though the farmer thriftily combs his harvest field,
every foot of the short stubble is gone over again by poor
women and children, who are content if in a day's glean¬
ing they can gather a handful of wheat heads to keep
them alive the morrow. On the Hongkong water
front the path of the coolies carrying produce between
warehouse and junk is lined with tattered women, most
of them with a baby on the back. Where bags of beans or
rice are in transit a dozen wait with basket and brush to
sweep up the grains dropped from the sacks, while others
run by the bearer, if his sack leaks a little, to catch the
particles as they fall. Where sugar is being unloaded, a
mob of gleaners swarm upon the lighter the moment the
last sack leaves and eagerly scrape from the gangplank
and the deck the sugar mixed with dirt that for two hours
has been trampled into a muck by the bare feet of two
score coolies trotting back and forth across a dusty road.1
In the efforts of the people to wring a living for them¬
selves out of the soil, the arable portions of China are
tilled like a garden. Intensive agriculture is seen there at
its best. Every natural resource, no matter how trifling,
is made to serve its purpose. Weeds and leaves of
trees are carefully gathered for fuel. Almost all kinds
1 Ross, E. A., The Changing Chinese, p. 80.
Significance of Waking Asia 203
of flesh are used for food. Silkworms are eaten after
they have produced their silk. Domestic animals that
have died a natural death find their way to the larder.
Rats and cats and dogs are on sale in the meat markets.
Even entrails are not disdained as an article of diet.
In order to keep themselves from starving, the coolie
classes must work far beyond their strength. The
chair-bearers, ricksha men, and treadmill coolies wear
themselves out in a few years. Their children while
yet too young must take their places and aid in the
struggle for food.
In the midst of an economic situation like this, where
so many millions live perilously near the poverty line,
the vanguard of western civilization is beginning to
exert considerable influence. It is already having some
effect on the building up of industry, and in so far
as it is able to do this, the productive power of the
nation is increased and the lot of the people will be
made more endurable.
But there will follow other significant consequences,
some of which are seldom given sufficient considera¬
tion. Among these is the decreased mortality which
will come about through the efforts of modern medical
science. At present the mortality among infants is
appalling. Statistics are not available for whole
China, but foreign physicians have stated that in the
particular cities with which they were familiar eighty-
five per cent of the children die before the end of the
second year. The death rate in China is estimated at
about fifty-five per thousand. In modernized Japan,
204
The Japanese Invasion
where the benefits of medical science are now put
within reach of nearly all the people, they have lowered
the death rate to twenty per thousand. It is reason¬
able to suppose that similar results will be attained in
China as soon as the government enforces laws of
sanitation and makes possible the training of native
physicians in sufficient numbers to fight successfully
against disease. Dr. Ross says further:
But to lower the birth rate in equal degree, that, alas, is
quite another matter. The factors responsible for the
present fecundity of fifty to sixty per thousand — three
times that of the American stock, and nowhere matched
in the white man's world, unless it be in certain districts
in Russia and certain parishes in French Canada — will
not yield so readily. It may easily take the rest of this
century to overcome ancestor worship, early marriage, the
passion for big families, and the inferior position of the
wife. For at least a generation or two China will pro¬
duce rapidly in the oriental way people who will die off
slowly in the occidental way. When the death rate has
been planed down to twenty, the birth rate will still be
more than double, and numbers will be growing at the
rate of over two per cent a year. Even with the aid of a
scientific agriculture it is, of course, impossible to make
the crops of China feed such an increase. It must emi¬
grate or starve. It is the outward thrust of surplus Jap¬
anese that is today producing dramatic political results in
Korea and Manchuria. In forty or fifty years there will
come an outward thrust of surplus Chinese on ten times
this scale. With a third of the adults able to read and
with daily newspapers thrilling the remotest village with
tidings of the great world, eighteen provinces will be
pouring forth emigrants instead of two. To Mexico,
Significance of Waking Asia 205
Central and South America, southwestern Asia, Asia
Minor, Africa, and even old Europe, the black-haired
bread seekers will stream, and then " What shall we do
with the Chinese?" from being in turn a Californian, an
Australian, a Canadian, and a South African question,
will become a world question.1
Another important effect of contact with western
civilization, already mentioned in the foregoing quota¬
tion, is the development of means of communication
which will make possible better mobilization of the
Chinese millions. At present, as far as the masses of
the people are concerned, they are far removed from
western influences. Their illiteracy prevents them
from following the news of the world in the news¬
paper press. Lack of railways and poor wagon roads
limit lines of travel largely to navigable rivers. Moving
from place to place in China is a serious matter, in¬
volving much time and inconvenience as well as
expense. The millions in interior China know little
of the West and possess no facilities to leave their
country if they so desired.
All this will be changed when public schools make
possible the wide circulation of newspapers and when
railways connect the large cities throughout the dif¬
ferent provinces. The people then not only will have
a wider vision of the world, but will find it easily
possible to go abroad. The masses will feel stirring
within them a growing discontent with their lot in life.
Contact with higher standards of living will arouse
1 The Changing Chinese, p. no.
206
The Japanese Invasion
within them desires beyond their power to satisfy. It
is out of situations like this that great migrations arise.
Conditions in the Far East indicate that China will
soon be ripe for such a movement. When it begins,
western civilization will be put to a severe test either
in stemming the tide or in assimilating the hordes from
the Orient.
It is thus evident that this marvelous westernization
of the Orient, in which we take much pride, is putting
into motion forces which may soon be beyond our
power to control. Some have foreseen more or less
clearly the trend of affairs in the Far East and have
urged that while yet there is time our Pacific coast be
made a racial frontier where a determined stand shall
be taken against the oriental immigrant invasion. To
many, such an attitude seems born in a spirit of provin¬
cialism and is unworthy of a hospitable nation like
ours. Unfortunately, those who have been most active
in their efforts to promote oriental interests in Amer¬
ica have seemingly been blind to the significance of
waking Asia. Secure in their belief that America is
strong enough to dominate any situation that may
arise, they have advocated a temporizing policy which
may ultimately involve us in more serious complica¬
tions as the Orient increases in strength.
The problem, moreover, is one that will not respond
readily to diplomatic agreements. The Japanese gov¬
ernment, with the best intentions in the world toward
America, cannot ignore the fundamental conditions in
their country which determine the trend of their
Significance of Waking Asia 207
national policies. For at least another generation,
until the period of the industrial transition in Japan
is safely past, the relentless pressure of economic forces
must play a predominant part in Japan's international
relations. The fact that their imperialistic policy of
expansion rests on what seems to be stern necessity,
and not entirely upon their oft-mentioned determina¬
tion to secure equal rights abroad, should give us suffi¬
cient assurance of their intention to carry it out in the
face of all obstacles.
It is very clear even to the superficial observer that
the whole Orient is now passing through a period of
transition and adjustment which produces suffering
and discontent among vast numbers of their people.
The problems their governments face are many and
serious. In their time of stress they naturally look to
the West for assistance. Where we, as well as they,
make a mistake, is in supposing that the open-door
policy on our part would be an important step in im¬
proving their situation. This, at its best, would only
give temporary relief and would not touch the root of
their trouble. In the experience of European countries,
emigration has been for them a loss rather than a gain.
The ultimate welfare of the Orient depends not on its
right to send emigrants abroad. Its progress will best
be furthered by removing the conditions that cause
emigration. This, of course, cannot be done at once.
It will mean a slow and painful process of industrial
development. Wisely directed efforts must be made
along the line of birth control. The standard of living
2o8
The Japanese Invasion
must be raised until the mass of the people can live in
reasonable comfort. When all this is attained, the
immigration problem will no longer be an important
issue, and the open-door policy which has always been
one of the ideals of our nation can be fully carried
out with Asia as well as Europe.
While such a solution of the problem is much to be
wished for, we have by no means any assurance that it
will be brought to pass within the immediate future.
On the contrary, all the indications in the Orient seem
to point in a different direction. Emigration, to the
eastern peoples, seems to offer a quicker and more
available escape from their economic burdens than does
the more fundamental process of developing the re¬
sources of their country. It is too much to expect that
the Orientals will exercise more restraint about emigra¬
tion than have the people of Europe. The Japanese
and the Chinese feel strongly that they must gain the
right of emigration to the West. Their national pol¬
icies are, of course, constructed with this desire in view,
and while temporarily this aspect of them is held in
abeyance it has by no means been fundamentally
changed. They are simply waiting for a more favor¬
able opportunity to press their demands.
We must bear in mind that the Orient will not always
come to us in the attitude of a suppliant. The Orientals
feel deeply that their cause is righteous, and their hands
are strengthened by the consciousness of growing
power. The West has a thousand times over in its
aggressions and insults given the East good and suf-
Significance of Waking Asia
209
ficient cause for war. It is to be hoped that the issue
will be worked out along peaceful lines. Whether it
will or not depends upon our skill in handling the situ¬
ation and upon the prestige that our country possesses
because of its fighting strength. No matter how much
we may wish to escape it, the issue is thrust upon us.
America is the frontier where must meet the East and
the West, and upon the result of this meeting hinge
vast consequences for the whole world.
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The following lists, while by no means exhaustive,
include the most representative books and articles
bearing on the subject.
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Cary, Otis. History of Christianity in Japan. Fleming H.
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Collier, Price. The West in the East. Duckworth & Co.,
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Commons, J. R. Races and Immigrants in America. The '
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Conklin, E. G. Heredity and Environment in the Develop¬
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Coolidge, A. C. The United States as a World-Power. The
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Fairchild, H. P. Immigration, a World Movement, and Its
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212
The Japanese Invasion
Gulick, S. L. Evolution of the Japanese, Social and Psychic.
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lThe White Peril in the Far East. Fleming H. Revell Com¬
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Lawton, L. The Empires of the Far East. Small, Maynard
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— Markino, Y. When I Was a Child. London, 1913.
Masaoka, N., ed. Japan to America. (A symposium of
papers by leaders of thought in Japan.) G. P. Putnam's
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Mecklin, J. M. Democracy and Race Friction: A Study in
Social Ethics. The Macmillan Company, New York,
1914; pp. 273.
Millard, T. F. The Far Eastern Question. T. F. Unwin,
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The New Far East. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York,
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Millis, H. A. The Japanese Problem in the United States.
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Mitford, E. B. Japan's Inheritance. Dodd, Mead & Com¬
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Murdoch, J. A History of Japan during Century of Early
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Nitobe, I. The Intercourse between the United States and
Japan. The Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore, 1891; pp.
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The Japanese Nation. G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York,
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Nuttall, Z. Earliest Historical Relations between Mexico
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Okuma, Count. Fifty Years of New Japan. Smith, Elder
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Pooley, A. M. Secret Memoirs of Count Tadasu Hayashi.
G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 1915; pp. 331.
Porter, R. P. The Full Recognition of Japan. Henry
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Reinsch, P. S. World Politics as Influenced by the Oriental
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Roberts, P. The New Immigration. The Macmillan Com¬
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Royce, J. Race Questions, Provincialism and Other Ameri¬
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Soyeda, J. A Survey of the Japanese Question in California.
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Spiller, G. Inter-Racial Problems. King & Sons, London,
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Stephenson, G. T. Race Distinctions in American Law.
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Weale, B. L. P. The Conflict of Colour. Macmillan & Co.,
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Williams, S. W. Journal of the Perry Expedition to Japan.
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2i4 The Japanese Invasion
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Japan Times Press, Tokyo, 1915; pp. 530.
'Unsigned. Japanese Immigration. The Japanese Associa¬
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ARTICLES
Abdullah, Achmed. "The Armed Yellow Fist." Sunset—
The Pacific Monthly, Jan., 1915, pp. 96-101.
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INDEX
INDEX
Agriculture, Japanese immigrants in, 121.
Agricultural class in Japan, 102 ff.
American attitude of superiority, 196.
American friendliness for Japanese, 70.
American government, Attitude toward Japan of, 72.
Anti-foreign articles in Japanese press, 31.
Anti-Japanese Convention, 43.
Aoki, Viscount, Marriage of, 157.
Asiatic immigration, World significance of, 198.
Assimilation of Japanese, 96 ff., no, in.
Atkinson, J. L., on western customs in Japan, 26.
Baelz, on Eurasian children in Japan, 164.
Bailey, T. P., analysis of race prejudice, 70.
Bennett, J. E., on Japanese as servants, 114.
Boas, Franz, on racial differences, 98.
Bramhall, J. T., on employers' attitude toward Japanese, 81.
Brinkley, Captain, on attitude of medieval Japan toward foreign¬
ers, 16; on health of Eurasian children, 165.
British Columbia, Japanese schools in, 144.
Brown, A. M., on Japanese industry, 74.
Bryan, W. J., conference with Ambassador Chinda, 73.
Buddhist missions among Japanese in America, 143.
Business associations, types of, 135.
California, Alien land law, 57; expression of friendship for
Japan by colleges of, 76; prejudice against Japanese in, 82-84.
Cary, Otis, on expulsion of Christians from Japan, 17.
Chicago, Japanese organizations in, 141; prejudice against Jap¬
anese in, 109.
China, death rate in, 203; effects of western civilization on, 203;
Japan's victory over, 37; over population in, 202; poverty
in, 202.
Chinese, attitude of superiority, 99; changed attitude toward
western civilization, 197.
Chinese immigration, opposition to, 38.
227
228
Index
Chinese immigrants, difference between Japanese and, 38; soli¬
darity of, 108.
Christian Embassy to Japan, 77.
Christian mission work for Japanese, 142.
Clement, E. W., on Christianity in Japan, 26.
Colored races, problem of mingling of white and, 184.
Congress, Japanese Embassy in, 12.
Conklin, E. G., on amalgamation of races, 173.
Contractors, efficiency of Japanese, 132.
Cooperative housekeeping among Japanese immigrants, 133.
Davis, H., on shipwrecked Japanese, 3.
De Forest, J. H., on Japanese attitude toward the west, 24; moral
greatness of the Japanese, 71.
Domestic servants, Japanese as, 112 ff.; in Japan, 120.
Dunn, A., on economic aspects of Japanese problem, 80.
Dutch influence on Japan, 19.
Economic aspect of Japanese problem, 80, 181, 182.
Economic conditions, adaptability of Japanese to American, 126.
Economic forces back of Oriental immigration problem, 206.
Embassy from Japan to America, 5 ff.
English, Japanese immigrants knowledge of, 104.
European immigration, American attitude toward, 175, 176; dif¬
ferences between Oriental immigration and, 176, 177.
Europeanization of society in Japan, 26.
Exclusion, Japan's policy of, 3, 17.
Extra-territoriality in Japan, 21.
Farnham, M. H., on loyalty of Japanese servants, 120.
Federal Council of Churches of Christ, 76.
Foreign customs in Japan, 100.
" Gang " system of employment, 130.
" Gentlemen's Agreement," 48.
Gulick, S. L., on assimilation of the Japanese, 98; inadvisability
of intermarriage, 162-3; Japanese use of newspaper press,
146; necessity of restricted immigration, 186; oriental atti¬
tude toward the west, 24, 29; proposed solution of immigra¬
tion problem, 186, 187.
Hawaii, Japanese laborers in, 41.
Hawks, F. L., on Perry's expedition to Japan, 4.
Hearn, Lafcadio, on difficulties of the Japanese language, 95.
Index
229
Holman, C. V., on prejudice against Japanese, 85.
Houston, Japanese in, 124.
Ichihashi, Y., on occupations of Japanese immigrants, 102; west¬
ern dislike of Japan, 34, 35.
Immigrants, occupation of Japanese, 51.
Immigration, act regulating Japanese, 47; present regulations of
Japanese, 49; proposed amendment to present law, 186.
Immorality of Japanese women, 140.
India, Eurasians in, 149.
Industrial transition in Japan, 199.
Intermarriage, examples in Japan of, 159 ff.; examples of Jap¬
anese-American families in America, 168 ff.; frequency in
America, 167; objections to, 171-72; prejudice against, 152 ff.
Japanese, appearance and clothing of, 10; associations in Amer¬
ica, 137 ff.; children in America, 51; hostility toward America,
61; indirectness of, 115; number of arrivals each year, 50;
pride and conceit, 37; schools in America, 144; skill in agri¬
culture, 75; their favorable attitude toward western civiliza¬
tion, 99; vernacular press in America, 146.
Japanese attitude, Misconceptions of, 30.
Japanese immigration, crux of problem, 60, 177; danger of unre¬
stricted, 185.
Japanese immigrants, attitude of employers toward, 81; language
difficulties, 104; occupations of, 102; ownership of land, 124.
Japanese menace, 91, 92.
Japanese problem, its complex nature, 81.
Japanese quarters in western cities, 106.
Jewish reaction to race prejudice, 192.
Kawakami, K., on Japanese association with Americans, 107;
Japanese attitude toward the west, 25; Japanese as farm
laborers, 122; standard of living of Japanese immigrants, 127.
Kennan, G., on Japan's policy of exclusion, 3; segregation of
Japanese pupils, 46.
Kikuchi, Baron, on western learning in Japan, 19.
Kinnosuke, A., on Japanese attitude toward America, 55-
Kobe, M., on California anti-Japanese movement, 59.
Korea, Japanese emigration to, 200.
Labor conditions in Japan, 200.
Ladd, G. T., on Japanese attitude toward the west, 28.
230
Index
Lawton, on problem of intermarriage, 155.
Lowell, Percival, on idiosyncrasies of the Japanese, 95.
Loyalty of the Japanese, 120.
MacCauley, C., on economic aspect of Japanese problem, 181.
MacGowan, on Japanese attitude toward foreigners, 21.
Markino, Y., on his experience in San Francisco, 40.
Marriage of Japanese immigrants, 139.
Mexico, Japanese in, 1.
McLaughlin, A., on assimilation of the Japanese, 97.
Michigan, opposition to Japanese in, 86.
Mikami, K., on Japanese immigrants' knowledge of English, 105.
Millis, H. A., on necessity of restriction of immigration, 185.
Missionaries, attitude toward Japanese, 69; non-assimilation of,
93; social relations between Japanese and, 110.
Murdock, J., on early Portuguese discoveries as Christian propa¬
gandists, 18; Roman Catholics in Japan, 2.
Mutual benefit societies, 135.
Nagai, R., on Japanese dislike of western domination, 58.
Negroes, Japanese dislike of, 125.
Newspapers, Sensational character of Japanese, 32.
New York, Japanese association in, 140; Japanese Embassy in, 7.
Nitobe, I., on English language in Japan, 101; Japanese inter¬
course with America, 4; occupations of Japanese immigrants,
113; standard of living in Japan, 128.
Noguchi, Yone, on his opinion of the West, 30.
Nuttall, Z., on Japan's relation with Mexico, 2.
Occupation of Japanese immigrants, 112.
Okuma, Marquis, on American treatment of Japanese, 54.
Omori, Dr. T., attacked in San Francisco, 46.
Organization of Japanese labor, 132.
Organizations, Japanese success in maintaining, 148.
Otani, K., on lack of education of Japanese immigrants, 65.
Ownership of land by Japanese immigrants, 124.
Park, R. E., on racial assimilation, 178.
Perry, Commodore, 4.
Persecution of Christians in Japan, 17.
Philadelphia, Japanese Embassy in, 9, 13.
Philippines, Japanese in the, I.
" Picture bride " movement, 138.
Index
231
Portuguese in Japan, 16.
Prefectural clubs, 136.
Prejudice of Japanese against the West, 19.
Producers' associations, 134.
Race prejudice, against orientals, 78, 189; Bailey's analysis of, 69;
in American colleges, 87; its tendency to break down, 191.
Racial factors, importance of, 190.
Reaction against foreign customs, 27.
Religious work among Japanese immigrants, 142.
Roberts, P., on cooperative housekeeping among Japanese immi¬
grants, 133.
Roman Catholics in Japan, 2.
Roosevelt, opposition to exclusion movement, 45; restriction of
Japanese immigrants, 52.
Ross, E. A., on birth rate in China, 204; poverty in China, 202.
Rowell, C. H., on danger of yellow invasion, 78, 79.
San Francisco, Japanese Embassy in, 5; opposition to Japanese in,
40, 42.
Segregation, in Japanese quarters, 106; of Japanese pupils, 43,
45, 46-
Simons, S. E., on non-assimilation of Chinese immigrants, 108.
Solidarity of Japanese immigrants, 147.
Soyeda, J., on Japanese problem, 59, 63.
Spencer, Herbert, on intermarriage, 150.
Standard of living in Japan, 103, 104, 126.
Suspicion of Japan, American attitude of, 89 ff.
Suyehiro, S., on Japanese demand for equal rights, 67.
Thomas, W. I., on racial differences, 97; reasons for changed
attitude toward Japan, 36.
Trade guilds, 135, 136.
Trade unions, Japanese excluded from, 83.
Treaties, between America and Japan, 21; revision of, 27.
University of Chicago, Japanese students in, 86.
Washington, Japanese Embassy in, 5.
Wilson, President, Letter on attitude toward Japan, 73-
Woehlke, W. V., on non-assimilation of orientals, 79-
Y. M. C. A., attitude toward Japanese, 82, 83.
Yoshida, on rural Japanese emigrants, 103.
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