YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

Bought with the income
ofthe
'WILLL!\.M C. EGLESTON FUND

THE
AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM

THE AMERICAN
JAPANESE PROBLEM
A STUDY OF
THE RACIAL RELATIONS OF THE EAST
AND THE WEST

BY
SIDNEY L. GULICK, M.A., D.D.
PROFESSOR IN DOSHISHA UNIVEBSITT AND LECTURER IN THE
IMPERIAL tJNIVERSITr OP KYOTO, JAPAN
AtrrROB OF "the growth ot THB KINGDOM OF GOD," "JAPANESE EVOLUTION
PSTCHIC AND SOCIAL," "THE WHITE PERIL IN THE TAR EAST,"
"SHINBHINKWAEON (IN JAPANESE}," ETC.

ILLUSTRATED

NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
1914

COPTEIGHT, 1914, BT
CHAELES SCEIBXZE'3 SONS

Published Mari^ 1914

TO
ANDREW CARNEGIE
AND THE HOST OF LOYAL WOEKEES
FOE UNIVEESAL PEACE AND
THE FBIENDSHIP OF THE EAST AND THE WEST
THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED

CONTENTS
CHAPTEB PAQB
I. America's Oriental Problem  3
II. Califoenia's Japanese Problem  10
In. Misunderstandings, Explanations, and Interpre
tations  28
IV. Misunderstandings, Explanations, and Interpre
tations (continued)  52
V. Facts about Florin  77
¦VI. Japanese Efforts to Solve the Problem ... 90
vn. Abe Japanese Assimilable?  118
'III. Abe Japanese Assimilable? (continued) .... 147
IX. Can Americans Assimilate Japanese?  169
X. Califohnia's Anti-Japanese Agitation  184
XI. Unrecognized Factors  197
xn. The Perils — Yellow and White  216
XIII. The Pebils — Yellow and White (continued) . 231
XIV. Illusions — Occidental and Oriental  247
XV. Illusions — Occidental and Oriental (continued) 259
XVI. The Real Yellow Peril  274
XVII. Outlines of a New American Oriental Policy . 281
¦vii

viii CONTENTS
APPENDICES PASB
A. Literature Relating to the Problem of the Japanese
in California  311
B. A Summary by Labor Commissioner J. D. Mackenzie
OF the Report of the "Special State Investiga
tion OP 1909" OP the Japanese in California.
Given to the Press May 30, 1910  316
C. Two Charts Illustrating the Proportion of White
and Japanese Farm Laborers According to the
Principal Crops  324
D. Extracts prom the Japanese-American Treaty of
1911  328
B. Extracts from the Treaty between the United
States and China Concerning Immigration of
November 17, 1880, and References to the Sub
sequent Acts op Congress Relative to the Same 331
F. California's Anti-Alien Land Law, May 19, 1913 . 333
G. Japanese Laws Regulating Land-Ownership by
Foreigners  336
Index  341

ILLUSTRATIONS

A typical prosperous farming Japanese family op
Florin  Frontis'piece
FACINO PAGE
Japanese laborers at work on a STRAvraERRY farm in
Florin. The Americanization of Japanese farm labor 12
Mr. Takbta's ranch in Florin  30
An Americanized Japanese family op Florin .... 46
Children attending the Japanese school at Florin . . 66
The house op Mr. and Mrs. Suzuki, Florin. The house
that Mr. Mubai built with his own hands .... 78
Interior op the home of Mr. and Mrs. Tanaka of Florin 96
The public school at Florin Centre  112
Mr. Otto Fukushima. Mrs. Otto Fukushima. The four
daughters op Mr. and Mrs. Fukushima  130
The mother on the left is half American and half
Japanese. The mother and son on the right are pure
Japanese   160
The father of the little girl on the left is Japanese,
HER mother a CHINESE WOMAN. ThE FATHER OP THE
children on the right is japanese and their mother
American  170
This photograph illustrates the misleading and some
times malicious character op some of THB STATEMENTS
MADE BY anti-Japanese writers  194
Mrs. Dr. Matsuye Suzuki. Young Japanese graduate of
Yale. Mh. and Mrs. Nojiri  220
ix

X ILLUSTRATIONS FACINQ PAOB
Japanese children in the Methodist Home in San Fran
cisco  244
Japanese children in a Methodist kindergarten in San
Francisco  266
Twenty-six pupils of Kawaiahao Seminary, Honolulu . 290

THE
AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM

The morning star leads forth the dawn,
But with the coming of the sun
The morning star hath paled and gone,
And never is their glory one.
From nature's world our symbols come.
Heaven's stars are on this flag unfurl'd.
On that the dazzling, rising flame
Of sunfire on the Orient world.
They float together now on high.
The Stars still lead as they have done
Yet pale not from the morning sky
Before the glory of the Sun.
And these may light the Greater Day
If so we will, if so we try. . . .
Columbia, choose the nobler way!
Through thee the sunder'd worlds draw nigh!

THE
AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
CHAPTER I
AMERICA'S ORIENTAL PROBLEM
Whites in. America number approximately ninety
miUions, Asiatics less than one hundred and fifty
thousand; yet we face an ominous racial situation.
California, fearing an overwhelming Asiatic in
vasion, demands complete exclusion of Japanese as
of Chinese and desires vast mUitary preparations.
Japan, on the other hand, for sixty years guided
by America's friendship, conscious of faithful ad
ministration of the "gentlemen's agreement," and
deeply wounded by California's recent antiahen
legislation, claims of us equal rights for her citizens
with those of other lands and demands courteous
international treatment.
Misunderstanding, foreboding fear, humihating
treatment, on the side of America; disappointment,
indignation, resentment, on the side of Japan; such
are the mutterings of a threatening international
storm. This statement, however, presents but a
superficial view. The real problem is deeper and

4 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
has many phases. It arises out of the enormous
differences between American and Asiatic civiliza
tions. This difference is variously described. United
States Senator Perkins, in a speech on the proposed
Chinese exclusion law said in 1902: "Personal free
dom, the home, education. Christian ideals, respect
for law and order, are found on one side; and on the
other traffic in human flesh, domestic life which
renders a home impossible, a desire for only that
knowledge which may be at once coined into dollars,
a contempt for our rehgion as new, novel and with
out substantial basis, and no idea of the meaning
of law other than a regulation to be evaded by
cunning or by bribery."
Mr. Walter MacArthur, of San Francisco, says:
"The Asiatic does not think in terms of Caucasian
morahty. He lacks the racial impulse that makes
for the maintenance of a high standard of living.
He is a menace to free government because he lacks
the inspiration of personal hberty."
In a word, from the American point of view, every
thing in Asiatic civilization goes by opposites. Their
language, logic, science, and medicine are folly to
us and ours to them; their morals are often our
crimes and their religion our superstitions. Many
of their national and family customs, political, sci
entific, and philosophical conceptions, and moral
and religious convictions are diametrically opposed
to ours. It is simply impossible for us to understand

AMERICA'S ORIENTAL PROBLEM 5
them, and of course they cannot comprehend us nor
enter really mto our life. So thinks the average
Occidental. And this is what Kipling is mistakenly
supposed to have meant in his famous ballad:
"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."
But the problem of the East and the West is more
even than this. Asiatics swarm by miUions. For
ages their struggle for existence has been incon
ceivably severe; they have developed big brains,
extraordinary skUl in farming, unlimited capacity
for hard work, and incredible abUity for living on
httle food. WTien they come over to America their
industry and thrift are amazing; they underhve, un
derbid, and outwork us. In open competition the
white man has no show.
It follows, does it not, that the Asiatic must be
excluded from America? "The conclusion of the
whole matter is that exclusion is the only alterna
tive of race degeneracy or race war," says Mr. Mac-
Arthur. So long as Asiatics stay in their own lands
they may follow their own absurd ways of thinking
and behaving if they wish to. Nevertheless, they
must not be allowed to overturn our civUization nor
be permitted to tum us into Asiatics by ruinous
economic competition.
But what of the future? Japanese are leaming all

6 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
the white man knows about science, industry, ma
chinery, and warfare. China is following in Japan's
footsteps. In a few score years they will have added
aU our special attainments and powers to theirs.
Their factories wih produce ah we are now sending
them, and where wUl be our commerce with the
Orient? Worse than this, they wiU be able to manu
facture what we use far more cheaply than we can
do the manufacturing ourselves, and what wUl be
come of our industries? They wUl buUd and sail
ships and capture aU oversea trade.
Moreover, they wUl develop vast armies and huge
navies which they wUl of course use against us to
enforce their rights and even their ambitions, just
as we have used our armies and navies during the
past three hundred years in conquering the world.
What possible defence has the white man against
awaking and oncoming Asia?
These are the problems that white men are begin
ning to think they see. British America and Cah-
fomia. Central and South America, New Zealand
and Australia, South Africa, and Siberia, every land
where the white man is dominant, is adopting the
pohcy wliich Japan devised three hundred years ago
— exclusion of the alien race and civihzation.
But this is only one half of the problem, the half
the white man sees. There is also the half the Asiatic
sees. This, too, the modern man must know if he is
really to understand the world-situation. How, then,

AMERICA'S ORIENTAL PROBLEM 7
does the yeUow man look at it? Very much as the
white man does — only from the other side of the
shield. " We are an innocent, peaceful people," they think,
"wishing to be left alone. We have developed our
civilization, the best and the oldest in the world.
The aggressive domineering white man has recently
begun to overrun the earth; he has destroyed many
peoples, overthrown their govemments, seized their
lands, and murdered countless miUions. He re
gards neither right nor heaven. Might alone is his
god. We have never mterfered 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-caUed rights, in our part of the world. His
uncouth ways, his materialistic civUization and his
strange behefs, are dangerous to our ancient and
noble life. It is true that at present we are weaker
than he, for we have never beheved 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 wUl leam his secrets;
master his methods; reorganize our govemments;
establish army and navy; and introduce the instm
ments of Western civihzation, adding aU its good
points to ours; thus shaU 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

8 THE A^IERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
white man, not only in economic efficiency, but in
\brain power, general culture, and moral character.
And what a shame it is that the domineering inso
lent white man has seized aU the great unoccupied
coimtries with their vast natural resources, and self
ishly holds them for himself, whUe we who consti
tute more than a half of the world's most cultured
peoples are cooped up in these limited lands. Surely
the white nations must finaUy be forced if necessary
to grant us that equality of opportunity and courtesy
of treatment which they accord one another."
Such, in briefest terms, is the dramatic, nay, the
tragic, situation to-day. California, British Colum
bia, Australia, Japan, and India are beginning to
be conscious of the vast race problem now arising
between the East and the West. China is stUl
ignorant, but wUl not remain so many decades
longer. A new era in human history is thus be
ginning. Great nations, races, and civUization, for
ages self-sufficient, proud, ambitious, determined,
are now face to face. Shall mutual misunderstand
ings, suspicions, aggressions, resentments, indigna
tion, both East and West, go on for decades, grow
ing ever more acute, ending finally in fierce race
warfare? ShaU the eight hundred miUions of Asia,
united and armed with Western science and battle
ships, be pitted in race war against the peoples of
Christendom? Or is there some better way?
r The writer beheves the YeUow Peril may be

AMERICA'S ORIENTAL PROBLEM 9
transformed into golden advantages for us, even as
the 'White PerU in the Orient is bringing unex
pected benefits to those lands. The West needs the
^ East as the East needs the West. Right treatment
of Asiatics by white men at this juncture wUl surely
avert the anticipated race coUision. For this we need
V a new oriental pohcy.

CHAPTER n
CALIFORNIA'S JAPANESE PROBLEM
Foe the attainment of an oriental pohcy at once
rational and practical a study of the concrete situa
tion in California is essential.
Japanese immigration to California has been going
on for about twenty-five years. A summary state
ment shows the number arriving in the United
States in the various decades:
I86I-1870  218
I87I-I880  149
1881-1890  ;  2,270
I89I-1900   20,826
1901-1910  62,432
Total  85,895
Making aUowance for those returning to Japan,
we find that the total number in the United States
for 1900 was about 24,000 and in 1910, 71,000. The
majority of these have, of course, remained in Cah-
fomia. According to the census reports for 1890,
1900, and 1910, the number residing in the Pacific
States was, respectively, 1,559, 18,269, and 57,628.
The vast majority of these are m California, about
55,000, in 1910, and it is weU to note that of these,
according to the "Special State Investigation of
10

CALIFORNIA'S JAPANESE PROBLEM 11
1909," six-ty-five per cent were engaged m agriciU-
ture, fifteen per cent in domestic service, fifteen per
cent in supplying the wants of the Japanese popula
tion throughout the State, and five per cent were
officials, professionals, students, and others.
Californian opposition to Japanese immigration is
based on experience with the above number of
Japanese for the period of time indicated. What
now are the specific charges made on the basis of
this experience? They may be arranged in five
principal groups — economic, pohtical, moral, racial,
and misceUaneous.

Japanese, it is argued, are undesirable immigrants
because, being unmarried and being wUhng to live
on almost nothing, they underbid and outwork the
white man. After driving him out the price of wages
is graduaUy advanced to a rate even higher than
that formerly paid the white laborer.
They are also undesirable because they are wUhng
to labor longer hours and under any conditions what
ever, however unhygienic, thus lowering the stand
ard of work and the scale of hving. It is impossible
for white labor to maintain the standard wage and
the standard length of a day's work when brought
into competition with the Asiatic. The only way,
therefore, in which to maintain these is to exclude
aU Asiatic labor.

12 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
Again, there are those who object to Japanese
labor on the ground that the Japanese is too enter
prising and thrifty. He is not content to remain a
mere hand, but aspires to economic independence.
He seeks to understand the business in which he is
employed, and at the earhest possible date he sets
up for himself, competing as a rival with those from
whom he learned the ins and outs of the business.
Being wUling and able to conduct his business on a
smaUer scale of profits, he can easUy xmdersell white
competitors and in time drive them out.
Another form of economic objection relates to the
faUure of Japanese to keep up such property as they
may acquire. Instances are cited in which Japanese
lease city property. They do not give it proper
care either in the way of cleaning or of repairing.
Before long it begins to look shabby. The value of
adjacent property faUs; more Japanese buy it up,
house by house, resulting in the same dUapidated
appearance spreading to a whole section — ^the
"Japanese quarter."
SimUarly in regard to farm lands. A Japanese
leases land at a fair rental. He dehberately im
poverishes the land, being satisfied with but smaU
returns, thus inducing the white owner to seU.
Thereafter he farms with great skUl. He employs
large numbers of feUow Japanese, who live in a
miserable shack, possibly with one woman to a
gang of men, and in time secures splendid profits;

Japanese laborers on a strawberry farm in Florin. This illustrates the stooping work for
which Japanese farmers are peculiarly adapted. White men find berry culture exceed
ingly irkaome. Japanese labor accordingly produces 90 per cent ot the berry crop in
California.

The Americanization of Japanese farm labor is illustrated by this photo^aph. This straw
berry ranch, formerly a barren field, has been brought to a hitrh state of productivity
by Japanese industry. It was used, however, by Mr. McClatchy with the misleading
title ' This farm, formerly owned by an American, is now the property of a prosperous
Japanese farmer," which does not suggest that the American wa* glad to sell it at a good
price; he made more by selling than he could by cultivating it.

CALIFORNIA'S JAPANESE PROBLEM 13
but in the meantime his white neighbors have taken
a dislDce to the entire Japanese gang and refuse to
associate with them. Ere long, as opportunity
comes, the white neighbor is glad to lease or sell his
land to other Japanese, even at a loss, and moves
out. Thus it has come to pass that Japanese have
gained possession of entire sections of some of the
best farm lands in California.
A charge sometimes brought against the Japanese
is that they employ only Japanese — ^they never give
white laborers a chance.
And in trade they seU to one another at rates
cheaper than those at which they seU to whites.
This is, indeed, but one manifestation of a highly
objectionable clannishness.
Some argue that it is important to preserve the
natural resources for future generations of white
men. To aUow Japanese or other Asiatics to buy
up vast areas is to deplete resources for these future
generations. II
Opposition to Japanese on political grounds is not
often urged, yet occasionaUy it is.
The point of criticism is that Japanese take no
interest or share in the political life of the section in
which they live. They have no local pride, no de
sire to help make the locality better. They take no
mterest m their neighbors. They live quite inde-

14 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
pendently of the surrounding communities, often,
mdeed, forming communities of their own, imper-ia
iri imperio. As one critic expressed it to the wnter:
"The Japanese do not make good residents and
would not make good citizens." HI
The most serious and persistent criticisms, how
ever, are aimed at the aUeged Japanese lack of moral
character. A criticism, almost universal, is that Japanese do
not keep their word; they make promises and break
them without the sUghtest hesitation. A gang of
workmen may be employed to pick an orchard on a
definite contract. Oftentimes in the midst of the
process a more tempting offer of wages is made else
where; at once the whole gang leaves and the help
less employer suffers great loss, for no substitutes
can be found in time to save the crop.
Or the employer may be dehberately taken ad
vantage of. When the gang has begun its work and
it is evident that the employer is completely at its
mercy, a strike for higher wages is made, which is,
of course, successful.
Japanese boys in domestic service are said to be
particularly irresponsible. They easUy make prom
ises which they as easUy break. The suddenness,
also, with which they leave— oftentunes without

CALIFORNIA'S JAPANESE PROBLEM 15
even an hour's warning — ^is a cause of much com
plaint. "They wUl leave, without notice or consid
eration, on the shghtest provocation."
Furthermore, the Japanese are vindictive; if they
feel they have not been properly treated they com
monly retaliate in some way that brings serious loss
on the employer. Or, even worse, if they faU to
secure a desired job, or contract, or a piece of land,
they wiU find some way of injuring the American
employer or owner.
Japanese, moreover, Hke Chinese, are inveterate
gamblers. Japanese are also charged with lack of all ideas of
sex morahty. "Prostitution is a most character
istic Japanese industry," says Mr. Chester Rowell.
Houses of prostitution flourish wherever Japanese
congregate. Japanese women are so subservient that
they easUy become prostitutes. Many a Japanese
is supposed to make his Uving by the prostitution of
his wife.
Japanese are also, it is aUeged, quite untmst-
worthy in financial relations. Stores have generally
ceased doing business with them except on a cash
basis, for they have found that Japanese so often
faU to pay for goods purchased on credit.
In short, Japanese "have no conception of sin
and home" and "no moral convictions in regard to
the sacredness of the contract, the sanctity of the
home and the value of woman."

16 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
It is an interesting fact that in aU these points,
except those of gambling and sex morality, the
Chmese are invariably cited as far surpassmg the
Japanese. "His word is as good as his bond." "He
carries out his contracts; he does not strike for
higher wages, even though his employer is at his
mercy." " He never promises lightly, but when he
has once given his word he carries out his promise
to the letter." "He never retaliates."

IV
The behef is almost universal in California that
Japanese racial characteristics are such as to render
them unassimUable. Those who urge this point
usuaUy admit, however, that, all in all, the Japanese
are not inferior to Americans, even in matters of
morahty. Such disputants are often readj^ to admit
that exceptional cases of immorahty have been
exaggerated and generalized.
These contestants claim, however, that even
though, for the sake of argument, Japanese may be
aUowed to be superior to Americans in every way,
the sufficient ground for strict Japanese exclusion is
the unquestioned fact that he belongs to a different
race. He is brown; we are white; and this differ
ence, they insist, carries with it such psychological,
social, and ci%dlizational differences that anv attempt
to hve together is sure to be disastrous. The further

CALIFORNIA'S JAPANESE PROBLEM 17
deduction is that the only hope of safety, the only
means whereby the friendship of our two nations
can be maintained, is to agree to keep apart, each
hving in the land God has given us.
This position is presented in many forms and with
considerable variety of emphasis.
Japanese, it is stated, are so completely Japanese
that they are always and everjrwhere Japanese.
Contrary to the average run of mankind, every
Japanese thinks of his race and country first and only
later of himself. It is claimed that his patriotism,
therefore, is of such an intense nature that it is ab
solutely impossible for him to expatriate himself and
become a loyal citizen of another land; that, even
if he should do so in form, it would be in form only;
he could not possibly become a sincere American;
he would stUl be seeking to promote the interests
of his native land and his Emperor and would in
evitably be a source of danger to us in case of war
with Japan.
Moreover, Japanese are so different from us, it is
asserted, that mutual understanding is impossible;
their social customs are the very opposite of ours;
they are stohd in appearance and stoical in spirit.
In a word, they are "inscmtable" and "mysterious";
they are impeUed by motives we do not and cannot
understand, and doubtless we appear the same to
them. It foUows, as a matter of course, that they are not

18 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
assunUable. They do not wish to become Americans
and we do not wish to have them. Even though
they may adopt our modes of clothing, housing, and
eating, and many of our social habits, the change is
only superficial and for a purpose; down in their
hearts they are the same unchanging Asiatics, smU
ing and deceitful.
Because of aU this, intermarriage between Japa
nese and whites is particularly obnoxious. How can
oU and water mix? — or brown and white? The off
spring is "neither Japanese nor American"; what is
it but a fearsome monstrosity?
Specific Ulustrations are cited. It is charged that
in such places as VacavUle and Florin Japanese have
established entirely Japanese communities; they
have possessed themselves of large consecutive areas
and constitute so large a majority of the popiUation
that the chUdren threaten to swamp the schools. In
consequence, the white population is moving out,
for they do not Uke the Japanese and do not wish
their chUdren to associate with them. This stUl fur
ther aggravates the difficulty, for it leaves compact
Japanese colonies, with their national customs and
Buddhist rehgion, cankers in our body pohtic.
V
In addition to the various objections to Japanese
mentioned above is a misceUaneous group which also

CALIFORNIA'S JAPANESE PROBLEM 19
must be taken into account by one who seeks to un
derstand the question in aU its aspects.
For instance, there are those who say that Cali
fornian opposition to the Japanese is really due to
the beUicose and jingo spirit in Japan; that since
Japan's two successful wars she has got the "big
head" and fancies she can compel other nations to
do her wUl by threats of mUitary invasion; that it
was the Japanese beUigerent attitude toward Amer
ica, when the first anti-Japanese bUls were presented
in the California legislature, that aroused Califor
nian interest and gave the biUs their vitality; that
but for this the bUls would have died a natural
death. Again, Japanese, unlike aU other immigrant peo
ples, insist on taking a position of race equality with
the whites. This the latter resent. They intend
to be supreme and wUl brook no rival.
Every state and nation, some urge, has the in
herent right to decide for itseff who may and who
may not become citizens. It is simply intolerable
that any foreign nation shall claim the right of
naturaUzation or immigration for its people. These
are privUeges to be granted — ^not rights to be claimed.
How unreasonable, say some, is Japan's claim for
her people in America when she herseff does not
allow Americans to own land in Japan or even to
become citizens. And stiU more self-contradictory
is her position seen to be when we note that she

20 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
does not aUow the coming to her shores of laborers
from other lands. Has she not repeatedly exported
Chinese coolies?
Another argument urged by some is that it would
be folly to adjust our laws so as to admit of Japanese
naturalization, seeing that the Japanese Government
permits no Japanese to expatriate himself. Natu
ralization as American citizens is neither desired by
individual Japanese nor allowed by their govemment.
Objections to Japanese immigration and especially
to naturalization are raised also on grounds of our
own incapacity. It is urged, for instance, that
Americans do not know how to deal justly with any
people of another color. The American Indians
and the negroes are always cited in this connection.
It is therefore unwise, they urge, to admit the
Japanese, especially in view of the fact that they
have behind them a sensitive, warlike, aggressive
people and a strong government wliich wiU surely
resent any injustice inflicted by Americans on Japa
nese in this land. Moreover, unlUie other foreigners,
"Japanese insist on converting every difficulty m
which they become involved mto an international
affair." "Their sensitiveness constantly tends to
magnify the smaUest provocations into international
issues." It is also urged that free immigration wUl
be the final issue of naturalization. Once let in the
camel's nose and only time wUl be needed to see the
entire body forcing its way in.

CALIFORNIA'S JAPANESE PROBLEM 21
And, finaUy, there are those who urge the mere
fact of race antipathy or prejudice as sufficient
groimd for Japanese exclusion. This, it is said, is
a fact, and a fact of great importance regardless of
the question whether or not the grounds stated for
that antipathy are adequate. As a matter of fact,
feelings precede judgment. We dislike a man or a
people and then hunt for facts, or invent them, by
which to justify that feeling. Whether or not, there
fore, the facts adduced are true or adequate, the fact
undoubtedly remains that whites dislike Japanese.
This being the case, it is highly undesirable to aUow
them to come to our land as permanent residents.
Such are the main reasons urged by different
classes of Californians for the exclusion of Japanese
from this cotmtry and in justification of recent legis
lation. Those who urge exclusion commonly state
that opposition is practically universal. They deny
that it is confined to "labor-union" men or to any
particular class. The universality of the opposition
is, therefore, urged as an evidence of its vaUdity.
California's opposition to Japanese immigration,
moreover, is not a sudden antipathy. It is the heir
of decades of antipathy to Chinese. It has fre
quently fotmd open, and sometimes violent, expres
sion. Anti-Japanese legislation 'has on several oc
casions been restrained only by the remonstrance of
the Federal Government.

22 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
Yielding to the suggestion of President Roosevelt,
Japan entered upon the so-caUed "gentlemen's
agreement" in 1908, in accordance with which, since
that date, passports to the United States have been
given to no laborers. During the years from 1909
to 1912 the excess of departures over arrivals, ac
cording to the statistics of our immigration office,
was 6,664. Anti-Japanese CaUfornians, however,
are by no means satisfied. They hold that this ar
rangement leaves to Japan the decision of a question
which we should decide for ourselves, namely, who
shaU and who shaU not come to our shores. They
say that we need, therefore, a Japanese exclusion
law hke that which excludes Chinese, and that since
such an exclusion law woiUd not meet the difficulty
created by the presence of those Japanese now here,
steps should also be taken to make it more and more
economically unprofitable and socially unpleasant
for them to remain, thus inducing them ultimately
to depart entirely from our shores.
In pursuance of this strong anti-Japanese policy
in the recent session of the California legislature,
thirty-four biUs were introduced proposing to cur-
taU and hamper in various ways the industrial and
economic opportunities of the Japanese in Cah-
fomia. The single relatively innocuous land bUl
finally passed by no means satisfies anti-Japanese
agitators. There is every reason to anticipate, in
the next session of the California legislature, bUls

CALIFORNIA'S JAPANESE PROBLEM 23
stiU more drastic and stUl more skilfully devised
looking in the same direction. Unless some radical
change takes place, anti-Japanese feeling is not
likely to be satisfied nor cease from aggressive ac
tivity untu the Japanese are practically driven out'
of California or sink to a negligible quantity.
This exclusion policy, however, partly because of
its aim and partly, also, because of the spirit and
the manner in which it has been carried on, is keenly
resented by the entire Japanese nation. Japan feels
that such legislation is not only in conflict with
established treaty rights but is also a humUiating
affront to her dignity as one of the sister nations.
It also contradicts the pohcy of mutual friendship
solemnly pledged by the United States when she
first knocked at the doors of Japan sixty years ago,
and in response to which Japan opened those doors
which had been closed to aU the nations for over two
hundred and fifty years.
The first article of Japan's first treaty with a
foreign people, that with the United States in 1854,
is as foUows: " There shaU be a perfect, permanent,
and universal peace and a sincere and cordial amity
between the United States of America on the one
part, and the Empne of Japan on the other, and
between their people respectively, without exception
of persons and places."
Here, then, is a serious situation; on the one hand,
California, conscious of an evU which she believes

24 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
threatens to reach vast dimensions if not radically
and promptly dealt with; and on the other, Japan,
a nation with which America secured and has main
tained exceptional relations of helpfulness and f riend-
Hness, deeply wounded, yet earnestly desiring the
maintenance of the historic friendship on a basis
of dignity and mutual profit.
This, in briefest terms, is the problem that de
mands an early solution, the task that awaits wise co
operative statesmanship. For it is a difficult, deli
cate, and intricate problem. Both sides have their
measure of truth and right. The problem is how
to harmonize these real and apparently conflicting
rights and interests. How is it possible to grant
what CaUfornia so insistently and rightly demands
and at the same time to secure to Japan what she
demands with equal insistence?
The case, however, is not as hopeless as it seems.
If each side can be brought to recognize the difficulty
which confronts the other and wiU look the whole
problem squarely m the face in aU its various
aspects, with readiness to learn new facts and to
see that there has been mutual misunderstanding,
some solution can surely be found mutually satisfac
tory. Japan, on the one hand, must recognize that the
CaUfornia contention rests both on actual experience
and on well-established principles which cannot be
surrendered. On the other hand, California must

CALIFORNIA'S JAPANESE PROBLEM 25
recognize that Japan, too, has a case which rests on
weU-established principles.
From the standpoint of his acquaintance with
both California and Japan, the writer sees that whUe
there is right on both sides there is also considerable
mutual misunderstanding. Few CaUfornians know
either the Japanese who are here or the nation
yonder. This, however, is not strange in view of all
the circumstances. Indeed, anything else has hardly
been possible. And, in the same way, both the
Japanese who are here and those in Japan are, as a
mle, profoundly ignorant in regard to many impor
tant characteristics of America and of CaUfornia.
But this, too, is not strange in view of aU the cir
cumstances. The chief reason why this problem is so difficult is
exactly this mutual ignorance and consequent dis
like and mistrast, and the contention is not without
reason that on this groimd alone should the races be
kept strictly to their own shores. Such a policy,
however, is absolutely hnpossible in this stage of
the world's development and it is, moreover, unde
sirable. The East needs the West and, unfamUiar
with the thought though the West may be, the
West needs the East.
The true pohcy, accordingly, is first of aU one of
education. Japan and the Japanese must really
leam to understand America and especially Cali-
fomia. Those Japanese who come here must make

26 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
every effort to learn and adopt American modes of
life and work. They must seek to become Ameri
cans. Californians, on the other hand, must get rid
of mistaken ideas with regard to the Japanese. They
must be ready to learn the facts in regard to that
people whose divergent evolution for thousands of
years has made them so different from us. This
difference is not to be denied nor the difficulties that
arise from it ignored; but neither is it to be e.xag-
gerated; and special effort should be taken not to
introduce imaginary difficulties, due to a priori
theories of race nature and non-assinulabUity.
So intricate and many-sided is the problem raised
by the Japanese in America that it has seemed nec
essary to analyze its various elements and aspects
somewhat minutely in the foUowing chapters; for
it is of the highest importance that both Japanese
and Americans should contemplate steadUy and
comprehensively the many factors involved. We
must take deep soundings in this new ocean on which
the nations are embarked. The fundamental traits
of our respective civUizations are involved and must
be clearly recognized and widely proclaimed. So, too,
must the general principles disclosed by the modern
sciences of biology, psychology, and sociology.
But education is not enough. Something more is
needed. Both Japan and the United States should
undertake definite activities, promoting interna
tional good-wUl and more adequately adaptmg gov-

CALIFORNIA'S JAPANESE PROBLEM 27
emmental machinery to the new world-situation.
Suggestions, however, on these matters are deferred
untu the entire situation has been more carefully
studied.^
1 Inasmuch as this volume has been prepared for American read
ers, material calculated to help Japanese do their part in the solu
tion of the problem is excluded from this work, but will be embodied
in a separate volume to be published in the Japanese language.

CHAPTER III
MISUNDERSTANDINGS, EXPLANATIONS, AND
INTERPRETATIONS
We have stated at their strongest California's
objections to Japanese immigration. We must now
take up the more difficult task of estimating the
accuracy and adequacy of the average American
judgment of Japanese and of Asiatics generally;
for the nature of the desirable oriental policy wiU
depend on our conception of the actual reahties of
the situation and also of the capacity of Asiatics to
become American.
In this chapter and the next we shaU study the
assertions of Japanese undesirabUity for economic,
pohtical, and moral reasons, deferring to later chap
ters the more fundamental problems of assimUabU-
ity. There seems to be wide-spread misunderstand
ing. Both Japanese and Chinese appear much less
undesn-able when the actual facts are better known
and their real conduct interpreted in the light of
their history.
Japanese are regarded by many as undesirable
immigrants on strictly economic grounds.
These economic charges are so persistent and
28

MISUNDERSTANDINGS 29
varied that only an exact and comprehensive statis
tical mvestigation suffices to show both their truth
and then error. Fortunately, the State of California
itseff has conducted sudh an investigation, an appro
priation of $10,000 having been made for this pur
pose in 1909. Much to the surprise of those who had
inside information, the report proved unexpectedly
favorable to the Japanese. No appropriation, how
ever, was made for its publication. Some assert
that it was purposely suppressed. We are, accord
ingly, dependent for our knowledge of its contents
on a brief "Summary for the Press" furnished by
J. D. Mackenzie, Labor Commissioner, May 30,
1910.^ As it is impossible, advantageously, to con
dense further the material there summarized, the
entire summary is reproduced in the Appendix, to
which the reader is asked to tum before reading
further. It is doubtless tme that at the beginning, when
Japanese immigrants first entered the labor market,
their wages were lower than those of whites and it
is quite likely that, in some cases, white labor was
driven out by Japanese. As a rule, however, Japa
nese took the place of vanishing Chinese. To-day
there is more work than workers, either white or
brown. According to the "Summary," Japanese

1 Portions of the statistical tables were subsequently pubUshed
in the Biennial Reports for 1911 and 1913 of the State Department
of Labor.

30 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
farm-hands were earning, in 1909, better wages than
white men engaged in the same work and, strange
! to say, Japanese employed by Japanese received
[ higher wages than those employed by white men!
! The fact is that Japanese have proved their superior
' fitness for certain kinds of farm work and are conse
quently in large demand, whether employed by
Japanese or by white men. It is doubtless tme
that Japanese, having learned from white men suc
cessful methods for advancing their wages (namely,
by strikes), have at times taken advantage of these
methods, especiaUy when they have observed the
helplessness of employers. This is, no doubt, rep
rehensible; but it is a fault not pecuhar to Jap
anese, nor is there reason for condemning it in
Japanese and extenuating it in the case of other
races. But it is also altogether probable that the
number of such cases has been largely exaggerated,
which woiUd be quite natural on the part of those
who have suffered.
That Japanese workers are willing to toU for
! longer hours than the white man and that they put
up with unhygienic conditions is doubtless tme. In
Japan long hours of toU are the nde, from sunrise
to sundown on the farms, and in small shops and
factories from five or six in the moming tiU nme
or ten or even eleven at night. It would not be
strange, therefore, if, in their relative poverty and
ambition to acquire a competence as soon as possi-

Mr Tiikcta'H niin'h In I'Moriri, Mr wii4 luuMtiH I ln' (irHJ .Inpiiniwc In sclllc IIiitc, Iniyiiiji 10 iu'D'h ul $:(.'» an mn* rillil ptiyiiiK fur il in (ivr
Vi'iir.s hy niisillK .st niwhcrriivH. Il<- llioii lioni^lil Iwctitv iktch more niiil rrcrlcd Ihe lii>iis<-, llir bum, iiiul litiiilly I lir I lUlk-htMiHC.
\l\H pn-ltv TroMl viml Iiiim ii liiwti, rUu'iw ^n>^v^^. iiiid tt ruiiiitaiii. In 11)11 Mr. Tiik<>|ji, who Iiiih n Ciilifnriiin liii;)i hiIimmI rchinilinn.
hcciuiu' iiKciil. for lhi> Ni'w Vnrk Lih' I ii.HiirtiiKv < 'o., iirul hilrr Ini'iil uKt'iil fnr mi l<:ic-<'lri<' I'mwct Cn. llr iiushi'nsin tlir hrsi iiiit ninnbilr in
Illi' Hcc'linn. ItiTciilly lir nllcnih'il tin- iiniMliil rnmiiili  r Ihr Ni'W N'nrlv Lifr lilstiriinri' Co, lit llul Sprin^H, Va., iitlil Wlis iiumIc
U vicr-jircsiilriil. lllH .liipiiiii'.-^i' wiff spviik.n Mti^li.'^li lluciitly tiiid lir Iiiih llirn- <'liililrrn.

MISUNDERSTANDINGS 31
ble, Japanese in America should readUy accept the
hours of labor usual in Japan.
That a workman, moreover, should have the right
to demand wholesome conditions of labor was a
thought almost unknown to Japanese in their native
land imtU modern times. This is an idea purely
Western and modern at that. And it is to be noted
that the average Japanese laborer has as yet little
idea as to what conditions are hygienic. Such
knowledge is, indeed, a modern acquisition even in
America. Now, the readiness of Japanese to work long hours
and in unhygienic conditions does raise a serious
question; for unscrupulous employers, both Japanese
and American, can take advantage of this willingness
and thereby put the white laborer at an economic
disadvantage. Surely no American desires to see a
white man forced to labor according to the stand
ard of Asiatics in Asia nor even to see an Asiatic here
so laboring. Does not the solution of this question,
however, consist in the enactment and enforcement
of stringent legislation in regard to these matters,
so that no one, Asiatic or American, shaU be aUowed
to labor longer than the legal number of hours per
day or under unhygienic conditions? In other
words, laws can be passed which shaU prevent
Asiatic competition from forcing down, in the ways
indicated, the wages of white workmen and then-
scale of Ihdng.

32 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
As for the charge that Japanese farm labor com
petes successfully with white labor in raismg certain
specific kinds of crops, the charge appears to be weU
substantiated by facts. But instead of reaching the
conclusion that Japanese are driving white labor out
and should, therefore, be excluded from the country,
careful examination shows that to a large degree
the Japanese worker is fitting himself well into our
agricultural system. Japanese have largely taken
the place of Chinese in farm labor; they have also
made possible developments in berry, lettuce, celery,
and kindred crops, which white labor alone would
never have aUowed. In point of fact, as a whole
they are developing uncultivated lands and carrying
on forms of agriculture which would remain largely
undeveloped if left to the whites. The investiga
tions of the Immigration Commission, no less than
those of the Special State Investigation of 1909,
have proved these matters conclusively for those
who are wiUing to take the time for the study of the
elaborate reports of these commissions.
It is no discredit, moreover, to the Japanese that
he is thrffty and enterprising, that he wishes to rise
from the status of a dependent day-laborer to one
of independence, himself employmg labor. This, so
far from being a disqualification, rather proves his
fitness to become an American citizen. We want
industrious, ambitious, and enterprising laborers.
Only partly tme is the charge that Japanese faU

MISUNDERSTANDINGS 33
to keep up property leased or bought. It may be
brought equaUy against aU immigrants, whatever
their race. Moreover, the reason in the case of
leased property is not hard to find. Who would
expend considerable sums of money on the up-keep
or appearance of houses or lots whose lease runs only
a year, or two, or three? This, however, is the con
dition of most of the property occupied by Japanese.
They contemplate only temporary occupancy. And
it is not to be forgotten that the amount of property
owned by Japanese is stUl very small. The main
reason, then, why property occupied by them is ran
down is because the American owners themselves
are not willing to expend the amounts necessary for
its up-keep.
As a matter of fact, the up-keep of those pieces of
property which have come into complete Japanese
ownership, and where the owner has also financial
abUity, is aU that can be asked. Many concrete
cases could easUy be cited in Oakland, Los Angeles,
and elsewhere.
But another consideration should not be over
looked in this connection. On account of Cali-
f orma's treatment of Japanese for many years, there
is a sense of insecurity among them. They do not
know how long they wiU be allowed to remain. One
Japanese rephed to my question that he was expect
ing to stay here all his life unless "persecution should
arise." The very refusal, then, of California to give

34 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
Japanese welcome and citizenship may be regarded
as one of the contributing causes for that appear
ance of property which is the object of this criticism.
Not otherwise is it in regard to the appearance of
farnung districts leased or owned by Japanese. The
neglect of tenant farms is notorious the world over.
Old and New England are quite famUiar with it.
Charges on this score, therefore, have no special
weight as refiecting on Japanese racial character.
On the contrary, the appearance of those farms which
they own, in fee simple, indicates that they are ex
ceptionally good and desirable farmers.
That Japanese employers hire only Japanese la
borers is not strictly tme. Mr. Shima, for instance,
the "Potato King" of California, employs whites
for certain kinds of work. But, in view of the fact
that Japanese farmers have taken up those forms of
fanning for which they are especially adapted, it is
altogether natural that they should employ Japa
nese rather than whites who are not fitted for it, espe
cially when whites are not to be had — even by white
employers! And what more natural than that Jap
anese employers should employ Japanese laborers,
whom they can understand and talk with freely,
rather than white laborers, whom they can neither
understand nor talk to! Anti-Japanese criticism of
this kind is surely captious.
The statement that whites move out when any
considerable number of Japanese move into a sec-

MISUNDERSTANDINGS 35
tion of a town or township seems to be partly, though
not universally, true. It is not unnatural, however,
for the language, customs, and life of the newcomers
are strange, not to say disagreeable, and it is not
unreasonable for the white to prefer that his chUdren
shall not associate closely with the stranger.
But we would emphasize the point that simUar
temporary consequences have foUowed from the im
migration of any nationality into the United States
— Italian, Portuguese, Russian, French, Hebrew,
Canadian, and others. Many places, not only in
New England and New York but also in the Central
States, have had exactly the same experience. The
difficulty in this case, therefore, is not due to the
fact that the immigrants are Japanese but only to
the fact that the Japanese are immigrants.
As for Japanese clannishness, this is beyond dis
pute; but so, too, is the clannishness of immigrants
from any land — Greeks, Italians, Poles, Jews, yes,
and even Scotch, Irish, and Welsh. We would, in
deed, think the worse of them if they did not have a
feUow-feeling and seek to help each other. But, of
course, that degree of clannishness must be frowned
on which leads any national group to take unfan
advantage of others. That there is none of this
among Japanese is not asserted; neither do we deny
its reprehensible character. But we do contend
that our own offish, not to say clannish, treatment
of the Japanese promotes rather than diminishes

36 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
it, and also that with proper treatment of Japanese
immigrants on our part this trait wiU be overcome,
as has been the case with immigrants from other
lands. Critics contrast Japanese labor with Chinese, and
in favor of the latter on the ground that the China
man comes to the ranch when he is wanted, does
the work required, and then disappears from the
district and gives no trouble. From the standpoint
of capitalism this is, of course, ideal. The laborer
is a "perfect machine." The employer has no care
or responsibUity for and no human relationship with
him. There is no social contact, no danger of en
tangling social inconvenience. An unlimited supply '
of just such labor would please large farming inter
ests; they could raise enormous crops and reahze
enormous profits with a minimum of human respon
sibUity. But such conditions would produce a smaU
class of great wealth and leisure, on the one hand,
and a large class of servUe labor on the other, ever
kept in economic servitude and dependence. This,
however, is a situation exactly contrary to the Amer
ican ideal.
The Japanese, on the other hand, is not content
to remain a servile laborer — a mere machine. He
wishes to own the soU, cultivate it to its maximum,
secure the full earnmgs of his labor and capital, and
develop himself and his famUy to the extent of his
abUity. A majority of Japanese farms in California

MISUNDERSTANDINGS 37
are small, requiring for their entire care the work of
only the owner and his family, with occasional out
side help. This means intensive cultivation and the
maintenance, per acreage, of a relatively large per
manent population of independent famUies.
This, however, is far more in accord with our
American ideal than with the capitahstic ideal. Of
course, this would break up the large ranches, enor
mous estates, and princely mansions, whose owners
luxuriously travel round the world in private yachts
and automobUes, employing agents to run their
ranches. But that is exactly what needs to be broken
up ff America is to be thoroughly democratic. If
our whites are wiUing to learn, the Japanese can
teach them intensive farming and can show them
how a famUy can own and cultivate and make a
respectable hving out of a smaU tract of land. In
comparison with the factory hand or city laborer,
such a family is to be congratulated.
From the writer's standpoint, accordingly, this
criticism of the Japanese is entirely a mistake. The
characteristic objected to is one of the important
proofs that the Japanese, in regard to this point at
least, make desirable workers and would become
exceUent citizens. The more we have of just such
independent labor, the more wholesome wUl be the
agricultural development of America. One great
bane of our entire business and agricultural effort
is that the few who own the capital or the land wish

38 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
so to hold it that labor shaU create large profits of
wliich the owner shaU take the major part. The
Japanese farm laborer does not faU in with this
capitahstic ideal; he fights it; he buys where he can
or leases the land; this makes him a promising agri-
ciUturalist, one whose coming to the State might
weU be promoted and whose acquisition of suitable
tracts of homestead land might wisely be aided. But
it, of course, foUows that he is criticised and opposed
by capital, which does not hke his ways. He is not
an "ideal labor machine" like the Chinese. From
the writer's standpoint, however, in this respect he
far surpasses the Chinese.
That "Japanese do not make good citizens" is
not to be wondered at, seeing that we strictly pre
vent their acquisition of citizenship. We dehber-
lately hold them off. We say to them that we do
I not want them in our body poUtic, however they
may qualify. We inffict upon them many an msult,
not officiaUy, of course, but through the spirit which
we impart to our young people and the lawlessness
which we do not repress; we make the entire body
of Japanese in CaUfornia feel keenly that they are
offensive to us; we only tolerate their presence; and
then we criticise them for not making good citizens!
Is it any wonder that they do not take mterest in
the localities in which they live or seek to enter into
its community Ufe? To do so, they feel, would be
intmsion. They, accordingly, deUberately hve to

MISUNDERSTANDINGS 39
themselves, seeking complete social satisfaction ui
their own httle communities.
This criticism, also, is highly captious, indicative
of httle reasoning, on the one hand, and of sheer race
prejudice on the other. From my acquaintance
with the people I am persuaded that ff the Japanese
were given a chance they would prove themselves
splendid citizens alike in local, in State, and in
national affairs.
Statistics prove that they have a relatively high
degree of literary and financial abihty, and a very
smaU proportion of criminals and paupers; they help
one another generously. They are ambitious to learn
themselves and desire that their chUdren should se
cure good education. In aU these respects, they are
good residents and would make excellent citizens.
Critics of Japanese in California should ever bear
in mind two facts: first, that they are recent comers
to our country, and, second, that most of the defects
for which they are criticised, even though real, are
equally real of labor immigrants from any country
in Europe.
The subject of Japanese business morahty is one
of special difficulty. Wholesale condemnation is
easy, but, as a rule, highly unjust. For a real under
standing of Japanese moral character and Ufe, many
factors must be considered; yet the ordinary Ameri
can has not the patience to consider them. To him
the matter appears so simple that any effort at ex-

40 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
planation seems like quibbling. A he, he says, is a
he; stealing is stealing; failure to keep one's prom
ises or to carry out a contract is a flat moral faU
ure; explanation only makes matters worse.
It is nevertheless true that many facts should be
known by one who would reaUy understand the
Japanese either here or in Japan. Whoever wUl
patiently and sympatheticaUy study these problems
from the standpoint of Japanese social, economic,
and pohtical history wUl find many important Ulu-
minating factors.
In the first place, Americans need to appreciate
the fact that in regard to this matter as well as others
there is much exaggeration. Sweeping generaliza
tions of briUiant imaginative writers please the read
ers and remain in their memory. A story, for in
stance, is widely current that Japanese are so
untmstworthy in financial matters that aU banks in
Japan employ Chinese cashiers; some go so far as to
say that aU important bank offices are fiUed by
Chinese! The fact is that no Japanese bank deahng
exclusively with Japanese has a single Chmese em
ployee of any kind. Banks in Yokohama, Kobe, and
Nagasaki, where there are large Chmese populations,
have Chinese clerks — especiaUy banks whose head
offices are in China, such as the Hongkong and Shang
hai Banking Corporation. But, as a rule, these are
foreign, not Japanese banks. For twenty-five years
I have dealt with Japanese banks in several mterior

MLSUNDERSTANDINGS 41
cities and have never seen a Chinee clerk. Wide
inquiry among bankers confirms my own experience.
Yet travellers, seeing Chinese clerks or cashiers in
one or two banks in Kobe and Yokohama, gener
alize their experience and assert the slander as to
Japanese busuiess untrustworthiness, basing the as
sertion on "personal knowledge."
Another popular instance of extraordinary exag
geration regarding Japanese banking morality is
cited by Mr. W. V. Woehlke in his briUiant but
faUacious article in The Outlook, May 10, 1913.
Speaking of Japanese business success, he asserts
that a large measure of it was "due to the low stand
ard of business ethics that is a distinguishing mark
of many of the Japanese. ... In the Spring of 1909
for instance, twenty Japanese banks [in Califomia]
accepted deposits from white and yellow men. At
the end of the year all but three were closed, and ex
aminations of the wrecked institutions revealed that
they had been plundered by every trick and device
known to the shrewdest and crookedest promoter.
Simultaneously with the downfaU of the banks scores
of Japanese merchants, individuals and firms, hast
ened to the referee in bankraptcy, thus forestaUing
any attempt to force repayment of loans made
to them by friendly directors of the defimct
banks." This statement by Mr. Woehlke was so definite
that I took pains to investigate the facts. I leamed

42 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
from the State banking department of Califomia
that there never had been more than seven Japanese
banks in Calffomia, of which three are stUl doing
business, the Yokohama Specie Bank, having an
annual business of $2,073,086 (June 14, 1912), the
Nippon Bank ($94,244), and the Industrial Bank
of Fresno ($49,594). "The Kawakami Brothers
Bank went out of busuiess some months ago paying
its depositors in fuU. The remaining three banks
were closed by the Supermtendent of Banks in the
year 1909 and are stUl in his hands for purposes of
liquidation." With the president of one of the unfortunate
banks I became personaUy and favorably acquainted.
Desiring to help his feUow countrymen, he made, it
seems, more loans than the hard times warranted.
No one, I was assured by competent Americans, ever
regarded the bankraptcy as due to fraud. In regard
to the other two banks I was told that the real cause
of failure was the special exigencies of the season,
causing several Americah banks also to faU at the
same time.
I made special inquiry at Sacramento, which is the
centre of a considerable Japanese population and
where one of the three successful Japanese banks is
located. I was told by Mr. A. Bonnheim, of the
Sacramento Valley Banking Company, that they
did business with many Japanese and on the same
basis as with Americans. I asked if they could trast

MISUNDERSTANDINGS 43
Japanese as weU as Americans. The reply instantly
made was: "We trust nobody." Mr. F. W. Kes
sel, of the California National Bank of Sacramento,
made practicaUy the same replies.
These stories about Japanese banks in Japan and
in Calffornia show how reckless, or at least careless,
anti-Japanese writers often are when describing
Japanese character. Their antipathy leads them to
beheve every evU suggestion. When I first began
to read on the Japanese situation in Calffomia I
accepted as tmstworthy the statements of mani
festly able writers. Investigation of many specific
assertions, however, has led me to put a question-
mark against every anti-Japanese statement which I
have not myseff verified. Race prejudice seems to
rob even able writers of the abUity to distinguish
fact from fiction. Their very abUity in framing
briUiant sentences and striking antitheses aggravates
their unreUabUity. '
How many detractors of Japan ever knew that
in old Japan there were private banlcing-houses
which issued large amounts of paper money on their
own credit, which paper circulated widely? This
single fact shows how baseless are the stories assert
ing absolute lack of business morality among aU
Japanese.
' WhUe in Calffornia I tried in various ways to
find facts in regard to the credit allowed Japanese
by American merchants, with the following results:

44 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
Large Japanese merchants receive treatment and
j credit hke that accorded Americans; but wide-spread
distmst is felt of smaU merchants and individuals
who lack social standing.
A wrapping-paper dealer, having business over the
whole Pacific coast, fumished me with the foUowing
facts out of his own experience of over twenty years:
Sixteen Japanese fia-ms have practicaUy unlimited
credit. About one hundred firms are aUowed a
monthly credit not to exceed $30; they are, how
ever, carefuUy watched. Loss has been incurred in
the case of nearly four hundred Japanese firms,
the amounts seldom mnning over $15. Japanese
firms have to be thoroughly vouched for before any
credit is given " because they almost invariably try to
beat us. . . . There are some Japanese whom we
can trast absolutely, not only for their own credit
but for information regarding prospective custom
ers. . . . We never lose on a Chmaman." I judge
that here as in Japan many small merchants and
private individuals stUl have Uttle sense of "busuiess
honor" and faU to appreciate the moral character of
financial relations and obUgations.
As throwmg hght on Japanese character and busi
ness ideals, consider also the foUowmg facts:
In old Japan, money and aU money relations were
despised. Merchants belonged to the lowest class,
\ farmers and artisans ranking above them. Sons of
1 Samurai or Bushi (warriors) were taught to have no

MISUNDERSTANDINGS 45
financial dealings whatever. Bushido (the Way of
the Warrior) scorned business; many Samurai schools
refused to teach mathematics on the ground that
only merchants needed such knowledge. Even to
this day talk about money is regarded as vulgar.
Many a man is engaged and enters on a new position
without hearing or uttering a single word as to the
amount of his salary. Japanese, in giving fees in
hotels and elsewhere, always wrap the money in
white {i. e., ceremonial) paper in order that the
money aspect may not appear.
Of course these customs and ideals of old Japan
are passing away. Commerce is no longer despised.
Successful merchants take high rank in society.
Commercial morality is being rapidly developed.
The moral obhgation adhering to contracts and
promises is beginning to be widely recognized and
emphasized. The entire Japanese people have en
tered on a new development of moral life because of
their new social, industrial, and commercial activi
ties and organization.
But the old scom of money is not yet lost. Five
years ago one of the members of the San Francisco
Chamber of Commerce, on that famous official visit
to Japan, thought he would have some fun with a
group of schoolboys twelve to fourteen years of age
as they came out of school. As they were looking
at him intently, he put his hand into his pocket and
drew out a fistful of coins which he threw on the

46 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
ground expecting the boys to scramble for them.
To his amazement the boys looked at him in disdain
and aU marched off, not one stooping to pick up a
single coin. Such an experience could be repeated
in every school in Japan.
But in order to understand the average Japanese
attitude to the numberless detaUs of daUy lffe, their
temperament, social habits, and mental and moral
character, the nature of Japanese feudalism should
be known and appreciated.
We aU know that Japan maintained the feudal
system for a thousand years and carried it out more
completely than any other land. It is but forty
years since she adopted modem forms of social or
ganization. Now, a feudal society develops forms
of moral life quite distinct from those essential to
a commercial and industrial society. The warrior
is supreme; courage and loyalty, the virtues of
the warrior, are highly developed. Hence came the
far-famed Bushido, the "Way [do] of the Warrior
[bushi]." Throughout society the superior and in
ferior are definite relations and demand definite types
of conduct and ideals of right and wrong. In Japa
nese feudalism politeness rose to a position of esteem
equal to that of courage. It controUed the relations
not only of equals but of aU the classes. Superiors
were required to speak to and deal with inferiors in
definite forms of poUteness. The courteous treatment
of inferiors by superiors is one of the unique features

Tit'ti

An Americanized Japanese family of Florin Mr Yoshino's "flaming tokays" bring the highest prices in the Eastern market of any
shipped from llorin. Should this house be called a "shack"?

MISUNDERSTANDINGS 47
of Japan to this day. The deUcate courtesy of chU
dren to each other is amazing. Feudal poUteness be
came one of the first social requirements. It dom
inated the language to such an extraordinary extent
that even the grammatical stracture was affected.
In place of personal pronouns, honorific particles
were developed and universaUy used, and nouns and
verbs of varying degrees of honor or dishonor served
dehcately to indicate the person intended, you or
he, your relative or his or mine. This universal
social custom was most strictly enforced. Many a
brave man lost his head merely because he was
rade. A necessary result of this universal social habit
has been the development of what seems almost
like an instinct to say the pleasant thing to the per
son addressed. More important than the making of
verbaUy accurate statements was that of pleasing.
This became a national characteristic and stUl pow
erfuUy affects the entire lffe of the nation. Japanese
in conversation know how to make aUowances for
this habit and are not, in fact, deceived thereby. The
one who speaks hcts no intention of deceiving, and he
who hears knows that he must judge of that which
he reaUy wishes to know by other signs than those
of the words actuaUy uttered.
Of course, it is not contended here that Japanese
never deliberately deceive nor tell conscious false
hoods. I doubt not that in this matter Japan is

48 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
about as other lands. But I do contend that the
effect of Japanese feudalism was to develop habits
of speech and of social relations which put poUteness
and pleasant manners above verbal accuracy, and
that this was so allowed for that there was no decep
tion. It often happens in the extraordinarUy intri
cate social hfe of Japan that a man may verbally
say the exact opposite of what he means and intends
to convey, and the hearer fuUy understands both
what is said and what is meant. Only the un
sophisticated foreigner, who depends exclusively on
the words, misunderstands the meaning.
Now, when Japanese come to this land, quite igno
rant of our customs and of the stress we lay on verbal
trath and the sacredness of the spoken word, is it
strange that they say the pleasant "yes" when in
their hearts they may mean the unpleasant "no"?
Let us remember, too, that there is in Japanese no
word meaning exactly "yes." The word usuaUy
translated "yes" reaUy means, "I am paying atten
tion" or "I hear what you say." The intonations
and varying unport of that word differ more than do
our intonations of "yes."
Just here another feature of old Japan must be
grasped; namely, her lack of time-consciousness.
Formerly clocks were practically unknown. There
was only the vaguest measurement of time. Meet
ings began when people assembled, and lasted in
terminable hours. But a change has come. RaU-

MISUNDERSTANDINGS 49
roads, schools, army and navy, clocks and watches
are now beginning to unpress on considerable por
tions of the rising generation the significance of time
and the importance of speaking and acting accurately
in regard to it.
I am, indeed, persuaded that the Japanese reputa
tion for making and breaking promises is in part
due to their relatively undeveloped consciousness
of time. The average Japanese workman, desiring
to please, easUy promises to have a certain job done
at the time requested by the white man, who puts
much emphasis on the time element; the Japanese
does not; he himself feels no such emphasis, hence his
faUure to keep his word and the consequent disgust
on the part of the white man who soon discredits aU
the moral characteristics of a people who so fre
quently faU to keep their promises.
In point of fact this time-consciousness has reached
an extraordinary development among Anglo-Saxons
and Teutonic peoples, due, of course, to their modern,
highly intricate civUization, in which machinery plays
so important a part (everybody has a clock or a
watch), whUe among Latin and Latin- American peo
ples, it is stUl largely undeveloped, resultmg in sub
stantiaUy the same phenomena in custom and speech
as in Japan. Spanish and South American indiffer
ence to tune limitations and time promises is notori
ous. Americans abroad must adjust themselves to
this characteristic of foreign peoples, but foreigners

50 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
working in America must learn to know and follow
the American habit in this regard.
The fact is that Japanese have undergone what
is from our standpoint an unbalanced development.
In certain ways they are highly developed, in others
they are stUl chUdren. The effect of many cen
turies of feudalism has been to develop certain traits
and to leave others quite undeveloped. No doubt,
we in tum seem the same to them.
Without entering into the whole question of Jap
anese and American moral ideals, it is germane to our
discussion to point out that, while occidental mo
rality emphasizes fidelity to abstract trath and to
rational and moral principles, Japanese morahty
emphasizes fidelity to persons in their respective
relations of superior and inferior. In the feudal
system each man had his fixed place in the family
and clan, which relation determined automatically
the treatment he owed to those above, around,
and below him, and also theirs to him. Moral
life consisted in fulfiUing those duties of right treat
ment of individuals according to their respective
stations. In the West, on the other hand, where the indus
trial and commercial social order dominates and
men's relations are largely fixed by mutual agree
ments as to financial matters by promises and con
tracts, morality consists in faithful fulfilment of
these contracts. We do not absolutely neglect the

MISUNDERSTANDINGS 51
personal relationship, but we emphasize the contract
relationship. For instance, we do not think an employer par
ticularly immoral who gets angry with his workmen
and scolds them, e.speciaUy if they are negligent or
lazy, though we do not justify him if he loses con
trol of himself to the degree of striking an offending
workman. Yet even this we sometimes regard as
justified by stupidity or insolence. Provided the
employer pays his men the standard wages and
keeps his promises and contracts, we regard him as
a pretty good member of society.
Not so the Japanese. Perfect courtesy is the first
sign of a good man; he must control his tongue and
his temper and be polite, however he may feel within.
Sexual laxity, petty lies, and even business deception,
are light faults compared with impoUte, intemperate
speech and uncontrolled wrath.
This difference of moral ideals is the cause of many
mutual misunderstandings and difficulties.

CHAPTER IV
MISUNDERSTANDINGS, EXPLANATIONS, AND
INTERPRETATIONS (Continued)
In comparison with Chinese and European do
mestics, the number of Japanese is certainly large
who have disappointed their employers by suddenly
leaving without notice and oftentimes under exas
perating circumstances. Chinese, it seems, take
pains to provide a substitute; Japanese rarely.
Nevertheless, the alleged frequency has been enor
mously exaggerated. Many housekeepers have de
scribed with beaming faces the fidelity, length of
service, efficiency, and courtesy of their Japanese
domestics, whom they prefer to those of any other
race. Much light, however, is thrown on this exasper
ating conduct of many Japanese domestics by the
social character and emotional temperament of
Japanese. , Most of the young men who enter domestic ser
vice in America do not belong to the servant class
in Japan. They are, as a rule, ambitious and ad
venturous young feUows, seekmg an education or
opportunity for advancement. Many of them are
52

^^SL'NDERSTANDINGS 53
the sons of high-spirited Samurai. To expect them
to make good "servants," year in and year out, hke
Chinese of the servant cla&s or like negroes, is quite
unreasonable. Domestic service is for them but a
temporary makeshfft. Moreover, such young men,
inherently proud and seff-respecting, instinctively
resent such treatment as servants commonly re
ceive in the West. American famUies where a ser
vant is treated and spoken to as a menial are places
where Japanese boys wUl not long stay. One good
lady told me that she never had trouble with her
domestics, for she knew how "to keep them in their
places." Yet what she told of her ways and words
satisfied me that no high-spuited Japanese boy
would be willing to do domestic service there
for any length of time. She was highly conscious
of the superiority of the mistress and the inferi
ority of the servant, of whose rights she had httle
thought. In some cases impossible situations suddenly arise.
I heard of one boy who was ordered to kUl a chicken,
a thing he had never done and which his Buddhist
training rendered absolutely abhorrent to him.
The departing boy doubtl^s felt that moral wrong
had been first committed by the employer, which
absolved him from further r^ponsibihty and obh
gation. The mistress simply could not grasp his
standpoint, nor he hers.
An important cause of rapture is, no doubt, the

54 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
faUure of Japanese to understand completely what
is said to them, or even the real meaning of what
they themselves have said. They, indeed, use En
glish words, but they are thinking Japanese thoughts.
A conversation with the secretary of the Japanese
Association of Oakland disclosed the fact that in
the vast majority of cases the real cause of difficul
ties between Japanese and Americans is a mutual
misunderstanding, due to ignorance of the English
language or of American customs on the part of the
Japanese. The American assumes that the Japa
nese employee has understood, and acts accordingly.
The Japanese assumes that he has understood what
was said and he acts accordingly. A coUision ensues.
Instead of ascribing the faUure to misunderstanding,
it is ascribed on both sides to moral delinquency.
Lack of language makes it impossible to straighten
the matter out and so it remains a permanent blot
on the Japanese fair name.
A Christian lady once told me of her exasperating
experience with a young Japanese woman employed
to cook. When asked ff she knew how to do this
or that, her invariable reply was, "Yis, yis," whereas
it soon turned out that she did not. One day the
usual question was asked regarding a certain de-
shed pudding, eUcitmg the usual reply, "Yis, yis";
a haff-hour later the lady was driven to distraction
by the sudden appearance of the cook in the drawing-
room, bowl m hand, ingredients aU mixed, with the

MISUNDERSTANDINGS 55
request: "Please show, please show." The short
and simple explanation of the recurring difficulty
between cook and mistress was that they did not
understand each other's words. The cook did not
mean "Yes, I do understand" when she said "Yis,
yis"; she only meant "Yes, I'm listening." The
poor cook was doubtless in even more distress of
mind than the mistress over the failure of her mis
tress to tell clearly what she wished her to do.
The chief of a Japanese employment bureau once
explained to me a reason for many of the sudden
departures which would not readUy occur to Amer
icans. Japanese training teaches inferiors not to
complain. In accordance with this national train
ing, a "boy" puts up with this inconvenience, and
that word or remark which he regards as an insult,
and many httle but vexing matters; he ever shows
a smUing face in accord with Japanese etiquette, all
the whUe bottUng up his wrath and nursing his
troubles m sUence. In Japan the employer would
in time see the signs of rising discontent or indigna
tion, but the white man suspects nothing. At last
the rising tide reaches the maxunum — the bursting
point. The "boy" simply can't stand it any longer.
But true to his Japanese training, he cannot say the
unpleasant thing he feels within; he can make no in
teUigible explanation. His only recourse is to leave,
and so he leaves "very sudden," his mistress re
maining in mystified amazement at the unaccount-

56 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
able behavior of the "boy" with whom she had
been so pleased. She lays it up as the one strikmg
immoral characteristic of the Japanese people. She
reports the experience to her friends, and they to
theirs, untU it becomes proverbial that Japanese
break their contracts "without hesitation or con
sideration." A Japanese gentleman who has hved on the coast
for over a score of years and has been in the thick
of the contest for fair deahng with his people told
the writer that, whUe some Japanese domestics get
into good American homes, so many get into homes
where they are not only imposed on and iU treated,
but where they see such an unfortunate side of
American lffe that he has come to the conclusion
that it would be better for both Japan and America
if aU Japanese domestic service should cease. This
statement throws no Uttle hght on the entire situ
ation. A particularly serious charge against Japanese,
and one, by the nature of the case, relatively diffi
cult to meet, is that of extreme sexual immorality on
the part of men and unhesitating prostitution on
the part of women. This charge imputes to Japa
nese, as a whole, a character which is by no means
deserved. Moreover, "people who hve in glass
houses should not throw stones." This aphorism
is particularly pertment, for the "tenderloin dis
trict" of San Francisco (closed only since these

MISUNDERSTANDINGS 57
pages were written) is notorious. The daUy press
of San Francisco, moreover, discloses a state of af
fairs as to the relation of the sexes in certain classes
of society in comparison with which the Japanese
brothel is innocence. In this connection it is im
portant to note how genuine have been the efforts
of certain elements among the Japanese to close the
brothels. The Japanese Government, likewise, has
taken every precaution to prevent the coming to
these shores of women who might become prosti
tutes. The awful revelations as to the terrible white
slave trade in America should make one cautious in
charging the Japanese with being sinners above aU
others in these matters.
During the past eight years Japanese brothels in
San Francisco have been reduced from twelve to
three, and in Oakland from eight to one. WhUe
writing this chapter the three remaining brothels in
San Francisco have been closed through the action
of the immigration officers. If the people of Cali
fomia were particularly eager to rid themselves of
this evU, it would not be difficult to apply the im
migration laws which provide for the deportation of
foreign prostitutes and foreigners engaged in com-
merciaUzed vice. Respectable Japanese would gladly
aid in the movement.
In regard to aUeged habits of retaUation also,
investigation shows that wide generalizations have
been made from relatively few instances. I surmise

58 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
that sweeping charges are made because feudahsm
is known to have made revenge one of its fimda-
mental principles. Such reasoning, however, fails
to understand the feudal teaching. RetaUation was
aUowed and encouraged only in the case of murder
of parent or feudal lord. In aU other cases Bushido
sought to repress this elemental tendency of human
nature. It is safe to say that, all in aU, Japanese
to-day are as free from the spirit and custom of
revenge as any of the peoples of Europe. Retalia
tion, as sanctioned by Bushido, is forbidden by the
laws of modem Japan and wotUd be severely pun
ished. In regard to retaUation in business matters
on this coast, detaUs thus far leamed indicate that
some of it, at least, is not particiUarly reprehensible,
namely, the blacklisting of certain American indi
viduals whose treatment of Japanese labor had been
found to be treacherous. The Japanese injured
simply let their fellow countrymen know the facts,
with the result that those white employers could
secure no more Japanese labor.
One striking feature of charges against the Jap
anese is the aU but universal assumption that the
American employer is always right and that the fault
Ues exclusively on the side of the Japanese. This,
however, is altogether improbable. The fact that
even white labor has been able to secure fair wages
and right treatment from white employers only by
the formation of unions and repeated strikes shows

MISUNDERSTANDINGS 59
the character of some white employers. It is not to
be hghtly assumed that the treatment of Asiatic la
borers by white employers, with whom they cannot
speak an inteUigible sentence, is altogether above
reproach. Employers of Japanese labor, who find them sat
isfactory, have told the writer that success or faUure
in their employment depends entirely on the treat
ment accorded them. Courteous treatment and
kindly thought for their needs and welfare invariably
insure good results. Japanese laborers quickly dey
velop a feeling of personal loyalty and wUl do more
than the contract caUs for. Effort, on the other
hand, to drive them produces resentment. The
same point was made by a group of Japanese gentle
men with whom I dined one evening. In Ulustration
of this point, I was told of a certain large ranch where
some two hundred and fifty to three hundred Jap
anese laborers were employed each summer. For
two or three years there was constant trouble in little
things; friction and iU wUl were constantly in evi
dence; the laborers thought they were being treated
like dogs and never worked happUy. Not long ago
the responsibUity of caring for the laborers passed
into the hands of a son, whose attitude was one of
personal interest. When a train passed by he would
tell the men to stop work and look at it, and then
when it had passed, he would suggest to them to
make up lost tune. In many little ways he would

60 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
consult their convenience or pleasure. In conse
quence, they became loyal to him and he secured
much better service from them.
This incident weU iflustrates the point made above,
that Japane^ relationships are personaL Workmen
win do for one whom they regard as a friend what
they wiU not do for one whom they regard as a mere
industrial boss. In other words, they wish to be
treated as men and not as machines or mere " hands.
And is not this instinct human? Is not one of the
underlying faults of our entire system of Western
industry that we have reduced the relationship of
workers and employers, of labor and capital, to a
strictly mechanical, finann'al bads? And is not the
real and only solution of our difficulties a return to
the personal, the human relation? However that
may be, the fact is that Japanese labor is not famil
iar with the Western method.
The sweeping condemnation of the entire Asiatic
people and civilization made by United States Sen
ator Perkins^ would require an entire volume for
adequate consideration. The writer has lived in
Japan for a quarter of a century and does not hesi
tate from perajnal experience to pronounce aU such
sweeping a^rtions to be utteriy mistaken. "Hie
a^ertion would be equaUy true ff reversed, so fan,
at least, as the Japane^ are concemed. That any
sane or Christian man can pass such a universd
^Cna?. 1, p. 2.

MISUNDERST.\NDINGS 61
condeumation on a people he does not know is be
yond the writer's comprehension.^
Verily, Japan is not perfect. Every sin in the deca
logue may be found among its peoples, but what of
America? May the pot caU the kettle black?
Who, indeed, is capable of exercismg impartial
judgment? Who has sufficient knowledge of actual
conditions to pass righteous sentence? Is any one
competent, short of Omniscience?
The problem of Japanese assimUabihty is so com
plex that two chapters are devoted to its consid
eration. Here we take up the misceUaneous objec
tions presented in the fifth section of Chapter II.
It is amazing that any one can seriously advance
the proposition that Japanese chauvinism is the real
cause of Cahfomia's anti-Japanese spirit. Surely
the anti-Japanese movement began in Calffornia j
almost as soon as any Japanese arrived on the'
coast, a score of years ago. The Asiatic Exclusion
League has been in existence for many years. It
would be far nearer to the facts to say that the anti-
American feeling in Japan and the beUigerent utter
ances of her irresponsible student and pohtician
classes have been evoked by the repeated efforts in
Calffomia at rabid anti-Japanese legislation and by
the discourteous and imstatesman-hke speeches made
in support of the proposed legislation.
1 The reader who wishes to study the characteristics of the Jap
anese more fully is referred to " Evolution of the Japanese, Social
and Psychic," by the writer, Fleming H. Revell Co., 1906.

62 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
No doubt the blame for some of the exaggerated
sentiments expressed on both shores of the Pacific
should be placed on an irresponsible chauvinistic
press. It is difficiUt to estimate the international
harm done by purveyors of international news, who
exaggerate and distort the news, ff they do not
actually and positively fabricate it.
To the writer, Japanese insistence on race equality
is a commendation, rather than the reverse. This
very quaUty renders him a desirable immigrant.
For such a man and such a people are far more likely
to make good American citizens than ff their inher
ent tendency was to accept a servUe attitude. We
want, in this land, a people of free and equal citizens,
not a ruling class at the top and a docUe, servUe
class at the bottom. Considerable inquiry, however,
shows that opposition to Japanese, because they
claim to be the equal of white men, is limited to a
small number; certainly it is by no means imiversal.
In a subsequent chapter we shaU consider with
some care the shortcomings of CaUfornia's oriental
poUcy. At this point it is pertinent to say that
Californian criticism of Japan and the Japanese
rests on profound misunderstandings as to what they
desire. Japan does not ask for free immigration,
nor is she demanding rights of naturalization for
her citizens. Even though California desired large
immigration from Japan, there is no reason to believe
Japan would aUow it, for she would keep her young

mSUNDERST-\NDINGS 63
men at home not only for her army but also
for the development of her resources in Formosa,
Korea, and Hokkaido. Anti-Japanese criticism and
legislation, which rest on baseless assertions and
groundless fears, is, of covirse, weak and open to
criticism. The statement made by some that Japan does
not allow foreigners to become citizens is entirely
mistaken. Japanese law has aUowed it for many
years, and a number of Americans, Englishmen, and
others have avaUed themselves of the provision.^
EquaUy mistaken is the common opinion that
foreigners may not own land in Japan. It is trae
that a general law relating to the entire matter was
passed by the Japanese Diet some three years ago
and stUl awaits Imperial sanction before it goes
into operation. But for many years Japanese laws
have aUowed what is equivalent to ownership by
foreigners. Several years ago the writer himseff
leased, for nine hundred and ninety-nine years, a
piece of land on which to erect a summer cottage.
The entire payment was made in a single sum. In
the lease is a clause to the effect that, in case the law
of the land shall at any time during the nine hun
dred and ninety-nine years allow of fee-simple own
ership, the change shaU be made ^-ithout further
payment. Moreover, any group of foreigners incor
porating under the laws of Japan has rights and
* Appendix.

64 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
privUeges identical with those granted to a corpora
tion composed entirely of Japanese citizens.*
But, m considering the question of rights granted
by Japan to foreigners for land ownership, we should
not forget how smaU Japan is and how heavUy peo
pled is her territory. Reciprocal privUeges and duties
can hardly, with justice, be demanded. Would any
one expect of a man whose entire property did
not exceed $1,000 complete reciprocal relations with
one whose property was reckoned by the miUion?
To charge Japan with selfishness and inconsistency
would seem to be but proof of one's own slight ap
preciation of the circumstances.
Yet this is not aU. The crucial pomt is that
Japan's laws are absolutely non-differential. She
treats all nations with absolute equality. What she
complains of in Calff omian legislation, and, of course,
in that of other States also, which have passed simUar
laws, is that it discriminates. Asiatics are singled
out for differential treatment in ways that are
not only financiaUy disastrous but that are raciaUy
humUiating. The writer holds no brief for Japan, nor is he
authorized to speak for her, nor has he ever dis
cussed the question in Japan with any Japanese,
whether a private citizen or a member of the gov
emment, yet he does not hesitate to say that the
^ A full statement of the present Japanese laws relating to foreign
land ownership and lease rights may be found in the Appendix.

MISUNDERSTANDINGS 65
Japanese Govemment would take mto serious and
friendly consideration any difficult problem experi
enced by America in connection with Japanese im
migration if brought to its notice through the proper
channels, and would generously exert itself to flnd a
solution mutually satisfactory. His long experience
in Japan has convinced the writer that no govem
ment and no people feel more deeply the humiUation
and the pam of any discourteous treatment.
The statement that Japan aUows the coming to
her shores of no labor immigrants is correct. But
the argument that therefore she should not object
to American exclusion of Japanese laborers over
looks the point that her laws do not discriminate
between nations, whereas the proposed American
law providing for Japanese exclusion does so dis
criminate. This, exactly, is the difficulty. The writer has
heard Japanese gentlemen say that Japan has no
objection to any legislation in America whatever,
provided it treats all nations equally. Should a
State, or the whole United States, pass laws abso
lutely forbiddmg landownership by aUens, Japan
would not protest, because such laws would apply
to aU aliens equally. What she does object to is
invidious discriminating legislation.
Those who argue that the rights and privileges of
Americans and of Japanese in each other's coun
tries should be reciprocal should consider the appli-

66 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
cation of this principle. In regard to naturaliza
tion, Japan already aUows Americans to become fuU
citizens of Japan with every right conferred thereby.
Does not fiUl reciprocity require that the same
privUege be granted at once to Japanese in America?
In regard to rights of landownership, as we have
seen, Japan already grants such rights ia large
measure. Yet many States have laws discriminat
ing against aliens who cannot become citizens. In
both these matters Japan is more liberal than
America. As we have seen, it is no reply to say that Japan
does not allow her citizens to expatriate themselves.
Such an assertion only reveals ignorance. Nor is
the reply pertinent that Japanese in America do not
wish to be naturalized. From considerable per
sonal inquiry the writer knows that many Japanese
in Califomia, as well as in Hawau, would welcome
the opportunity were it opened to them. They
have been deterred thus far from making application
because of the knowledge that it would not be al
lowed. Among the frequent smister criticisms of the
Japanese is that, though they should become Amer
ican citizens in form, in heart they would stUl be
Japanese, loyal to their divine Mikado, and in case
of war would surely fight for hun, provmg to be
dangerous traitors. This is a bogie. They would be
have like members of any other race. Much would

Children attending the Japanese school at Florin, where the teacher is the Japanese Methodist minister. The American flag suggests the
spirit that is being instilled into the children. They attend the American school during its regular hours, going to the Japanese
school at four p. m. in order to learn the Japanese language.

.M I S i: S D i; I I.ST A .VD I NGS 67
depend on the occasion for the war — the circum
stances loading to it, and the apparent justice or in
justice of it. But this is a bogie in another sense,
too. It is a purely academic question; one of pure
theory, for there is not the slightest probabUity of
war between thes(; two countries. This matter, how
ever, vs ill bf; more fully considered in a later chap
ter. I believe there is no more danger of war with
Japan than with England. Every pradcntial reason
wUl hinder. It is no more thinkable that Japan
should declare war on the United States than that
the United States should declare war on Japan.
llifjre is good reason to think that naturalized En
gl i,^hmf;ri are still loyal Britishers. We should not
ask rnorr; of Japanese than we ask of naturaUzed
citizens of any other people. And it should be re-
membfjred tliat Japanese leaders in discussing this
fiucstion frankly say that those Japanese who become
citizens of another land should, in case of war, fight
for tliat land, even against their own mother country.
That Japanese naturalized citizens would, for a
time, be apt to vote together is not altogether im
probable, for thoy would naturally have the same
gerifjral view-point in regard to local and national
questions. But their view-point would bo one of
the rightful factors entf;ring into the situation.
Moreover, the Japanese, in voting together, would
not f;e unique. Do not even the Gentiles the
sanifj? — the Irish, the German, the negro, and even

68 THE a:merican japantese problem
the Jew? This argument, accordingly, has no par
ticular force.
That many whites have a feehng of unreasoning
antipathj' to the Asiatic is indisputable, and this
fact certain!}'- demands consideration by those who
advocate Japanese naturalization and immigration.
Yet it is also trae that many whites who have come
into close contact with Japanese do not feel this
antipathy; on the contrar}-, profound feelings of
mutual respect and even of attraction are felt by
not a few.
Moreover, most of those who are powerfuUy
swayed by antipathy have had no real opportunity
for knowing the Japanese in any deep or helpful
way. There is no Uttle ground for the behef that,
under favorable conditions and with the passing of
time, the present antipathy for Japanese wUl pass
away. A good iUustration of the passing away of violent
racial antipathy is Japan herseff. For nearly three
hundred years Japan was swayed by violent and
most unjustifiable opposition to the entire white
race. This was due, indeed, to certain unfortunate
experiences. Thanks, however, to American diplo
macy, on the one hand, and, on the other, to the
wide travel of Japanese scholars and statesmen, and
also to the Uves of hundreds of Christian mission
aries in all parts of Japan— who, through then- knowl
edge of the Japanese language and their kindly

MISUNDERSTANDINGS 69
spirit and good-wiU, have been able to estabhsh firm
friendship with tens of thousands of Japanese, rep
resenting every social class — ^Japan's antipathy and
distrust of the white man has been largely, ff not
whoUy, overcome. They are ready, as a nation, to
give ever}^ white man a chance. It now depends on
his own indi^^dual character whether or not he be
comes persona grata. And this is aU that can be
asked of any people.
All that Japan and lovers of fair play ask is that
each Japanese in America be treated on the basis of
his individual character, just as an Irishman or a
German or even an American is treated, and not on
the basis of a highly mistaken conception of racial
characteristics, which springs from profound igno
rance and accepts with absolute credence every vUi-
fying and outrageous slander.
There exists, among certain classes of Americans
to-day, an unreasoning antipathy to the Japanese.
There is also, beyond question, some ground for
antipathy in the conduct and lffe of many of the
immigrants from Japan. But considerable investi
gation shows that the evUs complained of are being
corrected. As Japanese become Americanized, and
especiaUy ff they are aUowed to become fuU American
citizens, the present ignorance with regard to them
wUl give place to knowledge, and antipathy to re
spect and good-wiU. Time and patience on both
sides wiU, of course, be needful. But ff Japanese

70 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
antipathy for the whites has been largely overcome
m Japan in less than two generations, by the adop
tion and consistent enforcement in Japan of a right
national policy, surely the same good result wiU be
secured in America by the adoption of a simUarly
wise national policy.
Viewed in a comprehensive way, however, includ
ing aU the factors both on the side of the Japanese
and on that of America, it is not at all strange that
the situation is what we now see. It could hardly
have been otherwise. Personally, the writer is not
inclined to blame either side. Nor is it strange that
many regard as hopeless the problem of reconcUing
the white and Japanese races. That such thinkers
demand the strictest separation of Asiatic from
American is natural. Such, nevertheless, we are
convinced, is not the right solution. Wise states
manship, with mutual patience and good-wUl along
with sufficient time, wUl bring the desired solution
and with it great gain to both East and West. The
outUnes of such a solution we suggest in our closing
chapter. Certain excellencies of the Japanese which Cali
fornians have generally overlooked should be noted
before closing this chapter.
Although the lower class of Japanese may not have
a highly developed sense of business honor and may
be "sharp" in their business transactions, no one
has charged them with petty thieving. Freedom

MISUNDER.STANDINGS 71
from this habit is a universal trait of Japanese in
their home land, in this respect absolutely differ
entiating them from the Chinese. This is a moral
development of no slight .significance. The Japanese
far surpass not only Chinese but also Italians, Span
ish, and Portuguese in this respect.
Again, whUe Japanese are commonly believed to be
extremely hcentious, no one has ever attributed to
them the crime so frequently charged to negroes,
from which also other races are not wholly free.
Here is an important fact whose significance they
should ponder who charge Japanese with lack of
respect for women and lack of sex morality. The
fact is that Japanese are an exceedingly law-abiding
people. No land probably has ever been so com
pletely and minutely ruled as Japan. It is a wide
spread behef that what the govemment aUows or
provides for is right. This postulate has had deep
influence in determining Japanese ideas of sexual
morahty. Rape is a crime we never hear of in Japan. :
Another admirable characteristic of Japanese in
California is the promptness with which they pay
their rents. This may be because of their relative
financial prosperity. There are practicaUy no poor
Japanese in Califomia. But if they were really as
unprincipled in money matters as they are com-
moiUy believed to be, we would certainly hear of
efforts more or less successful to beat landlords out
of rents.

72 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
Few people probably are as generous as Japanese
ia personal relationships. Then- expressions of grat
itude to those who help them or to those who are
on terms of good neighborliness are frequent and
striking. In spite of the fact that sometimes Cahfomians
charge Japanese with hving in ffith — "they Uve
like pigs" is what I have been told by two or three
critics — as a matter of fact, Japanese as a whole are
the most cleanly foreigners that come to America.
If they are able to acquire a Uttle property, especiaUy
ff they have their own homes and wives and chUdren,
this characteristic, along with their innate artistic
sense, becomes conspicuous. When contrasted with
immigrants from other lands their superiority is
truly remarkable.
After Bishop Brent had crossed the Atlantic in
the steerage of a boat saUing from Naples he wrote:
"I never quite gauged the menace from Southem
Europeans untU I came over with the indigestible
mass on the Caronia. One has pity for them, but
that ought not to blind us to the danger they bring
to this country. In virUity and decency the Jap
anese are infinitely beyond them."
Although Japanese are not, as a rule, teetotalers,
yet they are exceptionaUy free from drunkenness,
in this respect far surpassmg laborers from Euro
pean countries.
Japanese as a rule are as much opposed to inter-

MISUNDERSTANDINGS 73
marriage of races as are Americans. In his report
to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
(1913) President Chas. W. Eliot caUs attention to
the remarkable fact that wherever the Japanese have
lived in foreign lands they keep their race pure-
"They do not intermarry," he says, "with women of
any foreign race, affording thus a strong contrast to
the white race when in foreign parts. The inexpe
dient crossing of unlike races wUl not be promoted
by them in any part of the world." Does not the
"picture-bride" movement in California substantiate
this view? There are, of course, individual excep
tions — and as many exceptional Americans as Jap
anese. But if this impulse to keep the race pure is
in truth generally felt by them, then that which is
probably the strongest single cause of opposition to
Japanese in Calffornia is groundless — namely, fear
of race intermarriage and mongrel offspring. Is not
this race tendency on the part of Japanese one of
their commendable traits?
Japanese are commonly believed to be widely in
fected with venereal diseases. A scientific investiga
tion of this question is urgently needed. The only
positive evidence I have been able to secure was from
a physician who serves as examiner for the New York
Lffe Insurance Company. The reasons for with
holding his name are obvious. The facts he fur
nishes are as follows: During the past year he had
examined more than one hundred Japanese appli-

74 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
cants for policies, none of whom had had so far as
he could discover any venereal disease. Most of
these apphcants were heads of famUies and usually
took out twenty-year endowment policies ranging
from $500 to $5,000. (Query — are immigrants from
other lands doing the same thing?) The Common
wealth Club of San Francisco in its report on the
faUure of vice segregation in that city to prevent the
spread of venereal diseases states that not less than
fifty per cent of American men are infected at some
time with some form of the "red plague."
And, finally, a large number of Japanese in CaU
fornia have become Christians. This matter wUl
come up again in another connection. But by way
of iUustration I shall speak of a surprise that I had
in southem California. I was studying the condition
of the Japanese around Los Angeles. After looking
at one or two Japanese farms several mUes from the
city, I pointed to a house where a Japanese was work
ing and suggested that we examme his place. The
man gave us greeting when he knew my errand, told
of his hopes — he was just developing a horticultural
enterprise on a five-acre lot bought some three years
before. He seemed perfectly ready to answer aU
my questions. To the query how long he planned to
stay m America, he replied that when he came he
expected to remain only a few years — nine years had
now slipped away. Two years ago he had got a wife
from Japan, and would doubtless remain here aU his

MISUNDERSTANDINGS 75
life unless "persecution" should arise. I ventured
to ask ff I might look into his home. He took me
right in ; it was furnished like any middle-class Amer
ican home, with chairs, tables, sofa, pictures, and
bookcases. Except for the Japanese photos on the
desk, I would not have suspected it to be the home
of a Japanese. The young wife had evidently beaten
a hasty retreat with her babe from the adjoining din
ing-room, abandoning the sewing-machine on which
was a dress partly made.
But that which impressed me most deeply was the
large reproduction of Hoffman's "Jesus in the Tem
ple," finely framed, hung opposite the front door.
Another large picture was that of Saint Cecilia at
the organ. There were two bookcases containing a
hundred or more volumes. Some of these were Jap
anese, but the majority were English. Some thirty
or forty were religious books. I noted Van Dyke's
"Gospel for an Age of Doubt," Drummond's "As
cent of Man," one or two commentaries, a volume
on prayer, and others dealing specificaUy with the
Christian life.
I asked the man if he was a Christian, to which he
modestly assented — he was converted some seven
years ago in Los Angeles. I asked him if he went to
church. "Yes, to Los Angeles." As this was some
nine mUes distant, I asked how often he attended.
"Every Sunday," he replied, "unless something
specially interferes."

76 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
This ended my interview, but it was enough. It
threw a flood of light on the whole Japanese-Ameri
can problem. Here was a Japanese who splendidly
iUustrated what the race is capable of. He is as
fit to become an American citizen as any that
come from any race. He refutes in his home, in his
life, in his ideals, and in his practices ninety-nine per
cent of aU the charges brought against Japanese
immigrants. He is doing what anti-Japanese critics
say is impossible. Under favoring circumstances,
this instance may be miUtiplied many thousandfold.
Since that time I have had opportunity to look into
a number of Japanese homes, and in every instance
the conviction has grown that no European race is
likely to give us better immigrants or more promis
ing prospective citizens than Japan.

CHAPTER V
FACTS ABOUT FLORIN
"The classic instance of Japanese agrarian aggres
sion is the town of Florin," says Mr. Macfarlane in
Collier's Weekly (June 7, 1913). Many reputable
citizens of Calffomia cited Florin as ocular proof of
disastrous Japanese invasion, and urged me to visit
the place. I accordingly did so and herewith record
my results.
To give a picture of what I was led to expect, I
take verbatim an article that appeared in the Sacra
mento Bee (May 1, 1913) :
"Thet Own and Control It — Only One White
Man in Business in Country Town Once a Flour
ishing Community of Sturdy American Farmers —
They Couldn't Stand the Oriental and Had to
Leave. "Florin, Cal., May 1. — ^Florin, Calffomia, is a
town of Japs. It is 9 miles from Sacramento, the
state capital, in the heart of one of the richest agri
cultural empires of the world.
"The railroad cuts the town in two. The main
street runs for perhaps a haff mUe on either side of
the railroad at right angles to the track. A few
houses cluster together in groups on either side of
this street, crowding each other closely. But for
77

78 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
the most part, the houses are scattered and far
apart. "Most of the houses are low, squatty, untidy,
unpainted shacks. Those buildings that are not
shacks were once occupied by white people.
"Their owners have long since fled, literally. driven
out by the httle brown men who now occupy their
premises. "Less than one-fourth of its population of 500 are
white; the rest are Japs.
"Florin has:
"Two Jap stores.
"One Jap barber shop.
"One Jap boarding house that furnishes meals for
nine cents each.
"One Jap blacksmith shop.
"One Jap school, and one Jap shoe shop.
"The school, built for the chUdren of white men,
is now almost half Japanese. In one room there are
20 white chUdren and 22 Japs.
"John Reese is the only white man who owns a
store in Florin.
" 'Eight years ago,' he said, 'Florin was a flourish
ing town. There were two hotels, three grocery
stores, and a drug store here, aU run by white folks.
" 'Then the Japs came. Before that we had cheap
Chinese labor — 'bout seven dollars a week, a Chink
would work for — ^but the Skippies (the name they
caU the Japs in the West) took the same jobs for
75 cents a day and the pig-taUs had to go.
" 'Then the Japs got to leasin' land on shares, an'
before the white people realized it, they had control
of the best farms. Now the Japs are buym' land
as fast as they can.
"'The Japanese have depreciated real estate in
this neighborhood to about one-third of its actual

1

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^^ffZ^l-
P«
1
^^B
i- -
- ¦ ---^a^ ii;'H||iiiii
1
1
<l4si.U'/tj '/ F-'-nr,. Mr-, -iruk., a iir3i4u:iij^ 'A \t^t 'J'okyo M'-'l-iil -'.h'yJ, Urio;; tb';
Tb* k<m«< that -Mr .M jr^i built viitli hi-, own huodn. H" rwisented to be p\u>K'f-jr-4.phK'i
with bu f^MiJy a* h*: cariift iu frof/j '.r^': field, .^r": thewe Utjiatsi "fclm-kb '!'
FACTS ABOUT FLORIN 79
value. A Jap will buy a white man out for a big
price. The white man who lives next to him doesn't
hke Mr. Jap for a neighbor because he lives like a
pig. He is forced to seU. No white man will buy,
consequently, the man who hves next to the Jap is
forced to sell to some other Jap at a figure that suits
the Jap, an' there you are.
"'Now, the Jap is a wUy an' crafty individual —
more so than the Chink. The Japs realize that the\
whites do not hke to hve next to them, so they try '
to scatter their holdings. They try to buy in the
neighborhoods where there are nothin' but white |
folks. Then it's just like when you throw a rock in '
the river. Mr. Jap is the rock and when he splashes!
into the midst of a section of coimtry thickly popu
lated by white folks he starts a wave of migration
that keeps gettin' wider and wider just like the
ripple in the river untU aU the white folks have
moved out an' the Japs have moved in.
"'UntU this agitation was started about the anti
ahen land law, the Japs bought most of their land on
contract, payin' down just enough to hold it. But
when the bill was first drafted it specified that those
who had deeds to land could hold it. WeU, sir,
there was a Japanese rush to pay upon land that
resembled the invasion of Port Arthur.
"'In 1910 the Japanese owned 1900 acres of land
in Calffomia. Now, it is estimated they own 50,000
acres accordin' to the report before the senate on
the anti-alien biU. An' if we don't legislate against
this yellow peril, they will drive the American people
away from the soil entirely and the rich agricultural
industry of the West will he controlled hy the Japanese.
" 'The Jap works on the white man's money. Vir
tuaUy, he has nothin' at stake, yet the white man is
at his mercy. He hits the country with his blankets

80 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
on his back and the white man stakes him. If he
faUs he only loses his time — ^the white man loses the
money. " 'As soon as a Jap can produce a lease, he is en
titled to a wffe. He sends a copy of his lease back
home and gets a picture bride and they increase Uke
rats. Florin is producin' 85 American-bom Japs a
year. "'The Jap wUl always be an undesirable. They
are lower in the scale o' civUization than the whites
and wiU never become our equals. They have no
morals. Why, I have seen one Jap woman sleepin'
with haff a dozen Jap men.
"'Nobody trasts a Jap. People who deal with
them take crop mortgages on their product before
they seU them anything.
"'If the state legislature don't enact an anti-aUen
law that keeps the Japs from ownin' land in CaU
fornia, the farmers Will Pass One. This ain't a
threat — ^it's a promise,' and John Reese brought his
clenched fist down on the beam of the plow with a bang.
"A Jap farmer went clattering by in a spring wagon
with a bunch of plow shares, which he had bought
at the Jap store up the street, rumbling noisUy
about in the bottom of the wagon.
"John Reese watched him imtU he disappeared
around a bend in the road.
"'The Japs have shore kUled Florin,' he said with
a sigh as he tumed on his heel and strode into the
store, 'an' they wiU kUl every farmin' town in the
state of Calffomia ff the legislature don't pass the
anti-aUen land biU.' "
In the same paper the foUowing statement was
attributed to Adjutant-General Forbes of the CaU
fornia National Guard:

FACTS ABOUT FLORIN 81
" It was brought to my attention only recently that
at Florin two Japanese military companies were drill
ing from tune to time, that another company had
been formed m the Napa vaUey and other sections."
In Florm I caUed on Mr. Landsborough, notary
public, vineyardist, and general manager of the Florin
Fruit Exchange; on Mr. J. B. Brown, vineyardist,
whose daughter, Alice M. Brown, is an ardent de
fender of Japanese in Florin, and the only college
woman of the town; on Mr. and Mrs. Tootel, pres
ident of the Florin Frait Growers' Association;
on Mr. and Mrs. Simons, old-time residents and
successful vineyardists; on Mr. John Reese, store
keeper and chief opponent of Japanese in Florin,
whose statements to me corresponded even verbally
with those attributed to him in the above citation
from the Sacramento Bee. I also called on a vine
yardist and his wffe whose name I did not leam.
The school-teacher I met at the schoolhouse but
failed to keep a record of her name. The pastor,
Mr. Buchner, I corresponded with but did not meet.
Of the Japanese, I met Mr. and Mrs. Suzuki; the
former is secretary of the Japanese Association and
the latter is a physician, graduate of the Tokyo
Medical School, and the only physician in Florin,
Japanese or American. She accordingly treats also
American patients. Mr. and Mrs. Yoshino, inde
pendent vineyardists owning some ten acres, I found
at work with a half dozen employed Japanese, pick-

82 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
mg, cleaning, and boxing the grapes. Mr. Yoshino's
fruit, both this season and the last, brought the high
est prices in the Eastern markets of any sent from
Florin. Mr. and Mrs. Hirabara, with three sturdy
boys, I found living as tenants on Mr. Brown's
farm. The managers of both the Japanese stores I
met in their establishments. One of them employs
an American clerk.
With Miss Brown and Mr. Suzuki I was driven
around Florin in an automobUe for about three hours,
and saw enough to satisfy my curiosity and to con
vince me that " the half had not been told." Florin
is not a Japanese vUlage either in appearance, cus
toms, or morals. It impressed me rather as a typical
prosperous community of small American farmers,
who are coping successfully with the problem of
wringing a living out of farms ranging from five to
fifty acres apiece. Each farm has its own modest
house. It is practicaUy impossible to teU from the
road whether the occupant is a Japanese or an Ameri
can; the houses are not clustered or huddled together
as in Japan, but are widely scattered — one home on
each farm. Nor coiUd one teU whether the houses
were erected by Japanese or Americans. The worst
"Japanese shacks" are, as a matter of fact, owned
by Americans who expend the least possible amount
for the lodgings of tenants; the appearance of the
shacks is the fault of the owner, not of the ten
ants. In my observation, houses owned by Japa-

FACTS ABOUT FLORIN 83
nese farmers who have purchased the soU are
larger and better than houses provided for tenants
by American landlords. I saw several Japanese-
owned houses which were distinctly better than
many houses owned and occupied by whites. The
Japanese in Florin are already remarkably Amer
icanized; they even celebrate the Fourth of July.
Just as rapidly as they acquire economic prosperity
and can afford it, they live hke Americans in cloth
ing, food, and housing.
To avoid repetition, I summarize the various
statements made to me by those whom I interviewed
in Florin.
The Japanese population of the entire district of
Florin (sixteen square mUes) consists of three hun
dred famUies, who average at present but one chUd
each, and about one hundred unmarried men. In
the rush season additional workers may bring the
total Japanese popidation up to 1,400 or 1,600.
Nearly aU the regular Japanese residents of Florin
are members of the Japanese Association. 
The white population of Florin, instead of dimin
ishing from one thousand five hundred to five hun
dred, as asserted by Mr. Macfarlane, has increased
during the past ten years. Exact statistics seem |
inaccessible. But I was shown a dozen or more new
houses erected during the past three years by white
farmers who have moved in. Of course some Amer
icans have left, but I was assured that this was not
on account of Japanese neighbors.

— ^4 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLKM
Among white farmers there is probably no one
actively opposal to the Japanese. ^Ir. John R^se,
the only active ogponoit, is a storekeeper and the
town sheriff. Although he owns some land, he has
v-^Jiot developed a ving^rd. Miist of the Florin
I farmers are indifferent to the Japanese question,
taking neither interest in their presence nor demand-
'. icg their departure. Many farmers rect^nize that
T^e business prosperity of Florin has come lai^y
from the Japanese and are glad to employ them and
to lease or sell land to them, as they give better
terms than could be secured from white purchasers
or tenants.
A large number of smaTI farmers have no direct or
personal relaticns with the Japanese, neither employ-
ing their labor nor leasing to them nor regarding or
treating them as nei^bors. Such men, no doubt,
share the general antipathy always felt toward the
iiT-;f.':mliar stranger speaking a strange language.
Their min -is are, no doubt, poi^ned by the slanders
circulated by a prejudiced pres devoted to the anti-
Japane^ propaganda.
The teacher at Hoiin Center, a kindly young
woman, rephei to my questions promptiy and with
the assurance of knowledge. The Japanese in the
school number less than one haff; they are good
children, obedient and diligent; they have no special
faults : there is no friction between them and Amer
ican children; both races study and play happily
together without constraint.

FACTS ABOUT FLORIN 85
The white chUdren have, indeed, diminished in
number during the past ten years and the Japanese
chUdren have increased; the reason for this, how
ever, as stated by Mr. Reese and others (not the
school-teacher), is that the chUdren in the older
American families are grown up and the younger
families are refusing the responsibUities of parent
age — are practising "race suicide."
The number of chUdren in the school at Florin
Center, September 29, 1913, was, in the grammar-
school, eighteen Americans to five Japanese, and in
the primary school, twenty-two whites to sixteen
Japanese and two negroes. The Elder Creek dis
trict school has no Japanese, whUe the Enterprise
district school had, on October 8, 1913, an enrol
ment of nineteen American to five Japanese pupils.
The value of agricultural land in and about
Florin has steadUy increased during the past ten
years. On an average it has more than doubled, and
this independently of aU improvements. One place
of fifteen acres was pointed out, bought for $5,000
by an American who had recently moved in. That
same lot ten years ago changed hands for $1,500,
no "improvements" having been made in the mean
time on house or land.
There is no known Japanese prostitute in Florin,
in spite of the fact that there are some four hundred
men permanently resident in this district. In the
rush season several hundred additional workers come

86 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
in, both men and women, but none of the Ameri
cans whom I consulted, except Mr. Reese, knows
of any sexual immorahty. He alone vigorously as
serts the existence of prostitution.
Mr. Landsborough stated that as notary pubhc
in the course of a dozen years he had recorded over
four hundred contracts and that out of that number
probably not more than five or six had not been
carried out. Even in those cases the Japanese had
assumed too high risks; the low prices received for
fruit had driven the tenant-farmer into bankraptcy.
Mr. Brown stated that for years after others had
found Japanese tenants satisfactory, he had con
tmued to lease his thirty-acre farm to whites; under
five successive white men the place had continued to
ran down, the last man having farmed it so poorly
that practically nothing was reaUzed from the vine
yard. Overcoming race prejudice, he had finaUy
leased to a Japanese, and now for four years every
thing had gone on satisfactorUy.
Four American women stated that they found the
Japanese women good neighbors; as soon as the
¦ latter become able to speak a httle Enghsh, social
intercourse is established, and visits are exchanged
for the purpose of leaming and teaching. Japanese,
' both women and men, spoke of the kindness of
their American neighbors.
I called at random on an American to see what he
would say about his Japanese neighbor not more

FACTS ABOUT FLORIN 87
than a hundred yards away. Every statement
made, both by him and his wffe, was ui harmony
with the statements made above. In only one point
was the Japanese neighbor criticised, namely, that he
makes a slave of his wffe. They had actually "seen
her in the field with her baby on her back only
three days old!" The next day I went especially
to the house of the Japanese physician, Mrs. Suzuki,
to find out the general custom and the facts in this
particular case. Mrs. Suzuki, it seems, teUs her
maternity cases to stay abed not less than two weeks
after chUdbirth, and not to go out of the house under
three weeks. As to this particular case, she could
say nothing, as she had only come to town some fif
teen months before. Further inquiry elsewhere re
vealed the fact that the American making the above
assertion had moved into this region and had bought
his place less than a year ago, whUe the youngest
chUd of the Japanese neighbor was over a year and
a half old. Evidently there was a mistake in mem
ory or observation.
This "testimony," by the way, weU Ulustrates
how anti- Japanese stories get started by "eye
witnesses." This Japanese neighbor, I leamed, is
one of the most respected and successful men of the
community. Besides running his farm, which he
owns, and securing in Eastem markets the best
prices on his grapes of any vineyardist of Florin, he
is treasurer of the Japanese Association and partner

88 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
in one of the stores. He is educated and refined,
hving in a good house in Western style.
The assertion that "at Florin two mUitary com
panies drUl from time to time" is, as Mr. Landsbor
ough stated, laughable. From a material standpoint
such drUling would be impossible without the knowl
edge of many whites, for the two races everywhere
live side by side; there is no possible secret hall or
concealed driU grounds. And, from the psycholog
ical standp'oint, the drilling is absolutely incredible
to one who knows the Japanese and the entire situ
ation. This is a sample of the stories invented and
circulated for the promotion of race antagonism.
The Alien Land Law hits Florin hard. Develop
ment of new vineyards is now out of the question,
for American farmers wiU not handle the strawberry
proposition, so important during the five years when
the vineyard is getting started, while the Japanese
cannot do it on a three-year lease, which is aU the
law allows.
FinaUy, some at least of the farmers at Florin are
indignant at the way in which their district has been
misrepresented to the world at large. Farmers from
other districts may desire ahen land laws limiting
Japanese economic opportunity; but Florin can
not be honestly cited as unanimously desiring such
laws. Seven representative citizens (Messrs. Lands
borough, Tootel, Briner, Merwin, FeU, and Miss
Brown, all vineyardists, and Rev. Mr. Buchner,

FACTS ABOUT FLORIN 89
pastor of the Florin church) went to Sacramento,
some of them two and three times, in order to put
before the legislature, Governor Johnson, Secretary
Bryan, and the pubhc generally, the real views and
desires of Florin farmers, but faUed. Communica
tions sent to Sacramento papers setting forth the
Japanese situation in Florin from the view-point
of these farmers were declined. Newspaper corre
spondents came to Florin, lUce Mr. Macfarlane, who
wrote up the situation for Collier's Weekly, but in
stead of impartially seeking for the facts they eagerly
listened to the stories of Mr. Reese, apparently
swallowing all he said, for they heralded to the world
his view of the case as gospel truth.
When Govemor Johnson and Secretary Bry^STi
came to Florin, Mr. Reese, already known for his
anti-Japanese attitude, was chosen by Governor
Johnson to be their guide and instmctor, whUe Mr.
Landsborough, known to Govemor Johnson as pro-
Japanese, was tumed aside. These facts, told me
by the Florin farmers themselves, have convinced
me that part at least of the anti-Japanese agitation
in Calffornia is one-sided to say the least.
This statement of what I found at Florin must
suffice. The good people of California have beeni
misled in regard to the facts. If Florin is a typical
instance of the evUs wrought by Japanese farmers,
then the anti-Japanese argument, so far as the agri
cultural situation is concerned, is not very strong.

CHAPTER VI
JAPANESE EFFORTS TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM
For a comprehensive understanding of the actual
situation in Calffornia, we should know somewhat in
detail the efforts of Japanese themselves to meet
the difficulties and solve the problems. To a degree
that few Americans appreciate, there are wise and
noble leaders among them, and movements are under
way of great importance and promise.
Among the potent forces working for the social,
: economic, and moral uplift of the Japanese in Cal
ifornia are the fifty odd organizations called the
Japanese Association of  . One such organiza
tion is found in each centre of Japanese population.
' The leading Japanese of that region are members,
i paying monthly membership fees of from twenty-
five cents to three doUars. These fifty associations,
( averaging about two hundred and fifty members and
I having each its own board of directors and one or
more salaried secretaries, are federated in a single
body called the Japanese Association of America, of
which Mr. K. S. Inui is the general secretary, having
its headquarters m San Francisco at 1436 Post Street.
Upon these local and central secretaries faUs the
90

EFFORTS TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM 91
brunt of the work. In the local offices are kept all
records of arrivals, marriages, births, deaths, etc.
In cases of difficulty or misunderstanding between
Japanese laborers and American or other employers,
the secretary seeks to find the source of the difficulty
and to remove the same by friendly mediation. The
writer was informed by the secretary of the Oakland
association that a large majority of the difficulties
between Americans and Japanese arose through mis
understandings due to ignorance of each other's lan
guage. In order to promote mutual understanding be-'
tween the races, the national association from time?
to time pubhshes in English, for free distribution, '
pertinent articles and pamphlets. It also issues, in
Japanese, suggestions of various kinds calciUated to
promote both economic prosperity and the imder-
standing of American people and lffe.
A particular instance of the work done by these
associations is of special interest to Americans and
merits detaUed description. This is the so-called
"picture-bride" movement. As has been often
noted, practically all Japanese immigrants have been
unmarried young men who came to this country
with the expectation of an early return to Japan,
hoping, of course, to take back with them fat pocket-.
books. Up to 1904 the percentage of female immi-'
grants varied from 4 per cent to 10 per cent, the
average for nineteen years being 6.8 per cent. In

148 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
with repeated insistence that in the East different
races have learned the wisdom of maintaining their
race purity even though occupjdng the same territory.
However, since many feel that the presence of
Japanese in our midst wUl inevitably lead to amal
gamation of races, specific consideration of this
question seems desirable.
The condition most favorable for race assimUation
is that which arises when an alien father enters into
the civilization of the mother, is accepted by her kin-,
dred, and the chUd is reared in full parental love with
the friendship of kindred. Here the chUd receives
no social disabUity from the father's alien blood. In
case the family has the necessary financial ability
and the mother herself is possessed of the best social
heritage, that is to say, the culture of her race as
expressed in the language, literature, music, art,
morality, and religion of her people, these are im
parted to her chUd not otherwise than ff the father
were one of her own race. Social is here aided by
biological assimUation.
Where such ideal conditions can be secured it
would probably make no difference whether the
father were Hindoo, Chinese, Japanese, Arab, or
Negro. The essential point is that the mother would
love and rear her chUd without having to overcome
social obstmction in the shape of race prejudice and
more or less of social ostracism. ChUdren are as-
simUated to the race of the mother more easily

ARE JAPANESE ASSIMILABLE? 149
than to that of the father, because the mother, of
necessity, uses her native tongue in rearing her
children. AssimUation, however, may take place, as has
already been stated, regardless of intermarriage.
In case the chUd is adopted at infancy by parents
of another race having the requisite education, cul
ture, and means for it, and in case they love and rear
it as their own, the chUd in question wUl be com
pletely assimUated psychicaUy though not in the
least biologicaUy.
The case is much more difficult in which the par
ents migrate to an alien land and there bear and
rear their chUdren. The degree in which the chU
dren wUl be assimUated to the new civilization will
depend on many factors, but they are whoUy social.
Are the immigrants welcomed and treated as friends
by the adopted land? Do the parents desire to give
their chUdren complete education in the language
of their adopted land and do they have the means
for it? Or do they, on the contrary, desire to keep
their chUdren loyal to their own native land, giving
them little or no foreign education, requiring their
chUdren to master their own ancestral language and
hterature? And further, from infancy, does the
mother sing the native songs to her chUdren and
instil feelings of patriotism and devotion and admi
ration for national heroes? And, on the other hand,
does the adopted land give them welcome and edu-

148 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
with repeated insistence that in the East different
races have learned the wisdom of maintaining their
race purity even though occupjdng the same territory.
However, since many feel that the presence of
Japanese in our midst wUl inevitably lead to amal
gamation of races, specific consideration of this
question seems desirable.
The condition most favorable for race assimUation
is that which arises when an alien father enters into
the civilization of the mother, is accepted by her kin-,
dred, and the chUd is reared in fiUl parental love with
the friendship of kindred. Here the chUd receives
no social disabUity from the father's ahen blood. In
case the family has the necessary financial ability
and the mother herself is possessed of the best social
heritage, that is to say, the culture of her race as
expressed in the language, literature, music, art,
morality, and religion of her people, these are im
parted to her chUd not otherwise than ff the father
were one of her own race. Social is here aided by
biological assimilation.
Where such ideal conditions can be secured it
would probably make no difference whether the
father were Hindoo, Chuiese, Japanese, Arab, or
Negro. The essential point is that the mother would
love and rear her chUd without having to overcome
social obstmction in the shape of race prejudice and
more or less of social ostracism. Children are as
simUated to the race of the mother more easUy

ARE JAPANESE ASSIMILABLE? 149
than to that of the father, because the mother, of
necessity, uses her native tongue in rearing her
children. AssimUation, however, may take place, as has
already been stated, regardless of intermarriage.
In case the chUd is adopted at infancy by parents
of another race having the requisite education, cul
ture, and means for it, and in case they love and rear
it as their own, the chUd in question wUl be com
pletely assimUated psychicaUy though not in the
least biologicaUy.
The case is much more difficult in which the par
ents migrate to an alien land and there bear and
rear their chUdren. The degree in which the chU
dren wUl be assimUated to the new civilization will;
depend on many factors, but they are wholly social.
Are the immigrants welcomed and treated as friends
by the adopted land? Do the parents desire to give
their chUdren complete education in the language
of their adopted land and do they have the means
for it? Or do they, on the contrary, desire to keep
their chUdren loyal to their own native land, giving
them httle or no foreign education, requiring their
chUdren to master their own ancestral language and
literature? And further, from infancy, does the
mother sing the native songs to her chUdren and
instU feelings of patriotism and devotion and admi
ration for national heroes? And, on the other hand,
does the adopted land give them welcome and edu-

96 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
the individuals concemed that this "picture-bride"
movement is "a sly device for eluding immigration
regulations." The motives involved are, on the con
trary, highly creditable to Japanese manhood — ^the
desire to have and rear famihes. Japanese fondness
for chUdren is one of the many admirable traits of
that race, and puts to shame the race-suicide ten
dencies of not a few Americans who, indeed, consti
tute "undesirable citizens."
The members of the Japanese Associations in each
locahty represent the best elements of that race.
They are constantly seeking to promote the good and
eliminate the bad among their people. The writer
recently heard of a case of difficulty which was on the
point of getting into the local courts. The Jap
anese Association took up the matter and secured
the departure to Japan of the individual concemed,
and the extraordinary pohce supervision which the
govemment has over every individual in Japan
makes it certain that he wUl never secure a passport
to retum to the United States.
AU in aU, then, the work and leadership of the
Japanese Associations are highly commendable and
promise weU for the future.
I In addition to the Japanese Associations, there are
other organizations whose aim is more restricted,
either economic or social. For instance, there is
the Japanese Producers' Association. It was organ
ized inTroB~By"ar^^majOTi?y~or~the tenant farmers

Interior of the home of Mr. and Mrs. Tanaka of Florin. Note the map of the State of
California on the wall; also the picture beside it, tbe hard-wood floor, the rug, chairs,
books and phonograph. Is this a "sback.^'

EFFORTS TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM 97
between Vorden and Isleton, on both sides of the
Sacramento." Its aims are stated to be "to ad
vance the interests, uphold the dignity and protect
the happiness of the members and of the Japanese
in general. ... To assist in improving and ameli
orating their moral, social, and economic conditions.
... To maintain and insure cordiality between
landlord and tenant, thus guaranteeing against all un
necessary misundei-standing 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 parties. ... 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 avaUable, in order more effectively
to develop the fertUe bottoms now so scantily
populated." And in conclusion we find this inter
esting appeal: "Should you happen to entertain a
shadow of a grievance against one Japanese tenant,
be good enough to inform us of the particulars and
we wUl be only too glad to investigate and rectify
the matter."
Mention may also be made of the Japanese
Farmers' Association on the San Joaquin River.
'I^Ii~ass6'ciatibn devotes special attention to the
scientffic aspects of farmmg as weU as to other
matters of interest to its members. It publishes in
Japanese a monthly magazine of educational value

98 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
to its farming clientage and also conducts a " Ques
tion Department."
'¦More than 70 per cent of the individual farmers
in this district belong to one or the other of these
two associations."
Another form of association of the Japanese are
the so-called Prefectural Clubs. Membership here
is limited to those who have come from a single
1 • .
province m Japan, for Japanese have qmte dis
tinct local historical interests, and in some cases
even linguistic and social characteristics dependent
on the sections of Japan in which they were reared.
Such interests are utUized by these "clubs" for the
promotion of good feUowship and mutual helpful
ness.
\ In Los Angeles there is a Producers' Associa
tion to meet the special economic needs^of^tKe" large
I number of smaU farmers. It hot only aidrthem
in disposing advantageously of their produce, but
seeks to find tenants for unoccupied lands, to aid
woxUd-be tenants with regard to avaUable lands, and
to promote co-operative marketing.
No more important or significant work is being
done for the Americanization of Japanese residents
in Calffornia than that of those Christian Japanese
who are associated in the Dendodan, the Inter-
/ Denominational EvangeUstic Board.
This union organization was effected in 1911 in
order to quicken the life of the Christians them-

EFFORTS TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM 99
selves and help them feel their responsibUity for
carrying the gospel to their feUow countrymen who
have as yet had no opportunity to hear the "good
news." The Dendodan finds that there are large
neglected regions. Careful statistics have been
gathered showing that there are twenty-seven dis
tricts, having a Japanese population of 19,027, wholly
without Christian services of any kind. This soci
ety raises money and sends the pastors on preaching
tours through these neglected regions. This move
ment springs from the conviction that only through
the gospel and the change of heart produced can
the Japanese in America become truly adapted to
the new Ufe here and enter cordiaUy into our civUi
zation and finaUy be welcomed by Americans.
The results already secured have been highly
gratffying. EvangeUstic services have led to marked
changes of attitude in many individuals who hitherto
have been antagonistic to Christianity and resent
ful toward Americans who were aU regarded as
Christians. So valuable is the direct evangelistic work felt to
be by leaders in the Japanese Associations for pro
moting right relations between Japanese and Amer
icans that these associations, though non-religious,
have nevertheless provided the Dendodan with sub
stantial financial gffts.
This movement is one which should be encouraged
and strongly supported. Even from a selfish stand-

100 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
point, what better way can there be of overcoming
the narrow nationalism of Japanese immigrants and
putting them into sympathetic relations with their
neighbors than by leading them to become Chris
tians. Such a change wUl, of course, transform
their moral standards and render them better work
ers, more amenable to American moral standards,
and better liked, therefore, by Americans.
It is doubtful ff 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 pro
portion to its numbers, supports so many publica
tions? With a population on the Pacific coast of less
than sixty-five thousand there are five or six daUies
and several monthly pubUcations. The Christians
pubUsh and support a magazine, caUed Shin Tenchi
{New Heaven and Earth); and reference has already
been made to the magazine published by the Farm
ers' Association on the San Joaquin. Although these
papers are not always entirely free from objection
able material, at times foUowing the lead of the "yel
low press," yet the writer is assured by those who
are good judges that, on the whole, the leadership of
the Japanese press is wholesome.
A significant item may be cited in this connection.
In the faU of 1912 a daily paper was estabUshed in
San Francisco caUed the Kokumin (Nationalist).
Its fundamental aim was to arouse the spirit of Jap-

EFFORTS TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM 101
anese nationalism in Calffornia and to consolidate
the Japanese opposition to American race preju
dice. So little, however, did it succeed in finding
response that it died a natural death in the course
of the nex-t six months through lack of paying sub
scribers. In spite of the fact that the EngUsh language is
probably more difficult of acqmsition by the Jap
anese than by any other race, for the same reason
that the Japanese language is the most difficult
foreign language with which Occidentals have to
grapple, yet careful examination shows that Jap
anese are the most persistent of aU immigrants in
leai'ning English.
This, indeed, might be expected in view of the
relatively large proportion of "students" among
those who come from Japan. Out of a total of
9,544 immigrants arriving in 1908, the last year
before the enforcement of the "gentlemen's agree
ment," 2,018 were classffied as "students." Due to
the stringent interpretation of the term, as excluding
aU who must work for a Uving, the number at once
feU to 153, 255, 239, 288, and 260 in the five years
foUowing. In the report of the Immigration Com
mission (vol. 23, pp. 146, 148), giving statistics as
to resident Japanese who can speak Enghsh, we find
that 64.7 per cent are reported as able to speak En
gUsh. Of those who had been in Califomia under
five years, 58.1 per cent; between five and nine

102 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
years, 70.7 per cent, and over ten years, 82.6 per
cent could speak English.
After giving many tables of comparative statistics,
the report reviews the whole field of Uteracy, from
which we quote the following signfficant statements:
"Compared to other races employed in simUar
kinds of work in simUar industries, the Japanese ap
pear to have progressed more rapidly than most
other races, especiaUy the Chinese and Mexicans.
. . . The differences between the Japanese and
some of the other races with regard to the leaming
of EngUsh are so great, however, as to justffy the
statement that the Japanese have acquired the use
of the EngUsh language more quickly and more
eagerly than the Chinese the Mexicans and some
of the European races."
The report also refers to the "numerous schools
maintained for the benefit of adult immigrants. No
less than thirty-three, the primary aim of which is
to instruct adult Japanese in the EngUsh language,
were reported by agents of the Commission."
These facts as to Japanese acquisition of English
throw significant Ught on the question of their
assimUabUity. When word came to Japan in March and April
that no less than thirty-four bUls had been intro
duced into the Calffornia State legislature pro
posing to hmit and hamper the freedom of Japanese
residents in that State, biUs some of which were
grossly unjust and aU of them apparently in clear

EFFORTS TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM 103
conflict with the spirit of friendship proclaimed by
all Japanese- American treaties, a wave of indignation
swept through the newspaper-reading section of the
nation. A few hotheads, such as may be found in
any land, demanded of the govemment prompt
action and, in case of failure to secure redress by
the regular channels of diplomacy, readiness to push
the case even to the point of war.
The sober sense of the nation, however, though
intensely pained by the insult received, saw clearly
that such methods would be futile, tending rather
to aggravate the difficulty. They counseUed a calm
course. In substance they said: "Let the Foreign
Office, of course, pursue the usual remedial methods
when matters of difficiUty arise. But in addition
to that, let experienced and sober representatives of
the people go to America for the purpose of making
a careful examination of the situation. It is not to
be assumed that Calffornia wantonly insults Japan
or proposes discriminatory legislation without any
cause. Let wise counseUors go to CaUfornia and,
after a careful study of the whole situation, let them
counsel Japanese residents in Calffornia and let
them also report to us in Japan what they find, in
order that they and we may co-operate to remove
the causes of difficulty which have led to this unfor
tunate situation."
This wise and sober counsel prevailed. The detaUs
of the diplomatic controversy have not been dis-

104 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
closed; indeed, at this writing the negotiations are
not yet completed. But without waiting for the
success or faUure of diplomacy, three men eminent
in national affairs were despatched to the United
States by different political parties, in order to study
the facts on the ground, hear both sides, counsel
their fellow countrymen in California, and provide
a solid basis of knowledge for the whole people.
Surely, we must accord to the Japanese political
parties the praise of great wisdom and calmness.
What T^erican political party would have been
wiUing, in a time of national excitement, to adopt
this slow, painstaking method of investigation?
Would not our yeUow press have inflamed the popu
lar mind to such an extent that calm, statesmanlike
action on the part of the poUtical parties would have
been impossible? Be that as it may, the method
adopted by Japanese political parties is above re
proach in this"matter, at least;-  — — ~
Hon. A. Hattori, of the Kokuminto (National
party), and a member of the Diet; Mr. J. Soyeda,
of the Nichibei Doshikai (Japan-America One-aim
Society), and Hon. S. Ebara, of the Seiyiikai (Con-
institutional Society) and lffe member by Imperial
appointment of the House of Peers, were selected by
|heir respective parties for this duty. The choices
are significant. Mr. Hattori was at one time a
Presbyterian pastor in San Francisco. For the bet
ter proclamation of the gospel, he entered politics

EFFORTS TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM 105
and has become a powerful pohtical force. Mr.
Soyeda is one of Japan's leading bankers, and was
formerly a vice-minister of finance. Hon. Ebara,
now seventy years of age, has led a remarkable lffe.
When, in the sixties, all the foreign diplomats left
Tokyo because of the fear of assassination, our
American minister alone remained, saying he would
trust the Japanese Government and people. It was
his habit to ride out on horseback, unarmed and
unattended, indeed a dangerous thing to do at that
time. Young Ebara was so impressed by the cour
age and spirit of the man that he secured an appoint
ment from the Shogun to act as Mr. Harris's per
sonal guard. From that time to this Mr. Ebara
has been an ardent admirer of America. He early
became a Christian and through a long and active,
often exciting, pohtical career, has led a consistent
Christian Ufe, seeking especiaUy through education
to bring his people to a knowledge of the West. He
was for many years a member of the lower house of
the Imperial Diet; some three years ago, however, he
was appomted by the Emperor to the House of
Peers, which is a lffe appointment. Is it not a sig
nificant fact that when Japanese poUtical parties
sought for men to study the CaUfornia problem they
should pick out three such men rather than weU-
known beUigerent jingoists?
These men, with the secretaries, came, spent from
two to three months each in theu- work here, and

106 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
are now back in Japan. WhUe in Honolulu, and also
on the mauUand, these gentlemen, of course, spoke
on many occasions to their fellow countrymen.
Their counsels were sane and sober. The following
abstract of Mr. Hattori's address in Honolulu, taken
from The Friend, wUl indicate something of his spirit
and thought :
"He made four most impressive and striking
points: first, every Japanese in Hawau should be
true to his fatherland and unswerving in his devo
tion to his Emperor; second, every Japanese settled
here in permanency should become an American
citizen ff possible; third, such a change of allegiance
is not evidence of loss of patriotism and wUl entaU
no injury to one's national individuality. Indeed,
it wUl broaden that individuality into true cosmo-
politanship. Such an honorable change of citizen
ship only argues a higher patriotism, while the deeper
the patriotic devotion the better fitted the man will
be for citizenship in another country: fourth, ff
after change of allegiance from Japan to America,
war between the two nations should come, the truer
the Japanese, the more valorously he will fight for
America, thus exemplifying the genuine spirit of
honor which Japan inspires in her chUdren." ^
The editorial comment on this address added:
"The American papers gave only the first of the
above four points in their report of Mr. Hattori's
address, thus conveying exactly the opposite im
pression of the import of his remarks. As time
elapses, we cannot help feeling that Japan, as a
» The Friend, Honolulu, June, 1913.

EFFORTS TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM 107
whole, shows a disposition to treat this episode in
the spirit of Christ, whUe America is debating it to
no smaU degree from the standpoint of Mammon."
Mr. Soyeda prepared, in English, a "Survey of
the Japanese Question in California," which was
pubhshed in August, shortly after his return to
Japan. Though the survey covers sixteen pages,
it is comprehensive and statesmanlUce. It evinces
acquaintance with all the charges brought against
the Japanese in Calffornia, and suggests, in the brief
est words, some reply. The solution proposed is
"hetter mutual acquaintance," for there is stUl much
misunderstanding and misrepresentation. There are
some things to be done by both governments and
there are some things to be done by the Japanese
themselves both in America and in Japan. In
America, for instance, the Japanese are counselled
to "strive more and more for assimUation with the
people and observance of the laws and customs of
the land. . . . They must work strenuously to rem
edy their faults and do nothing to startle or irri
tate the people with whom they are living . . . seff-
help is, after aU, the best help. . . . ChUdren born
m the States must be carefiUly looked after, so that
their future may be assured and they may become
good citizens of the Great RepubUc." There are
many detaUs in regard to which Mr. Soyeda gives
suggestions to Japanese in California, and to those
in Japan he commends "patience and careful con-

108 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
sideration." In conclusion he urges "campaigns of
education along permanent and broad lines with the
aim to enUghten the public opinion, not only in the
two countries concemed, but aU the world over."
Shortly after the publication of this pamphlet the
Calffornia Examiner (October 2, 1913) referred to it
in an editorial whose spirit and language are in
dicated by the following quotations: "It is with
thankfulness, gratitude, humiUty and a deep sense
of being properly rebuked that we receive this ful-
mination of the Hon. Juichi. We shaU not self
ishly enjoy this feast of reason and flow of language
alone. At least half of it shall be fed to the office
cat — may his venerable whiskers flourish forever!
The other moiety wUl be forwarded to a noted pro-
Japanese American statesman, who engages in lec
turing, breeding doves, and Secretarying of State
with equal grace, facility and financial success. In
a general way. Honorable Pamphlet informs us that
Honorable Japanese is truly morally superior to
unfortunate American inhabitableness, being trath,
firmness, uprightness and faithfulness in gentle
men's agreement, therefore is perfectly agreeable to
naturalization and intermarriage, which afford happy
solution to Honorable Immigration Question not yet
impacted upon yellow American press."
This is a fair sample of the insolent treatment
by our yeUow press of a courteous discussion of
our international problem by one who has devoted

EFFORTS TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM 109
months to its careful study. As indicating the at
titude of a considerable number of Californians to
ward Japanese in general, this editorial is an omi
nous sign of the times.
Hon. Mr. Ebara, not being a ready speaker of
English, confined his utterances to the Japanese
language. His addresses, however, to his feUow
countrymen in Calffornia are reported to have been
exceedingly helpful in quieting those who were tend
ing to become excited and in the promotion of sane
methods for the attainment of international good-
wiU. In an interview granted to the writer the day pre
ceding his departure for Japan, Mr. Ebara disclosed
the fairness of his attitude by many significant re
marks. He recognized that in this problem the
Japanese have their share of the blame to carry.
There are, no doubt, many individual Japanese
immigrants who have displayed those unfortunate
characteristics with which all Japanese are now
charged. The Japanese Govemment made a great
blunder when it aUowed such large numbers of the
very lowest classes in Japan to go, first, to the
Hawauan Islands and, later, to California. Es
peciaUy harmfiU to right relations between Amer
icans and Japanese is the Buddhist mission in
America. Buddhist priests teach narrow patriot
ism and perpetuate many of the worst features of
Buddhist practice. They alienate Americans and

110 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
hinder Japanese from taking on American ideals
and customs. These opffiions Mr. Ebara has been
proclaiming in Japan. A long article in one of the
infiuential papers of Osaka, discussuig the respon
sibUity for the Japanese situation in Calffornia says
that it largely rests on the Japanese themselves.
Buddhist priests are especially responsible. An
editorial charges Buddhist missions in Calffornia
with doing much harm. Mr. Ebara also maintained
that the true course to be foUowed is one of educa
tion. The Japanese here must be educated in En
glish, in American customs, and especially in the
Christian religion. This, after all, is the great
unifier of races — ^belief in one God and discipleship
to Jesus Christ. In our interview he had nothing
to say criticising Americans or Calffornians.
In addition to the three gentlemen mentioned
above, who were sent to the United States in
representative capacities, several eminent Japanese
have come in private capacities who have also given
the matter considerable attention and whose counsel
has been sought by Japanese on the coast. I am not
able to report in detaU their opinions, although,
knowing some of the individuals as I do, I am con
fident that their thought will correspond closely with
that of the three leaders already mentioned. Messrs.
Ibuka and Kozaki, pastors in Japan and leaders in
their respective denominations, may be counted on
to give wise and wholesome advice. Mr. Suyehiro,

EFFORTS TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM 111
Professor of International Law in the Imperial
University in Kyoto, with whom the writer has been
associated for five years on the executive committee
of the Oriental Peace Society, has come to Califomia
in a private capacity to study the legal aspects of
the question. He is carefully refraining from aU
public utterances.
Although Count Okuma, sometimes called the
"Grand Old Man of Japan," has not come to Cali
fomia at this juncture, yet his utterances in regard
to the question at issue may rightly be regarded
as an important factor in the moral leadership of
the Japanese in Califomia. "Diplomacy or law or
statesmanship," he said, "will not work in this case:
the power of Christianity, the teaching of the broth
erhood of aU men and universal peace, alone wiU save
the threatening situation. Christianity is stronger in
America than in any other country and the concerted
efforts of the Christian workers here (in Japan) and
in America wiU achieve what we all have at heart."
Surely this appeal from a Japanese statesman, who
makes no profession of being a Christian, to the
Christians of America should not only set us all
thinking, but should also inspire us to do our part
in overcoming that narrow race prejudice which
moves so considerable a section of our people.
During my stay on the Pacific coast it has been
my privilege to meet in friendly conference many
of the Japanese leaders. I have dined or lunched

112 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
with representatives of various associations and
groups and have been aUowed not only to ask many
pointed questions but to express my own opinion in
regard to the situation. Indeed, the Japanese have
been more desirous of hearing than of speaking
themselves. The result of these interviews has been
to leave on my mind a very definite impression
which I would like to pass on.
The first thing to be stated is that the Japanese
leaders do not exhibit a spirit of captious criticism
or complaint. They do not feel indignant and beUig
erent. Of course, they are pained and are, indeed,
deeply grieved that so many Americans shun them
and regard them with such unfriendly feeling. But
they are not resentful nor revengeful. They seem,
rather, to have the spirit taught by Christ, when
smitten on the one cheek to tum the other. In
deed, at one of the pubhc meetings, when I was asked
to speak in Japanese on the "Future of the Japanese
Question," that was the Scripture passage read by
the Japanese leader of the meeting.
The general attitude of these Japanese leaders
has, accordingly, been a source at once of surprise
and of satisfaction. In talking matters over, whUe
they often speak of the indignities which they re-
! ceive — occasional stoning by rowdy boys, refusal of
barbers to cut their hair, racial discrimination, and
* lack of courteous treatment in many httle ways —
they mention these matters without anger and often

EFFORTS TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM 113
add that this treatment does not come from the
better classes, among whom there are man)'^ friends
and supporters. Moreover, they add, the situation
has been steadUy improving for four or five years.
"What is needed is patience."
One group of men, in talking of these matters,
said that the anti-Japanese feeling was quite natu
ral. Japanese themselves could understand it, when
they recall their own feeling toward negroes or even
to the Shinheimin ("new-common people" — so
caUed because they were formerly an outcast class)
in Japan. And aU agreed.
Furthermore, all those with whom the writer has
discussed this subject have acknowledged the partial
trath of most of the criticisms directed against the
Japanese. But they say that, as a rale, there is too
extensive a generalization from a few instances.
The offending Japanese is noted and remembered,
and his fault is laid up against the race, whUe the
large majority, who ai-e not guUty of that fault, ai-e
overlooked or, ff noted, are regarded as exceptions.
This, however, is the way with every people. The
Japanese hi Japan have fallen into the same treat
ment of aliens. Such utterances show how broad-
minded these leaders are.
And, finaUy, the writer has been impressed with
the sanity (ff their counsels. They are seeking to
curb the jingo yoimg men among themselves, and
also the chamdnistic press in Japan. They see

114 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
clearly that aU vituperative, retaliatory, beUigerent,
or Ul-mannered retorts, hinder, rather than aid, the
cause. They have sought to calm the excited feel
ings in Japan. For instance, they have counseUed
Japan to proceed with her part in the anticipated
Panama Exposition, of which Calffomia is expect
ing so much. I wonder ff America or Americans in
Japan placed in conditions hke those in which Ja
pan and the Japanese have been placed would have
acted in an equaUy generous manner?
Among the forces working powerfuUy for the assim
Uation of the Japanese is that of Christian missions.
They are legitimately introduced into this chapter
because, though organized and largely controUed by
the American churches, yet the actual evangelistic
work is chiefly done by the Japanese themselves.
Of the fifty Japanese churches in the United
States, twenty-four churches, with one thousand
two hundred and ninety-eight members, are in
northern Calffomia; sixteen churches, with six hun
dred and eighty-one members, in southem CaU
fornia; and twelve churches, with five hundred and
ten members, in Washington, Oregon, and Colorado.
The foUowing paragraphs are quoted from Reverend
Mr. Hinman's exceUent pamphlet on "The Oriental
in America":
"The first mission work for Japanese was begun
by the Methodists in 1877, but its great development
has been since 1900. . . . Many Orientals have been

EFFORTS TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM 115
received into American churches, but where there are
sufficient numbers, experience has shown that better
results are secured by the organization of separate
or branch churches. . . . From the beginning, mis
sionary work for the Japanese has placed emphasis
on preaching and institutional work, partly because
trained Japanese preachers were obtainable and be
cause Japanese could be appealed to by other means
than the English class.
"Mission work for the Japanese in America is
helped by the fact that a considerable number of
the Japanese immigrants have been somewhat af
fected by Christian influence before their arrival.
Many immigrants have been members of churches
in Japan and some have been trained in Christian
work. They are ready to enter chm-ches here and
themselves feel a responsibflity for work among
their own people in America. Japanese pastors
show a genuinely missionary spirit, going out freely
to ^'isit the ranches and raUroad camps where Jap
anese are working. They conduct special campaigns
of pastoral evangehsm and carefuUy study and plan
for the evangelization of unreached Japanese com
munities. Few of them are widely known to Ameri
cans, but they are men of great influence and power
among their own people and are recognized in the
most important gatherings of the Japanese commu
nities. They are leaders in local reforms, scholarly
in their reading and thinking, and adaptable in their
methods. " The quick acceptance of the methods of organized
church work bj^ the Japanese is very encouraging.
American workers are surprised to find how soon the
Japanese Christians are anxious and able to admin
ister their church work qmte independently. No
great social or reUgious movement touches the lffe

116 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
of the places where they hve without stirring their
keen interest. Japanese Associations, including in
their membership aU those in a certain district,
gladly caU together great mass meetings when speak
ers of prominence from Japan are avaUable. Jap
anese churches frequently command the attention
of an entire community when they can introduce
men Uke the late Bishop Honda, President Harada,
or Americans who have spent years in Japan.
" Many Japanese pastors are graduates of Ameri
can theological schools.
"WhUe Japanese Christians influence so strongly
the lffe of their communities in America, the Japa/-
nese returning to their own coimtry with a new-found
faith, have had a very large influence on missionary
work and social reform in Japan. The Rev. H.
Kehara, converted in a Methodist Calffomia mis
sion, did splendid pioneer service in organizing Jap
anese missions, in Hawau and Korea. Another
product of CaUfornia Japanese missions, Mr. Sho
Nemoto, has been the parliamentary leader of tem
perance reform, and has secured the passage of a
bUl against the use of tobacco by minors.
"The story of American influence through the
retumed Oriental emigrant has never yet been ade
quately told. It concems aU classes, the humble
farmer who goes back with new ideas to his native
viUage and the great reformer who has leamed a
'divine discontent' with the old customs and su
perstitions. The marvelous awakening of China
and Japan is not inexphcable to the Chnstian men
and women through whom God has worked to form
the thoughts and change the hearts of Orientals in
America. "Japanese churches come to seff-support more
quickly and more readUy than Chinese churches, as

EFFORTS TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM 117
they apply their gifts almost exclusively to Christian
work in the United States. They give generously
for the erection of mission buUdings. Members of
the Pacific Japanese Methodist Conference annually
gave over $20.00 per capita to home expenses for
eight successive yeai's."
Personal acquaintance with many of the Japanese
pastors corroborates the statements made above.
Whoever wUl consider the efforts being put forth
by Japanese leaders and also by the rank and file
to adapt themselves to the conditions of lffe here,
to learn our ways, and conform to our standards
wUl surely reahze that much has already been done
and that the prospects for the future are hopeful.

CHAPTER VII
ARE JAPANESE ASSIMILABLE?
We have now reached the storm-centre of our
problem. Vehement assertion and dogmatic confi
dence characterize the discussions both of those who
assert and of those who deny Japanese assimilabihty.
If the question is asked why they are not assimi
lable, we are told that they are so different, so fixed in
their race traits, so unalterably Japanese, so wedded
to their Mikado worship. Japanese are Japanese
and wUl never change, nor learn our ways, nor adopt
our modes of lffe. They cannot possibly accept our
conceptions of God and man, of society and govem
ment, of duty and destiny, of home and woman, and
the Uke. In brief, the fault is with the Japanese.
But as the discussion advances the question becomes
one of intermarriage; it then appears that the diffi
culty is quite on the other side — it is the white man
that scorns the little brown man and regards him
as inherently inferior and intermarriage as utterly
obnoxious. The final and clinching argument is the
question: "Would you let your daughter marry a
Jap?" To put the matter, then, more truly, should we not
say that it is the white who is unassimUable? We
118

ARE JAPANESE ASSIMILABLE? 119
are not wUlmg to adopt their ways of life and thought
nor to aUow our chUdren to intermarry with theirs,
thus contaminating our aristocratic blood. When
intermarriage does take place we class the offspring
as belonging to their race, not to ours, although the
actual blood relation proclaims the chUdren as much
ours as theirs.
Instinctive race feelings so inevitably arise m this
discussion that special care is needed to distinguish
between feelings and facts. Yet we must not for
get that feelings also are pertinent facts and facts
of great importance. They cannot be ignored or
treated as though they were not. Nevertheless,
they must not be aUowed to distort our vision in
regard to other facts which also are solid and verifi
able and demand proper consideration.
Lest some may promptly conclude that the writer
advocates free intermarriage of races, he states at
once that such is not his view. Rather he earnestly
deprecates it. A more complete statement, how
ever, wiU foUow in due course.
It is important, first of all, to distinguish clearly
between the problems.
What is it, for instance, that constitutes a race?
An untrained thinker rightly takes the concrete
whole as he finds it and, in the large, distinguishes
between each whole on the basis of skin color. This
single element is a striking differentiating feature.
And then, along with the color, there go ui a rough

120 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
way the differences in physiognomy, language, psy
chic characteristics, civihzation, morals, and religion.
These are aU bunched and each element is uncon
sciously regarded as carr3dng with it aU the rest, so
that wherever one element exists the presence of
the rest may be assumed, even though there may be
no special ocular evidence of them. Moreover, aU
the race characteristics, physiological, social, psy
chic, and civUizational, of each race are thought to
be inherited from generation to generation by the
regular vital processes, even as dog nature is inher
ent in every dog and cat nature in every cat. The
races thus are ordinarUy conceived as being sharply
and permanently distinct and easUy distinguishable.
Modem biology, psychology, sociology, and an
thropology, however, have completely overthrown
this conception of race. It conflicts with many
incontrovertible facts; it confuses biological with
psychic and social phenomena. Such ideas, accord
ingly, whUe natural, are utterly unscientific and
seriously misleading.
Modern sciences have proven that, so far as man's
physical organism is concerned, he resembles hi re
markable ways the higher animals, especially the an
thropoid apes, which group of species, together with
man, doubtless evolved from some common ancestral
simian stock. Modern sciences have also proven
that man is possessed of marvellous psychic pow
ers of a nature conveniently described as sphitual.

ARE JAPANESE ASSIMILABLE? 121
Animals, especially the higher ones, are not wholly
without this spirit or psychic nature. But the dif
ference between animals and man is so vast that,
although it is correct to speak of man as anatomi
cally only slightly different from the baboon or
gorUla, psychicaUy he constitutes a separate king
dom. If it is legitimate to designate the differences
between the mineral, vegetable, and animal, as a
difference of kingdoms, then it is correct to add one
more, the kingdom of man.
Now, the universal characteristic of all mankind,
whatever the race, is their common possession of
powers of abstract thought, of language and all that
grows out of it, of reasoning in the highest sense, of
moral sense, and of reUgious aspirations. So far as
his body is concemed, man belongs to the world of
time and space, of atoms and molecules, of mecha
nism and organism. So far as his spirit lffe is con
cerned, he rises above space and time; he is uni
versal; he thinks aU space; he looks backward and
forward m infinite stretches of time; his whole lffe
is ruled by purpose; through his spirit nature he
is most intimately united with mhumerable feUows
of his race and with other races and with aU his
tory. Man is by his innermost nature social. In a
word, man is at once physical and spiritual, animal
and human, finite and ffifinite, individual and uni
versal; in part he is ruled by necessity, m part he is
free and self-creating. In tmth, man is a paradox,

122 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
fuU of contradiction and controUed by countless con
flicting elements. Now, the unity of mankind arises
from then common possession of this astonishing
psychic nature rather than from their bodily similar
ities. Careful study of the physical organism of the
higher animals doubtless throws much light on man's
physical nature and its processes of growth. Some
seem to think that if they can determine the laws of
heredity and cross-breeding for horses and cows, cats
and mice, guinea-pigs and primroses, they have forth
with determined the laws of inheritance and assimi
lation for the kingdom of man. Let investigation go
forward. But let us not expect to get all our light
from those sources. Let us recognize that man's
psychic nature is unique and can be studied only in
man and especially that this nature has its own laws
of heredity and is also even in biological assimUa
tion a modffying factor of the first importance.
We distinguish sharply, therefore, between man's
biological and his spirit nature and separate clearly
the principles governing each realm. Biological life
is not social life, whUe biological heredity is abso
lutely different from social heredity. The laws in
each realm are in sharp contrast. Biological evolu
tion, proceeding from a single ancestral human stock,
after many miUenniums has resulted in several well-
marked races and subraces. At the same time social
evolution has brought into existence distinct streams

ARE J.VPANESE ASSIMILABLE? 123
of civihzation. These two great movements, biologi
cal and social evolution, have gone forward through
the action of a common condition, namely, isolating
barriers and long-maintained segregation. Because
these two processes have gone on together, non-sci-
entffic thought regards them as parts of one process
and therefore inseparable. Race is thought to de
termine civiUzation, morals, and religion no less than
skin color, shape of head, and structure and pigment
of hair and eyes. This, however, is a palpable
error, resting on antiquated and now discredited
science. So-caUed race characters, then, fall into two
groups, the physiological and the psychological; the
former are transmitted by biological and the latter by
social heredity, whereas biological heredity takes place
automatically and entirely unconsciously, by vital
processes, and is probably completed in the case of
each individual at the moment of conception, cer
tainly not later than buth; social heredity may
pos,sibly begin before birth but reaches its maxi
mum activity during chUdhood — doubtless before the
chUd reaches its tenth year — but continues on into
adult life. WhUe no smaU amotmt of social inheri
tance is transmitted unconsciously, it is also trae that
a large amount of conscious effort may be expended
by the parents and by society in transmitting and
by the individual in receiving or acquiring this social
inheritance. Our entire school system is one vast

124 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
conscious organ for the transmission of social in
heritance. Biological inheritance (i. e., physiological race
character) is moreover transmitted exclusively from
parents to offspring, whUe social inheritance is not
so limited. Not only do older brothers and sisters,
and all kindred who live in social relations with the
chUd, help to impart the social inheritance, but ev
ery individual with whom the growing child comes
into contact exerts his measure of influence. In
imparting social inheritance the language learned
and used, the literature read, the music heard, the
actual conduct of men and women observed, the
moral lffe and religious conceptions and motives
taught — all have a vital part. They determine the
character, the ruling conceptions and motives, and
the kind of lffe the individual wiU lead. In a word,
social inheritance is a factor of superlative force in
creating the personality of the individual. It makes
a man to be the man he is. It gives concrete con
tent to his mind, fumishes the categories of his
thinking and thus determines his race, sociologi
cally speaking.
Physiological and social heredity, still further, have
no necessary connection. Stated in other Words,
physiological heredity does not detennine the nature
or content of the social inheritance. An infant of
any given race, being reared in the social environ
ment of that race, receives, of course, its social

ARE JAPANESE ASSIMILABLE? 125
inheritance. But a chUd of any race under ten or
twelve years of age removed to the social environ
ment of another race is fuUj^ capable of receiving
the social inheritance of that race. It can learn the
language and enter into the lffe of the adopting race
just as easUy as into that of the parent race. Ad
vancing years with loss of plasticity deprives one of
this capacity. A fuU-grown adult has little capac
ity for acquiring new languages and civUizations.
Of course, one element of ph5^siological heredity
is that which gives the infant its nerves and brain
and back of these its psychic nature. That psychic
nature, however, is only a latent capacity untU
called into activity by the social environment; this
determines its concrete content and the forms of its
activity. Within that psychic nature there doubtless
are latent certain tendencies which inight be re
garded as race temperament. But even race tem
perament is predominantly, ff not exclusively, di
rected by the social inheritance.
Exactly what takes place in cross-breeding, scien
tists do not yet fully know. Does the full heredity
of both races persist in the offspring? Does their
average determine its forms and lffe? Are some ele
ments preponderant for a season and then othera?
In vague general terms it has long been thought that
the two races are merged, producffig an average.
The discovery of the so-caUed MendeUan law of ffi
heritance, however, rendera this view no longer ac-

126 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
ceptable. Definite groups of characters seem to be
inherited as a whole and either to determine the off
spring or to lie latent for one or more generations.
In certain plants and animals Mendel's law of reces
sive and dominant unitary characters seems to hold;
but how far it applies to man and what characteris
tics are involved are matters as yet by no means
certain. Extended scientific study wUl be needful
before we shall have anything like real knowledge of
these matters.
This much, however, is certain: in the crossing of
races there is mutual give and take; even a single
individual makes its contribution to the biological
heritage of the group with which it crosses, provided,
of course, the offspring are permanently fertUe.
In contrast to the inevitable give and take of bio
logical assimUation is the remarkable absence of all
necessity in social assimUation; an assimUating race
may receive nothing from the race assimUated. A
larger body, on the other hand, may be assimUated
to the social standard of the smaUer body. Social
assimUation has no necessary causal dependence on
biological assffnUation. Japan, as already stated,
and, indeed, the whole Orient, furnish striking exam
ples of large and rapid social assimUation of West
ern lffe, the causes being wholly social.
" Ron yori shoko," as the Japanese, say. Concrete
facts count more than abstract discussion.
A Japanese infant, left an orphan in Oakland in

ARE JAPANESE ASSIMILABLE? 127
1898, was reared in an American orphanage. While
her biological heritage, accordingly, was entirely
Japanese, her social heritage was entirely American.
On going to school she proved to be a bright student
and surpassed her American schoolmates. But she
developed an abnormal disUke, even hatred, of Jap
anese. Although her body and face were Japanese,
her spirit and mind were markedly American and
there was constant war in her soul. At twelve
years of age she was placed in a Japanese boarding-
school and began to hve with Japanese chUdren and
to study the Japanese language. This was a terrible
ordeal. A year ago, however, becoming a Christian,
she became reconcUed to the mysterious providence
of the Heavenly Father. Peace now reigns within;
she trusts that He has some great work for her to do
through her strange experience. But her interests
are all American. In the high school she is a favor
ite Avith scholars and teachers. She is ahead of the
average girl of her age in foUowing, through the
daUy paper, the significant events in current history
such as the Balkan War, the new tariff, and currency
legislation. Here is a clear case. Her biological
heredity is pure Japanese, but this has not given her
a single Japanese idea or word nor a particle of
Japanese patriotism.
A gentleman of my acquaintance was for many
years a missionary in China . WhUe there he adopted
two Chuiese girls who had been abandoned and

128 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
brought them up in his famUy as his own chUdren.
They learned to speak, read, and write English per
fectly, and in every respect except appearance they
were Americans. I have known them personaUy
for forty years.
Another friend of mine was a missionary in Japan
for over a score of years. Through an extraordinary
set of circumstances he adopted a little girl of four
whose mother was American and father Japanese.
At the time of the adoption the father had died and
the mother was living in PhUadelphia but died not
long after. This girl was reared as a daughter by
my friend and his wife. For a year or more I took
my tum in her daUy instmction. Unless one were on
the lookout for Japanese traits, no one would be apt
to notice them in her. In her twenties she was an
exceptionally handsome woman. And as for her
mental and moral traits, she is whoUy American,
having been reared as such.
My parents were missionaries in the Caroline
Islands from 1854-61. Among the most serious
obstacles to their work were the lives of dissolute
white saUors. One of them, a notorious murderer,
at his death gave my father a four-year old girl born
to him by one of those savage women. Could a
chUd possibly have a worse ancestry? My parents
reared her as the eldest daughter. I thought of
her as my oldest sister and did not know untU after
her death, ten years later, that she was an adopted

ARE JAPANESE ASSIMILABLE? 129
chUd. She leamed to speak English and to be in
every respect one of us. My mother said of her
that she never knew her to do anything wrong;
she was perfectly obedient, gentle, kind, and trath-
ful. She evinced no tendencies to theft and deceit,
not even to Ul temper. She was absolutely trust
worthy. These and numberless simUar cases that might be
cited show that the complete adoption by an indi
vidual of one race of the language, ideas, motives,
and mode of Ufe of an alien race takes place without
the shghtest difficulty due to biological race differ
ence. In other words, ff there are obstacles to the
social assimUation of races they are not inherent in^
their biological differences.
The possibUity of race assimUation through in
termarriage, ff continuously fertUe progeny result,
probably few doubt. Anthropologists assert that
practicaUy aU modem peoples spring from vast inter
mixture of bloods. Especially is this trae of so-
called Anglo-Saxons — more tmly described as An
glo-Kelts. It is also trae of the Japanese. Malay,
Mongohan, Tartar, Caucasian (Affio), and Negro or
Negrito elements aU entered in. Even yet elements
of these distinct types are occasionally distinguish
able. Sometimes traces of the Jewish tjqje appear
and there are historical grounds for holding that a
Jewish colony once existed in Japan which, however,
has been enthely absorbed through intermarriage.

130 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
To class the Japanese as Mongohans is as unscientific
as it is to say that Americans are Kelts or Noreemen.
Of course, ff intermarriage results in offspring not
permanently fertUe from generation to generation,
and especiaUy through the critical second generation,
biological assimilation is impossible. Two inter
mingling races would in that case each remain per
manently pure because of the infertUity of half-
breeds. Race purity would then take care of itseff.
One of the striking facts, however, regarding the
human race is the degree to which fertUity exists
between races. This shows that the differences are
not so fundamental, biologicaUy, as many hold.
This wide interfertUity speaks powerfuUy for the
biological unity of the human race.
The objection, then, to intermarriage is not to be
based on the impossibiUty of biological assimUation
but, ff valid, on social and psychic grounds.
Many assert the existence of strong instinctive
shrinking from physical contact with one of another
color. It is to be noted, however, that such instinc
tive abhorrence is by no means universal. In the
days of slavery, and throughout history, ownera of
Negro slaves have not shrunk, on account of color,
from marriage in the biological sense. IMoreover,
members of the white race, in their world-wide travels
among the colored races, soon become so famUiar
with the colored skin that the alleged instinctive
antipathy 'offers no restraint to their passions. In-

Mr. Otto Fukushima.

Mrs. Otto Fukushima (American)

The four daughters of Mr, and Mrs. Fukushima; tj'pical A men can- Japanese children.

ARE JAPANESE ASSIMIL.\BLE ? 131
deed, one of the saddest and most discouraging as-
spects of the white man's presence in Japan, and in
aU the East, is the ease with which so many of them
take up loose sexual relations. It is difficult to per
suade one who knows what goes on there that there
is any such instinctive biological race antipathy as
is asserted. As President Eliot has pointed out, Japa
nese seem to possess the race-preserving instinct
more strongly than the white race.
Of more importance is the objection that mixed
progeny are undesirable; that whUe they lack the
virtues they possess the failings of both races; that
they are weak in body and mind and especially in
moral character. Biological assimUation, therefore,
though possible, is declared to be undesirable.
These statements are made with great dogmatic con
fidence. They are based, however, on observations
of the progeny of immoral men with Negro, Indian,
Hindoo, Chinese, and Japanese women. The Ulus
tration of the product of race mixture commonly
used by those who oppose it is the mule, ugly in na
ture, and hybrid.
Such arguments, however, are not scientifically
convincing. They ignore many important facts and
factors. They forget that the results of cross-breed
ing in both plants and animals are, in many cases,
highly valuable, preserving good and elimuiatuig bad
characteristics; that the virile races to-day are the
progeny of vast race nnxtures; that, whUe the cross-

132 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
ing of Caucasian with Negro, for instance, may be
bad, it by no means foUows that their crossing with
Chinese or Japanese may not be good; that in human
reproduction care in education is of the highest
importance, culture seeming oftentimes to count for
more than parentage; that the crossing of whites with
Asiatics or with blacks, under favorable conditions,
is very rare; and, finally, that the intermarriage of
Japanese and whites is so recent that there has as
yet been no opportunity for observation of results
to the third and fourth generation. The disastrous
results of immoral sexual relations of the races
should not be regarded as furnishing light of any
particular value on this problem. UntU adequate
facts shall have been recorded and aU these consider
ations taken account of, it is absurd to dogmatize
either pro or con as to the impossibility or undesira
bUity, biologically speaking, of the intermarriage of
Japanese and whites.
^ Among the physiological differences distinguishing
Japanese from Americans, two deserve special men
tion in this connection.
The placid face of a Japanese reveals to occidental
eyes no clew to the emotions of the heart. There is
no facial play of expression due to the ceaseless ten
sion and relaxation of the surface muscles of his face,
as is customary in Occidentals; no manifestation of
thought by unconscious movements of the eye; no
flushing of the brow and cheeks as feelings surge

ARE JAPANESE ASSIMILABLE? 133
back and forth in the heart. This is one of the
factora which make the Oriental seem so inscrutable,
so incalculable.
American instmctive distrust of Japanese is often
due to this single cause. Americans commonly feel
that the real seff of the Japanese individual is ever
in concealment; that he wears a mask, is not reaUy
frank, and cannot be trasted. And this seems to be
a congenital race characteristic, a correlation of de
fect in moral nature with an inherent physiological
trait. It is not a matter of which Japanese are con
scious, nor is it subject to voluntary control. Better
acquaintance with Japan, however, reveals the error
of these judgments. Japanese stohdity is an instance
of the way in which social habit and tradition control
facial expression. The Japanese are, in fact, an ex
tremely emotional people. Stoicism, however, has
been deUberately cultivated. Feudalism, with its two-
sworded samurai ever at hand, made it imperative
that men should not wear their hearts or minds on their
sleeves. StoUd expression, concealing whatever might
be going on within, was more useful in the straggle
for existence than a coat of maU; and this became
the social custom and was passed on from generation
to generation by imconscious imitation. It became
long since a race character, and appears to be con
genital, yet it is not; for the faces of young chUdren
are often exceedingly vivacious. Japanese chUdren
brought over to America while stUl young, or born

134 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
here, promptly develop habits of facial expression
hke those of Americans. They develop no masks.
They are frank and direct. This is one of the
striking changes which take place through social
assimUation, making American-born Japanese Amer
ican in bodUy appearance as weU as in mental habit.
This, however, is not confined to chUdren. Adults
also, though in less degree, are taking on American
characteristics in this respect. A group of my Jap
anese students who have come to America told of
their surprise at seeing how aU Japanese in Califor
nia, even the least educated, have undergone strange
modification in facial expression. An American
lady in missionary work for Japanese in Calffornia
remarked to me how much more frank, direct, and
tmstworthy those Japanese were who had hved
for years in Calffornia than those who had only
recently arrived from Japan.
Another factor helping to produce the same assim
Uating result is the acquisition of the EngUsh lan
guage from infancy. The utterance and articulation
of sounds in Japanese require a different use of tongue
and lips and throat from that required by English.
But function forms the organ, as Darwin has success
fuUy taught us. There is, accordingly, a Japanese face
produced by the Japanese language and an English
face produced by the English language. Now the
American-born Japanese chUd, learning to speak En
glish in the years of plastic growth, merely through

ARE JAPANESE ASSIMILABLE? 135
his acquisition of English, develops the character
istic features of the English face. And Japanese
cliUdren who do not learn to speak their own lan
guage lose, of course, those features of the Japanese
face which are due to the Japanese language. In
the terms of evolutionary science these race char
acters are due to the Lamarckian factor of use and
disuse. If, as Neo-Lamarckians hold, the character thus
acquired is mherited, then there wUl be progressive
evolution from the Japanese to the English face.
This suggests other changes in the bodily form
of American-born Japanese due to hfe in America
which, however, wUl not be discussed. But, in the
light of these two characteristics, it is easy to see
that social assimUation, even without intermarriage,
produces important changes in the very appearance
of offspring of alien races born and bred in this land.
It has always been supposed that biological assim
Uation could take place only by the intermarriage
of races. Yet even this position is being assaUed
by the recent discovery of profound physiological
changes occurring in the chUdren of immigrants.
The statistical investigations by Professor Boas,'
of Columbia University, of chUdren born of the same
parents before and after arrival in this country show
that, apart from intermarriage, biological changes
' "Changes in Bodily Form of Descendants ot Immigrants," by
F. Boas. Published by the Immigration Commission, 1912.

136 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
take place in what have been supposed to be the
most strongly fixed of race characters — viz., the shape
of the head. So unportant is this discovery that his
statements in regard to it are here given verbatim.
"The investigation has shown much more than
was anticipated. There are not only decided changes
in the rate of development of immigrants, but there
is also a far-reaching change in the type — a change
which cannot be ascribed to selection or mixture,
but which can only be explained as due directly to
the influence of the environment. This conclusion
has been tested in many different ways, and seems
to be amply proved. . . . The bodUy traits which
have been observed to undergo a change under
American environment belong to those character
istics of the human body which are considered the
most stable. We therefore are compelled to draw
the conclusion that if these traits change under the
influence of environment, presumably none of the
characteristics of the human tj^es that come to
America remain stable. The adaptabUity of the
immigrant seems to be very much greater than we
had a right to suppose before our investigations
were instituted" (page 2).
"The influence of the American environment
makes itself felt with increasing intensity accord
ing to the time elapsed between the arrival of the
mother and the birth of the chUd" (page 57).
"In other words the effect of the American envi
ronment makes itself felt immediately, and increases
slowly with the increase of time elapsed between
the immigration of the parents and the birth of the
chUd" (page 61).
" It would be too much to claim that aU the dis-

ARE JAPANESE ASSIMILABLE? 137
tinct European types become the same in America,
without mixture, solely by the action of the new
environment. ... I confess I do not consider such
a result as likely. . . . Whatever the extent of these
bodUy changes may be, . . . we are necessarily led
to grant also a great plasticity of the mental make
up of human types. . . . From these facts we must
conclude that the fundamental traits of the mind,
which are closely correlated with the physical con
dition of the body and whose development contin
ues over many years after physical growth has
ceased, are the more subject to far-reaching changes"
(page 76).
The kivestigations of Mr. Fishberg^ in regard to
the Jewish race confirm this general position. The
foUowing sentences from his important work merit
careful consideration :
"It is an undeniable fact that the cast of counte
nance depends as much, probably more, on the social
mUieu than on anthropological traits. Moreover,
the cast of coimtenance changes very easUy under
a change of social environment. I have noted such
a rapid change among immigrants to the United
States. . . . This new physiognomy is best noted
when some of these immigrants return to their native
homes; it is evident then even to the casual observer
that they radically differ in appearance from their
compatriots who have not been in the United States.
This fact offers exceUent proof that the social ele
ments in which a man moves exercise a profound
influence on his physical features. ... We have
' "The Jews: A Study of Race and Environment," by Maurice
Fishberg. Charles Scribner's Sons, 1911.

138 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
seen that to-day the bulk of the Jews who have Uved
for centuries in Africa present predominantly an
African physical tj^e; those in Asia are mostly of
Asiatic type; and the European Jews are mostly of
the anthropological types met with among European
races."

In his abstract of the concluding chapter Mr.
Fishberg says that "anthropologicaUy the Jews are
not a race." The work is weU Ulustrated, showing
both individual and composite pictures of the dif
ferent types of Jews, such as the Turanian, Teutonic,
Slavic, Mongoloid, Negroid, and others. This strik
ing work is a valuable contribution to the discussion
of race assimUabUity, completely undermining many
a popular opinion and even scientffic theory as to
race non-assimUabUity.
Neither Professor Boas nor Mr. Fishberg attempts
to account for the phenomena they have so volumi
nously described. They speak of these transfor
mations as the result of the environment. It seems
clear to the writer that much more is implied than
first appears. Certainly it is not the mechanical or
chemical or physical features of the environment
working by mechanical or physical methods which
produce the results. In some way the mysterious
buUding powers transmitted by parents to chUdren
are modified before birth. In these phenomena do
we not have evidence of subconscious prenatal influ
ence of the mother on her offspring? And may we

ARE JAPANESE .V-SSIMILABLE ? 139
not name this method of race transformation Bio-
lo^cal AssimUation through Subconscious Imita
tion? By processes, then, of which we are at present ig
norant, chfldren bom in any land by parents of an
alien race tend to certain stractural and phy.siolog-
ical characteri.stics of the dominant race. This is a
fact of great importance, for ff biological assimUa
tion takes place without intermarriage, then a forti
ori is psj'ohic assimilation to be expected.
There are, then, three factors in race assimilation:
biological as-simUation through intermarriage, bio
logical as.«imUation without ffitermarriage; and .so
cial assimilation. ^^^lUe analytic thought separates
these three factors, in actual lffe they ever work
together. Biological assimUation through subcon
scious imitation exert.s especiaUy powerful influence
in cases of mixed marriages, for it is reinforced by
the biological heredity of one of the parents. This
consideration throws much light on the well-known
fact that Eurasians bom in Asia are so conspicuously
A.siatic in appearance. This fact has been ascribed
to the prepotency of Asiatic biological heredity,
which explanation is doubtless an error. The newly
discovered factor in biological as.sunflation is highly
important for a right forecast of the results of race in
termixture. WhUe Eurasians bom in Asia and espe
cially of Asiatic mothers are conspicuously A.siatic,
Eurasians bom in America and especiaUy of Ameri-

140 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
can mothers we may expect to be conspicuously
American. Many facts substantiate this contention.
The writer was amazed at the slight Japanese appear
ance of the three chUdren of Mrs. Aoki, an Anglo-
Saxon, whom he recently had the pleasure of meeting
at Los Angeles. The children were so Caucasian in
appearance one would not think of the Japanese ele
ment unless his attention were first called to it.
Special attention is called to the impossibUity
of defining the inherent psychic characteristics of
races. It has been frequently attempted. Men have
thought they could distinguish, for instance, between
the oriental and occidental types of mind. In the
attempt to do so writers frequently ascribe every
good trait to the Occidental and the opposite bad
trait to the Oriental. The latter is suspicious,
underhanded, visionary, deceitful, impractical, auto
cratic, impersonal, imperious, given to lust, despises
women, and so forth ad libitum; while the Occiden
tal is the opposite in every respect.
Some, taking the opposite tack, have lauded the
Oriental and used his supposed superiorities as a
club with which to castigate Occidental faUings.
Both extremes are equally at fault. They describe
imaginary beings quite unlike the human beings of
flesh and blood that inhabit the world. The abiding
resultant impression made upon the writer by his
n life in the Orient is the fact that in their intrinsic
) natures Japanese are remarkably like Occidentals.

ARE JAPANESE ASSIMILABLE? 141
The differences, of which there are many, are rela
tively superficial and are ever changing, while their
permanent psychic characteristics are astonishingly
like ours. East and West have more in common
than in difference.
Moreover, it is ever to be remembered, that
just as there are sharp differences between English,
Scotch, Welsh, and Irish, all of Great Britain, and
also between the EngUsh, French, Spanish, and Ger
man peoples, so there are sharp differences between
the people of Kagoshima, Kyoto, and Sendai in
Japan, and between Japanese and Chinese, Koreans,
Hindoos, Persians, Turks, and Arabs. These dff-
ferences, however, belong to the psychic character
istics of the social orders, not to the inherent and un
changing psychic natures of the peoples. To talk,
therefore, of the oriental consciousness, as though
they possessed an essential psychic race unity, em
bracing all their differences and differentiating them
from aU Westerners, is to speak of what in fact does
not exist. Mr. BUss Perry, in his Uluminating book
on "The American Mind," describes well "the wiser
scepticism of our day concerning aU hard and fast
racial distinctions." "A race psychology, " declares
Professor Josiah Royce, "is stUl a science for the
future to discover. . . . We do not scientifically
know what the tme racial varieties of mental type
are. No doubt there are such varieties. The judg
ment day or the science of the future, may demon-

142 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
strate what they are. We are at present very igno
rant regarding the whole matter."
Amateur race psychologists write as though they
knew the races in detaU. As a matter of fact, they
are guided by their own a priori theories. They
catch at a few facts here and there in harmony with
their theory and buUd thereon gigantic dogmatic
stractures. A few years ago there came to Japan an eminent
German professor of comparative religion. He had
visited Persia and India, Siam and China, and was
then completing his study of oriental religions in
Japan. He stated that he wanted to get first-hand
information, so as not to be dependent on books.
And he forthwith began to discourse to the writer,
who listened with rapt attention to his fine discrim
inations between the reUgious feelings and insights
of the various races. Unfortunately, the writer
ventured to ask how he had learned all these facts;
had he employed interpreters? for surely he could
not have mastered all the languages in so short a
time. "Oh, no," he repUed; "in the matter of re
ligious feelings it is impossible to make use of inter
preters, for they could not possibly understand what
I am studymg, much less could they inquire of pU
grims what I wish to leam, nor report back to me
their replies. In this matter language is useless.
My method is simply to watch. I merely observe
the faces of the worshippers and pilgrims and

ARE JAPANESE .A.SSIMILABLE ? 143
know by my own insight the feeUngs that fiU their
souls." There you are: a scientffic German! a professor of
psychology and phUosophy diving into his own inner
consciousness for the facts of oriental reUgious lffe!
Not every one confesses his method so frankly; but
the great majority of tourists and "students" of
things oriental, who cannot talk with a native of
the country in his own tongue, nor read a Une of the
daily press, after spending in those lands a few weeks
or months and receiving certain impressions, fail to
ask how much is objective fact and how much
subjective fiction; and then, bound to write inter
estingly, they proceed to describe the "inscrutable"
Oriental, with his strange ways of Ufe and, to us, im
possible views of human relationships. Such is the
material that has been largely to blame for the ex
traordinary misconceptions of the East so prevalent
in the West.
Lafcadio Heam, Sir Edwin Arnold, Percival Low-
eU, and such writers have described most entertain
ingly and with captivating Uterary skUl the Japan of
their dreams, but not the real Japan of flesh and
blood. Superficial pecuUarities are exaggerated with
out measure, deeper identities are overlooked, untU
we are led to beUeve that Orientals are so different
from us that reaUy they are uninteffigible and we are
equally so to them; there is a deep, impassable guff
fixed between them and us. It then foUows, as a

144 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
matter of course, that we and they are mutuaUy
unassimUable. And this is the conviction that now
possesses many inteUigent men and women in Amer
ica. The few Japanese whom such Americans do
meet in America and find fairly rational and intelli
gible they regard as exceptions and, in any case, as
doubtless possessing Japanese characteristics which
elude them so that they cannot trust their own
experience. The writer regards these opinions and writings not
only as erroneous but also as injurious. They are
affecting, seriously, the relations of the nations. In
his experience, the writer has found the Japanese
thoroughly human; they are fundamentally Uke us
and wish to be regarded and treated so. They wish
j to be accepted as brothers in the great world of his-
I tory and in the forward movement of mind. They
i wish to enter fully into our lives and to be allowed
I fuU feUowship. They keenly resent the charge that
they are inscratable and unassimUable.
That there are no psychological differences be
tween East and West is by no means our contention.
There certainly are. These the writer has, in a mea
sure, studied and described in his work on "Japanese
Evolution, Social and Psychic." Our general con
tention 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

ARE JAPANESE ASSIMILABLE? 145
identical East and West because it is human. That
which unites them is universal and cosmic, whUe that
which separates them is superficial and insular. On
first acquaintance they may seem inscratable and
non-assimUable; in fact, however, there is no insuper
able obstacle to complete mutual understanding and
assimUation. The entire history of Japan during the
past fifty yeara is one grand illustration of this.
Japanese character is rapidly undergoing changes
now that feudalism has been abandoned and occi
dental modes of political, industrial, educational,
judicial, and social organization and Ufe have been
introduced. Japan heraelf furnishes the refutation to the argu
ment that the East never changes. These changes
are not confined to the surface of things as the hard-
pressed critic often asserts; they take place in the
innermost parts of the Oriental's lffe of the spirit.
China is rapidly moving now along the same road.
Here are whole peoples, mUlions upon mUlions, who
are voluntarUy taking over new modes of thought,
new methods of lffe, new conceptions of the world.
Who can logicaUy contend that these changes, intro
duced from the West, wUl not and cannot effect
changes in their inner character and bring them into
ever closer simUarity to the West?
Old Japan, Japan before the advent of Perry, was
apparently so fixed, and her mode of thought and
lffe and reasoning so different from those of the West,

146 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
that the contention of unassimUable race differences
might have seemed logically and experimentally de
fensible. But that contention can no longer stand.
New Japan has destroyed it, for she is rapidly
assimUating our entire occidental civilization and
thereby bringing her inner lffe into increasingly close
harmony with ours. The degree to which Japan has
already advanced in assimilation of occidental civi
lization is httle appreciated in the West. The aver
age tourist in Japan misses the most signfficant ele
ments of new Japan through his interest in that which
is merely quaint or curious.

CHAPTER VHI
ARE JAPANESE ASSIMILABLE ? (Contintjed)
In view of the facts and principles already consid
ered, we might rest our discussion at this point, and
argue that the objection to the presence of Japanese
in America which is based on the confusion of assimi
lation with amalgamation is baseless. Since assimi
lation goes on independently of amalgamation, the
objection faUs to the ground. A correspondent, for
instance, says: "The essential objection to my mind
to having Japanese in this country is that we should
not take into our midst a people with whom we can
not amalgamate." An adequate reply is that amal
gamation is not a necessary consequence of having
them here, and that since complete assimilation to
our civilization can take place without intermarriage,
the objection raised to their presence is not valid.
President EUot makes substantiaUy the same
point in his report, already referred to. " The immi
gration question need not be compUcated with any
racial problem, provided each of the several races
abiding in the same territory keeps itseff pure, as
the Japanese do wherever they hve." He points out
147

148 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
with repeated insistence that in the East different
races have learned the wisdom of maintaining their
race purity even though occupying the same territory.
However, since many feel that the presence of
Japanese in our midst wUl inevitably lead to amal
gamation of races, specific consideration of this
question seems desirable.
The condition most favorable for race assimUation
is that which arises when an alien father enters into
the civilization of the mother, is accepted by her kin-,
dred, and the chUd is reared in full parental love with
the friendship of kindred. Here the chUd receives
no social disabUity from the father's alien blood. In
case the famUy has the necessary financial ability
and the mother herself is possessed of the best social
heritage, that is to say, the culture of her race as
expressed in the language, literature, music, art,
morality, and religion of her people, these are im
parted to her chUd not otherwise than if the father
were one of her own race. Social is here aided by
biological assimUation.
Where such ideal conditions can be secured it
would probably make no difference whether the
father were Hindoo, Chinese, Japanese, Arab, or
Negro. The essential point is that the mother would
love and rear her child without having to overcome
social obstruction in the shape of race prejudice and
more or less of social ostracism. Children are as
similated to the race of the mother more easUy

ARE JAPANESE ASSIMILABLE? 149
than to that of the father, because the mother, of
necessity, uses her native tongue in rearing her
chUdren. AssimUation, however, may take place, as has
already been stated, regardless of intermarriage.
In case the chUd is adopted at infancy by parents
of another race having the requisite education, cul
ture, and means for it, and in case they love and rear
it as their own, the chUd in question wUl be com
pletely assimUated psychically though not in the
least biologicaUy.
The case is much more difficult in which the par
ents migrate to an alien land and there bear and
rear their chUdren. The degree in which the chU
dren wffi be assimUated to the new civilization will;
depend on many factors, but they are wholly social.
Are the immigrants welcomed and treated as friends
by the adopted land? Do the parents desire to give
their chUdren complete education in the language-
of their adopted land and do they have the means
for it? Or do they, on the contrary, desire to keep
their children loyal to their own native land, giving
them little or no foreign education, requiring their
chUdren to master their own ancestral language and
hterature? And further, from infancy, does the
mother sing the native songs to her chUdren and
instil feeUngs of patriotism and devotion and admi
ration for national heroes? And, on the other hand,
does the adopted land give them welcome and edu-

150 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
cational, economic, and social opportunity or does
it refuse these or at least begrudge them?
These are the principal factors that determine the
degree of social assffnUation which chUdren experi
ence in a foreign land. Of course, the influence of
the parents may be exerted in one direction, while that
of the social, educational, and economic situation
may Work in the opposite direction. The results
wiU be mixed and highly complex. But the point to
be clearly remembered is that the degree of social
assimUation that actually takes place depends en
tirely on the social conditions of the home and the
environment. The United States has been an extraordinary ex
perimental laboratory of assimUation. Here aU the
peoples of Europe have intermingled. First social
assimUation went on apace and then race inter
marriage. As to the complete social assimUation of
the descendants of aU immigrants from Europe of
the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, no one has
any doubt. This may be vaguely thought by some
to have taken place through intermarriage, but that
is far from the case. Are there not many famffies
of unmixed Puritan, German, or Dutch ancestry,
and yet are they the less American? Do they lack
in social assimUation?
A striking Ulustration of biological race purity
combined with social assimilation is afforded by the
Jews. Their religious faith and the religious hatred

^'^ Thl'^^otTe: a^ndlV;? onlht-^irhrarpt'el^^S::;" ThTl'lr^'''" '^ "'--""--^ American and one-,uarter Japanese.
This photograph iUustrates th^ eonte-'ntL-'rpTo&soTtrlSrgr/S c^J^^^^^^^

ARE JAPANESE ASSIMILABLE? 151
of ¦¦ Christians in Europe throughout the centuries
served to prevent their intermarriage with the
peoples among whom they lived. Nevertheless,
they with difficulty preserved their Hebrew tongue.
Wherever the poUtical and social antipathies have
even partiaUy broken down the Jews have lost their
Hebrew language, as in Germany, France, England,
and America.
In the United States they are entering into such
fuU poUtical and social intercourse with other races
that marriage restrictions are now rapidly giving
way. If the present movement continues, it wffi
only be a matter of time before the Jews of America
wffi be as completely assimUated, biologicaUy, as the
French Huguenots have been. Yet, in spite of the
many obstacles that have interfered with assimUa
tion, both biological and social, who wffi say that
the Jews of New York of the third and fourth gen
eration are not, poUticaUy and sociaUy, weU assimi
lated to our American lffe? They are cordial sup-
portera of our social order and are taking their share
in the progressive moral and spiritual movements of
the times. Surely they are as loyal Americans and
patriotic citizens as we have.
The power of the free pohtical, judicial, educa
tional, and economic institutions of America to assim-
Uate the various antagonistic populations of Europe
is one of the striking features of modem lffe. Our in
stitutions are bemg put to a terrific test by millions

152 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
of raw immigrants. But the evidence is clear and
convincmg that from these masses, even in the second
generation, we are securing enthusiastic and inteUi
gent Americans, loyal to the core to the characteristic
features of our country.
But the significant fact is that these assimUative
processes are social rather than biological, and can,
therefore, take place with amazing rapidity. And
this is exactly because it takes place m the realm of
the soul and not of the blood.
Here we come upon one of the outstanding char
acteristics of man as man. The individual human
soul is both formed and transformed by social
heredity, whereas the animal body is dependent for
nature and lffe on biological heredity. Advantages
derived by cat or bird or dog through happy parental
mutations or variations (even ff, with Neo-Lamarck
ians, we allow the inheritance of acquired characters)
are transmitted only to direct progeny. In man any
advantageous psychic, social, or economic variation
is transmissible, not alone to biological offspring, but
to every member of the human race.
We have high authority for holding that the true
chUdren of Abraham are not they who inherit his
blood but they who share his spirit. In a word, the
characteristics of man as man belong to the realm of
the spirit and are communicable by social heredity,
regardless of the question of biological descent.
The ffitermarriage of whites and Japanese is not

ARE JAPANESE ASSIMILABLE? 153
analogous to that of whites and Negroes. This for
various reasons. Caucasians and Japanese are, to
begin with, much closer. The Japanese race already
contains considerable white blood. Many a Jap
anese of high social rank could easUy pass for an
ItaUan or Spaniard. Furthermore, the two races
have Uved under the same general cUmatic condi
tions for over two thousand years in the north tem
perate zone. Their general courses of civUizational
development, likewise, have been strikingly parallel.
Both have experienced no little social discipline — if
anything, the discipline of the Japanese being more
severe than that of the European. Both possess
highly developed industrial and political institutions.
In actual experience results are what we should
expect. The offspring of mixed marriages are often
times practicaUy indistinguishable from Caucasians.
The color distinction is the first to break down. The
Japanese hair and eye exert a stronger influence.
So far as the observation of the writer goes, there is a
tendency to striking beauty in Americo- Japanese.
The mental abUity, also, of the offspring of Japanese
and white marriages is not inferior to that of chU
dren of either race.
In Tokyo there are not less than a score of famUies
of mixed marriages. The father, in most cases, was
a student m some foreign land for a number of years.
He married a German, English, French, or Ameri
can girl and brought her home to Japan. There,

154 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
oppressed by no social disgrace, possessed of the
financial and social abUity to brmg up the chUdren
to the best of his knowledge, with the aid of his
foreign wife to give what foreign accomplishments
he might not otherwise be able to provide, he is
disproving by his children the sinister predictions of
race prejudice.
There are also in Japan foreign gentlemen who
are rearing Anglo-Japanese, German-Japanese, and
Franco-Japanese famUies. Here, too, the results,
as a rule, are not imsatisfactory. Viscount Aoki,
for instance, has a German wife. His eldest daugh
ter was recently married to a German baron and has
gone to live permanently in Germany. The wife of
Mr. Ozaki, until recently the mayor of the city of
Tokyo, was the daughter of a Japanese father and
an English mother. She has proved herself a bril
liant author in several English books on tffings Jap
anese. The late editor of the Japan Mail, Captain
Brinkley, for over forty years a resident of Japan,
author of one of the largest and most important
works on Japan, had a Japanese wffe and successfuUy
reared a large famUy of boys and girls.
Japanese in America, also, not a few, have married
Americans. Doctor Takamine, for mstance, the
ffiustrious discoverer of adrenalin, married an Amer
ican lady, bom and reared in New Orleans. Of his
two sons, one has completed his college course at
Yale University and is at present studying in Paris

ARE JAPANESE ASSIMILABLE? 155
in the Pastetu- Institute for his Ph.D. The other is
preparmg for business. Mr. Kawakami, the Ulus
trious author of several important works m EngUsh
on Japan, has an American wife, whose chUdren, stiU
young, are said to be so American that no one would
suspect a Japanese father. Mr. and Mrs. Fuku
shima (the latter a Caucasian), of New York, have an
interestmg famUy of four daughters. Mr. and Mrs.
Aoki, of Los Angeles, have three beautfful Caucasian-
appearmg chUdren, who show the race traits of their
mother. In some cases the offspring of mixed marriages are
remarkably precocious. I personaUy know the only
daughter of a Japanese father and a Chmese mother.
The mother from infancy had good American care
and education and later, from fourteen or fifteen
yeara of age, she received Japanese education. She
proved to have unusual musical gifts. The father is
a Japanese of the Japanese, unyielding in his loyalty
to Japanese ideals. The daughter, reared in CaU-
fomia and Hawau, is a most precocious chUd in aU
subjects save arithmetic. At seven years of age she
was reading "Uncle Tom's Cabm" to herself with
great avidity. Fairy-tales and nature books she
has read by the dozen, although but slightly over
eight years old. On leavmg with her mother for a
distant town, she borrowed Hawthorne's works in
four volumes, as she was then m the midst of his
"Twice-Told Tales" and could not bear to stop.

156 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
There are few girls of her age who have read so
many books.
Although the period during wffich mtermarriage
between wffite and Japanese is stffi so short that the
resffits of several generations of amalgamation are
not to be had, yet it is clear from such experience as
is already avaUable that when the home circum
stances are wholesome and the chUdren are reared
with care, such as would be given were there no race
mixture, the resffits are good both as to psycffic
powers and physical appearances. It is not yet
clear whether we can say, as m the case of the mix
ture of Hawauan and Chmese, that the resffits are
superior. Experimentation must go on for several
decades and on a much wider scale before we may
expect defimte resffits.
Biologists wffi ask whether Eurasians are not apt
to be sterUe. I know of four Japanese Eurasians
who have chUdren, whUe I know of no married
Japanese Eurasian who has none. Some assert that
Eurasian chUdren are weak and defective. Refer
ence is made to the Eurasian popffiation of the
ports of India, Chma, and Japan. These do, ffi
deed, teU a pitffffi tale of moral degradation and
of mdifference to the weffare of their offsprffig on the
part of immoral wffite fathers. Tffis reference, how
ever, confirms the argument. Any chUdren, what
ever their race and however pure, reared as those
pitiable Eurasians have been, forgotten by their

ARE JAPANESE ASSIMILABLE? 157
fathers and neglected by their ignorant mothers,
who belong to the lowest classes, would fall into
the same unhappy condition. Eurasian chUdren of
the ports have, as a rffie, never received the full social
heritage of either parent, and this not because of
any mcapacity of the offspring at birth but solely
because of the morally cffipable mdifference and
ignorance of the parents.
Havmg said thus much in defence of the good re
sffits of mtermarriage between whites and Japanese,
the writer woffid now add, with all the emphasis of
wffich he is capable, that he does not recommend
such mtermarriage to either Japanese or Americans.
Mixed marriages he regards as ffighly undesirable.
In offiy exceptional cases can there be a "happy
home." It may be set down as a universal rule that
intermarriage of races shoffid follow, not precede,
social assimUation. Suppose that a Japanese man
of ordffiary social rank and correspondmg means
marries an American wffe in America and takes her
back with him to Japan. He has ffis 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-m-law) and by
aU ffis kmdred. Now, for an American girl to take
up life ffi a Japanese home, first commg to know it
in adffit yeara; for her to begin then to learn the
language and customs of Japan, to cook and to eat

158 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
their food and live entirely as they do, woffid be such
an awfffi experience that, no matter how much her
husband might love and seek to help her, it "would
be a fearful ordeal and coffid hardly end ffi perma
nent happiness. Her health woffid probably give
way under the strain. Moreover, it woffid be im
possible for her to impart to her cffildren a Japanese
social heredity. Although she might seek to suppress
her social influence, that would be only partly possi
ble. The chUdren she rears coffid 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 ffigh social rank
who, even in Japan, can afford to live and prefers
to live in foreign style and desires his chUdren to be
foreign. The probability of a happy marriage woffid,
ffi tffis case, be largely mcreased. But unless the
Japanese husband adopts to a large degree the
wffe's ideal of the social freedom of women, the
American wffe woffid fmd her secluded hfe almost
intolerable. Such cases are not unknown ffi Japan.
The American wffe who goes to Japan to live shoffid,
of course, be prepared to accept the Japanese ideal
as to the home and the duties, obedience and respon
sibilities of the Japanese wife. Even though the
husband may seek to relieve and help her, there are
the relatives, especially the female relatives, and
peace demands acceptance, also, of their ideals or
coffision wUl resffit and unhappffiess follow.

ARE JAPANESE ASSIMILABLE? 159
The situation, however, woffid be altogether differ
ent ff the Japanese husband, coming young to Amer
ica, gets his education here and here settles down for
lffe. The question of a happy marriage woffid then
depend on the personal qualities of the couple and on
the social acceptance by her family and social circle
of her Japanese husband. In this case he must be
prepared to accept American ideals. If he does so
cordially there may perhaps be no intrmsic objec
tion to the marriage. But, even so, there is more
risk than there woffid be were both members wffite.
The marriage, however, of an American woman
with a Japanese farmer comffig from Japan after
reachmg adffit lffe woffid be highly dangerous. Such
a man coffid not possibly gam any such knowledge
of the American home or American ideals as would
be essential.
For an American man, on the other hand, to marry
a Japanese wffe woffid be unsatisfactory for reasons
of another order. Much woffid depend, of course, on
the country ffi wffich they live and the desires of the
husband. In any case, it woffid be relatively easy
for her because of the larger freedom given to a wffe
by Americans than by Japanese. Should he desire,
however, to have his cffildren brought up as Ameri
cans, wffile livffig ffi Japan, his Japanese wffe coffid
not aid him. Inevitably, she woffid transmit the
Japanese social inheritance. She woffid talk and
sing to the chUdren ffi Japanese. Do what she might

160 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
and with aU her heart, striving to leam the English
language and to be like an American, yet she would
be helpless. The case would be different should the
pair live ffi the United States, for the chUdren woffid
there acquire much from their social surroundings,
especiaUy after they begin to attend school.
But, without entering into further detail, enough
has been said to ffifficate sometffing of the perU of
mixed marriages. Under the most favorable condi
tions, marriage is to be entered on offiy with great
care. It is a hazardous undertakffig when the mem
bers belong to different races.
Were the social assimUation of races dependent
on ffitermarriage, the outlook for the United States
woffid be, ffideed, forebodmg. Such, however, is
not the case. It proceeds independently, for it
is a matter of social inheritance and is transmitted
entirely through social relations.
The great obstacle to the social assimUation of race
is race aggregation, which preserves race language
and customs; and this is equaUy true of any race.
Provide for social intermixture with the jomt edu
cation of the chUdren and assffnUation wUl take
place with amazing rapidity.
Now, Japanese residing in America desire to have
their cffildren associate with Americans that they
may leam American customs and the EngUsh lan
guage. The number of Japanese reared from ffifancy
in America is stffi few. But in spite of the anti-

ARE JAPANESE ASSIMILABLE? 161
Japanese sentiment, which does not furnish the most
favorable environment, the results are surprising.
Japanese children soon become so Americanized
that they have no dffficffity in making friendships.
The results ffi HawaU of American education on
chUdren of all races are ffighly ffistructive from the
sociological standpoffit, justffyffig the belief that,
even ffi sections where the majority of the famUies
are not American but Japanese, Chmese, Portuguese,
and Hawauan, yet the American school succeeds to
a wonderfffi degree ffi impartffig the American lan
guage and social heritage.
Even under the present relatively unfavorable
conditions existmg ffi Calffomia, evidences crop out
here and there of the transforming power of our
schools on young Japanese. I cite two concrete Ulus
trations. It seems that ffi the high school in Oakland,
Calfforffia, there are enough Japanese boys to form a
smaU Japanese club. Tffis is not due, I am told, ffi
any way to ostracism, but merely for mutual im
provement. Yet those boys are so Americamzed
that they refer to the Japanese popffiation ffi the
third person, classffig themselves with Americans.
An auditor was amused to hear those boys say,
ffi discussing the problem of the Japanese ffi Cali-
forffia, that the offiy thffig to do is for "us to edu
cate them and teach them trae American ways."
An amusffig iUustration of this same Americaffized

162 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
spirit is reported from a kindergarten in Los An
geles. A five-year old Japanese boy was found by
ffis father one day last April sobbing bitterly. On
asking the reason, the little fellow replied after some
hesitation: "There's going to be war between Japan
and America and I'U have to fight you because you
are a Japanese."
WhUe preparffig the present chapter the writer
called upon a Japanese famUy Uvffig in Berkeley,
Califorma. The father is a successfffi business man
ffi San Francisco, of twenty years' standffig. The
wffe is the mother of five children, the two older ones
born ffi Japan and the others here in America. They
are aU attendffig school, the eldest, a son, havffig
just entered the university. They are to aU intents
and purposes American chUdren. I was especially
impressed with the daughter, some eighteen years of
age. Such a girl woffid be absolutely impossible ffi
Japan, perfectly free and easy ffi her conversation
with a man, yet perfectly modest and womaffiy,
ready to look you straight in the eye, yet without a
sign of rudeness or brazen character. She is fond of
the piano, ffi which she excels. AU the chUdren
stated that they have no friction or unpleasantness
with American young people. They have friend-
sffips and visit back and forth. Here is a fanffiy of
culture, the peer of any American family, already
remarkably assimilated socially, though of perfectly
pure Japanese stock.

ARE J.APANTSE ASSIMILABLE? 163
In estffnatffig the problem of Japanese assimila-
bffity, there is one important factor wffich an Amer
ican woffid hardly surmise and wffich he cannot
easfly grasp, namely, the enormous difficffity of the
Japanese language. A long exposition of its char
acteristics woffid be needed to ffiustrate this poffit
adequately. The difficffity may be suggested by the
statement that no Japanese chUd reared whoUy
ffi America can acquire both an English education
and a reading knowledge of his own language. If
he remains ffi America tffi he is twelve or tffirteen
yeara old and then retums to Japan, he is already so
badly handicapped that it is exceedingly difficffit
for him to get ffito the Japanese school system. Jap
anese chUdren in Hawau and Caffiomia after school
houra commoffiy attend, from four to six p. m., some
Japanese school for the study of their own language.
They find, on reachmg the age of ten or twelve, that
they can read anything ffi English wffich their mffids
can understand, wffile ffi Japanese they are stffi
struggUng with the mere forms of the Cffinese ideo
graphs. English they find easy, wffile their own
language they find fficreasffigly difficffit and dis-
tastefffi. The resffit is that Japanese chUdren reared ffi
America lose the reading power of their own language
far more surely and rapidly than those of any Euro
pean immigrants. This is an important fact, for it
means that Japanese of the second generation ffi

164 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
America are more rapidly and completely cut off
from the social and historical ffifluence of theff- people
than are American-born aliens of any other race.
Among the most common assertions of Japanese
critics is the statement that Japanese have an ffi-
nate, instinctive patriotism, wffich renders impossi
ble their surrender of allegiance to their native land
and desire for citizenship elsewhere. Tffis fact, says
the critic, makes it impossible for him to become a
truly patriotic citizen of another land or be trffiy
assinffiated. Even ff he does appear to do so ffi
form, it is offiy ffi form; it is ffi reality a sham, and
the more reprehensible on that account, and also
the more dangerous to the adopted land.
This objection is based on a mistaken psychology.
Patriotism is a psycffic trait and is communicated
or inherited whoUy by social means. It has noth
ffig whatever to do with physiological or biologi
cal heredity. As a matter of fact, many Japanese
lack the aUeged characteristic. Foreign residents ffi
Japan are occasionally amazed by fficidents showing
how many there are who are not possessed by the
conventional spirit of patriotism. A large number of
the young men hate mffitary service and seek in
every legitimate way, and sometimes ffi Ulegitimate
ways, to escape it.
At the outbreak of the war with Russia, the writer
was astonished to hear of a shrine ffi the Island of
ShUioku, prayer at wffich was popularly supposed to

ARE JAPANESE ASSIMILABLE? 165
secure escape from the draught. Many young men
of mUitary age made pilgrimages thither.
Patriotism is psycffic and is transmitted by social,
not by biological, hereffity. The fear, therefore, that
Japanese, even of successive generations born in
America, can never be assimUated so as to become
trffiy patriotic Americans is baseless.
Those who deny the assimUabUity of the Japanese
have based their belief on a theory of race nature
which is no longer tenable. In a word, they are
obsessed by the biological conception of man's nature
and ffie. They do not recogffize the psychic or
spiritual factor, nor do they perceive that this psy
cffic factor modffies ffi important ways even man's
physical life. They think of heredity only ffi terms
of biological analogy and have not a glimpse of social
hereffity with laws wholly its own. They, accord
ingly, cannot conceive of the real assinffiation by one
people of members of another race except by ffiter
marriage and actual interchange of biological he
reffity. Nor can they underatand how, from groups
of different peoples and races, a traly homogeneous
nation can arise, except through intermarriage and
complete blood mixture.
Professor John R. Commons, of the University of
Wisconsffi, weU expresses the consensus of modern
scholarsffip on this poffit ffi ffis "Races and Immi
grants in America," where he emphasizes the im
portance of a single language for establishing the

166 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
uffity of a people. "This is essential, for it is not
physical amalgamation that unites mankind; it is mental
community. To be great, a nation need not be of one
hlood, it must he of one mind. ... If we think together
we can act together, and the organ of common
thought and action is common language." This
principle tffiows floods of Ught on the assimilation
of ahen groups.
Observation of adffit Japanese who have been ffi
Calfforffia for a few yeara, by unsympathetic CaU
fornians who have never been ffi Japan, may ffideed
seem to substantiate the view as to Japanese non-
assimUabffity. Observation, however, by one who
has hved long ffi Japan leads to the opposite con
clusion. The degree ffi wffich Japanese ffi Calfforffia
have already been changed is ffigUy impressive and
prophetic. An American, unfamffiar with the Jap
anese ffi theff own land, is not ffi a position to esti
mate the changes wffich take place through lffe ffi
this land. For him to assert that Japanese are
unassimUable shows how unscientffic is the bent of
his mffid..
The writer was told by an experienced Japanese
teacher of chUdren ffi Japan that one of his impres
sive discoveries on conung to America was the fact
that Japanese cffildren born and reared here differ so
distffictly from chUdren ffi Japan. Theu- spirit and
even the play of expression on theff- faces disclose
the subtle influences at work transformffig them.

ARE JAPANESE ASSIMILABLE? 167
Some disputants are ready to admit superficial
changes, but ffi dogged defence of their theories as
sert them to be only superficial. "Down beneath,
the Japanese is unchanged and unchangeable."
" Scratch his skin and you wffi find a Tartar." Here
race prejudice and a priori dogmatism speak. Such
a method of argument precludes aU possibffity of
scientffic ffiscussion.
Lafcaffio Hearn is quoted in proof of the aUeged
non-assimUabUity of the Japanese: "Here is an
astoimffing fact. The Japanese cffild is as close to
you as the European chUd, perhaps closer and
sweeter, because infiffitely more natural and natu- '
rally refined. Cffitivate ffis mmd, and the more it
is cffitivated the farther you push ffim from you.
Why? Because here the race antipodaUsm shows
itseff." Mr. Heam has well observed the facts, but miser
ably faUed ffi the interpretation. The education of
the Japanese chUd in Japan does, ffideed, push him !
away from you, an American, hecause it gives him
the Japanese social inheritance, the product of thou
sands of years of divergent social evolution. But
educate that same cffild in America, give him the
American social mheritance and the English lan
guage and you bind him the more closely to you.
Just here is the fallacy into which nearly aU fall who
ffisist on Japanese non-assimUabUity. They are
talkffig about the adult. They forget, or do not

168 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
know, that any social heritage whatever can be
given to any cffild, and that, therefore, the cffild of
any race can be assimUated, socially, to any other.
And this exactly is the reason also why race aggrega
tions in any land are relatively non-assinffiable. It
is because the chUdren receive the social heritage of
their parents' race with its language rather than
I that of the country where they live.
The determffied defendant of Japanese non-assim-
UabUity displays amazing ignorance of the resffits
of modern science wffich has completely taken the
ground from under ffis feet.
Adequate scientific data are ffideed lackffig ffi
regard to the desirabiUty of biological assffnUation
of the Japanese and white races, but the social assim
UabUity of the Japanese is beyond question. In
this they do not differ from any other people.

CHAPTER IX
CAN AMERICANS ASSIMILATE JAPANESE ?
In race assffnUation there are always two parties,
the assimUated and the assffnUating. Having con
sidered tffis problem so far as Japanese nature and
capacity are concerned, the question stUl remains
whether we are ready to assimUate them. Are we
ready to give them such opportuffity in our com
mercial, social, moral, and religious life that they
can fffily acquire our ways, ideas, ideals, and motives?
Judgffig from considerable experience, the answer
to the question must be negative for northern Cali-
forffia. Not offiy day-laborers, skilled mechaffics,
and labor leaders, but large numbers of educated
people — ^poUticians, bankers, lawyers, merchants, and
educators — appear to be unwUling to receive the Jap
anese ffi any way whatever ffito our political, social,
or reUgious ffie. The Asiatic Exclusion League is
bitterly and actively opposed to aU Asiatics. The
secffiar press, especially that of northern California,
is actively anti-Japanese. Some papers seem to de
Ught ffi maUgnffig the race, exaggeratffig and appar
ently fabricating so-called news calculated to inflam^
race passion. Stringent anti-Japanese legislation is
169

170 THE AilERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
widely approved. Certaffi Young ^vlen's Christian
Associations refuse memberaffip to Japanese. Many
Christians disUke to see them even ffi their churches.
That social relations with Japanese are impossible
and marriage intolerable are emphatically and widely
asserted. A refined and cffitivated Japanese lady, graduate
of one of our best mission schools for gffls ffi Tokyo,
a resident on the coast for a dozen years, perfectly
fluent ffi English and able to profit by an English
service, says she has given up gomg to church
because she sees it gives Americans pam. She stffi
remains a Christian.
A Japanese man, repeatedly welcomed ffi a certaffi
church by one of the deacons, ventured to accost him
on the street one day, but was amazed to hear the
words: "I'm your friend ffi church but not else
where." WhUe Japanese cffildren ffi pubhc schools, on the
whole, receive good treatment from teachera and
schoolmates, they are not generaUy welcomed ffi
Sunday-schools. In 1911 Professor Nitobe (pronounced Xeetobey),
one of Japan's briUiant men, was on his way through
San Francisco to the East, where he spent the year
deUvering courses of lectures on Japan ffi haff a dozen
American uffiversffies. When an effort was made ffi
northem Calfforffia to secure for him an opportu
ffity to speak, the reply was made ffi at least two

The father of the little girl on the left is Japanese, her mother a Chinese
cation. The child hersi'lf, horn in California, had only Anieri<':in train
of the children ou the right is Japiincst', and their niotluT AnuTican.

Oman with an Auirriran and later a Jiipanese rdu-
ig and is proving licriflf highly gifted. Tht' falhtr

CAN AMERICANS ASSIMILATE JAPANESE? 171
cases that anti-Japanese feeUng was so strong that
he woffid harffiy be given a faff hearing.
How uffiversal this anti-Japanese feeUng is we
have no means of knowmg. I found many who
have no sympathy with it. Some Calffornians de
nounce it strongly, especiaUy women. Those who
possess it represent it as uffiversal. Those who do
not, contend that it is largely confined to the pop
ffiation Uvffig about the Bay of San Francisco and
ffi and about Sacramento. Some facts lend color to
this contention.
One thffig is clear: anti-Japanese forces are or
ganized, active, and vocfferous, wffile pro-Japanese
mffividuals, however many, are unorgaffized and
sUent. PracticaUy, therefore. Calffomia is ffi the
grip of those who are anti-Japanese. It is a psy
chological conffition wffich must be recognized and
reckoned with. It creates a serious situation and
is a powerfffi obstacle delaymg, ff not preventing,
Japanese assimUation. For race feelmg makes one
ready to beUeve the bad he hears and gives no op- \
portimity for hearing the good; the evil deeds of a |
score or a hundred bad Japanese are generalized and '
regarded as characteristic of the whole hateful gang.
Race feelmg ffivents many a libel wffich passes for
soUd tmth and serves to promote and to justffy more
race feehng. It gives no opportunity for corrective
experiences and knowledge. Moreover, it weakens
the sense of moral responsibUity and makes easy

172 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
unjust treatment of aUens. This is then condoned or
justffied. As a rffie, moreover, nothffig is heard of
the sharp practices of American employers of Jap
anese labor.
Race feelmg is one of those emotions of which the
possessor is almost inevitably unconscious. So
subtly does it work that the subject is sure he is
not raled by it; on the contrary, he thinks ffimself
able to give good and adequate grounds for his
antagonism; the object of his disUke is, ffi fact, so
immoral, despicable, and unprfficipled, so vffigar,
ugly, and uncivffized, or at the very best so abso
lutely different that any attitude toward hun but
that of opposition and disUke is fficredible.
The customary anti-Japanese argument is that
the question is not one of inferiority or superiority;
as a simple matter of fact, the Japanese are non-
assimUable and undesirable; they are immoral, un-
trastworthy, tricky, clannish; they are, therefore,
ffitrffisically unpleasant, untrustworthy, unaccept
able. It is impossible to like them, and dangerous
to welcome them ffito our political and social system,
and especially unto our family lffe.
Several answers must be made to tffis position,
beyond what has already been said in previous
chapters. Of course it is psychologically impossible to love
the unlovely, to lUie the disagreeable, or tmst the
untrustworthy. But the fundamental faUacy of the

CAN AMERICAN'S ASSIMILATE JAPANESE? 173
anti-.Japanese position is the assumption that prac
ticaUy aU Japanese are disagreeable and untrust
worthy, and that it is right, therefore, to treat them
ffi harmony with such feelings. Here is the opportu
ffity for the work of the moral wffi. A good, strong
man can disregard ffis mstmctive antipatffies. He can
and wffi deal justly and kffidly by the man whom he
does not know or like and is mcUned to distrust.
His goodness v.tU conquer the instffictive race preju
dice ffi his own heart, and by his just and kffidly
treatment of the ahen ¦wHl wffi him; and when that
has been done the good man can trust and even love
the ahen who once may ffideed have been a bad man.
Just this is one of the central traths and vitalizing
elements of the Christian gospel throughout the
ages: "God loved us whUe v;e were stUl sinnera."
" We love him because he first loved us." Through
out all time, it is the seff-^ving, even suffering love
of the good for the bad that overcomes the bad and
makes them good. True love is prophetic and crea
tive. It does not hold off the uffiovely and abso
lutely refuse all relationsffip untfl it has become
lovely. Goodness go^ out ffito the byways and
hedges. It seeks the man ffi the gutter, the woman
on the street comer, and the stranger ffi Uffiess or
prison or trouble. It extends the helpffig, friendly
hand, and by trusting makes trustworthy those who
had been false. This is the secret of all moral re
generation. It assimilates the bad to the good by

174 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
subordffiatffig the ffistffictive, selfish emotions to the
rational and moral wUl. My experiences in Japan
assure me that the Japanese, because of their long
feudal history and character formed thereby, are
peculiarly susceptible to the influences of personal
good-wiU and kindness; that is, they are peculiarly
assimUable under right and wholesome moral ffi-
fluences. EvU in the Japanese wUl not be overcome by evU in
us nor by refusal to associate with them, but offiy by
positive outgoffig goodness. By tffis alone can we
draw them to our ideals of life, and when that is
accomplished we shaU fmd that we can like and even
love them. But let us remember that in every case
we must deal with the ffidividual.
The danger to ourselves of seeking to assimUate
those uffiike us, especially ffi moral ideal, may be
admitted; but all social lffe has its dangers. Re
fusal of social relations is ffigffiy dangerous. Our
own development, indeed, depends on meetmg and
rightly conquerffig dangers.
The writer does not advocate ostentatious profes
sions of friendship for Japanese. He does not ask
busffiess men to trust irresponsible Japanese, nor
that cffitured American ladies shaU treat as intimate
compaffions uneducated Japanese women who can
speak littie or no English; they need not assert fond
friendship for, and insist on society relations with,
domestics or farm-hands. The Japanese who has de-

CAN AMERICANS ASSIMILATE JAPANESE? 175
liberately deceived or defrauded can no more be
trasted or admitted to one's home or into busffiess
relations than a wffite man who has done the same
thffig. It is always important to insist on strict accu
racy and honesty; that is the trffiy kind policy.
But let the employer or mistress be sure that the
employed really understands what is wanted. And
be sure also that the work required or payment
offered is not unreasonable. And, ffi cases of diffi
cffity, caU ffi the secretary of the Japanese Associa
tion, and always give the other side the benefit of the
doubt. In deaUng with a Japanese, remember that he is a i
stranger and among a people to him very, very
strange. His traffiffig has been feudal and his mo-i
rality the same. He is a child in matters financial;!
sharp mtellectually, but without inherited business I
principles and, as a rffie, qffite without business ex- \
perience. Be kffid ffi ways of personal favor and win ;
ffis personal good-wUl. Let him share in Christmas
and other pleasures; ask after his health and his rela-!
tives. If he has children, notice them and occasion-j
aUy give them a present. Never order him about in
surly or impatient tones, and above all never resort
to brate force. Many Americans and Europeans
have the idea that brate force is the only way to get
an Asiatic to obey; it is the greatest mistake in the
world, certaffily so far as Japanese are concemed.
When, as occasionally happens, Japanese of cffi-

176 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
ture, education, and good command of English ap
pear, be ready to go at least half-way ffi frienffiiness.
Acquaffitance wUl ffi some cases ripen into apprecia
tion and finally ffito mutual friendsffip. The writer
asks for no forcffig process, no artificial professions.
AU he asks is that Japanese be not treated differently
from aliens of any other land and turned down at
the outset merely because they are Asiatic. Give
every man a chance on the basis of his own ffidividual
character. True friendsffips can arise offiy as there
is mutual advance and response.
As an ffistance of kindly treatment, consider the
foUowffig: An owner of a ranch not far from San
Jos6 employs one Japanese permanently and four
durffig the summer. He has been much perplexed
how to get at them, for they know so httle English
and he, of course, knows no Japanese. He recently
met a retumed lady missionary from Japan and soon
arranged to have her make him a visit. On the day
appomted the Japanese workera were told of the
coming of the missionary and were given time off
for an ffiterview. They dressed themselves in their
best and ffi due tune appeared. The host ffivited
them ffito ffis parlor and later to the veranda, pro-
vidffig refreshments and treating them as guests.
For several hours the converaation went on ffi
Japanese, one of the men proving to be a well-
educated and devout Buddhist. At the close, acting
as spokesman, he thanked the missionary and the

CAN AMERICANS ASSIMILATE JAPANESE? 177
host for theff kffidness, and said he had lived in
California for six years and this was the first time
that any one had ever spoken to ffim about Christi
anity. Does not tffis incident provide a suggestion?
Many scores of missionaries pass tffiough San Fran-j
cisco every year, on their way to and from Japan,;';
who might be utUized ffi such ways as this. Many!'
of them coffid arrange to remain on the coast a few
days ffi order to render such service. The essential
conffition, however, woffid be the desire of employers
of Japanese for such aid. A central office ffi San
Francisco shoffid be estabUshed to which requests
coffid be sent, with provision for the travel and enter
tamment of the missionaries. The office shoffid, of
course, get ffito touch with the missionaries before
they complete theff arrangements for dates of arrival
at and departure from San Francisco, and thus aUow
time for trips ffito the country.
But the question wffi stiff be asked : If assimUated,
wffi the Japanese be a desirable adffition to our peo
ple, improvmg our stock, our social life, and our civ
Uization? To this question several answers must be
given. Intermarriage of Japanese and wffites, as we have
already seen, has taken place so seldom as yet that
no clear scientffic answer can be made ffi regard to
its results. There has not even been a scientffic
coUection of such facts as are avaUable.

178 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
The marriage of wffites with agricffitural Japanese
woffid probably fficrease the vigor but not add to the
beauty of American stock, whfle intermarriage with
the midffie and ffigher classes of Japanese woffid
probably add a new type of beauty.
Japanese, again, are famous for theff supple fingera
and dexterous hands, wffich give them marked fit
ness for certaffi industries as weU as for art. Woffid
not acquisition by Occidentals of these traits be a
gain? Among offsprffig of mixed marriages, some mdi
viduals woffid doubtless possess the characteristic
Japanese sesthetic and also mystic temperaments.
These rffight add materiaUy to the sesthetic and re
ligious development of American civiUzation.
But whoUy aside from ffitermarriage, woffid the
entrance of considerable numbers of Japanese ffito
our social ffie be an advantage? Without doubt, ff
it can proceed normaUy and morally. If ffi the
process of assimUation the Japanese coffid hold fast
to theff courteous and gentle manners, to their cffi-
ttue even without wealth, and coffid impart these
social traits to us, we shoffid be great gainers thereby.
But for tffis Japanese women shoffid come to Amer
ica; permanence and happiness of residence shoffid
be assured them; homes shoffid be established and
famffies shoffid be raised, and at the same time, in
proportion as they and theff chUdren acquire the En
glish language they shoffid be admitted into the social

CAN AMERICANS ASSIMILATE JAPANESE? 179
lffe of our people. Only so could they develop and
we learn from them the good social heritage which
they have to impart.
AU progress depends on the arrival and utUization
of usefffi variants; tffis is equally tme in biological
and ffi social evolution. The cross-breeding of races
and also the cross-mixffig of civUizations serve pow
erfuUy to produce aU kffids of variants, not only ffi
the physiological character of ffidividuals but ffi cus
toms and costumes; ffi music, drama, and art; in
folk-lore, religion, and phUosophy; ffi all that gives
richness and meanffig to ffie.
One of the outstandffig distffictions between the
biological and social realms is the fact that acqffired
biological characters are practicaUy not inheritable,
whUe acquffed social characters are. This means
that the experience of the inffividual and all his
bodUy development secured through conscious effort
ffie with him. Not so in the realm of social ffie.
Every usefffi social attainment of every ffidividual
may be taken up by his social group and ffi time
become the possession of the entire human race.
And this may be so even though the ffidividual ffim
self may ffie without a sffigle child to perpetuate his
biological hereffity. This is a pomt of the highest
signfficance. Biological heredity passes only from
progeffitor to offspring. Social heredity may pass
from any individual of any race to any individual of
any other race; and it does so speedily and easily

180 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
under favorable mental and moral conffitions. How
speedUy have powder and gun transformed the fight-
ffig of aU nations! Biological hereffity works auto
matically, as yet we know not how, and is practi
cally beyond human control except through the
extermination of aU those ffidividuals who possess
an undesired trait. Social hereffity works tffiough
conscious and unconscious imitation, and is rapiffiy
becomffig subject to human control entirely through
conscious promotion of the good and inhibition of
the bad.
Now, when we consider that aU movements of
social evolution, scientffic, artistic, moral, and reUg
ious, always take their start ffi inffividual ffiitiative,
and then have spread not only through the tribe and
nation but often to the ends of the earth ffi accor
dance with the laws of social heredity, the inestimable
importance of variant mffividuals, endowed by ex
ceptional ancestry with exceptional temperaments,
becomes manffest. If the crossffig of American and
Japanese races and civffizations is lUiely, as it un
questionably is, to produce such variants, the ad
vantages wffi be many and great.
America is rightly caUed the "meltffig pot of the
nations." Here the races and the civffizations of
Europe are being crossed, and we may expect the
advent of astonishffig variants of aU kmds. We
must learn to eUminate the unfit and to preserve
and utflize the fit. But woffid we not be great

CAN AMERICANS ASSIMILATE JAPANESE? 181
gainers by fficluffing Asiatic ore ffi tffis great melting-
pot? But tffis question as to what advantages we should
gain by taking Japanese completely into our national
life, as we do individuals from any European nation,
is not a question to be settled exclusively by bal-
ancffig the pros and cons of selfish advantage. We
need to ask ourselves how justice and good-wUl
reqffire us to treat the Japanese. Whether we get any
good from them or not is not the primary question.
Japanese are membera of the human race, are here
in America, and are here to stay; and it is our duty
now to deal with them justly and kinffiy. Unless we
do what justice and good-wiU demand, we ourselves
sink in the moral scale. Here is a moral opportu
nity set before us, a temptation, if you wiU. Rightly
used, we rise; if we faU to do the right we fall in
moral character. The new way in which the races
are being brought face to face to-day constitutes
tffis a great day for the testing of the nations and
also a day of great moral opportunity.
The ffi jury that might come to the present and
future generations from such mingling of the races
as already exists and is bound to continue is, indeed,
to be carefully considered. We must find the right
way of dealing justly and kindly with every race,
and at the same time we must avoid the dangers
threatened by the inevitable commingling. No
doubt, the problem is complicated and difficult, but

182 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
that does not excuse injustice and unkffidness. De
taUs of a possible policy will be presented in a later
chapter. Here I merely insist on certain broad
prfficiples. Righteousness, justice, and good-wUl in
racial and mtemational relations are the only possi
ble grounds on which the human race can go forward.
Can Americans assimUate the Japanese? That is
the question. I am no prophet, but I believe we
can. Each American citizen by his conduct, speech,
and spirit contributes ffis part, greater or less, to the
answer. In proportion as we do our part, treatffig
aU aliens courteously, justly, and kffiffiy, giving them
fair play ffi all the relations of lffe, welcomffig them
to our best treasures just so far as they show them
selves ready, shaU we succeed. Under such con
ditions, steadUy maffitaffied year ffi and year out,
there is not a particle of doubt as to the resffit.
Of course, the smaUer the number of Japanese and
the more complete their distribution the more rapid
woffid be their assinffiation. As they become assffn
Uated they, ffi turn, woffid aid ffi the assinffiation of
theff feUow countrymen, and the numbers of those
who coffid wisely come to these shores woffid gradu
ally fficrease. The news of this just and kffiffiy
treatment reported to Japan woffid aUay the natural
race prejuffice beyond the sea. The return to Japan
for visits of those already more or less assffnUated
would lead to stUl further changes in race feeling.
Such a poUcy of complete justice and good-wiU on

CAN AMERICANS ASSIMILATE JAPANESE? 183
the part of every American who comes ffi contact
with an Asiatic, even though the Asiatic as an ffidi
vidual might not at first deserve it, continued for
half a century woffid completely assimUate all
Asiatics on our coast and would conciUate the entire
Japanese and Chffiese peoples. Such treatment
woffid make our Asiatic citizens as loyal Americans
as any ffi our land.
But we must not be ffi too much of a hurry. We
must aUow time for the process. We are too apt to
demand the resffit without the process, the fffil-grown
tree without the yeara for its growth. Racial assim
Uation takes time, a generation or two. It is a cff-
cffiar or rather a spiral process. Each kind deed
brffigs those mvolved gradually closer and closer to
gether. As race prejuffice tends to produce condi
tions ffi wffich it thrives more and more luxuriously,
so race justice and good-wUl have the same self-
nourisffing tendency. Among our good people there
is unquestionably a large amount of genuffie good
will toward aUen peoples, ffidudffig Asiatics. It
shoffid become outspoken and active; it shoffid deter
mffie in a positive way our local and national policy
concemffig Asiatics.

CHAPTER X
CALIFORNIA'S ANTI-JAPANESE AGITATION
The writer heartUy agrees with the fundamental
postffiate of CaUforffia's general oriental poUcy. An
immigration from Asia swampffig the wffite man,
overtumffig the democratic ffistitutions of the Pacffic
coast, and brffigffig wide econorffic disaster to Cau
casian laborers and farmers is not for a moment to
be tolerated. The writer advocates nothffig of the
kffid. Nor does Japan ask for rights of unlimited
immigration. Her statesmen see very weU that
large influx of Japanese and Cffinese laborera ffito
the Uffited States woffid soon produce ffitolerable
conffitions and ffievitably lead to serious race conffict.
AU are agreed ffi regard to tffis poffit. I have talked
with many Japanese gentlemen on this matter and
not one have I found who ffissents.
The present chapter, therefore, is not concemed
with this fundamental postffiate but rather with
what may be regarded as the secondary aspects of
the pohcy — ^the spffit and the method with which
many Calfforffians have urged it. These latter seem
to the writer psychologicaUy and strategically mis
taken. 184

CALIFORNIA'S ANTI-JAPANESE AGITATION 185
For sixty years the treaties between Japan and the
United States have emphasized the friendship of the
two peoples. Not the Japanese Government alone
but the people also have taken these assurances seri
ously and have acted, for decades, ffi harmony with
them. Hundreds of Japanese attendmg our colleges
and univeraities have received ideal treatment from
our people and on gomg back to theff land have
reported theff experiences to their astoffished km
dred and acquamtances and to public audiences.
These reports have contributed to that amazffig
change of the Japanese national attitude to the
wffite man which has been characteristic of Japan
durffig the past forty years.
Japan on her side has effected changes ffi her
national ffie, laws, and political organization, un
heard of tffi modem times, grantffig protection and
large opportunity to foreigners ffi her midst.
Respondffig to the soUcitation of planters ffi the
nffieties, many thousand Japanese laborers went to
the Hawaffan Islands for work on the sugar planta
tions, and thus began Japan's ffist experience of enu-
gration. To facUitate tffis enterprise there sprang
up and flourished ffi Japan a number of emigration
societies. Not untU the annexation of Hawau, in
1899, however, did any considerable emigration
arise of Japanese laborera to Calffornia. At first
they were generaUy welcomed, but as soon as they
came ffi numbera large enough to form local groups

186 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
and to assert race distffiction then difficffities
began to arise. The first conspicuous mstance
of anti-Japanese feelffig was the so-caUed school
question when the School Board of San Francisco
adopted the principle of race segregation. This the
Japanese resented as contrary to the treaty, ffividi-
ous, and humffiatffig. Shortly thereafter came the
"gentlemen's agreement," wffich from 1908 put a
complete stop to Japanese labor immigration, the
Japanese Government preferring the prevention of
immigration undesired by us to the enactment of
legislation humffiatffig to her. In carryffig out this
arrangement the emigration companies were abol
ished, causmg much hardsffip.
Japan has earnestly desffed to maffitaffi relations
with America on the basis of the ffistoric friendsffip.
The entire history of America's helpfuffiess to Japan,
from the days of Commodore Perry and Miffister
Harris to the time of the war with Russia and the
Portsmouth Treaty of Peace, justffied Japan's adrffi-
ration. Rather than sacrifice America's friendship,
she was wUlffig to do almost anythffig. She volun
tarily undertook to keep back from our shores all
undesffed immigration. And when the treaty pf
unlimited arbitration was negotiated between the
United States and England, ffi 1911, wffich seemed
to conffict with England's obUgations to Japan oij
account of the Treaty of 1905, Japan, expressffig her
friendsffip for and confidence in both countries, vol-

CALIFORNIA'S ANTI-JAPANESE AGITATION 187
mitarily made the change ffi the clause of the Alliance
Treaty which would, under certain conditions, have
required England to fight with her against the
United States.
In spite of tffis mutually loyal friendship and gen
erous treatment, Calffornia has developed an anti-
Japanese agitation humUiating to Japan and dis
graceful to America. Ignoring the facts that Japan
earnestly desires to be on terms of cordial friendship
with America and is efficiently admffiistering the
"gentlemen's agreement," California assumes that
there is imminent danger of swamping immigration
and of vast purchases of her best agricultural lands
by these "undesirable" aliens. Her whole anti- Jap
anese argument and activity rest on this assumption
as its major premise.
WhUe manual workers, small traders, and farmers
may be excused for laboring under this delusion, it
is certainly surprising that State legislators, univer
sity professors, ministers of the gospel, and news
paper editors should be so completely obsessed by
the same Ulusion. These are the men whose priv
ilege it is to know the facts and to guide the rank
and file of the citizens. The rank and file should be
assured by the leaders that there is no danger
whatever of swamping immigration; that Japan in
her friendship for and gratitude to the United States
is more than ready to co-operate in any measures
that may be needed to free America from economic

188 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
or other difficffities that might arise from Japanese
immigration, and that the assertions by some of an
imminent Japanese naval attack and nffiitary ffiva-
sion of Califorffia are preposterous and absurd. In
stead, however, of gffidmg public opmion, of ffisistmg
on justice and fair deaUng, the reverse seems to have
been the spirit and method of the leaders of public
opinion. Durmg the last two sessions of the Cali
fornia legislature fifty-one anti-Japanese bffis were
proposed. As a sample of their character, consider
the following:
A bUl to raise the license fee for fishermen from
the standard rate for all races of $10 per annum to
$100 for Asiatics.
A bUl forbidding Japanese the use or ownership of
power engmes.
A bUl forbiddmg Japanese to employ wffite girls.
Clauses in various land bffis reqffiring Japanese
who own land to sell witffin one year; practically
providmg thus for confiscation of private prop
erty. The clause in the bffi wffich did pass makffig Jap
anese ffiheritance of land iUegal.
That this policy of dffierential economic legisla
tion has not been suddenly arrived at, the foUowffig
sentence from Mr. Chester RoweU's article in the
California Outlook for AprU 26, 1913, wffi prove:
"Anti- Japanese legislation of one sort or another
has been proposed in every Calffornia legislature for

CALIFORNIA'S ANTWAPANESE AGITATION 189
the past ten yeara, and for at least eight years there
has been acute bienffial agitation. This year prob
ably more excitement has been stffred up ffi the whole
world than ever before, though the actual biUs pro
posed have been less radical than ffi previous ses
sions." Had it not been for the vigorous opposition
of Presidents Roosevelt and Taft several bUls highly
obnoxious from the ffiternational standpoffit woffid
doubtless have been enacted. Even President WU
son, with ffis strong convictions as to State's rights,
felt impeUed to do aU he coffid to prevent the legisla
tion of last April.
The real purpose of tffis anti-Japanese agitation
and legislation was succinctly expressed by Attor
ney-General Webb, before the Commonwealth Club
of San Francisco, August 9, 1913:
"The fundamental basis of all legislation upon this
subject. State and Federal, has been, and is, race
undesffabffity. It is unimportant and foreign to the
question under discussion whether a particffiar race
is mferior or superior. The simple and single ques
tion is, is the race desirable. . . . It [the law] seeks
to limit their presence hy curtailing their privileges
which they may enjoy here; for they vrill not come in
large numbers and long abide with ¦us if they may not
acquire land. And it seeks to limit the numbers who
will come by limiting the opportunities for their activity
here when they arrive."
In other words, tffis is mdirect legislation for the
control of immigration and looks also toward the

190 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
exclusion of those Japanese already ownffig real
estate in California.
And Governor Johnson, in his notable address on
the occasion of the organization of the Progressive
party of California (December 6, 1913), summarizing
the splenffid work of the party thus far in Calffornia,
referred approvingly to the anti-Asiatic land law as
having "laid for aU time the ghost that had fright
ened so many in the past."
In connection with the anti-Japanese agitation
many thffigs have been said highly insultffig to the
Japanese and mtended to be so. But the Japanese
shoffid not take these utterances too much to heart,
for they do not represent, I feel confident, the thought
of the real majority, even of Calffornians.
Months of study of this question ffi Calffornia have
convinced the writer that the popffiar approval of
the anti-Japanese agitation and legislation does not
concem the detaUs of the proposed bUls nor the ffi-
sffitmg language used by a few, but rests entirely on
the conviction that there shoffid be no swamping im
migration from Japan. Theff universal and unqual
ified approval of tffis position, wffich is fundamental,
has led the good people to keep sUence in regard
to detaUs which they consider are but incidental.
The objectionable features, however, of tffis anti-
Japanese legislation are many and serious.
It is needless; for under the effective operation of
the "gentlemen's agreement" Japanese immigration

CALIFORNIA'S ANTI-JAP ANTSE AGIT.\TIOX 191
has ceased, and the number of Japanese ffi America is
ffimffiiiiffing. There is, therefore, no danger vfh&tever
of a swamping Japanese mvasion nor of any consid
erable purchase by Japanese of agricffitural or other
land. The number of acres bought by Japane.se
during the two yeare precedffig the passage of the law
was less than two thousand.
It is misleading; for it impUes an issue wffich do^
not ffi fact exist.
The pohcy is humdi/jXing to Japan; for it misrep
resents her attitude and conduct, treats her as though
she could not be trusted, and ignores her friendsffip,
wffi'ch, however, has been consistently maffitaffied
for sixty yeare.
It disgraces the United States by presenting us ffi a
wrong attitude to a frienffiy nation and also by mak
ing it appear that we cannot ffis-tinguish between
soUd facts and palpable Uffisions. We seem to be
rffied by haUucinations.
This agitation is podtively injurious; for it antag
onizes Japan^e landownere and thus mterferes
with the proce.ss of theff as,similation. It thus tends
to keep them as a permanently ahen element ffi the
midst of our people, helping to create the very diffi
cffity it feare.
It is based on ignorance of the Japanese. It exag
gerates their dr^fects and overlooks their virtues.
The whole agitation is unscientific. It does not
seek accurate and verified facts; being ffigffiy sus-

192 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
picious, it accepts as true every maUgffing story.
Moreover, it defends and justffies itself by discredited
theories of race psychology and sociology. It con
fuses biological and sociological assimUation, regard
ing the two as ffiseparable.
It is unjust and unkind. The spirit which prompted
the fifty-one bffis ffi the last two sessions of the leg
islature is not one that seeks to deal justly or kindly
with the stranger ffi our land. We criticise the
Japanese for lack of the spirit of fair play and for
faflure to keep an open door for us ffi Manchuria.
Are Americans ffi Calffomia carrjdng out the spffit
of fair play and an open door?
It ignores the new Orient and the entire modem
situation considered ffi later chapters of this book.
The world has inevocably entered on a new era of
human development. All the nations of the Orient
are awakening to a new life and a new self -conscious
ness; they are fficreasffigly sensitive to theff plight,
theff needs, and their rights. They are also develop
ing mUitary power. AU this is ignored. It is wffiing
to create ffiternational difficffity and promote fficreas-
ffig alienation of Asiatic good-wffi. It pays no atten
tion to the Yellow PerU which it is evokffig. As
Mr. Rowell weU says, "ninty-nffie per cent of the
whole Japanese question is National and Interna
tional." It ignores the large relations and seeks to
settle the problem exclusively from the standpoint
of local mterests.

CALIFORNIA'S ANTI-JAPANESE AGITATION 193
It is short-sighted. Even from the standpoint of
seffish ffiterests, it is calcffiated to brmg disaster.
Our ffiternational commerce depends in no small
degree on the good-will of the purchasing nations.
The Cffinese boycott of 1905-6 shows what possibUi
ties lie ffi that direction. Germany and England are
competffig in the Orient for commercial supremacy.
Shoffid wide-spread and strong anti-American feeling
in Japan and Cffina be put ffito the commercial scales,
who can foreteU the resffits to our commerce?
Moreover, this anti-Japanese agitation little notes
how important for the promotion of a higher stand
ard of Uvffig and of wages in the Orient is the move
ment back and forth of considerable populations be
longffig to the ffidustrial and agricffitural classes. In
proportion as the standard of Uvffig advances in
Asia wUl the coming economic and ffidustrial com
petition of those lands with ours be lessened ffi
severity. Nor does this agitation recogffize the benefits,
dffect and indffect, that woffid come to our land
through the presence here of Asiatics. Those who
despise and ffislUie them cannot apparently see these
benefits. Nevertheless, there are such, not only in
the manual work done by them, but also ffi the realm
of cffiture, of religious feeling, and of art. Of these
latter benefits little, it is trae, has yet been received;
the time has been too short, and our attitude to them
has been too unfavorable. We have lacked the teach-

194 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
able spirit. Moreover, those who have come to us
from Asia have encountered severe economic strug
gles. Shoffid Asiatics assffnUated to our civUization
acquffe financial prosperity comparable with that of
our own middle classes, it is altogether probable that
they woffid make valuable contributions to our ffie.
In all these respects Caffiorffia's anti-Japanese agita
tion is short-sighted.
It is contrary to the spirit of all American treaties
with Japan. Japan opened her doors at our eamest
request. We led her out among the nations, much
agamst her wffi. We pledged mutual friendship.
Japan has carried out her side of the compact more
faithfully than we have carried out ours. She allows
Americans to become citizens of Japan. We refuse
to naturalize Japanese, whatever their character or
qualffications. Japan aUows American residents ffi
Japan, though alien, whether as mffividuals or as
regular corporations, to own land. Caffiomia and
several other States refuse this privUege to Japanese
ffi this country.
The agitation is hysterical. Those who advocate
it invariably talk of the threatened swamping Asiatic
mvasion, the Japanization of our entire Pacffic
coast, the ease and even the likeUhood of a Japanese
military invasion, and the honors of intermarriage.
These are aU the creations of ignorance and fear.
That there is no danger whatever of war with Japan
is conclusively shown by the facts presented in a later

A^lthoulh it wi ^ten fhe misleading and sometimes malicious character of some of the statements made by anti-Japanese writers.
Sacr3ntn 7^.''''"'" « Hawa.i probably ten or fi teen years ago (notice the Haw.aiian policeman), yet Mr. C. K. McClatchv of
bacramento, m his article for the "American Citizen" of June, 1913, entitled "California's Attitude Towards the Jaoanete " Irtnallv
f:T:mo^l''^.^Si:r%l^fr''^^^^^^ Heimpli4\\atJapLi^abo?erar:itilirandfn^
iabortfra'e bten°clmin°/to Ihe'^u'^rJled SI °' "^ Ganthmen's Agreement" between America and Japan, no new Japanesf

CALIFORNIA'S ANTI-JAPANESE AGITATION 195
chapter. The very talk of it is absurd. There is, in
truth, notffing whatever in the situation ffi Cali
fornia to call for anti-Japanese legislation.
It is weU to ponder the foUowing statements from
the eminently sane article by Mr. Rowell: "It may
be asserted unconditionally that the menace of Japa
nese land owneraffip ffi Calfforffia is not a present
fact, but is a fear of the future. . . . The intense in
terest aroused ffi the whole proposal is based upon
this imagffiative picture of what some day might hap
pen, rather than upon any present facts of what has
happened. . . . Practically aU the berries, most of
the vegetables, more than half of the grapes, and one-
tffird of the citrous and deciduous frffits of Caffiomia
are produced by Japanese labor. If there is any
invasion, this is where it is, but there seems to be
no agitation against this real displacement of our
own race from an important mdustry. ... In the
case of land holding the situation is exactly the re
verse. Here, ffistead of dommating anything, the
Japanese are practicaUy a negligible quantity. . . .
These figures . . . are relatively ffisignfficant ffi a
state wffich has single holdings of miUions of acres.
AU the Japanese farms ffi CaUforffia owned or leased,
coffid be located on the Mffier and Lux ranches and
be lost ffi the shuffle."
To one lookmg calmly at the facts, the present
anti-Japanese agitation of Caffiorffian politicians ap
pears like a case of hysteria.

196 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
And finally, the anti-Japanese policy is unchris
tian. There is no more important teacffing of the
Old and New Testaments than that of deaUng justly
and kffiffiy with the stranger ffi the land. The pecu
liar new insight of the Apostolic church was the fact
that GentUes are co-heffs with the Jews ffi the Kmg
dom of God, who is the Father of aU men, and that
all men of aU races are brothers.
A policy open to so many and such serious criti
cisms surely cannot be the only one. Calffornians
seem to assume that there are only two altematives
— one, tffis policy of complete exclusion, hampering
legislation, and social ostracism; the other, that of
complete surrender to an overwhelming Japanese
invasion, resffiting in the economic rffin of white
laborers and the establishment on the Pacffic coast
of an Asiatic civilization.
There is, however, a tffird alternative, a policy
calcffiated to conserve all real interests, on the side
both of America and of Japan, dignified, courteous,
honorable, and mutually advantageous. The detaUs
of this tffird alternative are presented ffi the closing
chapter.

CHAPTER XI
UNRECOGNIZED FACTORS
The new world-situation has, mdeed, been a cen
tury ffi gestation, but now it is fuUy born and aU
the nations must reckon with it, America no less than
the rest; for ffitemational poUcies wffich sufficed dur
ffig the ffineteenth century are no longer adequate.
Japan was the firat nation to be rudely shaken
out of her seff-contented isolation, to find that the
world had forged ahead wffile she was ffibernatffig.
But with titaffic efforts and ffitemal adjustments,
ffivolvffig loss and paffi to millions, she has measur
ably discovered the modem world and adapted her
seff to it. Nor is she content with what she has
already acffieved. She is stffi forgffig ahead. She
is stffi eager for development and ready to make
great sacrffices, ff thereby she may take her place
as an equal among the nations. She believes, with
confidence, that her pecuUar location, where the two
great streams of Eastem and Western civffization
are at present ffi closest contact, gives her an ad
vantage over every other people ffi harmoffizffig the
good of each. She believes she is to make a distffict
contribution to the ffie of the world.
197

198 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
There is, thus, to-day a new Japan, just comffig
ffito beffig. The Japan of ten or twenty years ago
was a youth ffi ffis teens. It was gffided by a small
group of powerfffi men, educated and ffisciplffied ffi
the sixties and seventies of the last century. They
destroyed the feudahsm of which they themselves
were products. That group of "Elder Statesmen,"
of whom Prffice Ito was the most iUustrious, has
passed. The nation's destinies are now ffi younger
hands, men who have received theff traiffing sffice
feudal Japan disappeared.
Durffig the ffie of the late Emperor, Meiji Tenno,
Japan, though ostensibly constitutional ffi form and
cosmopolitan ffi ambition, was nevertheless still
largely feudal ffi spffit, bureaucratic ffi poUtical Ufe,
and narrowly national ffi outlook and feeUngs. The
death of the late Emperor may be reckoned as the
begffinffig of a new era. New men are coming to
the fore, men of world outlook and sympathy.
Constitutional government is rapiffiy gainffig head
way. Provfficial nationaUsm, though stffi strong, is
givffig way to cosmopolitaffism. Men promment
ffi commerce, mdustry, and finance are taking m-
creasingly ffifluential position ffi the national life,
even moffidffig governmental poUcies. They are
opposed to bureaucracy and also to militarism.
More and more Japan is swffiging out ffito the fffil
current of uffiversal civUization.
Tffis means that we have a new Japan to deal

L^^RECOGNIZED FACTORS 199
with. She is more seff-conscious than was Japan of
the Meiji era (1S68-1912). She is more under the
control of popffiar opiffion and less dommated by
her official poUtical leadera. Her educated people
are thinkmg and feelmg on ffiternational problems
as never before. Japan has taken lessons from
Western lands. She has observed how they push
national rights, ffigffit}', and econorffic ffiterests ffi
ahen lands and sees no reason why she shoffid not
put ffito practice the lessons she has leamed.
The government of Japan is, accordffigly, becom
ffig a more difficffit undertakffig. An autocratic cab-
ffiet is fficreasffigly hable to overtffiow by popu
lar wrath, and this is especiaUy Uable ff the people
beUeve the cabmet has played false to national ffiter
ests or honor ffi foreign lands.
The historic friendsffip of Japan and America was
maffitaffied without a break and with mutual ad
vantage tffi after the close of the Russo-Japan War.
Sffice then several untoward events have occurred
to check the friendship: President Roosevelt an
nounced that "America must dominate the Pacffic";
Secretary Knox proposed to neutralize the Man-
churian railways by four European powera without
consffitmg the wishes of Japan and Russia ; Americans
supported a raflway scheme ffi Manchuria wffich
woffid greatly reduce the value of the Russo-Japa
nese Une; newspapere agitated agaffist the aUeged
Japanese rebate ffi Manchuria; American financiere

200 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
played a promment part ffi the proposed "four-
powers loan" to Cffina, wffich excluded Russia and
Japan; America ffidependently recogffized the Cffi
nese repubUc, ffi spite of an agreement among lead
mg powers to act together ffi this matter; Calfforffia,
after repeated muttermgs, passed an antiahen land
law wffich seriously hampere the prospects of Jap
anese residmg ffi America and the govemment at
Wasffington upholds the law.^ And finaUy many
newspapere and poUticians have for yeara ffidffiged
ffi the most extraordffiary misrepresentations of
Japan and ffi reckless assertions ffi regard to her
doffigs and purposes calcffiated to evoke wide-spread
suspicion of Japan and readffiess to beUeve any evU
report. AU these tffings have been done ffi spite of
Japan's desffe for friendsffip with America. Is it
strange that Japan is hurt and estranged?
But ff there is a new Japan, so assureffiy there is a
new Orient. There are Cffina and Inffia, Peraia
and Turkey, each with its twentieth-century develop
ments. During the past decade these countries have at
last shaken off theff lethargic slumber of centuries.
So rapiffiy are the ffiner movements of thought and
feeUng and resolve proceedffig ffi these lands that no
one can be sure to-day what wffi happen to-morrow.
Even theff own reputed leaders caimot foreteU what
iSee "American and Japanese Diplomacy in China," by M.
Honda in Journal of Race Development, October, 1913.

UNRECOGNIZED FACTORS 201
a week or a month may bring to pass. AU South
Cffina abolished the queue ffi a sffigle week. Each
of these Asiatic countries knows that the old order is
passmg and the new comffig, and they are eagerly
waiting. They are even exerting themselves stren
uously for the establishment of the new, though
it cost treasure and ffie and vast ffitemal adjust
ment. No longer, then, are we deaUng with sleepmg giants,
on whose contffiued sleep we may confidently count.
They have been aroused by occidental stimffiants
ffi the shape of commerce, mffitary and naval prod-
dffigs, and Christian missions. Hundreds of mUlions
of severely discipUned peoples, constitutffig a haff of
the earth's popffiation, are comffig to national and
racial seff-consciousness. They are beginning to
catch the vision of new ffie; to see the world and
theff own fffferior places thereffi. They propose to
remaffi ffi theff present pUght no longer, but seizffig
the tools and instruments of progress put ffito theff
hands by Occidentals, they ffitend to work out theff
own destiffies. They refuse to remaffi longer as
phant subject races, open to the exploitations of
aggressive wffites. They ffitend to stand on theff
own feet, possess theff own lands, develop theff own
natural resources. They no longer despise the white
man's civffization, nor sffiink from facmg him on ffis
own terms. They ffitend to master ffis science, ac
quffe his machffieiy, utffize his experience, and to

202 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
stand as ffis equal ffi every branch of human endeavor
and attainment.
The Asiatic, moreover, is possessed by race pride
and rising ambition. He boasts his antiquity, ffistor-
ical continuity, and ffitrmsic abffity in brain, brawn,
and grit. The present apparent inferiority is, he
holds, only a passmg episode due to special circum
stances. Nor shall it long continue. Not only do
Europe and America know but aU Asia knows that
the time for wffite exploitation of Japan has ceased.
Chma and India propose that it shall cease ffi their
lands at the earliest possible moment.
Special emphasis should be laid on the industrial
and commercial development which this means.
Japanese adoption of Western civffization has ffitro
duced a higher standard of livffig for her 50,000,000.
This means a higher wage and a higher purchasffig
power. Though Japanese taxes are crashing, the
average man is living two hundred to three hundred
per cent better than in pre-Meiji times; her oversea
trade is growing amazingly.
The awakening of Cffina and her wide adoption of
Western civUization promise lUce developments —
a ffigher standard of living for the masses, a higher
wage, increasing purchasing power, and enlarging
oversea commerce.
The awakenmg of Asia then means vast develop
ment ffi international trade and correspondffig prof
its to the producffig and purchasffig nations.

UNRECOGNIZED FACTORS 203
We have, then, a new Orient to deal with, one that
is increasingly self-conscious and sensitive, strong,
and determined. We confront, to-day, a China
absolutely different from the China that faced us
ffi the days of Dennis Kearney. The new Orient,
ffi fact though not ffi form, is under the leadership of
Japan; for she has taught all Asia that the secret
of progress and of ffidependence is international ffie,
learnmg what the Occident has to teach as to nature's
secrets and forces and utUizffig them for human wel
fare. Tffis new Orient offera, accordffigly, tremendous
possibffities for good or evil. Wffich it shaU be de
pends ffi no smaU way on America and her oriental
poUcy. There is also a new America. Whether we like
it or not, the United States is an intemational power;
we can no longer live to ourselves. Our lives and
our mterests are now ffiterlmked with every nation
and race on the face of the globe to a degree we little
appreciate. Our national responsibilities are enor
mous. Our experiments of democratic government,
popffiar education, private ffiitiative, equality of the
sexes, and our amazing immigration have shaken
numberless century-old theories throughout the world
and are arousffig the ambitions of the common people
of every land.
It now Ues witffin the power of the United States
to further these world-wide upward movements of

204 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
the masses by frienffiy helpfuffiess and good-wUl or
to thwart them by selfish greed. America's oppor
tuffity for moffidffig the life of the miUions ffi Japan
and China and India is incalcffiable, ff we treat
them justly and courteously. We have already won
theff adrffiration and friendship, and can stffi hold
them, even in Japan, ff we will.
A few yeara ago ffiqffiry was made ffi Japan as to
the effect on Japanese students of their lffe in the
various foreign lands. The opffiion of educators was
unanimous that those who studied ffi Europe re
turned to Japan confirmed in theff patriotism and
ffigUy critical of other lands, whfle those who had
stuffied ffi America were ffighly critical of Japan
and laudatory of America. So pronounced was tffis
ffifference that narrow-mffided Japanese dissuade
students from going to America, lest they lose theff
Japanese patriotism!
A son of one of my best Japanese friends, after
completing his university education ffi Tokyo spent
only two years in an American uffiversity. On re-
turnmg to Japan to take an important post, his ffis-
gust and criticism of Japanese policies, police, busi
ness, and social ffie were so pronounced as to become
a cause of disappointment to his friends and kffidred.
They said that America had spoUed him for Japan.
Japanese merchants and farmers, too, who have
spent a number of years in America or Hawau, flnd
theff ideals of lffe so transformed that a return to

UNRECOGNIZED FACTORS 205
theff own land is accompaffied with no Uttle paffi;
theff influence is strong for the mtroduction of Amer
ican ideals and practices.
These are a few concrete fllustrations, but they
show wffich way the wmd blows. Cffinese students
no doubt retum from America ^ith like feeUngs and
Uke ideals, and ffi proportion as they are patriotic do
they seek to gffide theff own land to the adoption of
American ideals and ffistitutions.
America is, thus, a new America, not merely
because of her advances during the past two decades
ffi every Une, poUtical, economic, ffidustrial, edu
cational, and social; nor yet because of her uffin-
tended transoceaffic possessions (HawaU and the
Phffippffies), ffivolvffig new ffiternational relations;
but also, and supremely, because of the new place
she is occupyffig ffi the mind of the world, particu
larly ffi that of the Orient. These countries look to
us for models and for inspffation, enhancmg thus
both our opportuffities and our responsibffities.
Offiy ffi the Ught of these can we estimate aright the
prfficiples that shoffid gffide us ffi the f ormffiation of
our oriental pohcy.
It is difficffit to realize the value to other lands of
theff relations to this tffiough the comffig and retum-
mg of emigrants. This is due not merely to the
dffect economic advantage, firat by the rehef of
pressure on the popffiations ffi those lands and then
of the cash sent home by the emigrants. More im-

206 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
portant than these are the subtle influences of ideas
and ideals demandffig transformation ffi the entffe
lffe of those lands.
The ffiterchange of travellers and students, of sol-
ffiers, diplomats, merchants, and missionaries be
tween this and other lands of course contribute
greatly to these vast national movements ffi the lffe
of the spirit; but the poffit needffig emphasis here is
that emigrants who come from the lowly classes ffi
each nation also have theff important contribution to
make. And this is of more importance than at first
appears. The new ideas and ideals imported by
travellers, merchants, students, and the like ffiflu
ence only a smaU, though of course important, mi
nority of the nation; wffile those wffich emigrants
carry back with them moffid the working masses, who
constitute the vast majority. These masses are not
easUy moved by abstractions and theories, such as
may be propounded in books and taught in schools.
They are moved by what they see and experience.
The laborers of every land are ffigffiy conservative.
They distrust new-fangled ffidustrial ideas of the
upper classes, for these classes are not "practical
workers." It is, therefore, of the greatest value for
representatives of the working classes in backward
lands to reside for a season in more progressive coun
tries that they may see with their own eyes and learn
by personal experience the new, effective methods
of mdustry and agricffiture. On theff return, not

UNRECOGNIZED FACTORS 207
offiy can they teU what they have seen and leamed,
but, of stffi more importance, they can demonstrate
the new methods by puttmg them ffito actual
practice. But the advantage of the migration of workera
back and forth does not belong exclusively to the
land from wffich the eiffigrant comes. There are
material advantages secured by the land to wffich he
goes. I refer now not to the value of the labor per
formed but, firat, to the promotion of commerce be
tween the two countries and, second, to the rismg
standard of wages and of ffiffiig demanded by labor-
era ffi the home land. Both of these, though slow
ffi commg and for that reason easUy overlooked, are
of great importance.
When the workffig people of any land begm to
demand the goods of another land, commerce thrives.
But of more final signfficance is the ffigher wage and
better scale of Uvffig of the workffig man ffi the native
land. It means more purchasffig power among the
masses and also more manhood. Sffice Japanese
immigration to the Uffited States became appre
ciable, the commerce between these lands has risen
from $10,000,000 ffi 1886 to $150,000,000 ffi 1912.
Japan purchased from us ffi 1910, $21,000,000 worth
of goods and ffi 1912, $53,000,000 worth. But more
signfficant than the commerce is the risffig scale of
Uvffig and of wages ffi Japan, for this means less
difference between the workffig masses of the two

208 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
countries and, in consequence, other thffigs bemg
equal, ffi the long run less ruffious ffidustrial com
petition. America sets the pace and the standards to-day
for the lffe of aU working people throughout the
world. It is important that workffig men from every
people, especially those from the industrial classes,
shoffid come here and learn, not merely our methods,
but especially our scale of lffe, the relative leisure
of our workffig classes, our general education, our
solidarity, our spirit of fellowsffip and co-operation,
and then, having learned, that they take the same to
their workers. In proportion as this occurs will the
workers of the entire world rise in economic and
social weffare and the anticipated cutthroat com
petition between the East and the West be averted.
Man's fffiest qualities have been evoked by the
demands on his sympathy and unselfish endeavor on
behalf of helpless infancy and motherhood. Those
races possess the most advanced manhood and
womanhood where nobility and courage are com-
bffied with patience, forbearance, and helpfulness,
and in which the rights of the helpless are protected
by the strong.
The most inspiring and noblest heroes of every
nation have been, and stUl are, those who have given
their lives in unselfish devotion to the outcast and
helpless, to the orphan and leper, to the poor, the
ignorant, the downcast, the sick, the crimffial. The

UNRECOGNIZED FACTORS 209
deepening spffitual lffe of the modern world, its wide
outlook and sympathy, its consciousness of the
problems confronting modern society and its efforts
to meet the same — whence have they come but from
its self-forgettffig, seff-sacrificing work? The retro
active effect on Christendom of its foreign phU-
antffiopic and missionary activities, securing ac
curate knowledge of every non-Christian tribe and
people, arousffig sympathy for them, leading men
slowly to a reaUzation that even the non-Christian
religions of the earth have theff elements of truth
and that Christiaffity does not go to any land to
destroy the good and trae, but rather to fffiffi and
vitalize theff ffighest ideals — tffis ffigh development
of character, knowledge, sympathy, and vision is a
dffect product of the appUcation of the spffit and
teacffing of Jesus that the strong shoffid help those
that are weak and that it is more blessed to give
than to receive.
WhUe this has been trae ffi the relations of inffi
viduals and of social classes, is it not yet to be trae
ffi the relations of nations? May not whole nations
be raised to nobler levels of moral lffe through self-
sacrfficffig endeavors on behaff of races less advanced?
If, ffi place of proffigious preparations for war, there
shoffid arise unselfish givffig between the nations, we
woffid advance to degrees of mutual appreciation
and progressive civUization of wffich our most en
thusiastic prophets have given but faint forecast.

210 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
If, in place of preparing to fight Japan, America
shoffid send her gifts of scores of miUions to help her
develop her resources in Hokkaido, or buUd univer
sities, or even to pay off part of her enormous and
crippling debt, what results woffid follow in Idnffiy
ffiternational relations? If, ffistead of lending China
large sums on heavy interest, the five powers had
given her the sum outright for the development of
her railways and schools and hospitals, who could
picture the beneficial result in race good-wiU? "What
unparalleled opportuffities the nations might have
in China if aU were as eager to help her as they have
been in seeking each its own aggranffizement!
Has not the time come in the histoiy of the world
when these, the profoimdest principles of human life
malting for character and progress, shoffid be adopted
not only by individuals and small groups but by an
entire people? Is not this one of the unrecognized
factors of modem life?
Few realize that a new era ffi human evolution has
begun. For unknown miUenniums rivers, moun
tains, seas, and oceans have compelled rigid isolation
of smaU groups of men, each group Uving to itself.
Continuous intermarriage within each group has
produced races, tribes, and nations physiologically
different, which have developed their distinctive
languages, literatures, orgaiffzations, industries, arts,
ethics, metaphysics, and religion. Biological segre
gation has produced the races, social segregation the

UNRECOGNIZED FACTORS 211
civilizations. Qffite unconsciously, yet none the less
really, each group has been carryffig on prolonged
experiments, developffig and progressively testffig
each its own conceptions of man and society, of
nature and the supematural, and of the meanffig,
purpose and value of ffie. Wffile some peoples have
sur\'ived unknown mffititudes have missed the trail
and have either miserably perished or now mamtam
offiy a bare existence. The successfffi survivora
carry ffi theff traffitions and civilizations the frffitage
of age-long efforts. Divergent evolution with rela
tively httie ffiterchange of blood or thought has been
the characteristic feature of past millenniums of
human history.
Durffig the past three thousand yeara, however,
some limited ffiterchange of thought and experience
has taken place between the several peoples of Asia,
whUe corresponding and much f uUer ffiterchange has
been effected between the nations of Europe. Two
great streams of civiUzation have thus arisen, the
Oriental and the Occidental, and to-day they carry
on theff bosoms the more advanced races of mankind.
In the maffi, these streams have been flowing ffi
ffivergent dffections.
Two mffiermiums ago, for several scores of yeare,
these streams were ffi partial contact. The ffiter
change of thought and custom proved ffigffiy stimu-
latffig to both sides, but particffiarly to Europe,
movements of the greatest signfficance arising whose

212 THE AJMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
force is not yet spent. But poUtical catastrophes
and the partial collapse of civUization forced these
streams apai-t, and for the last thousand yeai's the
general ffivergent evolution of East and West has
gone on apace.
Geograpffical barriera, however, have now broken
down. Man's mastery of the forces of natm'e is
destroying the linutations imposed by space. Steam
travel and electric communication have made the
whole world a manageable unit, "^'ast oceans and
lofty ranges no longer isolate the various branches of
mankind. The barriera to-day ai"e the languages,
with race and class prejuffice. But strange lan
guages are being mastered; mutual acquaintance is
banishmg prejudice. IMen are begiiming to learn of
one another the good each branch has acqffircd
through its protracted divergent evolution. This
means, however, that diverse races and civiUzations
are face to face; the two great streams ai"e agam in
contact and bid fair to blend. We have entered on
a new era of human history, the era of convergent
evolution. The best of each is to become the pos
session of all, producmg a imiveraal civffization of
fficomparable richness.
All past civUizations have been provincial, narrow-
minded, puffed up with race pride, scornful, able to
see but little good outside themselves. Their local
character and provincial spirit, however, were in
evitable consequences of isolation. They were, nev-

UNRECOGNIZED FACTORS 213
ertheless, necessaiy steps in human history, as ffiev-
itable as the crudity of a boy in ffis teens.
But a new civilization is coming with the "New
Humanity ' ' and the ' ' New International Mind . " It
is to be trffiy cosmopoUtan and correspondingly rich,
for it wffi fficlude and preserve all that is good and
true and beautifffi ffi each of the local civilizations.
Asiatics are now awaking to this mighty modern
movement. Not Cffina alone, but India, Peraia, and
Turkey — all Asia, ffideed — has learned from Japan
the magic word of progress and power through inter
national ffie. The Renaissance of Europe was not
more signfficant for Europe than are the mighty
changes now beginffing in the East, near and far.
A new leaven has entered ffito old civffizations, and
who can foreteU the issue? The reconstruction not
of Asia alone, but of the whole world, Ues pregnant
ffi tffis new era.
But this new contact of East and West, wffile
pregnant with great opportuffity, is also fraught with
great perU. Extraordffiary foresight and statesman-
sffip are caUed for. The conffition under which alone
the East and the West can be mutuaUy helpfffi is
the mamtenance of mtemational peace based upon
justice and good-wffi. Race pride must give place
to humility of spffit and wUlingness to leam. In
stead of determining international relations by bay
onets and battle-ships, justice, righteousness and
the spffit of mutual concession must prevaU. No

214 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
race may proudly claim supremacy and special priv
ilege, nor seek to enforce that claim by the sword.
All must learn that the savage age of the beast has
passed, that the Kingdom of Man has come, and that
true supremacy is ffiteUectual and moral and spff
itual. Man's ffiner nature is essentially uffiversal, in-
flnite; he cannot be permanently satisfled with any
thing less than the best. He demands a science
that buUds on universal human experience, and ethics
that includes all human relations and embodies uni
versal ideals, and a religion that ffiterprets all things
and all experience and gives signfficance and worth
to all.
Tffis means, however, that only a completely hu
manized civffization can satisfy. It must include aU
peoples, aU experience, all ffigh endeavor. And for
this the progressive gfft of each to all and all to each
is essential. Exactly this is to be the great outstand
ing feature of our modern international ffie. No
doubt, there are cross-currents and counter-currents
innumerable, but the main, deep, underlying cur
rent of aU is to be the convergent evolution of the
entire human race.
Now the anti-Asiatic movement in Califomia and
British America, like the late antiforeign Boxer
movement in Chffia and the Joi (barbarian-expelling)
movement in Japan two score and ten years ago,
are all counter-currents. They ignore the essential

UNRECOGNIZED F.\CTORS 215
trend of the times. The sooner they are overcome
the better for aU, but especiaUy for the active par
ticipants. As Paffi put it so long ago, we are membera one of
another. Each race needs the rest for its own com
plete development and richest ffie. The East needs
the We^t, but so does the West need the East. This
profound prfficiple of human weffare demands uffi
versal recogffition. In its Ught alone can we form
an oriental pohcy sffited to the extraordffiary age ffi
wffich we hve.

CHAPTER XII
THE PERILS— YELLOW AND WHITE
Some twenty years ago Emperor Wffiiam of Ger
many announced to the world the existence of a
danger to Christendom which tiU then had not been
suspected — the YeUow PerU.
That seed was sown in fertUe soU. It has grown
ffito a mighty tree whose branches reach out into
every land where white men rule. The thoughts
and policies of the white nations are beffig fficreas
ffigly controlled by the fear of the yellow man.
Some four hundred years ago Columbus dis
covered America. Then came the age of world-
discovery, and with it the age of wffite expansion and
world-wide conquest. All the colored races felt his
heavy hand and feU back before ffis conquering
might. Wffile for twenty years the white man has begun
to anticipate a possible Yellow Peril, for four hun
dred years the colored races have faced an actual
Wffite PerU.
The Yellow Peril takes two forms, mUitary and
economic. The former is pictured in lurid colors
and is conceived of as not far distant, though none
216

THE PERILS— YELLOW AND WHITE 217
are so bold as Captain Hobson was in predicting the
date of war between Japan and the United States
(a date now overdue by a couple of years).
The Honorable Albert Johnson, of Washington, in
ffis speech in the House of Representatives (August
30, 1913), conceives of the mffitary YeUow PerU in
the foUowffig terms:
"The over-shadowing question of to-day is: What
are we going to do when the 900,000,000 of Asia,
uffited and armed ffi the same proportion as Japan,
demand unrestricted admission for those of their
laborera who wish to profit by the opportunities of
the land of ffigh wages?
"The Manchus dared not develop the great army
planned by Sir Robert Hart, knowing that an army
consisting maiffiy of Chmese would inevitably turn
agaffist the Manchu government. No such motive
restrains the present govemment, which is com
pletely in the hands of the Chinese themselves. The
very conffict that is now going on must hasten the
development of the army and afford it that training
in actual warfare wffich is better than all maneuvers.
They need not be in a hurry to raise Sir Robert
Hart's army of 4,000,000; half a million will suffice
to make the continuance of British rule in India
impossible. And when India escapes from British
control the supremacy of the white race is at an
end, the supremacy of Asia assured. Even ff south
ern China cuts loose from the north, that will not
alter the result; south China, north China, Japan
and India will be a unit on the question of emigration.
"You say China is too poor to fight. You forget
that the wars of the first French Republic were

218 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
fought entirely on paper monej'. All authorities
bear witness to the ffitegrity and administrative
capacity of Chffiese business men. If such is the
case, do you not see that Cffina may at any moment
find her Napoleon, as France did, and as China her
seff ffid a dozen times durffig the past three thousand
yeare? \Yh.en he begins to turn the rascals out and
looks aroimd for honest and able men to take theff
places, ^^•ffi not the busffiess world offer him an ample
choice? And ff he thus transforms Chma ffito an
obedient, efficient machffie, do you think he wffi be
content any more than his French prototype or his
Chinese predecessore were? British domffuon ffi
India hangs bj' a tffiead. A Chffiese Napoleon
coffid put an end to it vnth. a word, and thus add the
315,000,000 of India to the 435,000,000 of Chffia.
The vast Mohammedan world, hissing with hate of
Cffi'istendom, would instantly join hands with an
efficient, triumphant Asiatic league in order to com
plete and share its supremacj' and" to wreak the long
pent-up vengeance on Em'ope.
"Then our turn wffi come. The Chmese leadera
gave notice long ago that as soon as they are strong
enough they will force open the doore of Australia
and America for their emigrants, with cannon ff
necessary. Then the question wffi arise: 'Shall
America's destffiy be controUed by hereelf or by
Asia? ' If we do not wish to adopt the policy of the
ostrich, tiyffig to banish the perU by shutting our
eyes to it; ff we wish to malce good our boast of being
the most active, most clear-sighted, and promptest
Nation, we must take the proper steps without delay.
A stitch ffi time saves nme."
The economic YeUow PerU is the form immedi
ately experienced when Asiatics compete with white

THE PERILS— YELLOW AND WHITE 219
labor. The tremendous populations of Asiatic coun
tries for continuous centuries have experienced such
keen straggle for existence that only those have sur
vived who are able to live on a low standard and to
do an amazffig amount of hard work. Asiatics labor
contenteffiy for longer houre of harder toU and for
less compensation than do white laborers in any land
contiguous to Asiatic ports. With free competition
ffi mdustry, agricffiture, and aU forms of manual la
bor, and probably also ffi trade, Chinese unquestion
ably surpass every other race. In theff willffigness
to Uve on a narrow margffi of profits and oftentimes
ffi the most unwholesome, even squaUd quarters,
Asiatic peoples as a whole far surpass the wffites.
Now the fear of Asiatics arismg to-day ffi America,
British Columbia, New Zealand, Australia, and
British Africa is due to the ffiscovery and the risffig
consciousness of Asiatic economic superiority, to
gether with the iffierence that as soon as Asia ac-
qffires the reqffisite mffitary power she wiU demand
free emigration for Asiatics to every land controlled
by wffites.
The mUitary and economic YeUow Perils are,
therefore, ffitimately related. The vast and increas
ffig Asiatic popffiations wffi compel their expansion,
and for tffis they wffi fight. And when they have
mastered the secrets of the wffite man's power, they
wffi tum tffis knowledge agamst ffim. And because
of their innumerable hosts of efficient workers and

220 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
fighters they wUl conquer even the white man in the
military struggle for existence, and force open the
gates that are now closed to Asiatic migrations.
Then wfll foUow ffi each land fierce economic strug
gles between the laboring classes — ^yeUow and wffite
— with progressive victory for the yellow. But wffite
laborers wiU not tamely submit. There wffi be
gueriUa race warfare in every land — ^untU one race
or the other gains complete supremacy throughout
the world. But, in view of Cffinese industrial supe
riority, who can doubt the final issue?
Those who see the impendffig conflict ffisist that
the matter at stake is not only the supremacy but
even the very existence of the wffite race.
The essential and mherent superiority of the wffite
race and its civilization is one of the fundamental
postffiates of the entire argument. The Asiatic is,
indeed, superior in numbers, ffi ability to live on
almost notffing, and perhaps even ffi certain kinds
of braffi power. But in the eyes of many both the
Asiatic and his civUization are despicable and de
gradmg, and for them to dominate the world woffid
be an unspeakable calamity. Asia may have quan
tity, but Christendom, they claim, has quality, and,
in the nature of things, quality shoffid be supreme.
Moreover, as Christendom has won its world-wide
supremacy by the sword, by the sword shaU it be
maffitained. As an illustration of these views I cite the f oUow-

THE PERILS YELLOW AND \S'HITE 221
mg paragraphs from the speech by Honorable Frank
O. Smith, of Maryland, dehvered ffi the House of
Representatives (November 5, 1913):
"AH the peace that ever existed witffin any nation
is compulsory; it woffid not last five mffiutes were it
not for the presence of the executive power with its
weU-filled store of powder and baU. It is fficonceiv-
able how uffiversal peace coffid exist without a sim
ilar executive power strong enough to beat down aU
opposition and compeUed by seff'-mterest to mamtam
peace just as Briton is compeUed to do among the
native States of India.
"Now, peace, after aU, is not the ffitimate end,
but merely a means to the ffitimate end, wffich is the
fficrease of human happffies. This does not mean
that the majority must always rffie; it requires that
the ehte, the most advanced types of humanity,
shoffid have the best chance to spread or at any rate
hold their own. The question of the value of various
races is a knotty s<:ientific problem for the complete
solution of wffich the data are as yet insufficient.
Let us frankly adnut that some races have not as
yet had adequate opportuffities. Let us grant that
the mere plea of seff-defense or the tie of blood
counts for nothing; that ff another race were found
by triffi to be more ffigffiy endowed with the quaUties
that make for the fficrease of happmess our own race
shoffid cheerfuUy resign the leadership. But whfle
awaiting the reasoned, passioffiess verdict of science
on these poffits, nothing coffid be more prept^erous
than to a^ume ffi advance that the verffict wffi be
unfavorable to us and accordingly to let events take
a course wffich must surely deprive our race of the
leadership and place it at the mercy of the dusky

222 THE AMERICAN JAPAN'ESE PROBLEM
majority. The evidence ffi favor of the superiority
of our race is even now fairly overwhelming, and it is
ffigffiy improbable that new researches wffi materiaUy
alter the balance of argument. Civilization ffi the
future as ffi the past wffi mainly depend on its pio-
neere, and hence it is best for human ffie as a whole
that the pioneer race shoffid have the best chance to
spread. We know exactly how we are goffig to treat
the other races so long as we remaffi ffi control; we
shaU contffiue more and more to —
" 'Fill up the mouth of famine
And bid the sickness cease.'
We have not the sUghtest means of guessmg how
the other races wffi treat us ff we place ourselves at
theff mercy.
" Uffivereal arbitration cannot insure the predom-
ffiance of the ffighest types, for arbitration resolves
itseff ffi the long run ffito a countffig of heads, and
for every wffite face ffi the world there are two dusky
faces. Disarmament, the substitution of uffiversal
arbitration ffi place of armed defense, woffid simply
hasten the coming of the day when we shaU have to
doff the crown of supremacy and don the cap of
subordffiation and prepare to qffit the house wffich
we have swept and garnished. Our very deiffigods
of ffiteUect, whose geffius subdued the earth and
made every comer of it accessible, woffid become the
authore of our rffin ff the science created by them and
rightly placed at the disposal of all humaffity without
stmt or discrimination, enabled the other races by
theff reckless fecunffity and callousness, to oust us
from the competition for those means of existence
wffich nature necessarUy awards to the lowest bidder.
"There is offiy one way to prevent this. Fortu-

THE PERILS— YELLOW AND WHITE 223
nately, the surrender has not yet proceeded far. For
the present we white men are as yet mcomparably
superior ffi power to all the other races, and we can
easUy remaffi so if we will."
Not a few see the Yellow Peril ffi less lurid form,
but nevertheless a perU. They make no assumption
of inherent wffite superiority or of essential yeUow
iffieriority. They assert offiy the conspicuous fact
of difference due to ages of divergent developments.
They assume, however, that these differences are so
fixed that the adoption of our civffization by Asiatics,
even though Uvffig ffi otu midst, is impossible and
our acceptance of theira undesffable. They accord
ffigly conclude that the races must be kept forever
apart. Otherwise ffisoluble race problems wffi arise
and forever remaffi.
Admffal Mahan weU ffiustrates tffis view ffi ffis
letter ffi The Times (June, 1913), ffi reply to Sff
Valentffie Cffirol:
"PeraonaUy I entffely reject any assumption or
beUef that my race is superior to the Chmese or Jap
anese, but my own sffits me better. This probably
is because I am used to it, but I wholly disclaim, as
unworthy of myself and them, any thought of supe
riority. But with equal clearness I see and avow the
difficffities of assffnUation wffich are due to the form
ative influences of our ffivergent pasts.
"What the racial difficffity entafls, even where the
past has been one of close contact and common ex
periences, the present Austrian empffe can testffy.

224 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
and Britons, too, may look to the French in Canada,
to the Boers ffi South Africa, though these latter are
of the same general Teuton stock.
"Wffile recogffizmg what I clearly see to be the
great superiority of the Japanese as of the wffite
over the negro, it appeals to me as reasonable that
a great number of my feUow-citizens, knowmg the
problem we have ffi the colored race among us, shoffid
dread the ffitroduction of what they beUeve wffi con
stitute another race problem, and one much more
dffficffit because the virile qualities of the Japanese
wffi still more successfffily withstand assffnUation,
constitutffig a homogeneous foreign mass, naturaUy
actffig together, ffrespective of national weffare, and
so wfll be the perenffial cause of a friction with Japan
even more dangerous than at present.
"It is not a color question, though that may em
phasize the difficffity. It is the recurrent problem
wffich coffironts Germany ffi Poland, Austria ffi her
Slav provffices, Canada ffi her French popffiation
and South Africa ffi the Boers.
"Despite her gigantic success up to the present
ffi her assimUative processes, America doubts her
power to ffigest and assimUate the strong national
and racial characteristics wffich ffistffigffish the Jap
anese, wffich are the secret of much of theff success,
and wffich, if I am not mistaken, woffid constitute
them a contffiually soUd and homogeneous body,
essentiaUy and unchangmgly foreign."
Two methods for wardffig off the Yellow Peril are
now advocated. The first is already widely adopted
ffi aU white lands adjacent to Asia, namely, Asiatic
exclusion. The whites have buUt, for protection
agaffist peacefffi mvasion by Asiatics, a wall longer

TIIE PERILS— YELLOW AND WHITE 225
by thousands of miles than the great waU of Chffia.
WUl it prove more effective and permanent?
Tliis method proposes to keep each race to the
territories they now hold. Hffidoos, Cffinese, and
Japanese must stay in Asia, however many they are
and whatever may be their needs; while the white
races may possess and exploit the rest of the earth.
Tlie execution of tffis policy depends, of course, on
military power. The wall of exclusion is buUt and
maintamed by armies and navies. The power of
each separate wffite people has thus far been qffite
enough. But a new thought is emerging. Japan's amazing
victory over Russia has raised doubts among white
nations. The despised Asiatic, armed and drilled
with Western weapons, is a power that must be
reckoned with. In the not distant future Asia,
armed, driUed, and united, will surpass in power, they
aver, any smgle white people, and it is accordingly
a peril to the rest of the world. A new plan for
safety has already been conceived and is now being
discussed in the councU haUs of the nations.
In his famous letter to the Thirteenth Universal
Peace Congress, held in Boston in 1904, Mr. Car
negie, with no thought whatever of the YeUow Peril,
made the foUowing suggestion :
"Since we have at last ffi The Hague tribunal a
pfjrmanent high court for the settlement of inter
national disputes more and more my thoughts tum

226 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
upon the next possible and necessary step forward
to an agreement by certam powera to prevent appeals
to war by civflized nations.
" Suppose, for mstance, that Britaffi, France, Ger
many, and America, with such mffior States as woffid
certainly joffi them, were to take that position, pre
pared, ff defied, to enforce peacefffi settlement, the
firat offender (ff ever there were one) beffig rigorously
dealt with, war woffid at one feU swoop be banished
from the earth. For such a resffit surely the people
of these four countries woffid be willing to risk much.
The risk, however, woffid be triflffig. A strong com-
bffiation woffid efface it altogether. I think, tffis one
simple plan most likely to commend itself to the m-
teffigent masses. A committee iffight be formed to
consider this. If a body of prominent men of each
nation agreed to uffite ffi urgmg the co-operation of
their respective countries in the movement, I tffink
the idea woffid soon spread."
Colonel Roosevelt, ffi ffis address at Christiaffia ffi
1910, presented the same thought ffi the foUowffig
words: "It woffid be a master stroke ff those great powera
honestly bent on peace woffid form a league of peace,
not only to keep the peace among themselves but to
prevent, by force ff necessary, its beffig broken by
others." Tffis suggestion has proved a stffnffiating thought
to those who see the impendffig nffiitary YeUow Peril.
Honorable Albert Johnson, already quoted, regards
Alaska as ffi imminent danger of capture by Japan.
Not offiy does he advocate the constmction of a

THE PERILS— YELLOW AND WHITE 227
Panama-to-Alaska raflway ffi order that America
may have facflities for defence along the entire Pacffic
coast, but he also urges an offensive and defensive
affiance of the four great wffite nations as the offiy
safe pohcy for the wffite race ffi the commg conffict
with Asia.
"What are the proper steps? Agaffist uffited
Asia, a power of 900,000,000, soon to number
1,000,000,000, there is but one defense — the early
uffion of the wffite nations. Tffis, therefore, must
be the keynote of our pohcy. I am glad to be able
to announce that a movement ^ ffi that dffection has
been started ffi tffis very capital of the Nation, and
that a promise of co-operation has already been
received from Europe. I feel confident that the
seed has fallen on fertUe soU and ffi the right season,
and wffile its growth may not be as rapid as the
planters rffight wish, it has every prospect of bear-
ffig frffit. . . .
" Many of you feel it a burden to have to mamtain
a navy sufficient to hold its own agaffist the Japanese
navy, supported by the meagre resources of a nation
of ffity mUUons. What sort of a navy shall we have
to maffitaffi when the rival on the other side of the
Pacffic numbers 900,000,000? And what about the
army? Europe, with 440,000,000 popffiation, keeps
5,000,000 men under arms. Asia, with more than
^The movement to which Mr. Johnson refers, the Pan-Aryan
Association, has put forth an outline of its proposition, the principal
parts of which are given in the congressional report of Mr. Johnson'a
speech. As a matter of fact, the association is as yet the proposition
of a single individual — a German — with whom I conversed in Wash
ington. Supposing him to be the secretary, I asked him who the
other oiEeers of the association were, to which he humorously replied:
"I am it."

228 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
twice the popffiation, can easUy keep 8,000,000. Can
you conceive of any way by which we coffid then
escape compffisory mUitary service? Australia and
New Zealand have already been compeUed to adopt
ff. "Any one can see that the four great powder-
makffig nations, the four great gun-making, macffine-
using, coal-mming, sffipbffildmg, money-owning,
technicaUy trained nations, representing probably
nffie-tenths of the world's mdustry, woffid together
constitute such an overwhelmffig power as to make
war henceforth impossible. It woffid mean the
almost immediate arr'^st of armaments and their
gradual reduction to a mere fraction of their present
size. Not only would our insurance policy cost us
notffing, but it woffid greatly reduce our present
expenditure. This union of the four leadmg nations
we can bring about by simply creating an organiza
tion for the purpose."
The speech by the Honorable Frank 0. Smith, al
ready quoted, also deals with tffis proposition; it con
tains many remarkable points. He advocates the es
tablishment of an "International Executive Power to
Insure Universal Peace and the Uffion and Suprem
acy of the Wffite Race." The occasion of his speech
was the resolution that "The President be requested
to negotiate with the British and Canadian Govern
ments regardmg the transfer of southeastern Alaska
to Canada by sale or exchange or both."
The argument presented was that by cedffig to
Canada that strip of Alaska, 536 mUes long by 8 to
35 mUes wide, which Canada needs and we do not,

THE PERILS— YELLOW AND WHITE 229
we shaU set before the world such a contagious
example of concffiation and good-will that many con
cessions wffi be made among the nations of Europe
and finally the effective union among the wffites be
attaffied, which is essential to the maintenance of
their supremacy ffi the face of the risffig power of
Asia. I select further typical sentences for quota
tion: " The purpose of the resolution is not only to pro
mote good feelmg between the United States and
Canada, but also to take a decisive step toward uni-
veraal peace. The reasonffig is very simple. Peace
is not possible without an executive power to enforce
it. An international executive power to enforce
uffiversal peace can not be organized untU the lead-
ffig nations make certaffi mutual concessions. The
purpose of the resolution is to advocate these mutual
concessions by the most persuasive, the most m-
offensive method — that of example, by makffig a
model concession to Canada. It deals with what I
consider the most important problem of the day —
the union of the wffite race as the offiy means to
maintain its supremacy. . . . The ultimate object is
the promotion of universal peace by the most practi
cal means, to wit, an international executive power
consistffig of the four leadmg white nations, Britaffi,
France, Germany, and the United States. . . .
" The extemal pressure wffich may be expected to
squeeze Britain, France, Germany, and the United
States into union has been well described by my
fellow legislator, Mr. Albert Johnson — the growffig
power of eastem Asia, which threatens within a few
years to drive Britaffi out of Inffia and Australia,

230 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
France out of Indo-Cffina, Holland out of the Dutch
East Indies, and, thus re-enforced, to swaUow Sibe
ria and finally overwhelm Russia herself and bring
countless Mongol hosts once more to the frontier of
Germany as in 1241. In the face of this common
danger the continuance of ffisunion among the great
white nations is really a piece of chUdish levity. . . .
"Keep up that programme (of quarrellffig ffi Eu
rope) till Asia, united and fuUy armed, asserts her
long-claimed right to colonize — and no human being
was ever born that woffid not assert the right to
better ffis condition when he had the power — and
your paper treaties of arbitration wUl be blown away
in an ffistant by a world-wide cyclone of war, com
pared to which all past wars would be games of base
baU. To delay the settlement of the burnmg ques
tions another day is to hazard the tffnely union, the
supremacy, the very existence, of the white race. . . .
" To our neighbor, Canada, we can make a model
concession which woffid electrffy the world, take the
heart of Europe by storm, sweep away the ffiertia of
a hundred wrongly accomplished facts, and contffiue
for centuries tearffig ffon shirts of pernicious habit
ffito sffieds."

CHAPTER XIII
THE PERILS— YELLOW AND WHITE (Continued)
The Yellow PerU as conceived by the whites and
the methods proposed for meeting it occupied our
attention ffi the last chapter. In tffis we consider
the Wffite PerU as conceived by Asiatics and the
methods they propose for meetffig it.
With the discovery of America the greed of the
wffite races for land and gold was awakened. Ex
ploration and conquest went hand ffi hand. Little
bands of armed wffite men found themselves superior
to countless hosts of colored foes. The religion of
the tffnes promoted foreign conquest. Spanish sol-
ffiers of fortune accompanied by priests for the prop
agation of the faith firat "fell upon their knees and
then upon the aborigffies," as a witty ffistorian has
described it.
The wffite peoples of western Europe soon de
veloped the conviction that the world and aU that
is therein were made for their special benefit; that
all the peoples and wealth of pagan lands were legiti
mate objects of plunder and spoliation; that it was
theff divinely given right to own, rffie, and exploit
every land and people they ffiscovered. The kffigs
231

232 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
and potentates of Europe gave to favorites vast ter
ritories stUl unconquered, to which theff offiy title
was that of partial discovery. The prior rights of
the natives gave them no second thought. The
white man was wholly withffi ffis God-given rights
ffi takffig aU he coffid and in kffiffig those who
opposed. The millions ruthlessly butchered, the awfffi
crimes committed by wffite invaders of central and
southern America, and the wrongs infficted on In
dians ffi North America constitute a page in the
ffistory of white men that is horrible and humiliating
to tffink of. And this general aim of domffiatffig,
by bratal force ff necessary, over every colored race
throughout the world has taken possession of the
wffite nations of Europe and stffi rffies their hearts.
Victorious, world-wide conquest has gone on with
out serious check. In 1904, however, for the ffist
time sffice modern history began has a colored race
successfffily defended its homeland from white m-
vaders — for that was the signfficance of the Russo-
Japanese War. In the course of these four hundred
years of unbroken conquest the peoples of Europe
have taken the entire new world — America, North
and South; practically aU of Africa, AustraUa, New
Zealand, and Siberia, and large parts of Asia. Offiy
Japan and Chffia remaffied, and it looked, ffi 1900, as
though Chffia, because of her inner corruption, reac
tionary poUcy, and opium craze, was soon to be dis-

THE PERILS— YELLOW AND WHITE 233
membered and taken over by the European nations.
Prelimffiary to the partition of Chffia, Russia needed
Korea, where she coffid have her hand on Japan's
tffioat. But Russia and the world did not know Japan.
Port Arthur, the naval battle ffi the Straits of Tsu
shima and Mukden, repelled the white mvasion. A
turnffig-pomt was reached in the history of the mUi
tary relations of the East and West as signfficant
probably for Asia as the battles of Salamis and
Poitiers were in the ffistory of Europe.
Europe discovered that her dreams of world dom-
ffiation were ffisputed; that the partition of China
was by no means a foregone conclusion. All Asia
was electrified and inspired with new hope. The
trae way to meet the White PerU was now at last
taught to the races that had been helpless and hope
less. New Cffina and Persia and Turkey have al
ready come ffito existence and are starting along the
path of inner development.
The way ffi wffich Japan met and overcame the
Wffite Peril is ffigUy ffistructive.
When Francis Xavier and the Roman Catholic
missionaries reached Japan, in the middle of the six
teenth century, they were welcomed and every op
portunity was given them to preach their new faith.
Hundreds of thousands of Japanese became Chris
tians in the course of the following sixty years; some
maffitaffi that as many as a mffiion converts were se-

234 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
cured. Japanese representatives went to Rome and
saw impressive sights and heard strange tales of con
quests of vast contffients. They also learned of the
fierce confficts between south and north Europe,
between Roman Catholic and Protestant Cffiisti-
affity, and of the Inqffisition.
The rffiers ffi Japan and Japanese traveUers
abroad soon discovered the ambitions and greed of
white races. They concluded, ere long, that the wffite
man and his religion were dangers to be avoided.
The method decided upon was exclusion. Christi
anity was accordingly exterrffinated with great loss
of lffe both by warfare and by persecution. Not
only were aU foreigners to be kept out of Japan, but
no Japanese were to travel abroad nor was trade with
foreign lands to be periffitted. Japan, therefore,
destroyed her largest seaworthy tffiee-masted junks
and buUt no more. Japanese left their native land
at the peril of their lives. AU oversea commerce
and even pffatmg expeditions along the coast of
Cffina were forbidden.
For two hundred and fifty years Japan thus Uved
entffely to herself, safe from the perU of the wffite
man. Exclusion was her policy, and so far as exclu
sion was concerned it was an unquestioned success.
It was absolute. But she paid a heavy penalty.
Who can tell what her attainments ffi many lines
might not have been had her bright and enterprising
sons been aUowed to acqffire the world's best knowl-

THE PERILS— YELLOW AND WHITE 235
edge. She woffid certaiffiy have been spared the
bitter experience of finding herself belated ffi the race
and compelled to adopt such heroic measures as have
been necessary during the past fifty years in order,
ffi a measure, to catch up with the rest of the world
and attaffi sufficient power to mamtain her inde
pendence. Discovering, ffi 1853, that the wffite man was upon
her with ffresistible power, having ships that by some
magic saUed without wffid and guns and cannon
far surpassmg hers, and seeffig the fate wffich had
just befaUen Cffina ffi her two opium wars, Japan
abandoned her pohcy of exclusion and decided in
stead of excludmg the foreigner to learn from him,
to master the secrets of his power, and to adopt as
much of his civffization as she found usefffi and true.
And this has been the signfficance of her ffistory for
the past ffity years, with resffits wffich all the world
now knows.
Though fearing, despisffig, and hatffig the wffite
man, his civUization and ffis religion, yet she bowed
her proud head. She became as a little cffild. She
acknowledged her error and now has ffiscovered that,
after all, it was the way of lffe. The medicine was
not so bad. It has given her fresh power and a rec
ognized position among the great nations, along with
a new wealth of inner richness the fuU measure of
wffich she finds hard to estimate.
Japan to-day stands where the two streams of

236 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
civilization meet. And they are meeting there be
cause of what she has done. To all Asia she points
the way of national independence and the way in
wffich to meet the White PerU. Does she also point
for Western nations the way in which to meet the
YeUow Peril?
The wffite man little realizes the feeling against
him entertained throughout Asia. The yellow man
despises ffim as cordially as the yellow man is de
spised by ffim. But there is a difference. In addition
to this feeling of scorn, the average educated Asiatic
who knows the world-situation is filled with indigna
tion at the high-handed methods of the whites. He
sees the plight in which east Asia is placed.
She is hemmed in by wffite men on every side.
Now that Western ideas and ideals are gripping
the East, infanticide is being forbidden. Occidental
hygiene, medicine, and surgery, moreover, along with
occidental belief in the value of the individual, are
working mightily for the prolongation of life. This
has already resulted ffi the doubling of the popffia
tion of Japan since she adopted Western civUization.
When these new ideals and practices gain full head
way ffi Cffina and India, how enormous will be the
popffiations to be fed and governed! Whence wiU
come the needed food? or where can Asiatics go for
work? Moreover, with the increasing inteUigence of Asia
there is rising national and racial self-consciousness

THE PERILS— YELLOW AND WHITE 237
and rising mdignation at the loss of sovereignty
which every nation save Japan has experienced.
How can China recover complete sovereignty? How
can she regain Kiao Chao, Shanghai, Hongkong, and
Indo-Cffina? Would Americans feel satisfied were Staten Island
owned by France, New Jersey seized and held by
Italy because of certain murdered Italians, Cape Cod
possessed by Germany, and Manhattan Island
divided up ffito foreign concessions and owned and
governed by the various nations? Woffid Americans
be quite frienffiy toward those nations that had
robbed her? Such, however, is practically the con
dition of Chffia. The indignation of her educated,
wide-awake people is none the less real because not
opeffiy expressed. But the day wUl come when that
inffignation wffi be expressed.
That these statements are not without foundation
let the foUowffig facts attest: Three years ago, while
lecturffig ffi the Imperial Uffiversity in Kyoto ffi the
department of Comparative Religion, I was asked
by the secretary of the Buddffist Young Men's
Association to read for ffim a long English letter
from the secretary of a Hindoo Young Men's Asso
ciation in Inffia. The purport of the letter was that
the wffite peoples had seized aU the land of the
weaker people whose rights they entirely ignored;
it told of the sexual passions of wffite men who ruin
the homes of Asiatics, giving a few specific incidents.

238 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
and it closed with the appeal that aU Asia shoffid
unite not offiy to prevent further depredations
but finally to drive the white man entirely out of
Asia. In the winter of 1912-13 Mr. Tokutomi, one of
Japan's most briUiant and influential editors, coined
a new word, "hakubatsu," which may be translated
"albinocracy," or "white-domination." In a series
of editorials he set forth the mighty power of the
white nations contrasted with the weakness of the
other races. He did not blame the former. It was
merely a case of struggle for existence and victory
of the strong over the weak. The colored races were
weak and deserved to be beaten. The point of the
editorials was that we, Japanese, must be strong and
able, as well as the white men, to take our fair share
in the rale of the world and ffi the possession of its
wealth. In May, 1913, there was published in a Japanese
magazine, and republished in the Japan Advertiser,
an article on "The White PerU," by Professor Nagai,
of Waseda University, Tokyo. Here, too, the re
spective positions of the wffite and yellow races in
America, Canada, Africa, Australia, and Asia were
stated. From his closffig paragraphs a few sentences
may be quoted : " The present attitude of the white
races may be white but it certainly is not Christian.
. . . How can the white races have the face to
demand equal opportunities in the Far East when

THE PERILS— YELLOW AND WHITE 239
they have deffied them to the Far East in the West.
. . . We do not pretend to be Christian, but we be
Ueve ffi doffig unto othere that wffich we woffid have
them do unto us! ... If one race assumes the right
to appropriate aU the wealth, why shoffid not all
other races feel ffi-used and protest? ... If the
wffite races trffiy love peace and wish to deserve the
name of Christian nations, they wiU practice what
they preach and wffi soon restore to us the rights so
long withheld. They wffi rise to the generosity of
welcoming our citizens among them as heartUy as
we do theire among us. . . . We, therefore, appeal
to the wffite races to put aside theff race prejuffice
and meet us on equal terms ffi brotherly co-operation.
This wffi convmce us of theff smcerity more qffickly
than a thousand proclamations of peace and good-wffi
wffile denyffig us sympathy and fair play. Words
and attitudes without charity are as soundmg brass
and tinkling cymbal."
During the summer of 1913 a series of educational
lectures for western Japan was given ffi Osaka. One
of the series was deUvered by an eloquent Hmdoo,
Dharmapala, on "Japan's Duty to the World."
The orator described at length the destruction
wrought by Mohammedan and Christian maraudera
ffi aU parts of the world, particffiarly ffi Asia, a story
aU too true and dramatically told. Japan alone has
escaped; she is the custoffian of the sublime Ar3'^an
civilization, and is now the one colored race able to

240 THE AMERICAN JAPANTESE PROBLEM
lead the forces of Asia ffi their conffict \sith the
White PerU. "To the great Arj^anized famfly,
whose home is Inffia, numbering about 800,000,000,
belong the Japanese, Koreans, Mongohans, Cffinese,
Siamese, Camboffians, Burmese, Sinhalese. This great
Asiatic brotherhood, under the leadersffip of Japan
can agaffi regaffi theff lost place ffi the world's his
tory. . . . Japan, by its superior status, therefore,
is perfectly justffied ffi gffidffig the destiffies of the
Asiatic races."
The use of the Aiyan name by both Occidental and
Oriental in describffig their own race and civffization
as agaffist the opposffig perU is no less suggestive than
it is amusffig. May it not be prophetic?
But, ffi contrast to these utterances proclaimffig the
"WTute Peril, note what Count Okuma is reported to
have said ffi regard to India: "Inffia was at the head
of aU civUized countries ffi ancient times, but what
was the cause by wffich she was reduced to her pres
ent state? She brought it about heraelf. She feU
behffid, because her social orgamzation ffid not con
form to the ffiternational standard. Fi-om the rep
rehensible caste ffistitution, from reUgious superati-
tions, conjoffied with various other causes, the
Inffian nation has been unable to withstand ffiter
national competition. The rise or fall of a nation is
brought about by the people themselves, and no other
force is responsible for a nation's dowffiaU. Rome
was not brought to its destruction by the northern

THE PERILS— YELLOW AND WHITE 241
barbarians, but by the Romans themselves. There
fore, I always give advice to my most beloved Indian
friends to cease from their averaion to England, and
to recognize their own weak points and to cultivate
the knowledge and morality that correspond to the
present world reqffirements."
Baron KUcucffi, moreover, former Minister of Edu
cation and later President of the Imperial Univeraity
of Kyoto, at present a member of the Imperial Privy
CouncU, writffig about Japan's place in Asia and
her ambitions for leaderaffip, makes the following
statement: "There seems to be some misunderatand-
ffig ffi America and Europe about our 'pretensions';
we are supposed to stand forth as the champion of
the East against the West, leadera of the yeUow race
against the wffite. We make no such pretension;
we have always striven to take whatever we find in
the Western civUization, material, ffiteUectual and
moral, superior to our origmal civUization, trying at
the same time to preserve whatever is worth preserv-
mg ffi our own. Our ambition, ff we have aii}^ beyond
that, is to act as a sort of mterpreter between East
and West; we can perhaps do more to make them
mteffigible to one another than any other nation, so
that all this race antagonism, based upon mutual
ignorance, may at last be done away with. In the
mean time we want to be judged for oureelves, on
our ffitrmsic merits, upon what we have proved
oureelves to be, and not upon what we are imagmed

242 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
to be from the color of our skffi or the situation of our
country." Asiatic proposals for meetffig the Wffite PerU have
affeady been more than suggested. Japan has indeed
discovered for herself, as we have seen, the road, and
all Asia has observed and begun to foUow.
The first reaction of Asia on meetffig the wffite
man was fear, scorn, exclusion. India with her
mutmy and Cffina with her Boxer uprismg tried to
estabUsh exclusion, but too late. For well-ffigh a
century both India and Chma thought they coffid
exclude occidental ffifluence by ignoring it and de
spisffig it; but Christian rffissionaries, educatore, and
physicians gradually entered their lands, as also they
entered Japan, taught their young men, healed theff
sick, fed theff famffie sufferers, had pity on theff
lepers and outcasts, and gave mighty object-lessons of
the real teachings and spirit of trae Cffiistianity.
Slowly aU the East has come to see and beUeve
that there are wffite men and wffite men. By their
patience ffi weU-domg, by retumffig good for evU
and love for hate, by theff endurance of persecution
and even of martyrdom, by theff wisdom, skUl, and
amazffig efficiency — ffi a word, by their Uves of self-
sacrffice, seekffig no reward of men, nor even to be
seen of men, missionaries have accomplished the
impossible; they have broken down mighty race
prejudice to an increffible degree. They have con
vinced aU Asia that Christianity is at least a good

THE PERILS— YELLOW AND WHITE 243
religion, and that true Christians, though white, are
good people. Asia now knows that not all white
men believe ffi brutal race aggression; that among
the whites are large numbers who strive to make
goodness, truth, and justice prevail among the na
tions, who are sincere and honest friends of the
yellow man.
These mfluences, with the example of successful
Japan and the testimony of those who have lived
in Western lands, have entirely broken down the his
toric attitude of Asia toward the West. To-day all
Asia is begffinffig to sit at the feet of Europe and
America to learn. They desire to assimUate our
civUization so far as they find it good and of help to
them in building up their national lffe and recovering
their lost sovereignty.
Asia proposes to acquire the white man's mastery
of nature, to gain access to ffis sources of power, to
develop the material instruments of civUization and
wealth, to raise the standard of life for all her peoples,
and, as a means to tffis and to the attainment of
political ffidependence and power, she plans to arm
and drffi her armies and buUd her navies.
In a word, Asia proposes to make the West her
teacher, and thus to turn what she has regarded as
her most menacing danger into a source of highest
benefit. That Asia or any part of it has plans for aggressive
vengeance on the white man, or expectation of abUity

244 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
to conquer the wffite man at ffis own game — world
wide warfare and conquest — appears nowhere. At
tffis stage of their development Asiatics woffid be
immensely satisfied ff they coffid successfully hold
their own against the white man, regaffung lost ter
ritory and re-estabUsffing complete sovereignty.
More than that is not in their wUdest dreams — ^less
than that woffid be ignominious.
This statement of the White PerU has been made
as objective as possible, i. e., from the standpoffit of
Asiatics. In view of the white man's outrageous
treatment of the colored races, it is no doubt diffi
cffit for Asiatics to see any justification whatever foi"
the white man's world-wide expansion. As a matter
of fact, however, this whole situation has been prac
tically inevitable. It has arisen out of the long ages
of divergent evolution producing diverse races, lan
guages, and civilizations. Some peoples are inevi
tably ffi advance of others on specific lines of devel
opment. Any race developing as the white has
developed would have entered on the same course
of world-discovery and conquest and woffid have
treated alien races ffi the same way. It is hard for
conquered races to acknowledge that they themselves
are ffi part to blame for the way ffi wffich they have
been treated. Japanese partial loss of sovereignty
from 1853 to 1899, however, was due to her defec
tive civUization and laws which allowed inhuman

Japanese children in the Metbodijit Home in San Franrsico. manv of them American horn. One near the centre i3 only half Japanese.
Many of the children are orphans.

THE PERILS— YELLOW AND WHITE 245
treatment of ffiffividuals charged with crime and to
her ffitolerance of all aliens. Chmese civUization,
too, though admirable ffi many respects, has been
abomffiably belated ffi othere. If the East and the
West were ever to come ffito contact at aU, treaty
ports and extra-territorial admffiistration of justice
were ffievitable. Japan and Chma were not pre
pared to supervise communities composed of indi
viduals of many nationalities. The subjection of
Inffia to British rffie was no part of a general plan of
conquest. It grew out of the chaotic political situ
ation ffi Inffia and the inabffity of her antagonistic
castes, tribes, and provffices to maffitain stable gov
ernment. If Cffina is finally partitioned among the
"powera," it wffi reaUy be tffiough Chffiese political
fficompetence. Japan's absorption of Korea was
likewise due to Korean poUtical corraption and ffi
competence. The Wffite PerU, accorffingly, is not to
be conceived as due exclusively to wanton aggression.
Tffiough the development of man's mastery of na
ture, world-wide ffiscovery, with the contact of races,
was ffievitable. Because of ffiverse languages, mutual
understandffig was impossible. Different social cus
toms and ideals — along with man's natural selfish
ness and greed — ^ffievitably led to conflict. White
mffitary superiority ffievitably resulted in conquest.
But the time has come for wffites and yellows and
browns and blacks to seek methods of peace and
progress. These can come about offiy through

246 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
mutual understandffig, the development of good-
wffi, and the spirit of mutual helpfuffiess. The ad
vanced must aid the belated and the belated must
leam of the advanced. Industrial competence and
social and political ffitegrity and efficiency must be
developed ffi every land. Only so can any land
become fit, under the stern laws of nature, to survive
and succeed.

CHAPTER XIV
ILLUSIONS-OCCIDENTAL AND ORLENT.^L
Few aspects of ffist or*- are more amazffig than
the ffiusions that have dominated mankffid for ages.
Witchcraft, the e^ffi eye, hobgobUns and fairies,
demons, demoffiacal possession and countless deities,
grotesque heavens and heUs — unnumbered "fixed
ideas" have gripped the human race and led it to
aU kmds of conduct wffich now appear the height
of foUy. ExtraordffiarUy gffted with powera of con
structive thought and imagffiation, men have placed
excessive reliance on uncontroUed subjectivism; they
have ascribed objective vahffitv to every idea or
fancy that has emerged ffito consciousness.
The age of emancipation, however, has come.
Men are discovering that mind cannot remaffi a
vacuum; untU fiUed with knowledge ffi regard to
objects wffich attract attention and demand some
kffid of conduct, the mind from its own inner sources
suppffes suggestions, guesses, iffierences based on its
own fears, ambitions, and desffes. Sffice these sub
jective constructions, however, do not correspond to
fact, they are of the nature of ffiusions. And sffice,
ffi the absence of knowledge, they seem ffigffiy plausi-
247

248 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
ble, they are qffickly shared by millions of mffividu
als, and the behef of each confirms that of the rest
and thus they seem as sohd as the earth itseff. And
this leads to disastrous national and race conduct.
Mankind is findffig the corrective value of accu
rate and adequate observation and rational thought
thereon — science and phflosophy. These have ban
ished countless phantoms of past ages and led man
kffid thus far on ffis way to an accurate knowledge
of the world he hves ffi and to sane and wholesome
ffie thereffi.
What, then, are the outstandffig ffiusions wffich
have produced the YeUow and Wffite PerUs?
An essential element ffi aU statements of the Yel
low PerU is the assumption that aU Asia wffi uffite
ffi a sffigle compact body to hurl itseff ffi ven
geance on the whites and force open the doors now
closed to Asiatic imrffigration.
Tffis assumption forgets that the mutual antipa
tffies between the Asiatic nations are as ffitense as
those between European peoples. No easy under
taking woffid it be to uffite Russia, England, Ger
many, France, Austria, Italy, Turkey, and Spam
ffito a sffigle compact group fighting under a sffigle
head. EquaUy difficffit woffid it be to effect a suffi-
lar uffion among the unffisciphned and uneducated
provmces, nations, and tribes of Asia. The offiy
conceivable condition under wffich such a Pan-
Asiatic Affiance coffid arise woffid be the universal

ILLUSIONS— OCCIDENTAL AND ORIENTAL 249
consciousness of a common foe. Shoffid Europe and
America form an actual affiance whose avowed end
was, or was beheved to be, the mffitary subjugation of
aU Asia, a Pan-Asiatic Affiance might possibly arise.
The offiy force that coffid drive together those antipa
thetic masses woffid be such a movement as is pro
posed by the Pan-Aiyan Association and the wide
knowledge in Asia of such anti-Asiatic speeches as
are now being made ffi Christendom.
Only ignorance of the actual situation in Asia
coffid conceive of a Pan-Asiatic AUiance as arising
independently of the fear of overwhelnaing Euro-
American ffivasion. Fear, then, each of the other's
aggressive mUitary invasion, is the offiy possible con
ffition under which the nations of each group coffid
be forced to combffie.
The wffite man's fear of the military YeUow PerU
entirely overlooks the fact that all east Asiatics from
India to Japan are by nature peace-lovffig. Chffia
and Inffia have been subject for ages to alien rffiers
for lack of warlike ffistincts. Japan alone seems
adfficted to war; yet better knowledge discloses her
people as ffiherently peace-loving. Save for one
short period, three hundred years ago, she has never
wantoffiy mvaded a foreign land. Her recent war
with Russia was essentially a war of defence. It
woffid never have been undertaken had her national
existence not been at stake. Japan is no more
addicted to war than France or Germany or even

250 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
England. The late date to wffich her feudal system
continued is not to be misunderstood as due to fond
ness for fightmg. Japan herseff regards the last
three hundred years of her ffistory as the era of the
"great peace."
Now, is it conceivable that the whole East, from
India to Japan — where for centuries the spirit of
peace has rffied to such an extraordffiary degree if
compared with Europe for the same period — is it
conceivable that the whole East is about to develop
a violent, aggressive military spirit, threatenffig the
existence even of the mighty nations of Europe and
America? Is not this an amazing occidental Ulusion?
Those, moreover, who dread the impending ffi-
vasions of Asiatics little appreciate the changed con
ffitions of warfare produced by modern civUization.
They think it still possible for Asiatics to swarm
across the seas and overran the continents as ffi the
days of the Huns and Tartars, Goths, Teutons,
Norsemen, and Normans; or even as Spain and
Portugual swept Central and South America or as
Napoleon vanquished Europe. They forget that we
are living in a new era. Our ffie has changed so fast
ffi the past fifty years that there is some excuse, no
doubt, for stUl tffinking in terms of medisevaUsm.
This is true for the masses in many directions, espe
cially in pffilosophy and theology. Is not tffis the
real reason why the YeUow PerU appeal sounds so
plausible? It is, nevertheless, a great Ulusion.

ILLUSIONS— OCCIDENTAL AND ORIENTAL 251
No longer can armies and navies live off the coun
try they ravage. They must be continuously sup-
lied from their base. The mechanics of warfare are
so enormous and ffitricate that offiy extraordffiary
geffius and ffidustry can even maffitaffi existence to
say notffing about success. For an army thus con
stituted to sweep across a continent two, tffiee, or
four thousand mUes broad, as did the Huns and
Tartars, is simply impossible. Shoffid Asiatics at
tempt to swarm over Siberia ffito Russia and Europe,
as ffid theff predecessors of old, a few Maxim guns
woffid summarUy annihUate them.
Similarly ffi regard to ffivasion by sea. CaUfornia
has been tremblffig at her helplessness shoffid Japan
attack her. Mr. Homer Lea, ffi ffis " Valour of Igno
rance," has pictured how Japan coffid easily capture
the entffe Pacffic coast. Honorable Albert Johnson
thinks Alaska ffi immffient peril and that it may
be utffized as a base for the seizure of Calffomia and
other States borderffig on the Pacific. Even a little
knowledge of actual conffitions of modern naval war
fare shows, however, that these fears are grounffiess.
The perioffic Yellow PerU scare pictures hundreds
of thousands of Asiatics swarmmg in their sffips
across the seas. But how many sffips woffid be
needed to transport them?
To fight the Boers, England, with absolutely undis
puted possession of the sea and havmg the largest
mercantUe marine ffi the world at her disposal, spent

252 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
nme months ffi transporting to South Africa, from
England, India, and AustraUa, 199,655 men and their
eqffipment, with 81,751 horses and mffies. Tffis
reqffired tffiee hundred and fifty-one outward voy
ages. American naval authorities, estimatmg their need
for transportation facUities ffi case of overaea con
fficts, state that "a single army unit, consistffig of a
ffivision with nme infantry regiments, one cavalry
regiment, three artUlery battalions, one engmeer bat
taUon, and one company of signal-corps, with the
necessary hospital, ammuffition, and supply wagons,
woffid require for its transportation ten 6,500-ton and
nffie 5,500-ton transports."
Now, how many men are fficluded in tffis reckon
ffig? only 12,500! To transport 100,000 men and
theff needed equipment, to say nothffig of food and
ammuffition for a campaign, woffid reqffire one
hundred and ffity-two seagoing transports, aggre-
gatmg 916,000 tons. On the sea, saUing five abreast,
one thousand feet apart, tffis fleet woffid make a
column a mfle wide and six mfles long. At night
or during stormy weather they would need two or
tffiee times as much space.
And how large a fleet of dreadnoughts, armored
crffisers, torpedo-boats, etc., etc., woffid be needed to
protect these transports. Only an expert can say.
But for such a fleet to cross the Pacific and attack
a hostfle land wffich knows of its comffig and wffich

ILLUSIONS-OCCIDENTAL AND ORIENTAL 253
possesses its own dreadnoughts, cruisera, torpedo-
boats, and flyffig-macffines woffid be the wUdest foUy.
It woffid soon be ffi the conffition of Rozdestven-
sky's famous Armada when it met the Japanese.
In these days, for a transoceaffic nffiitary mvasion,
the ffivadmg force shoffid firat clear the sea and air
of foes. Offiy then coffid it possibly cross over and
effect a landffig.
Shoffid Asiatics ffivent new methods of warfare,
or weapons distffictly superior to those we now have,
we rffight conceive of a successfffi ffivasion of Amer
ica, but not otherwise. To think it possible under
present conffitions is ffiusion. The extent and per
sistence of the Yellow PerU scare prove how wide
spread the mediaeval conception of war stffi is.
A specffic case of the YeUow PerU Ulusion is
Captam Hobson's and Homer Lea's Japanese-mva-
sion haUucmation.
Japan's navy might, conceivably, seize Honolffiu
and, after demoUshffig our navy (!), sheU San Fran
cisco, Seattle, and Los Angeles. But these are un-
fortffied cities, and Japan woffid surely foUow the
laws of modem warfare ffi regard to non-combatants.
Not untU Japan had cleared the entffe Pacffic of
America's dreadnoughts and aeroplanes coffid she
venture on the transportation of her army. But
what are her facffities for transportation? For ocean
service, the number of her transports of 5,000 tons or
over is offiy thirty-two; she has two hundred and

254 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
sixty-nine boats of from 500 to 2,000 tons and one
hundred and seventy-six boats of from 2,000 to
5,000 tons. Japan's ocean transportation, accord
ingly, is probably insufficient to carry at one voyage
from Japan to America a sffigle army division ! The
trip to San Francisco woffid occupy not less than
from four to six weeks.
From the psychological standpoffit, however, a
Japanese invasion is still more unthinkable.
What woffid be Japan's motive — to force Asiatic
immigration upon us and compel us to grant citizen
ship rights to Japanese? What profit woffid that
be to Japan? Some few Japanese ffidividuals might
be the gaffiers, but the nation woffid have an enor
mously fficreased debt and stffi heavier war taxes
to pay! Moreover, Japan does not want her able-
bodied and enterprisffig young people to emigrate
in large numbera to foreign lands. She needs them
for her own development and for national defence.
Coffid the seizure of the Pacific coast and owner
ship of its vast agricffitural and mmeral resources be
a motive? Were Indians stffi, as of old, the only ffi
habitants, that might be a conceivable motive. But
to take possession of it now, with its large cities and
aggressivp, resourcefffi popffiation of mffiions, woffid
entaU a prolonged war and mcalculable expense.
The subjugation of Formosa she has found to be a
most difficffit task, and it is not complete yet after
nearly twenty years of possession. Such consider-

ILLUSIONS— OCCIDENTAL AND ORIENTAL 255
ations as these woffid effectually inhibit a war with
America for territorial aggression.
The cost of war with America woffid consist not
only of the sums positively expended but also of the
faUure of receipts from her usual trade. America is
by far Japan's best customer. Her entire indus
trial system and the prosperity of hundreds of thou
sands — ^nay, miffions — of her people depend on com
mercial relations with America. To begin war with
the Uffited States woffid at once paralyze entire
ffidustries, tffiow mto disorder her whole economic
orgaffization, and reduce a considerable proportion
of her people to the poffit of starvation.
Nor is this aU. In order to make the first move in
so vast an undertaldng, Japan woffid have to borrow
hundreds of mffiions, even a bffiion or more dollars
for the purchase of war material; for war with
America woffid be vastly more expensive than was
her late war with Russia. Who woffid lend her the
money? For special reasons she was then able to
borrow from England and America. Who woffid
befriend her now? Woffid England or Russia or
Germany or France? From the economic standpoint
alone, therefore, Hobson's haUucmation is a craft
much lighter than air.
Russia, moreover, stands at Japan's back door.
Would she hesitate to take advantage of Japan's
preoccupation to settle up old scores and retake
southem Manchuria, Port Arthur, and Korea?

256 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
No, Alaska and Calffomia, Honolffiu and even
the Philippines are perfectly safe. Not a mUe of
raUroad nor a single fortress is needed. Even the
fortffications of Honolulu are superfiuous. The real
safety of these regions rests entirely on their organic
relation to the United States. The whole American
nation stands back of them; the Stars and Stripes
cover them.
Japan, on the other hand, needs the friendsffip of
America. No interests of her immigrants ffi Cali
fomia, no desires to acquffe the rights of Amer
ican citizenship, and no needs even for territorial
expansion coffid possibly be a sufficient motive
for war with both the United States and Russia
together. Hobson's hallucination is, ffi trath, lufficrous, more
preposterous by far than the perioffic war scares of
Germany and England. It rests on complete faUure
to appreciate the actual situation in Japan and what
an attempted Japanese ffivasion of America woffid
mean. The YeUow Peril ffiusion assumes that when Asiatic
popffiation becomes too large for the means of sup
port and Asiatics learn of relatively unoccupied ter
ritories in possession of white races they wUl organ
ize enormous military expeditions with wffich to
batter down the white walls of exclusion.
Several considerations render tffis assumption ffi
credible. Nations never have fought and, it is safe

ILLUSIONS— OCCIDENTAL AND ORIENTAL 257
to say, never wUl flght for privUeges of emigration
for theff own laboring classes; rather they wish to
keep them at home. Nations fight for sovereignty,
for honor, for territory, or in self-defence. But
merely to give citizens opportuffity for expatriation
is an mconceivable motive for ocean-wide warfare.
The maraudffig Huns and Tartars were not armies
fightmg for national privUeges, but consisted of the
emigrants themselves who, taking their all with them,
sought new lands ffi which to Uve. We cannot con
ceive of hordes of Asiatic emigrants forcffig their way
to-day by military superiority ffito America, Aus
traUa, Africa, or New Zealand. The world-situation
does not allow it. Tffis age provides, indeed, for
enormous peacefffi migrations, but mUitary migra
tions of large popffiations are no longer possible.
Moreover, the assumption impUes that Asiatic
popffiation wffi mffitiply ffidefmitely and produce a
virile stock weU able to fight regardless of food sup
ply. Tffis impUcation, however, is a palpable error.
If popffiation expands beyond food supply, the pop
ffiation wffi be constantly subject to famine and
ffisease, rendering it urffit for war physically and un
able economicaUy.
Agaffi, as advanced standards of ffie become gen
eral ffi Asia and as occidental science gains wide fol-
lowmg, wffi they not have the same effect in checking
excessive popffiation as they have had in the West?
The haUucffiation, accorffingly, of an overwhelming

258 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
Asiatic immigration forced upon us by mUitary and
naval conquest rests upon many ffigUy improbable
assumptions.

CHAPTER XV
ILLUSIONS— OCCIDENTAL AND ORIENTAL
(Continued)
The YeUow PerU ffiusion ever assumes that Asia
is soon to acqffire the entffe ffidustrial and mechan
ical skill of Christendom, and that then she wfll be
able to overtffiow the wffite man. Tffis assumption
faUs to recogffize important considerations.
In the ffist place, Europe and America are but at
the beginning of theff ffidustrial development. WhUe
Asia is paffffuUy leamffig what we now are doffig,
we shaU be advancmg by leaps and bounds to new
attainments. Is it conceivable that white brams
have reached the limit of theff capacity — that West-
em civffization has no progress before it? On the
contrary, has not man's mastery of nature's secrets
and forces offiy begun? And are not the white races
decades ahead of aU others? Is there a particle of
danger of our losffig our lead ffi tffis matter?
If Asiatics can excel ffi our own special field, can
explore the inner processes of nature, utflize them
more speedfly and effectively than we, then, ffideed,
shall we be forced to admit theff superiority, and
sooner or later we must yield submission. The real
259

260 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
basis of wffite— nay, of Teutonic— supremacy lies
not in the machffiery of civiUzation but rather ffi the
braffi that invents the machinery and ffi the moral
character that makes possible the social organism
that utUizes the machinery. Not the gun nor the
man behind the gun, but the man who ffivents not
only the gun but aU the tools and organization of
civilization is what really counts.
But even in the matter of Asiatic acquisition of
occidental civUization there is far more ffifficulty
than is ordinarily supposed. Every one of our mffi-
titudmous arts and ffidustries depends pn workmen,
of specialized skill whose "trick" is passed on from
foreman to journeyman, from rnan ^to man, by per
sonal ffistruction. The essence of a civUization lies ^
not ffi its tools and instruments but in the specialized
brains and muscles and hearts of the men who make
and use them.
To tffis fact is due the enormous and qffite unrec
ognized difficffity ffi the acquisition by one people of
the civilization of another. A boy does not learn to
swim by standing on the shore and merely watcffing
another boy swim. No one coffid ever learn to make
a good watch merely by watchffig the process.
Japan is to-day experiencmg this fact with keen dis-
appomtment. She has accomplished much ffi many
lines — much less, however, than' those think who
quake before the YeUow PerU spectre. She has ffffi-
tated aU kmds of manufactures;' because of her cheap

ILLUSIONS-OCCIDENTAL AND ORIENTAL 261
labor she expected to take over our ffidustries; she
has tried and has faffed. Somehow the "knack"
wffich lurks ffi the brains and muscles of our skUled
workmen is not so easUy acqffired. Asiatics may
get our machffiery and even imitate our wares, but
these wares lack the quaUty. How often the Japanese
themselves have remarked on this fact! Cheap Asi
atic labor is, in trath, expensive because so mefficient
when applied to occidental civilization.
This principle is weU ffiustrated by the lost arts.
In Japan the makffig of swords was carried on from
generation to generation ffi families who became fa
mous. Those families passed away and with them
theff skffi. The swords remaffi, and written accounts
of how they were made, but the secret has been
lost. Were every watchmaker ffi Christendom suddeffiy
to ffie, even with the watches as models, how many
decades woffid elapse before a fresh attaffiment of
techffical skffi woffid enable new experts to do what
many apprentices now easUy accomplish?
The poffit of this argument is that Asiatic acqffi-
sition of occidental civUization is no such easy or
speedy matter as the YeUow PerU ffiusion assumes.
So much of our civffization as they do acqffire wffi
constitute no serious menace to Cffiistendom.
The YeUow Peril ffiusion assumes that the wffite
man's supremacy arose from and can be maffitaffied
by war. One aspect of tffis error has already been

262 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
discussed. In the final analysis, it is the white_man's
ffiventive braffi and ffis moral and social capacity to
use ffis mventions that have given ffim ffi the past,
and wUl continue to give ffim ffi the future, world
wide leadership. The essential characteristic of his
civUization is not its material and mechanical as
pects, though these are the most conspicuous, but
rather its social and spiritual elements. Now, ffis
ffiventive brain has been as active in the latter realm
as ffi the former. His modern social machffiery is
by far the more important ffi assurmg ffis contmued
leadersffip, and it is also the more difficffit of acquisi
tion by other races.
But another aspect needs attention. The wffite
man is a wonderfffi traveUer, coloffizer, producer,
inventor, and trader. He has gotten into wars with
ahen races through his proclivities ffi one or more of
these Imes; he has been able to conquer ffi war be
cause he has ffivented the best fighting macffinery.
But he maintaffis his leadersffip through ffis relative
ffidustrial and econorffic efficiency. Warfare has
been and stffi is offiy a mffior element ffi the wffite
man's world-wide success.
The final contest between the races wffi be( eco
nomic and industrial.) The more the wffite man
expends on armaments and like unproductive enter
prises, to the neglect of other elements of ffis devel
opment, the more will he cripple himself. If each
country of Christendom shoffid abandon its army and

ILLUSIONS— OCCIDENTAL AND ORIENTAL 263
navy and for tffirty yeare devote to the econorffic
and ffidustrial education of its people what it now
expends of money and braffis for mffitary purposes,
the development and prosperity of Christendom
woffid advance by leaps and bounds and render
absurd all fear of ruffious Asiatic competition.
The final test, then, of the supremacy of a people
Ues ffi other realms than those of battle. Germany
is prosperous ffi spite of her armaments. Turkey
has coUapsed because she depended on them alone.
With regard, also, to economic competition the
YeUow PerU agitation is faUacious. It asserts that
on account of the cheapness of labor ffi Asia it wffi
not be long before she wffi produce aU our manu
factured goods at far less cost than we can our
selves, and that, therefore, while we and all Europe
wffi purchase from her, we shall have nothffig to sell
her. Our workffig classes wffi thus be tffiown out of
"employment and our ffidustries wffi be completely
raffied. This argument, however, rests on serious economic
fallacies. Asia may ffideed ffi time be able to produce
even large varieties of manffiactured goods more
cheaply than we can and we shaU, therefore, purchase
them from her rather than continue to manffiacture
thei^ ourselves. No doubt tffis will produce difficffity
and reqffire adjustment. But it is not to be for
gotten that we shaU never be able to purchase from
Cffina at aU uffiess, either ffirectly or ffidffectly, she

264 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
purchases from us. ( Intemational commerce cgn go
forward only as there is mutuaj give and.-take,yand
in the long run it must be mutuaUy advantageous.
Cffina can seU to us offiy so much as she buys from
us — dffectly or indffectly. In other words, offiy as
we mutuaUy adjust our various ffidustries ffi ways
mutually advantageous can commerce grow; and it
cannot grow so as reaUy and finally to ffijure either
us or them. These changes, moreover, wffi occur
slowly — ^very slowly.
Each part of the world and each section of each
country wffi gradually find its normal place ffi the
economic world-system and be able to do the work
and produce the wares best sffited to its nature and
location and thus contribute its best to the ffie of
the world.
Asiatic ffidustrial, competition, therefore, does not
mean the ruffi of the West; it means rather, on the
whole, its more profitable occupation. Of course
periods of adjustment ffi ffidustrial relations are
periods of turmoU, of storm and stress, and many ffi
ffividuals suffer, especiaUy among workers. The ffi
troduction of macffinery is a weU-known cause of such
adjustments and also of such paffi and poverty and
progress. Tffink not, however, that ffi the comffig
adjustment, the West alone is to suffer. What Japan
has endured ffi adjustmg her lffe and organization
to the new world-situation few Occidentals realize,
and Cffina is now starting on the same road. The

ILLUSIONS— OCCIDENTAL AND ORIENTAL 265
sooner the West begins to adapt herself to the life
of the whole world, and the more gradually that ad
justment is made, the less wUl be the shock of the
change and the pain of the process.
Among the illusions regarding Asiatics is that
which dogmatically affirms their non-assimUabflity.
This Ulusion as related to Japanese has been so fully
considered in the earlier chapters of this work that
its brief mention here wfll suffice. It assigns to
Asiatic nature a tcxiiij:g_and a character which do
not correspond to the objective world. It, of course,
professes to rest on experience. But the experience
to which it appeals is an experience with groups of
Chinese and Japanese whose presence among us is
resented; the treatment accorded them has been
exactly of the kind to prevent their assimilation.
Under like conditions Europeans would be equaUy
unassinffiable. Admiral Mahan cites in support of his view the
Austrian Empire, the French Canadians, and South \
African Boers. He forgets, however, that in each of
these cases, as in nearly every ancient land, the polit
ical arrangements provided for the rale of _one race
over others, which gave scope thus for antagonistic
race ambitions and involved resentments and indig
nation. Such conditions, however, are just the ones
to prevent assimUation. Should equality of educa
tional and political opportunity be given to every in
dividual, entirely upon personal qualification regard-

266 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
less of race, and should the use of a common language
be secured in the countries cited, even yet social as
simUation would in time be secured. Shoffid Asiatics
be allowed to enter America in considerable numbers
and then forced by differential legislation or social.
ostracism to live in communities where they woffid
mamtain their own languages and race feeling; and
should they also by exclusion from the franchise be
in political subjection, becomffig helpless objects of
small politicians, the evils Admiral Mahan antici
pates woffid doubtless arise. But if the conditions of
admission and of lffe here should be those suggested
in the last chapter, those evUs would not arise.
Social assimilation is a matter of social and political
conditions, not one of race nature^ Thorough-going
democracy, consistently carried out, fumishes the
very best conditions for the assffnUation of races.
The doctrine of Asiatic non-assinffiabUity, there
fore, is one of the ffiusions which helps to prevent
their assimUation and mterferes, accordingly, with
the right relations and mutual approach of the wffite
and yellow races.
The assertion that the union of the four great gun-
producmg and macffine-making nations would auto
matically secure universal peace and a reduction of
armaments and mffitary expenditures is not self-
evident. If, as is vehemently asserted, Asia wUl be
able to produce and support more ships by far and
more soldiers by the mUlion than united Europe, it

S3"

ILLUSIONS— OCCIDENTAL AND ORIENTAL 267
is not clear how the four-nation affiance woffid attain
its end.
On the contrary, is it not clear that an occidental
Pan-Aryan Alliance is exactly the kffid of pro
gramme that wffi caU ffito actual existence an ori
ental Pan-Aryan AlUance headed by Japan, as pro
posed by Mr. Dharmapala? Offiy the fear ffi Asia
of an impendffig attack from some great foe, able to
crush each Asiatic nation separately and intending
to do so, can possibly force the many opposing Asiatic
peoples mto an effective uffion, An actual occi
dental Pan-Arj'-an Affiance woffid give strong ground
ffi Asia for such a fear and for a correspondffig ori
ental Alliance.
Moreover, were the occidental Pan-Aryan Affi
ance actuaUy to come ffito beffig, it woffid, of course,
seek to justffy its existence. What more likely than
that it woffid, by way of precautions for peace, ffisist
that Asiatics shoffid not have large armaments and
shoffid not raise and drffi large armies? In a word,
the Occident woffid undertake to control by force
the development of the Orient.
But it woffid surely thereby produce an intensity
of intenacial antipathy, the offiy conceivable resffit
of wffich would be the very thffig it was ffitended to
prevent — ffiterracial war.
A Pan-Aryan Alliance, therefore, whether occi
dental or oriental, whose object was race^^^si^rem-
acy, woffid provoke both ffi wffi and fear, and

268 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
woffid tend to universal war rather than to universal
peace. The argument advanced by Representatives John
son and Smith in favor of the proposed " quadrilat
eral" alliance is specious but thorougUy fallacious.
They say that, historically speakmg, the areas of
peace have come into being and exist to-day through
the development of sffigle powerful executives, able
to quell all prospective local resistance withm their
respective areas. Is this true? Is peace in America,
for mstance, finally due to the powerfffi American
army? Is peace not due rather to the consent jffif
the ruled to the methods, principles, and spirit of
the government? Is tffis not also true of e very-
nation where peace prevaUs?
But in another respect also is the argument falla
cious. If the four great nations of Christendom unite
— so the argument runs — they will be able to enforce
peace tffioughout the world. Here is a clear non
seqffitur. The argument promised peace within the
territory of the single central executive; this assertion
promises peace also without that territory! The
argument did not prepare us for this conclusion.
The "quadrilateral" alliance then is to absorb each
nation that begins war and bring it within the area
where peace is enforced!
To prevent war, then, between yeUows and whites
the aUiance wUl have to absorb aU Asia, bringffig it X' V
thus within the "peace area." Only so woffid the

\ ..-_...

ILLUSIONS— OCCIDENTAL AND ORIENTAL 269
proposition be effective. Now is it conceivable that
with such a programme, the armament of the occi
dental Pan-Aryan Alliance wffi grow less, as the san-
gffine promoters of the plan assert? Wffi not the
reverae be the case?
Do not Asiatics also harbor ffiusions conceming
the White PerU? Beyond question.^ They doubtless
regard it as fficreasmg. They see exclusion waUs
risffig around them and fficreasffig antagonism de
velopffig ffi all wffite lands. They keenly realize,
moreover, how pitiable is their own plight and how
helpless they are ffi the face of the amazing growth
of the wffite man's power and civUization. In all
this they naturaUy see the Wffite PerU fficreasffig.
Important forces, however, are workffig on the
other side, wffich Asiatics cannot easily see, The
Wffite Peril has, as a matter of fact, passed its
maximum viralence, Not only has the new world-
situation arisen, wffich tends powerfuUy to curb terri
torial and inhuman aggression, but within Christen
dom itself commerical and spiritual forces are at
work that promise much for the future.
The spirit of justice toward weaker peoples has
gradually been growffig. It has already restraffied
ffi important ways the white man's treatment of
natives ffi the lands to which he has gone. WhUe
America has been far from gffiltless, yet, all in all,
her treatment of Inffians, Negroes, Hawaiians, and
Filipffios constitutes a bright page in the history of

270 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
nations. British rffie, likewise, though by no means
free from crime — and many a crime has been serious,
indeed — ^yet, on the whole, has much to its credit.
And British methods are increasingly considerate of
the rights and advantages of native races. India
and Egypt she may cite with just pride. Such wan
ton and murderous aggression for greed of gold
as befell Mexico and Peru at the hands of white
men would not be tolerated by the modem public
opinion of Christendom. Belgian atrocities in the
Congo and simUar deeds by British rubber companies
in South America have aroused the conscience of
Christendom. Such thffigs can no longer be done
openly.
-¦ International commerce is leadffig the nations and
races ffito better political relations. White men are
leaming that legitimate trade brffigs more gold than
marauding expeditions. Commerce demands both
steady political conditions and a people relatively
developed in civilization. Efforts for the moral,
social, educational, and political development of
even savages are found to be the best way to
make them ffidustrially and commercially profitable.y
White governments, accordingly, are devoting their
thought to these matters, dimffiishing thus the evUs
of their occupancyc Not duly America and England
but even Germany and France are beginffing to
realize these principlesv
In times of calamity the essential good-wffi of

ILLUSIONS— OCCIDENTAL AND ORIENTAL 271
Christendom has been repeatedly shown ffi recent
decades by contributions of money and other help
given to Chffia and India and Turkey. Such
deeds — unknown between nations in any previous
age — show that we are advancffig, that white inhu
manity is decreasmg.
The modern peace movement proclaims the same
message. This looks primarUy, of course, to peace
between the nations of Europe. But acquaintance
with the Uterature of the movement shows that uffi
versal justice and good-wUl are insistently pro
claimed and that the rights of weaker nations and
peoples are provided for. Advocates of peace are not
seekffig race supremacy, but interracial and inter
national justice and amity. The whole movement
powerfuUy restrains race aggression and thus dimin
ishes the Wffite PerU. Mr. Carnegie's peace foun
dation endowment of ten million dollars is the larg
est sffigle gfft for tffis cause, but immense sums are
annually expended and many men of intemational
reputation are devoting time and thought for the
promotion of tffis movement.
The foreign-missionary enterprise of Christendom
is doubtless the most significant single movement of
intenacial good-wUl. Ignorant and unfriendly eyes
may regard the movement as one of proselyting
ambition, sectarian pride, and religious fanaticism.
From the standpoint of non-Christian faiths, the
Christian propaganda may, indeed, be regarded as

272 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
one powerfffi factor in the White PerU. It js,^nevgrr_
theless, an expression of ffiterracial good-wUl on the
part of white nations. It seeks from motives wholly
disffiterested to give to other races the best elements
of the civUization of Christendpm. The missionary
is a strong force counteracting ^e political and com
mercial White Peril ffi every part of the earth.
In every land the missionary has been the friend of
the colored man, protectffig ffim from the greed and
aggression of white traders and rffiers.
The strength of tffis movement may be estimated
from the fact that the number of Protestant mis
sionaries is over sixteen thousand and the gifts for the
cause amounted, in 1913, to about twenty-five million
dollars. This goes to the colored races.
The rffissionary movement, moreover, ffiterprets
to wffite men in their homelands the better side of
the tribes and peoples to whom the missionaries go
and serves thereby as an invaluable link of sympa
thetic understanffing. The missionary movement is
the great race-interpretmg and race-reconcUing force
of modern times.
But the Wffite PerU is on the wane for another
reason. The Asiatic — especially the Japanese — ^has
learned,' as already stated, that the white man is
not a mere peril to be shunned but also a possible X
teacher. Acquisition of that which the wffite man
knows and adoption of elements of his civilization
bring many advantages. Lffe is enriched. New

ILLUSIONS— OCCIDENTAL AND ORIENTAL 273
vistas of growth are gamed. The feared White Peril
is thus overcome and from the heart of the peril rich
frffit is gathered. Japan has learned this lesson well.
Chffia is startffig on the same road.
Many considerations thus show that the White
PerU is actuaUy passffig. Asiatics who think other
wise not offiy are under an Ulusion, but because of
the ffiusion they help to prolong the evU. Scorn for
the wffite man and refusal to learn of him prevent
mutual acquaffitance and adjustment. These con
stitute, however, the secret of the transformation of
both White and Yellow PerUs into possibUities of
great gaffi.

CHAPTER XVI
THE REAL YELLOW PERIL
Is there, then, no YeUow Peril? If the argument
of preceffing chaptera is valid, does it make any im
portant dffierence how we treat Asiatics witffin our
bordera or whether we bffild ffigh waUs of exclusion?
Most assuredly there is peril ffi the contact of
East and West. It makes a vast dffierence both to
us and to them what our attitude and treatment are.
The loss to Calffomia and to the entire United
States tffiough raffical anti-Asiatic poUcy wffi be
none the less real though it may not take the forms
anticipated by hysterical pubUcists and politicians.
IU wffi, scom, injustice, brutality are of them
selves serious evUs. ( The entire manhood of those
possessed by such a spirit is degraded/ Now, a rad
ical Asiatic exclusion pohcy wffi not offiy maintaffi
tffis spirit but promote it on both sides of the Pacffic,
for it wffi keep the races apart and prevent mutual
acquaintance and adjustment,
A recent number of the Vancouver Saturday Sun
set voices the antipathy of many toward Asiatics
and weU Ulustrates the evU referred to. The Aryan,
it seems, is a montffiy published ffi Vancouver. An
274

THE REAL YELLOW PERIL 275
editorial ffi The Sunset contaffied the foUowing sen
tences, ffi wffich the writer effectuaUy discloses his
own character: "The Aryan's back cover is covered
with brotherhood of man pffilosophy ffi large type;
'God has made of one blood aU nations of men for
to dweU on the face of the earth' and several others
Uke that. That is all very weU, but we don't want
brown men for brothera. . . . We don't care whether
the Hindu was bom under the flag or not. If he
coffid peroxide himseff wffite it woffid not make any
difference. He woffid stffi be an Oriental — smooth,
insffiuatffig, sffiuous, saponaceous, unctuous, and
several other thffigs expressed by adjectives more
picturesque and easier to pronounce. The Oriental
does not rhyme with the wffite man at aU and cannot
keep step. It is meddUng with nature's anange-
ments ... to let the Hindus get theff feet ffi here."
To this the effitor of The Aryan repUed: "We are
sure the Hindus ffi, as weU as outside of, Inffia wffi
find these courteous Unes, expressed as they are ffi
the vigorous style of the last and best West, gratefffi
and comfortffig." Surely the promotion of the spffit
displayed by The Sunset is ffigffiy deplorable. It is
due, however, to ignorance, maladjustment, and
misunderatandffigs. Tffis is one aspect of the real
YeUow Peril.
The steady mamtenance of a violent anti-Asiatic
spirit ffi all wffite lands cannot f aU to develop a cor
respondffig spirit ffi aU Asia. East and West wffi

276 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
thus be consciously set more and more agamst each
other. In consequence each side wUl be in constant .
fear of the other, suspectmg Ul wUl, ffitrigue, and
sudden armed invasion. Each side wUl regard a,s
necessary the maintenance of large defensive forces.
Each increase of armament on either side wUl de
mand corresponding fficrease on the other. The
wealth of both civUizations — East and West — ^wUl be
squandered on ever-expandffig armaments, to the m-
calculable yet needless loss ffi the economic develop
ment and general prosperity of both civUizations.
Moreover, with increasffig hatred and suspicion,
combmed with a sense of safety because of pre
paredness for war, occasional outbursts of ill wffi
woffid be altogether likely. Race mobs might easUy
sweep out of existence small groups of obnoxious
aliens witffin their reach. Asiatic resentment agaffist
wffites might easUy resffit in Boxer-like * uprisffigs,
and, because of ability to meet the white man with
ffis own weapons and skffi, a punitive expeffition of
the "five powers" woffid be impossible.
Outrageous white retaliation on Asiatics within
their clutchete woffid be by no means impossible; for
the spirit and crimes of which white mobs are capable
even now may be seen in their lawless treatment of
Negroes. Shoffid the spirit of mutual retaliation get
started, who could foretell the end? Invasion of
Asia by Europe and complete victory would be im
possible, as we have seen, and, equaUy impossible,

THE REAL "i'ELLOW PERIL 277
ffivasion of Europe and America by Asia; for each
ffivadmg force woffid be compeUed to rest on its own
home base. Yet straggles on sea and land along
frontiera woffid be possible and weU-ffigh ffievitable.
How such a situation coffid end it is hard to conceive;
for mutual ignorance and fear woffid ever produce
suspicion and enmity, and these ffi tum woffid lead
to more ignorance and fear.
The growffig fear of YeUow and Wffite PerUs on
each side woffid necessitate, moreover, the with
drawal of vast numbera of able-boffied men from
productive enterprises — a weU-ffigh fficalcffiable eco-
noiffic loss. Conscription woffid become as needfffi
ffi America as it now is ffi Europe and Japan. This
woffid be due, however, to the YeUow and Wffite PerU
ffiusions rather than to the actual perils of ffivasion.
A state of beffigerency between East and West
woffid not promote commerce, wffich, ffi times of
war, woffid absolutely cease. The importance, how
ever, of commerce to the weffare of nations is beyond
question. The larger it is the cheaper the costs and
the larger the profits both to the producffig and the
consumffig people. Whatever ffiterferes with trade
means loss.
This loss, moreover, faUs not offiy on capitaUsts
but even more heavUy on laborera. They accord
ffigly shoffid be dffectly and profounffiy ffiterested
ffi maintaining good-wffi between East and West
and ffi promotffig mtemational commerce. German,

278 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
French, and English laborers and sociahsts have
already begun to exert powerfffi peace ffifluences
between these nations.
HostUity, fear, and suspicion, therefore, between
East and West woffid prevent large and profitable
commerce between the two great streams of civi
lization and constitute another aspect of the real
YeUow Peril.
The prfficiples of American democracy are not ffi
harmony with the creation or maffitenance of a large
standffig army. Shoffid this be thought necessary
through fear of a yeUow ffivasion, the very stracture
of our repubUc would be threatened. The repubUc
of Rome was overthrown by ambitious men ffi con
trol of armies for foreign conquest. Woffid it be
possible for ambitious American generals, ffi com
mand of miUions of troops, to accept control from a
civUian President? Arrffies want to do that for which
they exist.
And at the periodic presidential elections, woffid
not favorite generals become powerfffi candidates?
In case of electoral defeat, might not the army, whose
fundamental postffiate is force, refuse to submit to
the ballot and appeal to the bayonet?
The YeUow PerU Ulusion necessitatffig large arma
ments thus carries implicit withffi it real dangers to
the very stracture of our boasted democracy.
The East needs the West, and the West needs the
East. These complementary civffizations have much

THE REAL YELLOW PERIL 279
to give, each to the other. The gains acqffired by
long ages of isolated and ffivergent evolution shoffid
now be exchanged to mutual advantage. Such ex
change, however, can take place only ffi an atmos
phere of mutual good-Avffi and of readffiess to leam.
An attitude of mutual scorn absolutely prevents
the insight essential to appreciation and acqffisition.
The best tffings ffi each civiUzation wffich the other
needs are not material or physical; these it were easy
to exchange even when the spirit is hateful. The
best elements lie in the realm of the spffit — in art
and Uterature, in phUosophy, morals, and religion.
Appreciation here demands time and quietness of
spirit, openness of heart, and mutual good-will. The
best gffts of head and heart cannot be given nor
acqffired where mutual sympathy, respect, and good-
wffi are lackffig.
Those who despise the Oriental and ffis civUization
may rub theff eyes ffi astoffishment at the repeated
assertions of this book that the West has anytffing
to leam of the East. Such, nevertheless, is the fact;
and the policy wffich promotes ignorance and an
tipathy surely entaUs serious loss to both sides.
Mffititudes of traveUers return from the Orient
profounffiy impressed with the quality of its civUiza
tion. Occidentals, as a rffie, are entirely ignorant of
the inner lffe of Asia, of its ffistory, of the culture
of its masses, and the high ideals and attaffiments
of its leaders. The growffig admiration of Occi-

280 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
dentals, especially for Chffia and the Chmese, is an
impressive sign of the times.
Asia-phobiacs shoffid ask whether, after aU, their
attitude is not the resffit of ignorance. Are they not
doing Asiatics ffijustice and also fficurring loss them
selves? The Yellow Peril Ulusion is, indeed, an ffiusion;
as an ffiusion, nevertheless, it is a tremendous fact
and itself constitutes the main part of the Yellow
PerU, for it induces conduct ffi both West and East
wffich can offiy bring harm.
The vital factors are now before us, alike of the
special conditions in California and of the world-situ
ation. Analysis must cease and constmction begin.
The world needs a comprehensive oriental policy,
free from iUusions and from selfishness, wffich, wffile
it conserves the real mterests of the wffite race, pro
vides also for the real interests of Asia. Such po
litical and social relations should be established
that mutual good-will can be maintained, commerce
steadUy increased, and mutual exchange of the best
elements ffi both civUizations go forward.

CHAPTER XVII
OUTLINES OF A NEW AMERICAN ORIENTAL
POLICY
The present oriental pohcy of the United States
as a whole^is, ffi important respects,VhumUiatffig
to the Oriental land disgraceful to us./ Professmg
friendsffip in words, we deny it ffi important deeds.
Demanffing ari open door for Americans ffi Asia and
equality of opportuffity for our citizens with that
accorded to citizens of the "most favored nation,"
we do not ourselves grant these same tffings to^
Asiatics ffi our land. )
Tffis disgracefffi, humffiatffig, and fficonsistent
policy, for wffich some extenuatmg explanations may
doubtless be made, has grown up through a series of
exigencies. The time, however, has come for clear
recogffition of the raffical defects of our present
policy and for the f ormffiation of one more in har- -
mony with our national ideals and more sffited to
the new era of cosmopolitan life on which the world
is rapiffiy enterffig. The opportuffity opening before
us at this uffique juncture ffi the ffistory of human
evolution is unparaUeled. Much depends, however, -
just now on the oriental policy of America. If it is
281

282 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
trffiy friendly Jo Asia,., the Wffite PerU dre_aded by
Asia and the YeUow PerU dreaded by Europe and
America wiU both be converted ffito golden oppor
tuffities for mutual profit.
Of even more importance than the detaUs of the
new oriental policy'are the spirit and the principles
that underlie them. These I venture to state ffi the
following paragraphs. Fundamental Principles
The new American oriental pohcy must con
sciously abandon the assurnption, so tenaciously
held during recent centuries, and even stffi uncon
sciously held by many, that the wffite race is in
herently superior to aU others and has, therefore, a
kffid of divine right to rffie the world, to own for"j
seffish aggranffizement whatever territories it can
seize, and to exploit the native popffiations without
regard to their welfare. America must ffisist on the_
abandonment of all predatory ambitions on the part,
of its citizens ffi foreign lands. She must stand for
equaUty_of Jigto^a.and privileges of every race. No
race or people may be the objects of plunder dr ex
ploitation by wffites merely because the fatter pos
sess superior brate power. Tffis is, ffideed, no new
prfficiple ffi America's foreign policy, but it needs
to be emphasized and consistently carried out. We
should grant to Asiatics in this* land the same priv
Ueges which we demand for Americans in Asia and

A NEW AMERICAN ORIENTAL POLICY 283
which we grant to citizens of the "most favored
nations" residmg among us.
This policy must recognize that there is a new
Orient, a risffig self-consciousness in the vast popu
lations of Asia which must be won to friendship ;
that the new Asia can no longer be treated as the old
Asia was durffig the nffieteenth century. Tffis means \
that we must ffiaugurate a policy of courtesy in all
our relations with Asiatics — ^when they enter our
ports, Uve ffi our land, come before our courts, or
deal with us ffi treaties, and are the objects of pro
posed legislation whether local or national. We
must deal with Orientals as we deal with members
of other nations. Our ffiternational policy must be
uffivereal^ ajiiLfree from all race discrimination.
The new policy shoffid Eympathize^^with the diffi-
cffitiesjmd prpblenis yconn-ontffig oriental peoples,
economic, political, social, and educational. Amer
icans shoffid regard themselves as their friends and
brothere, to aid them ffi the arduous road on which
they have started, protectffig them from the ava
ricious and graspffig policies of governments and
nations whose aim is exploitation of foreign lands.
The new policy must also conserve our distinctively
American ffistitutions. The trae and highest weffare
of the popffiation and races now here must be pro
vided for. That welfare, however, must be regarded
from a comprehensive standpoint. It must provide
for the coming from other lands and races and perma-

284 THE AMERIC.\N JAPANESE PROBLEM
nent residence here of onty those ffiffividuals who can
and wffi become fffil American citizens, sharmg m
the national lffe in aU its aspects, poUtical, economic,
ffidustrial, moral, and religious.
The new policy must take fffil cogffizance of the
actual situation in Calfforffia, both as regai'ds the
work and chai'acter of the various Asiatic peoples
now there, and also as regards the psychological state
of the Caffiornians. It must not run counter to the
mature, sober judgment of the responsible citizens
of California; but neither must it regai'd ignorant
and partisan Adews as the views of sane and inteffi
gent judgment.
The new policy must cut loose from discredited or
doubtful theories of race psychology and sociologj'-,
and must bffild on the assured resffits of our best
modern knowledge.
Outlines of the New Policy
A 'kew general immigration law is needed, wffich
shall apply impartially to all races. We must
abandon all differential Asiatic treatment, even as
regards minngration. The danger of an overwhelm
ffig oriental immigration can be obviated by a gen
eral law aUowffig a maximum annual immigration
from any land of a certain fixed percentage of those
from that land already here and naturaUzed. The
vahd principle on which such a law woffid rest is the
fact that newcomers from any land enter and become

A NEW AMERICAN ORIENTAL POLICY 285
assimUated to our ffie cffiefly tffi'OUgh the agency of
those from that land alreadj- here. These know the
languages, customs, and ideals of both nations.
Consequentiy, the larger the number already assim
Uated, the larger the number of those who can be
wisely admitted year by year. The same percent
age rate woffid perrffit of great differences ffi actual
numbers from dffierent lands.
By way of ffiustrating this suggestion, consider the
foUowmg outUne of a general immigration law :
The maximym number of immigrants in a sffigle
year from any nation, race, or group havmg a single
"mother tongue" shaU be:
Five per cent of those from the same land who are
already naturalized American citizens, ffidudffig their
American-bom chUdren.
In adffition to these there shall also be admitted,
from any land, aU who are retumffig to America,
havmg at some previous time had a residence here
of not less than three 3'eara.
AU immeffiate dependent relatives of those who
have had a residence here of not less than three years.
AU who have had an education ffi theff own land
eqffivalent to the American ffigh school, with not
less than three years' study of some foreign tongue.
In the appUcation of these provisions, ffidividuals
who come as bona-fide traveUera, government offi
cials, students — ffi a word, aU who are provided
for by funds from theff native land — shoffid not be

286 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
counted as immigrants; but aU merchants, profes
sionals, students, and aU others, even though not
technically laborers, who yet depend on theff own
efforts in this land for a living should be so reckoned.
Exactly how the suggested percentage rate woffid
work, only a carefffi statistical examffiation woffid
show. The census for 1910 does not ffistmguish between
resident and naturaUzed foreigners. The writer has,
accordffigly, attempted to supply a rough estimate
for a few countries. Startffig with the immigration
for the past decade, he has assumed arbitrarily
(yet basmg ffis assumption on certain statements
given in the census for 1910) that the number of
aliens who have either died or retumed to their
native lands is twenty per cent of the total arrivals.
He has also assumed, arbitrarUy, that of the re
mainder sixty per cent are stiU aliens, i. e., that forty
per cent have become naturalized. Applymg, then,
the percentage scale, he has computed the maximum
possible annual immigration. His resffits are given
in the accompanymg table.
For ffistance, columns 1-3 are taken bodily from
the census. Column 4 is taken from the latest re
port on immigration. Column 5 is twenty per cent
of column 4. Column 6 is sixty per cent of the
difference between columns 4 and 5. Column 7 is the
difference between columns 3 and 6. Column 8 is
five per cent of column 7, which gives the maximum

A NEW AMERICAN ORIENTAL POLICY 287
number of possible annual immigrants. For con-
veffience of comparison with the actual immigration,
column 9 is added. If these assumptions are re-

COUNTET

FOKEIQS BOKN 1

American-
Born Chii^
DREN. One or
Both Parents
Foreign 2

Total
Foreign
White Stock
3

Germany 

2,500,0002,570,000 960,000
1,730,0001,340,0001,670,000 66,00067,000

5,780,0005,160,000 1,490,0001,020,000 750,000
1,030,000 14,775 4,410

8,280,0007,730,0002,450,0002,750,000
2,090,0002,700,000

Great Britaia 
Scandinavia 
Russia 

Italy 

Austria 

Ghina

Ja.ps.n

CotTNTBr

Immiqbation
Past Decade 4

Estimated
Deaths and
Dbpabtubes 5

Estimated Resident Aliens 6

Germany 

350,000
958,000 491,000
1,725,000
2,071,0002,097,000

70,000
191,000 98,000
345,000
414,000419,000

168,000
459,000235,000
822,000993,000
1,006,000 56,000
67,000

Great Britain 
Scandinavia 
Russia 

Italy 

Austria 

nhina

Japan 

COUNTBT
Estimated
Citizens and
Childben 7
Possible
Annual Immi
gration 8
Actual Immi
gration, 1912
9
Gprmany, ... ,
8,112,000
7,270,0002,215,000 1,928,0001,097,0001,694,000 14,775 4,410
405,600
363,500 110,750 96,400 54,850
84,700 738220
27,788
82,97927,550
162,395157,134
178,882
Great Britain 
Scandinavia 
Russia 
Italy 
Austria 
China 
Japan 
288 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
garded as fairly plausible and the calculations have
been correct, we reach the resffit that the proposed
five per cent rate woffid aUow aU probable immigra
tion from Germany, Great Britain, and Scandffiavia,
whUe it woffid put a check on Russian, Austrian, and
ItaUan immigration.
The immigration law suggested above woffid make
it impossible for a new country like Patagoffia or
Tibet to get started — for it woffid have no natural
ized citizens here from whom the five per cent rate
coffid be estimated. To make immigration possible
for new countries it might be desirable to set an
arbitrary limit — say of five hundred or possibly one
thousand immigrants per annum as a maximum for
any country havffig less than twenty thousand natu
ralized citizens in America.
Sffice preparing the present chapter, the writer's
attention has been caUed to the proposal of Sena
tor Dffimgham, made in June, 1913, that annual
immigration be allowed from any country up to ten
per cent of those from that land already here, yet
aUowffig a minffnum of five thousand to come from
any land, however few may be theff representatives
ffi tffis country. The' sinffiarity of the writer's
thought with that of the senator's is apparent.
Senator DUlingham proposes, however, to leave
Asiatic exclusion laws as they stand, making no
effort to solve the difficffit and highly important
Asiatic problem.

A NTW AMERICAN ORIENTAL POLICY 289
The writer is not particffiarl}- concemed vs-ith
defendmg the five per cent rate here suggested. He
merely uses it by way of ffiustration. Those better
acquaffited with the facts of immigration and the
q)eed of social assimUation must determffie just
what percentage woffid be wise. The present con
tention centres on the poffit that whatever the wise
rate may be it shoffid be appUed equally to aU races.
This principle alone avoids the difficffity of ffi^dffious
race discrimination.
Bureaus qf alien registration and education are
need^Tor the supervision of the education of all
ahens. The workffig classes of Europe and Japan
are accustomed to registration and to constant
poUce supervision. This serves as a restraffit to
crime. The instant removal of this restraffit on
arrival m this land is far from wholesome. Every
ahen, moreover, permanentiy residmg ffi this coun
try shoffid be makmg steady preparation for citizen-
sffip, that is, for abffity to hve here ffiteffigenti}' and
profitably both to ffimseff and to us. AU aUens
shoffid be required to register and to keep regis
tered, payffig a substantial annual fee of, say, ten
doUare, untU naturalized. They shoffid keep the
bureau iffiormed of changes of residence. FaUure to
pay the annual fee or to keep registered shoffid be
punishable by fines, and, ff persisted in, shoffid be a
cause for deportation. AH unregistered aliens shoffid
be hable to deportation.

290 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
Graded courses of study ffi American history,
civics, and English shoffid be prepared and oppor
tunity given for annual examinations under federal
supervision — ^free of charge. The annual registra
tion fee might be diminished with each examination
passed. Certificates of graduation shoffid be es
sential for naturaUzation. Federal aid might be
given to institutions providing facilities for alien
education; night-schools might be opened in public-
school bffildffigs. All ffistitutions such as Y. M.
C. A.'s or churches providffig systematic education
for aliens along the lines of the federal law might
receive subsiffies.
Of course, the establishment and development of
such an undertakffig woffid entaU enormous work,
expense, and patience; much common sense woffid be
reqffired to avoid needless red tape; those ffi charge
shoffid ever seek to carry out the spirit. An ffici-
dental yet important advantage of tffis system woffid
be the close knowledge by our authorities of ahens
ffi theff first years here and the abUity to pick out
and deport undesirables such as anarcffists, wffite-
slave dealers, or flagrant crimffials. No smaU part
of our national difficulty with imnffgration has been
our laissez-faffe policy in regard to theff education
for citizenship. The method of registration would
enable the authorities to detect and deport such as
.may have made their way into America iUegitimately.
The systematic care and education of all aliens in

Al ler -iin 2, GeriLian .T, Hnivaiian. 4. Chinese ."i. Jupunese 6
11 l.erLLiiui-Hiiwaiiiin, ]¦>. Insli-Hawfiiian. 1:3, Srotrh-Hawaiiai
Swede- Hawaiian. 18, Cliinese-Pcirtuguese. 19, Fihpmo-Pui tiigi
Hawaiian. 2S, Sooth Sea (Naru)-Gei'man. 24, Porto Kicaii-Spani

Korean. 7. Filipino 8, Porfuiriiese 9, Amerk-an-Hawaiian 10, Chi nese- Hawaiian.
I 14. Spanish-Hawaiian, l.j Portii^'nese-Hawaiian 10, Norwegian-Hawaiian. 17,
ese. 20, Spanish-Portugueise 21, Frencli. Hawaiian -Pnrtn^uese. 22. Irish-Chinese-
sh. 25, Mexican-German-Spanish. 26, Japanese-lndiun-Spanish

These twenty-six pupils (out of over one hundred) of Kawaiahao Seminary (Honolulu) represent the eight varieties of "pure" and eighteen
varieties of "mixed" parentuije, who are receiving grammar and high school education in that extraordinary institution. This photo
graph was taken Cliri-itmas day to illustrate the variety, the mixture and the harmony of the races attained in the Hawaiian Islands.
The popular Christmas celebrations in Honolulu, year after year, in which all the races take significant part, present one of the most
remarkable racial phenomena of modern times.

A NEW AMERICAN ORIENTAL POLICY 291
America is essential to the welfare of the country,
of far more practical and also of pressing impor
tance than our splenffid educational enterprise in the
PhUippmes.
The bureau of immigration and naturalization
might weU be ffivided and the functions of the latter
modified and extended. The work and responsibU
ity of grantffig naturaUzation to aliens /shoffid be
taken away from courts, jwffich are not qualffied for
such a function, and vested in a body specially con
stituted for that purpose. .Every candidate for citi-
zensffip shoffid present a certfficate of graduation in
American ffistory, poUtics, civics, English, and prin
ciples of American civffization,. The bureau of natu
raUzation shoffid also make ffivestigation as to the
moral fitness of candidates, granting naturalization
only to those morally as weU as educationaUy quali
fied. A day rffight be set aside each year, perhaps the
Fourth of Jffiy, or Wasffington's birthday, on wffich
to administer with due solemnity the oath of aUe
giance and to extend official welcome to aU new
citizens; patriotic banquets and speeches, with ap
propriate pffis, bannere, and badges coffid make the
event as important and signfficant as commencement
exercises are ffi our coUeges and uffiversities.^
'¦ Might it not be wise to extend this system of education for cit
izenship, ¦with examinations, formal administration of the oath of
allegiance, and official welcome to all native-born Americans who
reach the voting age? Surely the responsibihties of citizenship are

292 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM

[A fresh definition of eligibilitjy for American dHzen-
'N.^skp is needed. American citizenship should be based
on individual quaUficatiom Race of itseff alone
shoffid not be a ffisqualification for citizensffip. Let
us raise the standards for citizensffip as ffigh as may
be needed, but, whatever the standards are, let us
apply them impartially; whoever quaUfies shoffid be
admitted. Let such special legislation as may be needed to
enable Asiatic naturaUzation be taken promptly by
Congress. The granting of rights of naturaUzation to aU on
[a personal, not on a racial, basis woffid go far toward
Vplvmg the entffe problem now pendffig with Japan.
Existffig anti-Japanese legislation of Caffiomia and
other States woffid at once be void. The Japanese
nation and govemment woffid be intensely gratffied,
for they woffid recogffize that America as a whole
insists on justice and equaUty of treatment for Jap
anese in our land.
Japanese individuals who have taken the requffed
courses of education for citizensffip and are ready, on
the one hand, to renounce openly theff allegiance to
Japan and, on the other, to take the oath of allegiance
to the United States woffid, without doubt, make as
too great to be intrusted to those who are not quaUfied, and the mere
fact of birth in America, or even of graduation from the grammar-
school, is not an adequate guarantee of such qualification. Espe
cially important does this suggestion appear to be in the case of chil
dren one or both of whose parents are foreign-born, such as Russians,
ItaUans, Japanese, or Chinese.

A NEW .\]MERICAN ORIENTAL POLICY 293
loyal Americans as those who come from any other
land.
?^ Direct federal responsibility in all legal and legisla
tive matters involving aliens is also essential. Aliens
are guests of the nation, not of the States; and the
nation is responsible to foreign governments for
theff just treatment. Foreign governments have no
relation with the States but offiy with the Federal
Government. It is, therefore, the duty of the Fed
eral Government to provide that the treaty rights
of ahens are accorded them. It logicaUy follows
that legal proceedmgs ffivolving aliens shoffid be
hanffied exclusively ffi federal, not ffi State courts.
The nation must provide tha:fc- treaty and other
rights are accorded ahens, regarffiess of the ignorance
or prejuffice of uffirienffiy localities.
It might perhaps be wise by special provision to
allow local courts to hanffie minor matters, such as
misdemeanore and transgressions of poUce regffiations
and city ordffiances. The general principle, how
ever, shoffid be as stated above. To some tffis sug
gestion may seem a matter cffiefly of theory, yet it
is at tffis moment one of intemational importance.
Caffiorffia and other States ffide beffind the national
flag to protect them ffi spite of theff ffi-treatment
of the citizens of Japan and Cffina.
In 1864 the Japanese Govemment faffed to compel
one of the clans to observe a recently made treaty
aUowffig foreignere certam rights. Thereupon sev-

294 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
eral of the powers proceeded dffectly to the obstrep
erous clan and taught it a lesson on the importance
of national unity and of obedience on the part of
each clan to the international arrangements made by
the central government.
.,y The United States has for sixty years pledged her
Mendship and good-wffi to Japan. In several Pacific
coast States legislation has been repeateffiy pro
posed ffigffiy ffisultffig and, if passed, seriously injuri
ous to the citizens of Japan. AU such local legis
lation affectmg differentially the ffiterests of citizens
of other nations shoffid be absolutely impossible.
A national commission on biological and social as
similation is needed. Tffis should be a commission of
expert biologists, psychologists, and sociologists of in
ternational repute, and shoffid be adequately financed.
The resffits of their study shoffid be emboffied ffi
national laws concemffig (1) the ffitermarriage of
ffiffividuals of different races, (2) the elimffiation by
sterilization of those whose heredity renders procrea
tion a menace to the nation, and (3) wise methods.
for Americanizing already compacted unassinffiated
groups of aliens.
There is no more ffitricate and at the same time
important problem coffirontmg our country to-day
than that of the intermarriage of the races. We
need scientffic knowledge ffi regard to the biological
and the sociological consequences. If the cross
ing of white and Asiatic individuals resffits ffi off-

A NEW AMERIC.\N ORIENTAL POLICY 295
spring biologicaUy or psycfficaUy undesirable, tffis
fact shoffid be scientfficaUy established and made
known to aU our people and also to Asiatics. But
ff scientffic study of the facts does not support that
contention, then this shoffid also be clearly estab
lished. We need rational national laws on this subject.
It is absurd for Caffiorffia to have laws forbiddmg
the marriage of wffites and Mongohans wffile Colo
rado does not. It is preposterous to make a crime
ffi Califorffia what is perfectly legal ffi Colorado or
Nevada. And the Caffiorffia law is of no practical
effect, for that State has to recogffize the legitimacy
of mi^ed marriages ff performed outside of her own
limits. If the Caffiorffia law rests on good scientffic
grounds, then it shoffid be national; ff it does not,
then Caffiorffia shoffid have no such law.
Regulation of intemational news shoffid be an ffi-
tegral part of the new American oriental pohcy.
The "yeUow press" is the real YeUow PerU to-day.
The pubUcation as news of the suspicions, exaggera
tions, and even maUcious fabrications of ffrespon-
sible newsmongere breeds ffi wffi and antagoffism
between nations. What may be the best legal
methods for securing reUable ffiternational news is a
problem for lawyere to decide. The writer, how
ever, suggests that laws nught be passed providmg
that any paper convicted of beffig the first to pub
lish, as telegrapffic or other news, material wffich is

296 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
either fabricated or grossly or maUciously exagger
ated shoffid be reqffired to publish, ffi equaUy con
spicuous type and place as the origffial news, the
fact of its conviction, the correction, and the name
of the responsible individual. Every paper that
copied that news shoffid also be reqffired to publish
the correction. Some speciaUy appoffited officer
should have the right to ffistitute proceedffigs ffi the
proper court. Repeated offences shoffid render the
offender liable to fine or imprisonment. In some
such way as tffis all papers woffid be led to utffize
offiy trustworthy reporters of international news; for
no paper woffid dare repeateffiy to proclaim its own
vffiaffiy or stupidity, or both. What the nations
need to-day is absolutely accurate information re-
gardffig each other. If tffis can be secured, ff the
utilization of the cable and the press by those who
wish war or at least war scares can be prevented, a
great step wffi have been taken toward the attaffi
ment of ffiternational understanffing and good-wUl
and thus of universal peace. But whatever the best
method for securffig it may be, it is clear that the
contffiuous malicious poisonffig of the pubUc mffid in
regard to other lands is one of the great crimes of
modern times for the suppression of wffich a wise
.national policy shoffid provide.
^ A department of national benevolence also is needed.
In spite of the ridicffie which he knows wiU be
hurled at tffis "visionary" suggestion by "practical"

A NEW AMERICAN ORIENTAL POLICY 297
men, the writer, nevertheless, makes bold to present
this item ffi his vision of the needed new national
policy. This new department might be constituted as a
bureau under the Secretary of State. Its work
woffid be to conduct large international benevolent
enterprises. Its support might be provided by a
law settffig aside, say, one per cent of the gross
national revenue.
The activities of tffis department woffid fall ffito
two sections, that ffi the Uffited States and that in
other lands. That ffi America woffid consist of
campaigns of education for the promotion of better
underetandmg and ffigher appreciation of foreign
nations. Hundreds of promising American young
men and women shoffid be sent to the various lands
to master theff languages and literatures, who on
their retum woffid be able to ffispel the ignorance at
the bottom of so many of our troubles. They woffid
be fitted to become effitors of the foreign news of our
great daffies, weekUes, and montffiies and to take
important posts ffi our govemment at home and
abroad. The work of this department ffi other countries
woffid be widely varied but always ffi sympathetic
co-operation with the govemments of those coim
tries. The cffief forms of activity woffid probably be
the contribution of substantial sums for emergency
relief and for the estabUshment of educational and

298 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
phUanthropic institutions. Scholarsffips might weU
be provided to bring to this land considerable num
bers of qualified students, who on returning to their
homelands woffid serve not offiy as competent
interpreters of America to their people but also as
powerfffi agents for carrymg into every land our
ideals and practices.
Backward nations shoffid be aided ffi opening new
industries and in developmg natural sources of wealth.
Whatever would give real and lasting help to other
peoples might be done.^ In times of flood or earth
quake, drought or fire, prompt aid coffid be given —
feeding the hungry; rebuUdmg ffikes; dredging rivers;
re-establisffing institutions. In times of plague or
epidemic, physicians and nurses coffid be supplied.
In a word, the work of the Red Cross Society abroad
would be taken up as a regular part of the nation's
duty, and vastly extended. The department splen-
diffiy financed shoffid be splendiffiy managed by the
best braffis the nation could command.
Such a policy, carried out for a score of years,
would transform the spirit of the nations. It woffid,
first of aU, change our own attitude toward other
nations, because it woffid give us real and sym
pathetic knowledge. It woffid evoke profound grat
itude among the nations struggling with the problems
of poverty, disease, and ignorance. Incidentally, I
doubt not, it would mightUy promote the permanent
prosperity of our own land. Were America to devote

A NEW AMERICAN ORIENTAL POLICY 299
as large a sum to a department of peace and benev
olence as it now expends on its army and navy, how
long woffid the latter be needed? Since the Spanish
War the United States is said to have spent on war
preparations $3,000,000,000.
No other country ffi the world can so well under
take such a policy. Is not vast national wealth a
ffivffie ffiternational tmst? The white races have
taken possession of the great unoccupied natural
resources of the world. Shoffid not that wealth be
used for the benefit also of nations less favored?
"The quality of Mercy is not strained.
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven,
Upon the place beneath; it is twice blessed;
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.
'Tis mightiest in the mightiest."
These fundamental principles of human life are
as tme of nations as of ffiffividuals. Should not our
nation inaugurate a policy of national benevolence
commensurate with its other activities? Is not the
tmly great nation, no less than the tmly great man,
the one that gives liberaUy not only of its wealth
but of its thought and time and effort for the welfare
of others?
Is tffis suggestion so absolutely foolish and impos
sible as Mr. Worlffiy Wiseman asserts?
Systematic education of public-school children in
oriental history is another item in the writer's vision
of the new American oriental policy. Indeed, for

300 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
the general elimffiation of race prejuffice education
is needed in regard to the histories of all the peo
ples from whom immigrants come to our shores.
Anthropological readers shoffid be prepared, devoting
one or more chapters to each race and people of
whom representatives live in our land, written from
an appreciative standpoffit and settffig forth the
noble deeds of each; they shoffid be well Ulustrated
with fine engravffigs of the best representatives,
dressed in modern European clothffig, ffi order to
avoid those caricatures which are so common in
pictures of strange peoples. Such readers woffid help
the young to get over their spontaneous feelffigs of
race antipathy.
The splendid deeds of heroism done by Jew and
Spaffiard, Italian and Hungarian, French, German
and English, Japanese, Chinese, and Hmdoo shoffid
all be set forth with appreciation. Japan and Cffina
and India have had their illustrious histories no
less than England, Germany, and France. Shoffid
not the outstanding characters and achievements of
these lands be taught to our young? George Wash-
ffigton, Abraham Lincoln, Benjamffi Franklin, and
many EngUsh and European heroes of progress and
high ideals are known, not only by name but also
for what they did, to aU ffi Japan who have had a
secondary education and to aU the higher classes
in primary schools. How many in our land, even
coUege graduates, coffid teU anytffing whatever

A NEW AMERICAN ORIENTAL POLICY 301
of Shotoku Taisffi, Kusunoki Masasffige, Nichiren,
Shonen, and other great leaders in Japan? It is
ffigh time that the study of oriental peoples and his
tories shoffid be ffitroduced ffito our public schools.
It woffid help greatly toward race reconcUiation,
even as kffidly and tmtffiffi histories of the CivU
War have done much to reconcUe North and South.
Summing up now the various items in the pro
posed new American oriental pohcy, the writer
urges :
American citizensffip shoffid be granted to every
quaUfied ffidividual regarffiess of race.
Immigration from any land shoffid be allowed on a
percentage rate of those from the same land who are
already naturaUzed mcludffig theff American-bom
chUdren. There shoffid be a bureau of ahen registration and
education. The grantffig of naturaUzation shoffid be vested
ffi a bureau of naturalization.
There shoffid be dffect federal responsibility for
aU legal and legislative matters in which aliens as
such are ffivolved.
A national comiffission shoffid be appomted to
study and report on the problems of biological and
sociological assimUation.
Some method shoffid be provided for makffig ffi
ternational news reliable.

302 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
A department of national benevolence shoffid be
established as an ffitegral part of our govemment.
ChUdren and young people ffi pubhc schools
shoffid be educated ffi oriental ffistory.
Such are the outlffies of a comprehensive policy
for the treatment of aU races and nations and the
care of aU resident aliens ffi our land. To some it
may perhaps seem a misnomer to caU tffis plan an
oriental policy, for it advocates nothffig ffistffic
tive regardmg Orientals. Tme; and this exactly is
the reason for caUffig it our new oriental policy; it
is a policy wffich does not ffiscrimffiate agamst
Asiatics and, therefore, is new. It is new both as
to its spffit and as to its concrete elements.
The early adoption of some such pohcy as this is
important. Uffiess sometffing is done promptly
there is every reason to anticipate further aggressive
anti-Japanese legislation ffi Caffiorffia when the next
session of its legislature meets (1915). Further ffis-
crimmative legislation, however, woffid stffi further
alienate the friendly feeling of Japan and render stffi
more complicated and ffifficffit of solution the inter
national situation. The early adoption of the maffi
features of tffis poUcy woffid assure Calfforffia, on the
one hand, that no swampffig Asiatic imrffigration is
to be aUowed, thus securffig what she demands. It
woffid also satisfy and even please Japan, granting
the substance of what she urges. Anti-Japanese

A NEW AMERICAN ORIENTAL POLICY 303
legislation ffi Calffornia woffid not offiy be impossi
ble but not desffed by any responsible section of that
State, and the cause of mtemational friction woffid
be removed.
As regards the Chffiese also, the situation would
be much improved. The faffness — ^yes, the generos
ity — of our poUcy, adopted by us with no pressure
from her side, woffid serve to strengthen and deepen
the spirit of friendsffip for America and render stUl
more effective American influence in gffidmg that
new repubUc tffiough the troublous times that are
surely ahead.
If America can permanently hold the friendsffip
and trust of Japan and China through just, courte
ous, and kinffiy treatment, she wUl thereby destroy
the anticipated anti-wffite Asiatic solidarity. If
America proves to Asia that one white people at
least does not despise Asiatics as such nor seek
to exploit them, but rather on a basis of mutual re
spect and justice seeks their real prosperity, they will
ffiscover that what they feared as the White Peril
is, in fact, an ffiestimable benefit. And that change
of feeUng wffi brmg to naught the YeUow Peril now
dreaded by the wffites.
America's new oriental pohcy will go far toward
ffistUUng new principles into other nations and races
and wffi thus help mightUy ffi the promotion of uni
versal good-wUl and the permanent peace of the
world. These, however, are the essential conditions

304 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
under wffich each race, nation, and even tribe can
make its own pecffiiar contribution to the richer life
of the world.
Even from the lower standpoffit of commercial
and economic mterests, the policy of justice toward
and friendship with the Orient is beyond question
the right one. Armed conflict or even merely sffilen
hostflity nughtfly hamper trade success. Rapid ffi
temal development in Chffia and a rising standard
of life among her mUlions means enormous trade
with America — ^if we are frienffiy and just. And un
selfish friendship and justice on our side wffi hasten
mightUy the uplfft of Chma's mUlions. Our own
ffighest prosperity is ffiseparable from that of all Asia.
So long as friendsffip is maintained and peace based
on just ffiternational relations, the mflitary Yellow
PerU mil be impossible. In proportion as the scale
of living among Asia's working mUlions rises to the
level of our own is the danger of an economic Yellow
PerU dimffiished.
Every consideration, therefore, of justice, human
ity, and self-ffiterest demands the early adoption of
the general prfficiples of tffis new oriental policy. It
conserves aU the interests of the East and the West
and is ffi harmony with the new era of universal
convergent evolution of mankind.
In his notable address at MobUe (October, 1913),
President WUson weU stated the general principles
of tme ffiternational relationships. He was speak-

A NEW AMERICAN ORIENTAL POLICY 305
mg, it is tme, with the South American nations in
view, but his words are equally true of the world as
a whole. As reported by the press, he said :
"We must prove ourselves their friends and
champions, upon terms of equality and honor. You
cannot be friends upon any other terms than upon
the terms of equality.
"You cannot be friends at aU except upon the
terms of honor, and we must show ourselves friends
by comprehendffig theff ffiterest, whether it squares
with our ffiterest or not. It is a very perUous tffing
to determffie the foreign pohcy of a nation ffi the
terms of material ffiterest. It not only is unfair to
those with whom you are deaUng but it is degrading
upon the part of your own actions.
"Human rights, national integrity and opportu
ffity, as agaffist material ffiterests, — that, laffies and
gentlemen, is the issue wffich we now have to face.
"I want to take this occasion to say that the
Uffited States wfll never agaffi seek one additional
foot of territory by conquest. She wffi devote her
seff to showffig that she knows how to make honor
able and frffitfffi use of the territory she has. And
she must regard it as one of the duties of friendsffip
to see that from no quarter are material mterests
made superior to human liberty and national oppor
tuffity." These are the principles which shoffid actuate the
policy of every nation ffi Cffiistendom in its relations

306 THE AMERICAN JAPANESE PROBLEM
to the Orient and indeed to each other. Who can
foreteU the changes ffi the attitude of the Orient
toward Cffiistendom and in its receptiveness of our
waj^s of ffie and thought ff the national poUcies of
the world shoffid be really controUed by prfficiples
of tme friendsffip?
The fffil programme for uffivereal peace woffid, of
course, demand much more than has been suggested
ffi this work.* Intemational justice must be actu-

1 America, for instance, should heed Great Britain's protests in
regard to Panama tolls; Colombia should in some way be given sat^
isfaction; the Alaskan panhandle might well be given to Canada.
Might not the nations of Europe take steps to adjust by arbitra
tion long-disputed territorial boundaries which have been settled by
the sword, such as Alsace-Lorraine, Schleswig-Holstein, Finland, Po
land? Might not Russia be given ice-free ports?
Might not Great Britain adopt the poUcy of giving India complete
autonomy, within the Empire, as soon as she quaUfies for effective
self-government. As regards China, might not Germany retum Kiao Chao and the
wonderful astronomical instruments seized at the time of the reUef
of Pekin? Might not France retum Indo-China, England Hong
kong, and Japan Port Arthur? By joint action the nations might
return each its own concession in Shanghai aa also the surplus Boxer
indemnities. These suggestions do not propose instant action without suitable
guarantees or compensations. History has established certain con
ditions which cannot be treated as though they were not. Yet the
sovereignty and dignity of China demand that these conditions shaU
not permanently remain. China, on her side, must, of course, qualify
for the resumption of these rights and responsibihties. Plans hon
orable and equitable for aU the parties concemed can certainly be
found when selfish ambitions are abandoned.
It is foUy for Occidentals to fancy that China can feel really
friendly to Western nations so long as they hold, by military force,
strategic places within her boundaries. Foreign troops, foreign
domination, and extra-territorial courts administering in China and
upon Chinese citizens the laws of Germany, England, France, Amer
ica, Spain, Portugal, et al., insult her dignity and infringe her
sovereignty.

A NEW AMERICAN ORIENTAL POLICY 307
ally attamed. Nations must abandon territorial
aggression and ambitions injurious to others. They
must learn to be impartial. They must gaffi new
conceptions of theff rights and responsibffities. For
this the efficiency of the Permanent Court of Arbi
tration at The Hague shoffid be developed. Actual
deeds also of good-will and even of national seff-
sacrffice must be practised. This is the offiy way to
aUay suspicion and evoke good-wUl.
"Peace tffiough readffiess for war" is fallacious,
demandffig ever-mcreasffig armaments. "Peace
tffiough disarmament" is impossible imtU ffitema
tional suspicion ceases. The offiy road to uffiversal
peace is the practice of intemational seff-sacrifice.
"But there is neither East nor West,
Boader nor Breed nor Birth
When two strong men stand face to face,
Though they come from the ends of the earth."
"Then let us pray that come it may.
As come it ¦will for a' that.
That Sense and Worth o'er a' the earth.
May bear the gree, an' a' that!
For a' that, an' a' that.
It's comin yet for a' that.
That Man to Man the World O'er
Shall Brithers Be for A' That."

APPENDICES

APPENDIX A
LITERATURE RELATING TO THE PROBLEM OF
THE JAPANESE IN CALIFORNIA
Chinese and Japanese in America. Annals of the Amer
ican Academy of Pohtical and Social Science. No. 114,
Sept., 1909. 217 pages. The arguments, pro and con, are
presented by eleven leaders in Parts 1 and 2. Part 3 discusses
National and International Aspects of the Exclusion Move
ment, and Part 4 the Problem of Oriental Immigration Out
side of America. In all, some twenty-three leaders of thought
present the various aspects of this immense problem.
American Japanese Relations (1911).
Asia at the Door (1914).
By K. Kawakami. Two large and important volumes.
The first deals with the Japanese in Manchuria and Korea
in two sections and in the third section presents in consider
able detail the condition of the Japanese in California. The
second volume discusses at length and with cogency the
Japan-American situation. Published by Fleming H. Revell
Co. Discrimination Against Japanese in California. By
Rev. H. B. Johnson, D.D., Superintendent Japanese Mis
sions on the Pacific Coast. 1907. 133 pages. This pam
phlet was prepared shortly after the settlement of the so-called
"Japanese School Question." Its purpose is to preserve all
significant published utterances for and against the Japanese.
The animus of the Asiatic exclusion movement is clearly
brought out by copious quotations of their writings. In the
311

312 APPENDIX A
Appendix are President Roosevelt's messages to Congress
concerning the Japanese question and Secretary Metcalfs
report. Japanese Immigration, Its Status in California. By
Yamato Ichihashi, A.M., formerly special agent of the United
States Immigration Commission. Published by the Japa
nese Association of America, 1913. 48 pages. A brief but
comprehensive survey of the statistics of Japanese Immigra
tion, Occupations, Economic Status, etc., etc.
The Oriental in America. By Geo. W. Hinman, Pacific
District Secretary of the American Missionary Association.
Published by the Missionary Education Movement of the
United States and Canada, 1913. Although this small
pamphlet covers only thirty-one pages, it is brimful of facts.
It seeks to present the actual situation, socially, morally, and
religiously, rather than an argument.
The Proposed Land Bills. Prepared and published by
the Japanese Association of America, 1913. This pamphlet
of twenty pages consists chiefly of newspaper comments and
resolutions passed by various important bodies in regard to
anti-alien land bills presented in the California legislature.
The Mastery of the Pacific. An oration by Jinji
Kasai, delivered June 3, 1913, in the assembly hall of the Uni
versity of Chicago, to whom was assigned the first prize of
one hundred dollars. In the foreword. President H. P. Jud
son truly characterizes the oration " as presenting clearly and
forcefully the view of an intelligent young man from Japan,
educated in the United States, eager for permanent friendship
between the two nations, and to that end pleading for justice
in the Great Republic." Published by Chicago University
Press.

APPENDIX A 313
The World's Most Menacing Problem.
Race Prejudice.
Citizenship.
Three brief but highly valuable discussions of the Japanese
question by Professor H. H. Guy, for many years a missionary
in Japan. Published for distribution by the Japanese Asso
ciation of America.
Our Nation's Duty to Japan. An address by Rev. D.
Scudder, D.D., published in The Friend of Honolulu, June,
1913. A trenchant treatment of the Japanese question from
the Christian standpoint.
The Recrudescence of Japanese Agitation in Cali
fornia.
The Japanese m Florin.
Education, Not Legislation.
These three brief pamphlets of eight, seven, and twelve
pages, by Alice M. Brown, are of special significance, as she
speaks with full knowledge in behalf of Japanese and from
the standpoint of one who has watched the entire develop
ment of Japanese life in Florin, concerning whose " wretched
plight" so much is said by those who oppose. Published
for distribution by the Japanese Association of America.
A Survey of the Japanese Question in California.
By Messrs. J. Soyeda and T. Kamiya, special commissioners
from Japan for the investigation of the Japanese problem
in California. This pamphlet of sixteen pages presents the
result of that investigation, prepared on the eve of their
return, August 6, 1913. This may be secured from the Jap
anese Association of America.
No student of America's Oriental problem should fail to
familiarize himself with the reports of various regular and

314 APPENDIX A
special official investigations, of which the following are the
most important:
Senate Document No. 633. Being a report of the Immi
gration Commission. Part 25. Compiled with special view
to impending immigration legislation. Part 25 deals with
"Japanese and Other Immigrant Races in the Pacific Coast
and Rocky Mountain States."
The Biennial Reports of the California State Bureau
OF Labor.
The Annual Reports of the Commission General of Im
migration.
During the spring and summer of 1913 a number of maga
zine articles appeared in the weeklies and monthlies. They
fall into two groups according as they take positions for or
against the Japanese in Califorma. The ten following con
stitute a fair sample. I. Anti-Japanese
White and Yellow in California. W. V. Woehlke,
The Outlook, May 10.
The World's Most Menacing Problem. Editorial in
Collier's Weekly, May 31.
Japan in California. P. C. Macfarlane, Collier's Weekly,
June 6.
The Japanese in California. Chester H. Rowell, The
World's Work, June.
The Japanese Question from a Californian Stand
point, Jas. D. Phelan, The Independent, June 22.
//. Pro-Japanese
Straining an Historic Friendship. Hamilton Holt,
The Independent, May 1.

APPENDIX A 315
How California Treats Japanese. K. Kawakami, The
Independent, May 8.
Interracial Amity in Caufornia. Neeta Marquis, The
Independent, July 17.
Dangerous Falsehoods. Editorial, The Outlook, July 26.
America and Japan. Hamilton Mabie, F. G. Peabody,
and J. I. Bryan. Three important articles. The Outlook,
August 2.

APPENDIX B
A SUMMARY BY LABOR COMMISSIONER J. D.
MACKENZIE OF THE REPORT OF THE "SPE
CIAL STATE INVESTIGATION OF 1909" OF
THE JAPANESE IN CALIFORNIA. GIVEN TO
THE PRESS MAY 30, 1910
[In 1909 the legislature of Califorma appropriated $10,000
to provide for a " drastic investigation of the Japanese ques
tion. . . . This covered free-hold and lease-hold lands, the
estimation of Japanese by their neighbors, their value and
need of them as farm laborers, their moral relations to society
and the industrial, financial, and social effect of their presence
here. This exhaustive inquiry was ordered in the language
of the act authorizing it, 'to inform the legislature and the
President and Congress.' The investigation was made by
the State Labor Commission, and the testimony taken by
him, names of witnesses, and all facts went into his report.
The result was that this investigation so thoroughly disproved
the ground upon which anti-Japanese legislation demanded
by the legislators who promote it, that our State Government
has suppressed the report and it has never been published."
— (Quotation from the letter of the Delta Association of
California to Hon. WiUiam J. Bryan, April 24, 1913, on the
occasion of his visit to California to confer with Governor
Johnson and the State legislature in regard to the proposed
anti-alien legislation.)]
The investigation of Japanese in agriculture covered visits
to 4,102 farms scattered over thirty-six counties and growing
316

APPENDIX B 317
almost every crop common to the State of California. Of
this total number of farms visited, 1,733 were operated by Jap
anese farmers as owners, cash lessees and share lessees. The
remaining 2,369 farms were operated by white farmers, being
equally distributed between those employing white help ex
clusively and those employing mixed races, including Jap
anese. These 4,102 farms contained 697,236 acres and pro
duced crops valued approximately at $28,000,000 annually.
On these farms there were employed during the past year an
aggregate of 80,982 persons of all races, 9,452 of whom were
women, the length of employment varying from a few days to
a year. On the 2,369 farms operated by white farmers, em
ploying a total of 63,198 persons, 53.4 per cent of the labor
employed was white, 36.4 per cent Japanese, and 10.2 per
cent various other races, including Chinese, Mexicans, Hin
dus, and Indians. On the 1,733 farms operated by Japanese
farmers, employing 17,784 persons, 96 per cent of the labor
employed was Japanese, while 872, or 4 per cent, was equally
divided between male and female white; in other words, on
the basis of numbers employed, the Japanese furnished prac
tically 50 per cent, or one half, of the labor necessary to grow
and harvest the crop, valued at $28,000,000, produced on the
farms visited in this investigation.
The farms on which Japanese were not employed were, as a
rule, much smaller than those on which they were employed,
the former averaging 159 acres, the latter 357, demonstrating
the necessity of a class of temporary laborers on large acre
ages. Another important fact developed by this investigation
was the relation between the character of the crop grown
and the employment of Japanese. On the farms where
whites were employed exclusively, no berries or nursery
products were grown and very little vegetables outside of
beans. The relation of the character of the crop to the employment
of Japanese is well brought out in the following:

318 APPENDIX B
On the 2,369 farms operated by white farmers the percent
age of labor furnished by Japanese, according to the principal
crops grown, was as follows:
Berries  87.2 per cent.
Sugar beets  66.3 per cent.
Nursery products  57.3 per cent.
Grapes  51.7 per cent.
Vegetabjes  45.7 per cent.
Citrus fruits  38.1 per cent.
Hops  8.7 per cent.
Deciduous fruits  36.5 per cent.
Hay and grain  6.6 per cent.
Miscellaneous  19.6 per cent.
It was further developed in this investigation that the fruit
crops peculiar to California required the labor of a large num
ber of persons for a very short period of time. The average
duration of employment on farms visited was less than two
months in the year — 68.3 per cent of the whites and 61.6 per
cent of the Japanese were employed less than three months
and only 16.6 per cent of the whites and 10.7 per cent of
the Japanese were employed permanently.
The average wage paid by white farmers to white help was
$1.38 per day with board and $1.80 per day without board
and to the Japanese $1.49 per day with board and $1.54 per
day without board. This, however, cannot be taken as the
average earnings of the Japanese, for 49.2 per cent of the
entire number employed were working by contract or piece
work, under which condition the earnings of the Japanese are
much larger than those of the whites.
The average wages paid to Japanese farm labor by Jap
anese farmers were $1.57 per day with board and $1.65 per
day without board, showing that the Japanese were better
paid by their own countrymen than by the white farmer; this
for two reasons — first, that they are in greater demand by
their own countrymen, and, second, that only 12.5 per cent

APPENDIX B 319
of the total number employed by Japanese farmers were
working by contract or piece-work.
Japanese Farms. — One thousand seven hundred and thirty-
three Japanese farms were visited, of which 132, contain
ing 3,876 acres, were operated by Japanese owners; 1,170
farms, containing 46,480 acres, by Japanese cash lessees;
and 431 farms, containing 33,028 acres, by Japanese share
lessees. These farms produced crops valued at, approx
imately, over $6,000,000. The most important crop grown
was vegetables, which amounted to approximately $2,500,000,
the next being deciduous fruits, $1,750,000, and berries,
$730,000. Landovmership by Japanese. — The records of the county
assessors on November 1, 1909, show 199 farms, containing
10,791 acres, owTied by Japanese in the State of California.
These farms were assessed at $330,401 on land and $46,927
on improvements, making a total of $397,298, and were
mortgaged to the extent of $173,584. The records also show
185 holdings of town property assessed at $174,694, of which
$79,600 was on land and $85,394 on improvements. These
holdings were mortgaged to the extent of $50,359.
Leasing by Japanese. — A very smaU percentage of the
leases are recorded, only 319 leases, covering 20,294 acres,
being found on the books of the county recorders. The
actual leaseholdings of the Japanese in the State of California
amounted to 55,000 acres on cash leases and 60,000 on share
leases. There were also recorded 113 leases on town prop
erty. The farms held under cash lease by Japanese average
40 acres, the largest number being from 5 to 20 acres. The
leases were principally for short terms, 50.6 per cent being
for three years or less. The total rental paid on these leases
was, approximately, $700,000 per annum, the prevailing
price being from $20 to $30 per acre per annum. The farms
held under share leases by the Japanese average 753^ acres,
the largest number being from 20 to 75 acres. One half of
the leases were drawn for a term of one year or less. On most

320 APPENDIX B
of them the Japanese received 50 per cent of the gross pro
ceeds on crops raised.
Japanese in Commercial Pursuits. — That part of the in
vestigation relating to the Japanese in business and activi
ties other than agriculture is practically complete. Two
thousand five hundred and forty-eight establishments were
visited through the State. One thousand nine hundred and
thirty-four were owned by individuals, 550 by partnerships,
and 64 by corporations. Nineteen and four-tenths per cent
have been in business less than one year, 24.2 per cent for
one year, 17.2 per cent for two years, and 15.9 per cent for
three years, making a total of 76.7 per cent of the total estab
lished since 1906. Only 58 establishments, or 2.3 per cent
of the total, have been in existence for ten years or more.
The capital invested in most instances was very small, 68.7
per cent of the total having a capital of less than $1,000.
The total aggregate cash invested amounted to over $4,-
000,000. The total annual transactions of these Japanese
establishments amounted to $16,114,407, of which $5,938,012,
or 36.8 per cent, was with the white people. The total
annual rent paid by these firms was over $900,000. Six thou
sand five hundred and fifty-six persons were engaged in the
conducting of these establishments, of which number 2,546
males and 562 females (principally wives of owners) were
employers and 3,214 males and 234 females employees. In
addition there were employed by these Japanese finms 35 male
and 20 female white persons. One thousand four hundred
and ten, or 55.3 per cent, of the total number of estabUsh
ments were conducted entirely by the owners. In 1,782
establishments, or 69.9 per cent, the employees lodged at the
place of work.
The sanitary condition of the places of work was reported
as follows :
Good  81.8 per cent.
Fair  16.8 per cent.
Bad  1.4 per cent.

APPENDIX B 321
Sanitary condition of the places of lodging:
Good  68.5 per cent.
Fair  27.3 per cent.
Bad  4.2 per cent.
One thousand five hundred and sixty-eight, or 61.5 per
cent, of the total number of establishments were located in
the seven principal cities of the State, as follows:
Los Angeles  505
San Francisco  497
Oakland  178
Sacramento  154
Fresno  100
San Jose  79
Stockton  54
Although San Francisco did not contain the largest num
ber of ^tablishments, 34 per cent of the entire investment
was represented there and 40.2 per cent of the total amount
of business transacted therein.
The prevailing number of hours worked per day was ten
and over, and the prevailing wages paid were from $25 to
$35 per month with board and $40 to $50 without board.
Japanese Population. — The Japanese population of the
State of Califomia, based upon the records of the United
States Immigration Bureau, the records of the steamship
companies entering the port of San Francisco, and the
records of this office, was estimated at 41,628 on January 1,
1910. About 10 per cent of this total were females.
In the fifteen months ending January 1, 1910, 836 Japanese
entered the port of San Francisco from Japan and Hawaii,
and 4,184 departed to Japan and Hawaii, showing a net de
crease of 3,348. These figures were obtained from records
kept by steamship companies under the direction of this
bureau.

322 APPENDIX B
In the three years 1906, 1907, and 1908, 810 births and
1,332 deaths of Japanese were recorded in the State of Cali
fomia, showing a large excess of deaths over births.
This investigation shows the distribution of the adult male
Japanese population to be as follows:
65 per cent were engaged in agricultural pursuits.
15 per cent were employed chiefly by white employers
and engaged principally in domestic or personal
service.
15 per cent were either Japanese employers or their
employees, engaged principally in supplying the
wants of the Japanese population throughout the
State.
5 per cent were engaged in miscellaneous pursuits, such
as officials, professionals, students, etc.
Individual cards were obtained from 18,378 Japanese, or
about one half of the total adult Japanese population of this
State. Of these, 16,642 were males and 1,736 females.
Sixty-eight per cent of the male and 77.5 per cent of the
female population were between twenty and thirty-five years
of age. Of the males, 62.7 per cent were single and 35.3
per cent married, whereas only 3.7 per cent of the females
were single and 94.8 per cent married.
At the time of this investigation 54.4 per cent of the male
and 74 per cent of the female Japanese had only been in the
United States for five years or less.
Sixty-three and three-tenths per cent of the wives of the
married males resided in Japan, while only 36.7 per cent
resided in the United States. Of the wives residing in the
United States, 61.2 per cent had chUdren and 38.8 per cent
were without chUdren.
Sixty-six and two-tenths per cent of the rural Japanese
population were agriculturaUsts before coming to the United
States.

APPENDIX B 323
Japanese School Children. — There were 818 Japanese chil
dren attending the pubUc schools in California in the year
1909. These were distributed as foUows:
Kindergarten  1 male 5 females
Primary schools  269 males 140 "
Grammar schools  150 " 31 "
High schools  137 " 3 "
Evening schools (mostly
adults)  71 " 1 female
Total  628 males 180 females

APPENDIX C
TWO CHARTS ILLUSTRATING THE PROPORTION
OF WHITE AND JAPANESE FARM LABORERS,
ACCORDING TO THE PRINCIPAL CROPS,
TAKEN FROM THE FOURTEENTH BIENNIAL
REPORT OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATIS
TICS, 1909-10, PAGES 270-279

Chart I

RACE OF farm LABOR EMPLOYED, ACCORDING TO PRINCIPAL
CROP GROWN
"In this chart there is presented the percentage of farm
labor of different races employed, according to the principal
crop grown. These percentages are based on a record of
2,369 farms operated by white farmers. These farms were
located in practically all the important agricultural and hor
ticultural sections of the State. They contained 613,852
acres, on which were raised crops to the value of $23,000,000.
On these farms there were employed during the year a total
of 63,198 persons. The chart shows at a glance the crops
which are dependent upon either white or Japanese labor."

824

PER CENT
50 60

I Japanese

w.

^H

White

CCto

Eace of farm labor employed, according to prmcipal crops gro^m

326 APPENDIX C

Chart II
RACE OF FARM LABOR EMPLOYED, ACCORDING TO PRINCIPAL
OCCUPATIONS
" In this chart the percentage of white and Japanese labor
is shown according to the various occupations. Reading
down the list of occupations, it shows the class of work which
the white farm laborer dislikes and which is now performed
by the Japanese, while reading up it shows the class of work
which is stiU congenial to the white farm laborer, and in
which the Japanese have been unable to gain a foothold.
The white fruit-packers and fruit-cutters are practicaUy all
female."

PERCENT
40 50

White

(—1

Race of farm labor employed, according to principal occupations

CO to

APPENDIX D
EXTRACTS FROM THE TREATY OF COMMERCE
AND NAVIGATION AND PROTOCOL BETWEEN
JAPAN AND THE UNITED STATES OF AMER
ICA OF FEBRUARY 21, 1911
[This treaty consists of eighteen articles, all of which bear
on some aspect of commerce and navigation. The essence
of the treaty lies in the repeated assertion of reciprocal rights
and privileges and treatment on the basis of equality with
the " most favored nation." For simplicity and brevity only
parts of the treaty are here reproduced.]
His Majesty, the Emperor of Japan, and the President of
the United States of America, being desirous to strengthen
the relations of amity and good understanding which hap
pily exist between the two nations, and believing that the
fixation in a manner clear and positive of the rules which are
hereafter to govern the commercial intercourse between their
respective countries will contribute to this most desirable
result, have resolved to conclude a treaty of commerce and
navigation. Article I. — ^The subjects or citizens of each of the high
contracting parties shall have liberty to enter, travel, and
reside in the territories of the other, to carry on trade, whole
sale and retaU, to own or lease and occupy houses, manu
factories, warehouses, and shops, to employ agents of their
choice, to lease land for residential and commercial purposes,
and generally to do anything incident to or necessary for
trade, upon the same terms as native subjects or citizens, sub
mitting themselves to the laws and regulations there estab
lished. 328

APPENDIX D 329
They shaU not be compelled, under any pretext whatever,
to pay any charges or taxes other or higher than those that
are or may be paid by native subjects or citizens.
The subjects or citizens of each of the high contracting
parties shaU receive, in the territories of the other, the most
constant protection and security for their persons and prop
erty and shaU enjoy in this respect the same rights and priv
Ueges as are or may be granted to native subjects or citizens,
on their submitting themselves to the conditions imposed
upon the native subjects and citizens.
Article IV. — There shall be between the territories of the
two high contracting parties reciprocal freedom of commerce
and navigation. The subjects or citizens of each of the con
tracting parties, equally with the subjects or citizens of the
most favored nation shaU have liberty freely to come with
their ships and cargoes to all places, ports, and rivers in the
territories of the other which are or may be opened to foreign
commerce, subject always to the laws of the country to which
they thus come.
Article V. — . . . Neither contracting party shall impose
any other or higher duties or charges on the exportation of
any article to the territories of the other than are or may be
payable on the exportation of the like article to any other
foreign country.
Nor shall any prohibition be imposed by either country
on the importation or exportation of any article from or to
the territories of the other which shall not equally extend to
the like article imported from or exported to any other
country. . . .
Article VIII. — . . . There shaU be perfect equality of
treatment in regard to exportation. . . .
Article IX. — ... the intention of the contracting parties
being that in these respects the respective vessels shall be
treated on the footing of perfect equality.
Article XI.— No duties of tonnage, harbor, pUotage, quar
antine, or other simUar duties . . . shaU be imposed . . .

330 APPENDIX D
which shall not equally under the same conditions be im
posed on national vessels in general or on vessels of the most
favored nation.
Article XIII. — The coasting trade of the high contracting
parties is excepted from the provisions of the present treaty
and shaU be regulated according to the laws of Japan and the
United States respectively. It is, however, understood that
the subjects or citizens of either contracting party shaU
enjoy in this respect most-favored-nation treatment in the
territories of the other.
Article XIV. — Except as otherwise expressly provided in
this treaty, the high contracting parties agree that in aU that
concerns commerce and navigation, any privilege, favor,
or immunity which either contracting party has actuaUy
granted or may hereafter grant, to the subjects or citizens of
any other state shall be extended to the subjects or citizens of
the other contracting party ... on the same or equivalent
conditions. . . . Declaration
In proceeding this day to the signature of the treaty of
commerce and navigation, . . . the undersigned has the
honor to declare that the Imperial Japanese Government are
fully prepared to maintain with equal effectiveness the hm
itation and control which they have for the past three years
exercised in regiUation of the laborers to the United States.
(Signed) Y. Uchida.
February 21, 1911.
[Being a treaty of commerce and navigation, it contains
nothing in regard to immigrants and their property and other
rights. Reciprocity is its one recurring emphasis in regard
to every item that is taken up. Article I, singularly enough,
omits the purchase and ownership of land as one of the rights
to be mutuaUy enjoyed in the pursuit of trade.]

APPENDIX E
EXTRACTS FROM THE TREATY BETWEEN THE
UNITED STATES AND CHINA CONCERNING
IMMIGRATION OF NOVEMBER 17, 1880, AND
REFERENCES TO THE SUBSEQUENT ACTS
OF CONGRESS RELATIVE TO THE SAME
Whereas, . . . the Government of the United States, be
cause of the constantly increasing immigration of Chinese
laborers to the territory of the United States, and the em
barrassment consequent upon such immigration, now desires
to negotiate a modification of the existing treaties which
shaU not be in direct contravention of their spirit:
Now, therefore . . . the President of the United States
. . . and the Emperor of China . . . have agreed upon the
following articles in modification.
Article I. — . . . The Government of China agrees that the
Government of the United States may regulate, limit, or sus
pend such coming or residence, but may not absolutely pro
hibit it. The limitation or suspension shall be reasonable,
shall apply only to Chinese who may go to the United States
as laborers, other classes not being included in the limitations.
. . . Immigrants shall not be subject to personal maltreat
ment or abuse.
Article II. — Chinese subjects, whether proceeding to the
United States as teachers, students, merchants, or from curi
osity, together with their body or household servants, and
Chinese laborers who are now in the United States shall be
aUowed to go and come of their own free will and accord,
and shaU be accorded aU the rights, privUeges, immunities,
and exemptions which are accorded to the citizens and sub
jects of the most favored nation. 331

332 APPENDIX E
Article III. — If Chinese laborers . . . meet with Ul treat
ment at the hands of other persons, the Government of the
United States will exert all its power to devise measures for
their protection and to secure to them the same rights, priv
ileges, immunities, and exemptions as may be enjoyed by
citizens or subjects of the most favored nation, and to which
they are entitled by treaty.
Congress, on May 6, 1882, authorized the suspension for
ten years of Chinese labor immigration. Section 14 of that
act provided that no State or Federal court "shall admit
Chinese to citizenship" and "all laws in conflict with this
act are hereby repealed."
On September 13, 1888, Congress passed an act restrict
ing the condition under which Chinese laborers already in
the United States would be allowed to re-enter after a visit
to China.
On May 5, 1892, Congress continued for a second decade
the suspension of Chinese labor immigration.
On April 29, 1902, Congress voted that " All laws in force
April 29, 1902, regulating, suspending, or prohibiting the
coming of Chinese persons ... are hereby reenacted, ex
tended, and continued, without modification, limitation, or
condition."

APPENDIX F
CALIFORNIA'S ANTI-ALIEN LAND LAW
[This law ingeniously utilizes the distinction made by the
laws of the United States between ahens eligible for citizen
ship and those not eligible, and enacts race discriminatory
legislation. It also seizes ingeniously on the faUure of the
landownership; it forbids this right to Japanese and other
simUarly situated aliens. It makes impossible for Japanese
the purchase, ownership, and inheritance not only of agri
cultural land but of any land whatever, even for business or
residential purposes.]
An act relating to the rights, powers and disabilities of aliens
and qf certain companies, associations and corporations
with respect to property in this state, providing for escheats
in certain cases, prescribing the procedure therein, and re
pealing all acts or parts oj acts inconsistent or in conflict
herewith. [Approved May 19, 1913.]
The people of the State of Califomia do enact as follows:
Section 1 . All aliens eligible to citizenship under the laws
of the United States may acquire, possess, enjoy, transmit
and inherit real property, or any interest therein, in this
State, in the same manner and to the same extent as citizens
of the United States, except as otherwise provided by the laws
of this State.
Sec. 2. AU aliens other than those mentioned in section
one of this act may acquire, possess, enjoy and transfer real
property, or any interest therein, in this State, in the manner
and to the extent and for the purposes prescribed by any
treaty now existing between the government of the United
333

334 APPENDIX F
States and the nation or country of which such alien is a citi
zen or subject, and not otherwise, and may in addition thereto
lease lands in this State for agricultural purposes for a term
not exceeding three years.
Sec. 3. Any company, association or corporation or
ganized under the laws of this or any other State or nation,
of which a majority of the members are aliens other than those
specified in section one of this act, or in which a majority
of the issued capital stock is owned by such aliens, may ac
quire, possess, enjoy and convey real property, or any inter
est therein, in this State, in the manner and to the extent
and for the purposes prescribed by any treaty now existing
between the government of the United States and the nation
or country of which such members or stockholders are citizens
or subjects, and not otherwise, and may in addition thereto
lease lands in this State for agricultural purposes for a term
not exceeding three years.
Sec. 4. Whenever it appears to the court in any probate
proceeding that by reason of the provisions of this act any
heir or devisee can not take real property in this State which,
but for said provisions, said heir or devisee would take as such,
the court, instead of ordering a distribution of such real
property to such heir or devisee, shall order a sale of said real
property to be made in the manner provided by law for pro
bate sales of real property, and the proceeds of such sale shall
be distributed to such heir or devisee in lieu of such real
property. Sec. 5. Any real property hereafter acquired in fee in
violation of the provisions of this act by any alien mentioned
in section two of this act, or by any company, association or
corporation mentioned in section three of this act, shaU es
cheat to, and become and remain the property of the State of
California. The attorney general shall institute proceedings
to have the escheat of such real property adjudged and en
forced in the manner provided by section 474 of the Political
Code and title eight, part three of the Code of CivU Proce-

APPENDIX F 335
dure. Upon the entry of final judgment in such proceedings,
the title to such real property shall pass to the State of Cali
fornia. The provisions of this section and of sections two and
three of this act shall not apply to any real property hereafter
acquired in the enforcement or in satisfaction of any lien now
existing upon, or interest in such property, so long as such real
property so acquired shall remain the property of the alien,
company, association or corporation acquiring the same in
such manner.
Sec. 6. Any leasehold or other interest in real property
less than the fee, hereafter acquired in violation of the pro
visions of this act by any alien mentioned in section two of
this act, or by any company, association or corporation men
tioned in section three of this act, shall escheat to the State
of California. The attorney general shall institute proceed
ings to have such escheat adjudged and enforced as provided
in section five of this act. In such proceedings the court shall
determine and adjudge the value of such leasehold, or other
interest in such real property, and enter judgment for the
State for the amount thereof together with costs. Thereupon
the court shaU order a sale of the real property covered by
such leasehold, or other interest, in the manner provided by
section 1271 of the Code of CivU Procedure. Out of the pro
ceeds arising from such sale, the amount of the judgment
rendered for the State shaU be paid into the State treasury
and the balance shall be deposited with and distributed by the
court in accordance wdth the interest of the parties therein.
Sec. 7. Nothing in this act shall be construed as a limita
tion upon the power of the State to enact laws with respect to
the acquisition, holding or disposal by aliens of real property
in this State.
Sec. 8. AU acts and parts of acts inconsistent, or in con
ffict with the provisions of this act, are hereby repealed.

APPENDIX G
LANDOWNERSHIP BY FOREIGNERS IN JAPAN
The foUowing statement of Japanese laws regarding the
rights of foreigners in Japan to own and lease land was made
by Consul-General Y. Numano and published in The Sacra
mento Bee, AprU 28, 1913:
To the Editor of The Bee:
Sir: I have your communication of the 23d inst. asking me
for a statement of the present laws and practices of Japan
relative to the holding or acquisition of land by aliens in that
Empire. In reply thereto, I beg to state that, under date of April 13,
1910, a law was promulgated by the Japanese Parliament,
which provided as follows :
Article 1. — Foreigners domicUed or resident in Japan and
foreign juridical persons registered therein shall enjoy the
right of ownership in land, provided always that in the coun
tries to which they belong such right is extended to Japanese
subjects and Japanese juridical persons; and provided, fur
ther, in case of foreign juridical persons that they shall obtain
permission of the Minister for Home Affairs in acquiring such
ownership. The foregoing provisions shall be applicable only to for
eigners and foreign juridical persons belonging to the coun
tries to be designated by Imperial ordinance.
Article 2. — Foreigners and foreign juridical persons shall
not be capable of enjoying the right of ownership in land in
the following districts: First, Hokkaido; second, Formosa;
third, Karafuto; fourth, districts necessary for National de
fense. 336

APPENDIX G 337
The districts coming under No. 4 of the preceding para
graph shaU be designated by Imperial ordinance.
Article 3. — In case a foreigner or a foreign juridical person
owning land ceases to be capable of enjoying the right of
ownership in land, the ownership of such land shall accrue
to the fiscus (the Imperial Treasury), unless he disposes of it
within a period of one year.
In case a foreigner, by reason of losing his domicile or resi
dence in Japan, or a foreign juridical person, on account of
withdrawing his business estabhshment or office from Japan,
ceases to be capable of enjoying the right of ownership in
land, the period mentioned in the preceding paragraph shall
be five years.
If any land owned by a foreigner or a foreign juridical per
son is situated within the district designated under the last
paragraph of the preceding article as necessary for national
defense, and if, in consequence, the ownership of such land
accrues to the fiscus, the damage thereby caused to the former
owner shaU be compensated.
In case of the faUure to arrive at an accord with regard to
the amount of compensation mentioned in the preceding para
graph, a suit may be brought before an ordinary Court of
Justice. Article 4. — The date for putting the present law into force
shaU be detennined by Imperial ordinance.
There foUow four other articles which I do not quote,
because they relate to details not pertinent to the main
issue, viz. : The desire of the Japanese Government to put
aliens on a par with native subjects in the matter of land-
ownership. You wUl please notice, from the provisions of Article I,
that the extension of the privilege of landownership, to for
eigners, in Japan, is conditioned upon the extension of similar
rights to the subjects of Japan by the Governments of other
countries. In other words, it is designed to be reciprocal in
its operation.

338 APPENDIX G
You wUl please note, further, that Article IV provides that
the date for putting the law into force shall be determined
by Imperial ordinance.
Such Imperial ordinance has not, as yet, been promulgated,
due, undoubtedly, to the fact that the Government is now
engaged in an investigation as to the rights and privileges
extended to the subjects of Japan in the matter of and own
ership by other nations. There can be no doubt that when
this investigation has been completed, such Ordinance, fixing
the date of operation, will be promptly issued.
With regard to the status of this matter prior to the enact
ment of the law of April 13, 1910, there were certain restric
tions, greatly softened in their practical operation by the
existence of a liberal leasing system which granted rights and
privileges to foreigners which were practically equivalent to
ownership in fee simple.
Article II of the Civil Code of Japan, provides that foreign
ers are entitled to all civil rights excepting such as are denied
by statute or treaty stipulation. The only statute on the
subject containing a prohibition is found in Article XL, of
Imperial Edict XVIII, promulgated under date of January 6,
1874, and reading as follows:
" Land shall not be sold, hypothecated or mortgaged to for
eigners, nor shall deeds or titles be passed conveying to them
ownership rights."
It is proper to state here that such prohibitive clauses in
the Japanese law, running against the right of an alien to hold
land, ran against him as an individual, not as a corporation.
(Juridical person.) A corporation, organized under Japanese
law, had the same rights as a native subject whether its stock
was held in whole or in part by foreigners. There never was
a time when aliens, organized as a Japanese corporation,
could not hold title to land in Japan.
The leasing system, still operative in Japan, may be briefly
outlined as follows :
The term superfices is given to land leases, made to either

APPENDIX G 339
natives or foreigners for purposes of forestry or general im
provement. No time limit is fixed to this class of leases.
They may run for one year or be made in perpetuity. Pay
ments are subject to agreement and may be made monthly
or annually. In case of perpetuitj- the entire sum agreed
upon may be paid over to the lessor at the commencement of
the lease term, which, practically, amounts to purchase.
Another form of lease is known (technically) as emphyteu
sis, granted to natives and aliens alike for purposes of agri
culture and stock raising. These leases run for periods rang
ing from twenty to fifty years, with privUege of renewal.
The conditions of payment are subject to contract, or the
whole may be paid at commencement of contract term.
There is, in addition, an ordinary form of lease which runs
for periods of less than twenty years with pri\'ilege of renewal.
Such leases are subject to the ordinary laws of contract and
guarantee to foreigners every right and privilege enjoyed by
native subjects.
Such is, in brief, a statement of the present law and prac
tices in Japan, relative to the ownership of land by foreigners.
Trusting that it has been made sufficiently clear to indicate
the Uberal attitude of my Government, I beg to remain, very
truly yours,
Y. Numano,
Acting Consul General of Japan.

INDEX

INDEX

Advertiser, Japan, 238
Aggregation of races, 160-168
Alaska, 226-229, 251
Alien registration and education,
bureaus of, 289-291
Aliens, federal responsibility in
legal matters involving, 293,
294
AUiance Treaty, the, 187
Amalgamation of races, 147 et
seq.
"American and Japanese Di
plomacy in China," 200
"American Mind, The," 141
Anti-alien land law, 88, 190, 200,
333-335
Anti-Asiatic spirit, consequences
of, 274-280
Anti-Japanese feeling in Cali
fomia, 169-173
Anti-Japanese legislation, 19, 21,
22, 65-66, 102, 103, .169, 188
et seq.; objectionable feat\ires
of, 190-196; 292, 294, 302
Aoki, Mrs., children of, 140, 155
Aoki, Viscount, 154
Arbitration, treaty of unlimited,
186
Arnold, Sir Edwin, 143
Aryan, The, quoted, 274, 275
Asia, awakening of, 199-203;
economic and industrial com
petition in, 259-264; new at
titude toward the TTest, 242-
244; progress in, 203-215;
scom of whites in, 236; West-
em ideas in, 236
Asiatic acquisition of occidental
civilization, 259-261
Asiatic Exclusion League, the,
61, 169

Asiatic exclusion policy, 224,
225, 274
Asiatics, number of, in America,
3; antipathy toward, 68, 69;
attitude toward white race,
6-8; characteristics of, 4, 5;
civilization compared with
American, 4; illusions of, con
ceming White PerU, 269; race
pride of, 202
Aa,simi1ation, race, biological and
social, 16-18, 118 ei seq., 147
et seq., 169 et seq., 294, 295
Banks and banking, Japanese,
40-43
Benevolence, department of na
tional, 296-299
Biological and social assimUa
tion, national commission on,
294, 295
Biological heredity, 120 et seq.,
152, 164, 165, 179, 180
Boas, Professor F., 135-138
BodUy form, changes in, 135-
140
Bonnheim, A., 42
Boys' club, Japanese, 161
Brent, Bishop, 72
Briner, Mr., 88
Brinkley, Captain, 154
Brothels, 57
Brown, Alice M., 81, 82, 88, 313
Brown, J. B., 81, 86
Bryan, Secretary, 89
Buchner, Rev. Mr., 81, 88
Buddhist mission in America,
109, 110
Bushido society, the, 45, 46, 58
Business morahty, Japanese, 39-
51

343

344

INDEX

California, anti-Japanese argu
ment, 187; anti-Japanese feel
ing in, 169-173; anti-Japa
nese legislation in, 3, 19-22,
169, 188 et seq., 200, 292, 295,
302, 333-335; five reasons for
opposition to Japanese immi
gration, 11-21; mistaken ideas
regarding Japanese, 25, 26;
new oriental policy in, 284;
special State investigation, 29,
32, 316-330
California Outlook, the, 188
Canada, 228-230
Carnegie, Mr., 73; quoted, 225,
226; 271
"Changes in Bodily Form of
Descendants of Immigrants,"
quoted, 136
Chauvinism, 61, 62, 113
China, awakening of, 200-203;
changes in, 145; industries of,
6; friendly policy toward, 303,
306; loss of sovereignty, 232,
237; military conditions in,
217; opportunities in, 210; po-
litical incompetence, 245;
tradewith America, 304; trea
ty with United States, 331
Chinese, 28, 71; antipathy to,
21; bank clerks, 40, 41; do
mestics, 52; exclusion law, 3, 4;
farm labor, 32; immigration,
331 ; labor compared with Jap
anese, 36-38; supposed points
of superiority of, 16
Chinese and Hawaiian inter
marriages, 156
Chinese boycott, the, 193
Chinese republic, the, 200
Chirol, Sir Valentine, 223
Christian missions, 114-117, 209,
233, 234, 271, 272
Christians, Japanese, 74-76, 98-
100, 105, 110-117
Churches, Japanese, 114-117
Citizens, Japanese as, 38, 39
Citizenship, eUgibility for Amer

ican, 292; of foreigners in Ja
pan, 63, 66; of Japanese in
America, 66, 67
Clannishness, Japanese, 35
Collier's Weekly, 77, 89, 314
Commerce, international, 207,
270, 277, 278, 328-330
Commercial pursuits, 320, 321
Commons, Professor John R.,
165
Commonwealth Club of San
Francisco, 74
Cross-breeding, 122, 125, 131,
132, 179, 180
Delta Association of Califomia,
316
Dendodan, the, 98, 99
Dharmapala, Mr., quoted, 239,
240; 267
Dillingham, Senator, 288
Domestic service, Japanese, 14,
52-56
Ebara, Hon. S., 104, 105, 109,
110
Economic YeUow PerU, the, 218
el seq., 259-264, 304
Education, American, in oriental
history, 299-301
Education of aUens, 110, 290,
291; of Japanese children in
America, 160-164, 323
"Elder Statesmen," 198
EUot, President Charles W., 73,
131, 147
Emigration, economic advan
tages of, 205-208
Emigration societies in Japan,
185
Emperor Meiji Tenno, 198, 199
Emperor WilUam of Germany,
216
Employers, Japanese, 13, 34
England, treaties with, 186
EngUsh, Japanese acquisition of,
101, 102, 134, 163
Eurasians, 139, 156, 157

INDEX

345

"Evolution of the Japanese, So
cial and Psychic," 61
Examiner, California, quoted,
108
Exclusion policy in California,
22, 23, 274
Face, Japanese, expression of,
132-135
Farmers, white, in Florin, 84, 88
Farms, Japanese, 12, 13, 34, 316-
319
Farm workers, Japanese, 30-38,
324-327
FeU, Mr., 88
Feudalism, Japanese, 46-48, 58,
133, 198
Firms, Japanese, 43, 44, 320, 321
Fishberg, Maurice, 137, 138
Florin, 18; conditions in, 77-89;
farmers, 84, 88; land values,
85; population, 83; schools,
84,85
Forbes, Adjutant-General, 80
"Four-powers loan," the, 200
Friend, The, 106
Fukushima, Mr. and Mrs., 155
"Gentlemen's agreement," the,
3, 22, 95, 101, 186, 187, 190
Harada, President, 116
Harris, Minister, 105, 186
Hart, Su- Robert, 217
Hattori, Hon. A., 104; abstract
from address of, 106
Hawaii, 66, 106, 109, 156, 161,
163, 185, 204, 321
Hearn, Lafcadio, 143, 167
Heredity, biological and social,
120 et seq., 152, 164^168, 179,
180
Hinman, Rev. Mr., quoted, 114-
117, 312
Hirabara, Mr. and Mrs., 82
Hobson, Captam, 217, 253, 255,
256
Honda, Bishop, 116, 200

Ibuka, Mr., 110
Immigrants, Japanese, percent
age of female, 91, 92
Immigration, effect of, on locali
ties, 35; Japan's attitude to
ward, 62-65; statistics, 286,
287; suggested new law, 284-
289
Immigration, Japanese, census
reports of, 10, 11; five reasons
for California's opposition to,
11-21 ; economic charges
against, 28-38; Chinese, 331
Immigration and naturalization,
bureau of, 291
Immigration Commission, 32;
report of, 101, 102, 314
India, Count Okuma on, 240
Indians, American, 20
Inter-Denominational Evangel
istic Board, 98
Intermarriage of races, 18, 73,
118, 119, 129 et seq.-, good re-
sulta of, 152-156; dangers of,
157-160; offspring of, 155-
157, 177, 178
Intemational justice, 306, 307
International news, regulation
of, 295, 296
Inui, K. S., 90
Island of Shikoku, shrine in the,
164
Ito, Prhace, 198
Japan, advantages of location
of, 197; adoption of occidental
civUization, 126, 145, 146, 202;
American influence in, 204,
205; anti-aUen poUcy of, 6;
anti-American feeling in, 19,
61; attitude of, toward Cali
fornia's anti-aUen legislation,
3, 102-104; attitude toward
immigration, 62, 63, 65; at
titude of, toward the white
race, 7, 8; banks in, 40-43;
citizenship of foreigners in,
63, 66; commerce with United

346

INDEX

States, 207; emigration socie
ties in, 185; exclusion poUcy
in, abandoned, 234, 235; feu
dalism in, 46-48, 198; first em
igration from, 185; friend
ship with United States, 185-
187, 199; government of, 199;
hours of labor in, 30, 31; igno
rance of American characteris
tics, 25, 26; industries of, 6;
investigation of conditions in
California, 103 et seq.; land-
ownership by foreigners in,
63, 64, 66, 336-339; laws non-
differential, 64, 65; mUitary
conditions in, 249-258; soom
of money in, 44-46; the new,
185, 197 et seq.; ocean trans
portation of, 253, 254; race el
ements of, 129; racial antipa
thy in, 68-70; resentment of
exclusion poUcy, 23; self-con
tradictory position of, 19, 20;
lack of time-consciousness in,
48; treaties with United States,
23, 185-187, 194, 328-330
Japanese acquisition of Enghsh,
101, 102; amalgamation, 147
et seq. ; assimilabihty, 16-18, 61
et seq., 118-183; banking mo
rality, 40-43; benefits from
presence of, in America, 193;
business morahty, 39-51 ;
changes in racial characteris
tics of, 134H40, 166, 167;
characteristics of, 16-18, 70-
76, 140-145; Christians, 74r-
76, 98-100, 105, 110-117, 233;
churches, 114-117; as citizens,
38, 39, 66, 67; claim of race
equaUty, 19, 62; clannishness,
13, 35; in commerce, 320; in
domestic service, 14, 52-56;
education of chUdren, 160-164,
323; employers, 13, 34; facial
expression, 132-135; as farm
workers, 30-38, 324-327;
farms, 195, 316-319; firms, 44,

320, 321; feeling against, in
CaUfornia, 169-173; friendly
deaUng with, 173-177, 181-
183, 196; immigration to CaU
fornia, 10-21; immorality, 56,
57, 71, 73, 85, 86; inter
marriage with whites, 18,
147-160, 177, 178; labor, 11,
12, 29-31, 36-38, 58-60, 195,
324^327; landownership, 191,
195, 319; leaders, 111-113,
117; lodging places, 321; moral
character of, 14-16, 50, 61;
naturaUzation of, 19, 20, 62
et seq., 291; as neighbors, 86,
87; patriotism of, 17, 164, 165;
poUteness, 46-48, 51; popula
tion, 321; as property-owners,
12, 33, 34, 191, 195; retaUa
tion, 57, 58; scom of money,
44-46; students, 101, 185, 204;
as tenants, 86, 319; time-con
sciousness, 48, 49
Japanese Association, the, 81, 83,
87, 90, 94, 96, 99, 116, 175, 312
Japanese Diet, the, 63
"Japanese Evolution, Social and
Psychic," 144
Japanese Farmers' Association,
97, 100
Japanese-invasion haUucination,
the, 250-258
Japanese Producers' Associa
tion, the, 96; aims of, 97
"Japanese quarter," the, 12
Jews, 129, 138; social assimila
tion of, 150, 151
"Jews, The," quoted, 137, 138
Johnson, Govemor, 89, 190
Johnson, Hon. Albert, quoted,
217, 226-228; 251, 268
Kawakami, K., 155, 311, 315
Kearney, Dennis, 203
Kehara, Rev. H., 116
Kessel, F. W., 43
Kikuchi, Baron, quoted, 241
Kiiox, Secretary, 199

INDEX

347

Kokumin, the, 100
Kozaki, Mr., 110
Labor, Japanese, competition
with white, 11, 12, 29-32;
contrasted with Chinese, 36-
38; hours of, 30, 31; condi
tions, 30,31, 58-60, 195, 320;
324-327
Laborers, Japanese, 58-60
Lamarckian factor in race char
acters, 135
Landownership in America,
Japanese, 12, 13, 191, 195, 319
Landownership by foreigners in
Japan, 63, 64, 66, 336-339
Landsborough, Mr., 81, 86, 88,
89
Land values in Florin, 85
Language, English, 101, 102, 134,
136; Japanese, 163
Lea, Homer, 251, 253
Leaders, Japanese, broad-minded
attitude of, 111-113; 117
Legal and legislative matters in-
volvmg ahens, 293, 294
Legislation, see Anti-Japanese
legislation
Literature relating to Japanese
in California, 311-315
Lodging places, 321
LoweU, Percival, 143
MacArthur, Walter, quoted, 4, 5
Macfarlane, P. C, 77, 83, 89, 314
Mackenzie, J. D., his "Sum
mary for the Press," 29, 316
Magazines, 97, 100
Mahan, Admiral, quoted, 223,
224; 265, 266
Manchuria, railways in, 199
Marriages, immigrant, 91-96
MendeUan law of inheritance,
the, 125, 126
Merchants, Japanese, 44, 320
Merwin, Mr., 88
MiUtary Yellow Peril, the, 67,
194, 217 et seq., 248-258, 304

Missionaries, Japanese, 176, 177
Missions, 114-117, 209, 233,
234, 271, 272
Money, Japanese scorn of, 44-
46
Nagai, Professor, quoted, 238,
239
Nationalist, the, 100
NaturaUzation, bureau of, 291
Naturalization of Japanese, 19,
20, 62 et seq., 291
Negroes, 20, 113, 130, 153, 276
Neighbors, Japanese as, 86, 87
Nemoto, Sho, 116
Neo-Lamarckians, 135
Newspapers, Japanese, 100; ex
aggerations in American, 295,
296
Nitobe, Professor, 170
Okuma, Count, quoted. 111,
240
Orient, the new, 192, 203-215,
283
Oriental history, education in,
299-301
"Oriental in America, The,"
quoted, 114-117
Oriental Peace Society, 111
Oriental policy of the United
States, outlined, 281-307; fun
damental principles, 282-284;
good results of, 302-306
Outlook, The, 41, 314, 315
Ozaki, Mr., wife of, 154
Panama Exposition, 114
Pan-Aryan AUiance, 267, 269
Pan-Aryan Association, the, 249
Pan-Asiatic AUiance, 248, 249
Patriotism, Japanese, 17, 164, 165
Perkins, United States senator,
quoted, 4, 60
Perry, Bhss, 141
Perry, Commodore, 145, 186
"Picture-bride" movement, the,
73, 91-96

348

INDEX

PoUteness, Japanese, 46-48, 51
PoUtical conditions among Jap
anese, 13, 14
Population, Japanese, 321, 322
Portsmouth Treaty of Peace,
186
"Potato King," the, 34
Prefectural Clubs, 98
Progressive party of CaUfornia,
190
Property, Japanese as owners of,
12, 33, 35
Psychic assimilation, 149
Psychic race characteristics, 140-
144
"QuadrUateral" alliance, the
proposed, 227, 228, 266, 268
Race aggregation, 160-168;
amalgamation, 147 et seq. ; an
tipathy, 21, 68-70; assimUa
tion, 118 et seq., 147 et seq.;
characters, physiological and
psychological, 119 et seq., 165;
equaUty, 19, 62, 282; feeUng,
119, 171, 172; problem, 3-9;
psychic characteristics of, 140-
144; segregation, 186; trans
formation, 134-139
"Races and Immigrants in
America," quoted, 165, 166
Racial characteristics of Jap
anese, 16-18; changes in, 134-
139, 166, 167
Reese, John, his account of Jap
anese invasion of Florin, 78-
80; 81, 84-86, 89
Registration, bureaus of ahen,
289-291
RetaUation, Japanese habits of,
57,58
Roman CathoUc missionaries,
233, 234
Roosevelt, President, 22, 189,
199, 226
RoweU, Chester H., 15, 188,
192, 195, 314

Royce, Professor Josiah, quoted,
141
Russo-Japanese War, the, 199,
232, 233, 249
Sacramento Bee, quoted, 77-81,
336-339
Samurai, Sons of, 44, 45
San Francisco Chamber of Com
merce, 45
School question, the, 186
Schools in Florin, 84, 85
Segregation, race, 186
Servants, Japanese, 52-56
Shima, Mr., 34
Shin Tenchi, the, 100
Shinheimin, the, 113
Simons, Mr. and Mrs., 81
Smith, Honorable Frank O.,
quoted, 221-223, 228-230, 268
Social assimilation of races, 148-
152, 160 et seq., 266
Social heredity, 120 et seq., 152,
165-168, 179, 180
Soyeda, J., 104, 105; 107, 313
Special State Investigation of
1909, the, 10, 29, 32, 316-330
Strikes, labor, 14, 30
Students, Japanese, 101, 185,
204
"Survey of the Japanese Ques
tion in California," quoted,
107
Suyehiro, Professor, 110
Suzuki, Mr. and Mrs., 81, 82, 87
Taft, President, 189
Takamine, Doctor, 154
Tenants, Japanese as, 86, 319
Time-consciousness, 48, 49
Times, The, 223
Tokutomi, Mr., 238
Tootel, Mr. and Mrs., 81, 88
United States, census reports on
Japanese immigration to, 10,
II ; commerce with Japan, 207;
friendship with Japan, 199;

INDEX

349

Japanese churches in, 114; op
portunities for good influence
m Asia, 203-208; oriental
pohcy suggested, 281-307; so
cial assimilation in, 150-152,
160; treaty with China, 331;
treaties with Japan, 23, 185-
187, 194, 328-330; unjust
treatment of Japan, 199, 200
VacavUle, 18
Vancouver Saturday Sunset, the,
quoted, 274, 275
Voting, 67
" Way of the Warrior," the, 45, 46
Webb, Attomey-General, 189

White Peril, the, 9, 216, 231-
246, 269-273; Ulusion, 274^280
Wilson, President, 189; quoted,
304, 305
WoehUce, W. V,, quoted, 41, 314
Working classes, value of emi
gration to, 206-208
Xavier, Francis, 233
YeUow Peril, the, 8, 192; two
forms of, 216 et seq.; methods
for warding off, 224-230; il
lusions regarding, 248 et seq.,
259 et seq.; dangers of iUu
sions, 274^-280, 295, 304
Yoshino, Mr. and Mrs., 81, 82

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