sition to the Japanese has been, the alleged "land control," "peaceful penetration." Now what are the facts? There are two outstanding features that are usually neglected by the average person who discusses the question: (1) Negligible amount of land owned and temporarily leased (not more than three years as law allows no more) by the Japanese; and (2) both the land in farms and improved areas of California are decreasing, in spite of the fact that her population is increasing. California's area is equal to the combined area of New York, Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and New Jersey. Is California so crowded as to make any further legislation or legislation already made necessary? 1910 is more than 5,490,360 acres. The fourth argument that California should not be made a second Hawaii sounds well but the fact must be borne in mind that Hawaii was never a white man's country. When Hawaii was annexed to America there were more Japanese in it than there are in California now. The conditions are not analogous. The fifth argument is that Americans can not own land in Japan, therefore the Japanese have no reason to ask for more than she gives. The statutes of Japan do not discriminate against Americans as California does against Japanese but states that no foreigner can own land, but they can lease land for 999 years or own land in fee simple by forming any kind of corporation. While the latest figures are not available, both land in farms and improved land have decreased 3.1 and 4.8 per cent respectively. According to the statistical report of the State Board of Agriculture of California, in 1918, Japanese owned 29,000 acres of land by individuals and 13,000 more through corporation and lease 427,000 acres. Assuming that there has been no change since 1910 in farms and improved land of the state, Japanese or 2 per cent of the people of the state leased 0.007 per cent of her farms and improved land and owned 0.00005 per cent of same. Even irrigated area or land irrigable under the project of The last group of arguments against the Japanese were largely based upon the assumption that Japanese can not be assimilated within the body politics of the United States. If we summarize the facts, figures and opinions that emanated from the popular minds, it is very natural that these contentions were forwarded. However, a few words regarding the evolutionary stages of the Japanese attitude toward this matter, especially in connection with the education of their children, may be of interest to the readers. It is true that a very few of the early Japanese immigrants came here with the idea of settling here perma nently. Hence the Japanese language, even history and geography were taught at one time in these so-called schools with the view of fitting their children to enroll in their proper grades should they go back to Japan with their parents. Speaking for the Japanese communities in general the second evolutionary stage soon entered. The longer they stayed here the more they became established and the harder it became for them to leave their interests and associations. Unconscious absorption of American freedom and standard of living have made it impossible for many of the Japanese, who went to Japan with the view of spending their lives, to remain there. This fact changed the Japanese attitude of the education of the children. They began to teach only the language as it will be necessary in whatever life they might choose. Roughly speaking, such has been the case for the last half a dozen years. The third and last stage has come. Now they feel that their children are Americans and are to remain as such. If the teaching of the Japanese language is to be any burden or hindrance to Americaniza tion, then they must do away with it entirely. If they teach it, they can not teach it in any way other than as a foreign language and not as a mother tongue. Most of the educated and Christian element share this last view as exemplified by the resolution adopted on May 31 by the Japanese ministers and laymen representing twenty-eight churches and missions: We, the pastors and laymen of twentyeight Japanese evangelical churches and missions of Southern California, believing that no one can fully appreciate, without acquiring the fundamental teachings of Christ, the mighty spirit of the foundation of this nation of liberty, equality and humanity which emanated throughout her history, do hereby adopt the following principles and policies for the Americanization of the 100,000 Japanese who are enjoying peace and prosperity in this country: 1. We who are in the United States are to be first of all loyal to the land of our adoption. 2. We are to endeavor to embody consistently in our daily life the fundamental principles and spirit of the American Government and of Christianity, respecting her customs and institutions and abiding by the law of the land. 3. Having chosen our life work here, we deem it our first duty to promote the welfare of our adopted country and contribute our share to its civilization. Furthermore, we will gladly be regarded as the forsaken band by the country that gave us our birth. 4. As to the education of our children, we think it best and sufficient to give them wholly American education, thus enabling them to become loyal and useful American citizens. In addition we desire to afford them the spiritual education based on the teachings of Jesus Christ. In order to carry out the purpose of this resolution, irrespective of our religious affiliation, we do hereby unite and coöperate in our utmost endeavor to Americanize the Japanese in this country. We do this in the spirit of hope, patience and justice, which is the spirit of Christ, whose followers we are. Many questions have been asked concerning the assimilability of the Japanese in Japan. A very few scientists have concluded definitely one way or the other. So far as the adaptability of the Japanese themselves in Japan is concerned a very few will deny it; for no nation in the history of the world has become westernized in political organizations, in industrial systems, in educational institutions and in science both of war and peace much faster than has Japan. How about the Japanese in this country? So far as the children who were born in this country are con cerned there is no room for doubt but that they do become assimilated. It yet remains to be seen so far as the adult Japanese who came to this country after they attained their majority are concerned. That depends to a great degree upon the meaning of Americanization. If we mean sociological assimilation then we have no reason to regard Japanese in any other light than other immigrants, except that they have a greater degree of differences to overcome, and are without ballots or any direct weapon for defense from exploitation by the politicians and those who seek public favors. If we mean biological assimilation we have no conclusion as yet. This much we are sure that the Japanese are subject to the same law of evolution and biological changes, even without intermixture of blood. For instance, the complexion of the Japanese becomes lighter as he stays in this country. The facial expression changes. This is especially true of the American-born child, because of his free and easy mode of living-absence, for instance, of sitting on the floor. The following statistics will illustrate the biological as well as the sociological assimilation due to education and environment: only in small business or truck farming, it is estimated that the average Japanese invested $525 in liberty bonds. As to the Red Cross it is not far from the truth to say that in the first drive alone during the war, one in every five Japanese either took membership in the American Red Cross or contributed something toward it. Therefore when the final drive was made every Japanese took some active or substantial interest in the American Red Cross. In conclusion: Usual arguments against foreigners were applied against Chinese. Upon arrival, the Japanese inherited all of the arguments used against the Chinese. California's feeling toward the Japanese is considerably better than before. The relaxation from the moral and economic tension of the war that unified the nation, the narrow interpretation of self-determination, the state and national policies which have a great bearing upon international aspects, a presidential year in the state which holds the balance of power, -all of these things are responsible for the agitation at this time. If we conclude that the present condition and agitation is a normal situation on which to base our solution, we fear that we shall build a house on false grounds. COMPARATIVE TABLE OF THE HEIGHT AND WEIGHT OF JAPANESE CHILDREN approving agitation and injustice. About 250,000 thus registered their sentiment against agitation. When the real facts are known to the people of California they will act fairly and justly. The Japanese seem to have confidence in them and in the rest of the United States. The Anti-Japanese Question in California By BARON SHIMPEI GOTO Member of the Diplomatic Advisory Council and Former Minister for Foreign Affairs, Japan NEW international questions have FEW been so openly laid before public attention and yet so grossly misrepresented as the anti-Japanese question in California. For instance, though it has commonly been called the Japanese immigration question, it is no longer the question of immigration at all (that has been stopped) but the question of the treatment of the immigrants that are already there. A question of this nature, however, usually lends itself to excited and confused discussions. In order to have a fair appreciation of the problem it is necessary to disentangle the essential facts and issues involved out of the clouds of opinions. I The facts are simple enough. There are at present 80,000, more or less, Japanese in the state of California. Many of them are independent farmers engaged in garden and truck-farming. The total acreage owned by them is about 30,000, and that of the leased land 330,000. A greater majority migrates from place to place according to seasons as harvest helpers. Between these two classes the line is not fixed. They constantly change from the one to the other as their success and failure induce them. They are fairly well scattered over the state, but in such localities as Sacramento Valley, San Gabriel and several others where conditions are especially adapted to their work they are clustered in small communities of their own, the appearance of which can best be described as camps. They live very plainly and work very industrially and fulfill a useful and, I should say, almost unreplaceable function in the economic life of the state. Their honesty is unimpeachable, so much so that I often heard it said that banks will advance them money on the conditions which (if proposed by Americans), will be refused. They are, of course, entirely peaceful. The menace of Hawaiianizing California does not yet exist as fact. It is at most only a tendency to be apprehended if substantial numbers of new immigrants continue to stream in. Japanese immigrants seem to be rather procreative. The assertion, however, so frequently made by agitators that at the present birth ratio the Japanese of the state will outnumber Americans in seventy years is an abstract statement based on imperfect statistics, which I have had no means of ascertaining.. The reality, however, does not give one the least impression of that sort and, as the American public well know, most investigators from the eastern states return with the feeling that America can very well take care of them, if the number is not increased by a continued addition of new immigrants. As to the alleged unlawful entry of Japanese over the Mexican borders, it is generally believed that there have been such cases, but no evidence that it has been going on to such an extent as to add substantially to the Japanese population in the state of California has ever been established. These are the essential facts upon which the Californian issue has been raised. That issue, stripped of all its legal subtleties, is this: Japanese shall have no right to own or lease land for agricultural purposes. The ownership of land by Japanese was prohibited by the anti-alien land law of 1913, which has ever been a subject of diplomatic protest by the Japanese Government. Meanwhile, Japanese have found a way to acquire land, in spite of this law, in the name of corporations or nativeborn minors. The proposed new legislations strike at this practice of evasion by prohibiting them to become members of corporations empowered to acquire and possess agricultural land or to become guardians of the real estate belonging to minors. Furthermore, it deprives them of the right to lease land, which was limited to a period of three years in the law of 1913. II In 1913, when the anti-alien land law was enacted, and further back in 1908 when the so-called "Gentleman's Agreement" was signed, the Californian agitators made much against the low economic status of the Japanese immigrants. They pictured them as under-selling white man's labor and generally degrading the social standards of the people of California. It is certainly a great advance that in the present agitation these charges are scarcely heard. As a matter of fact Japanese are now earning as much as, and in many cases more than, white laborers in similar lines of work. In these lines of work they are unquestionably more efficient. Far from degrading social standards, I have often heard elderly American ladies comment on the personal tidiness of the Japanese boys. "It is a marvel," they said, "how these boys keep well-dressed with their limited incomes." During the latter part of the war when the Japanese farmers were specially prosperous the number of those who came to market in trucks instead of wagons phenomenally increased. I have heard many Americans, in a good-humored jealousy, speak of it. Under such changed situations the former arguments of the agitators are out of place. Whether the Japanese question in California is economic or racial has long been a subject of confused discussion. Those who claim it as a purely local issue are inclined to present it as an economic question. In this they harken to their sense of justice. Indeed, if it is an economic question where the standards of wages and living are concerned, they can rightly regard it as a local issue. But, then, the remedy will be found simply in the improvement of the economic status of these immigrants. That has come with an unexpected rapidity. If further improvement is desired, means are not lacking; and given proper means, the prospect is bright. Most Japanese children study in American schools and their records stand above the average of American children. As their intelligence and sentiment grow in the American atmosphere, they naturally turn away from soil and look into more varied spheres of activity than their parents ever thought of. A sad feeling prevails among the thinking Japanese in California that these native-born boys and girls, losing the grit and patience that have kept their parents stuck to soil and at the same time denied the equal right with Americans to essay higher things, will sink into the status of the servile class of domestic and clerical sorts. All this shows that if the question is an economic one the remedy is simple and just what Japanese desire. The economic ques |