Thus, according to these data, 10.3 per cent of the immigrants for the nine years had been farmers in Japan, while 43.5 per cent had been 66 "" farm laborers most of whom were youths or young men working on their fathers' farms without wages, for farm laborers working regularly for wages have been relatively few. Moreover, 21.8 per cent, including women and children, had not been gainfully occupied. A large percentage of these were the wives and small children of farmers and farm laborers and should be added to the percentages given above in order to obtain an estimate of the relative number of the farming class emigrating from Japan. As opposed to the 53.8 per cent who had been gainfully employed in agricultural pursuits, 2.1 per cent were professional men (physicians, teachers, preachers, actors, etc.), 5.8 per cent were merchants, grocers, and bankers, 3.8 per cent skilled laborers in a great variety of trades, 6.7 per cent common laborers, 1.3 per cent had been occupied in the various branches of domestic and personal service, and 4.7 per cent in other occupations of which fishing was no doubt one of the more important. Thus, the majority of the Japanese immigrants have been drawn from the rural sections of the country. Yet many classes have found large representation among those who have come to the United States. The primary motive to immigration of the Japanese as of most other races coming to this country has been economic. It is true that 2,825 of 8,466 passports issued in 1906 for the continental United States, and 2,843 of 38,559 issued for this country, including Hawaii, were for the purpose of study. Yet, while the number of "students" has been large, a majority of those who have come as such have not pursued a regular course of study after their arrival in this country but have engaged in gainful pursuits, so that these figures exaggerate the numerical importance of the student class. That the economic motive should have appealed strongly to the Japanese is shown by the advantages which the members of that race have found offered by this country over those in the parts of Japan from which the emigration has largely taken place. Moreover, the activity of emigration companies in Japan and of the "contractors" in this country, and the part played by Hawaii have been such as to encourage immigration to the continental United States. The Japanese population has a greater density than that of European countries, except Belgium, Holland, and England. Moreover, though less than one-fifth of the land of the Empire, exclusive of Formosa, is arable, Japan is primarily an agricultural country, as shown by the fact that in 1901 some 60 per cent of those gainfully occupied were engaged in agricultural pursuits. Most of the farms are exceedingly small and are cultivated most intensively. The majority of the farmers are tenants of at least a part of their holdings, and, with an increasing population, rents have been high. Moreover, the improvements in agriculture, including the consolidation of scattered holdings into one tract, the improvement of irrigation and a The Twenty-sixth Annual Statistical Report of the Japanese Empire, p. 67. According to returns made to the Government in 1888, there were in 38 prefectures about 1,470,000 farmers owning the land they tilled, about 2,000,000 farmers who owned a part and leased a part of their holdings, while 950,000 were tenants. The number of tenant farmers is increasing. (Japan in the Beginning of the 20th Century, 1904, p. 90.) drainage, and the use of animals, machinery, and better tools in cultivation, have rested heavily upon the small freeholders. In this connection it is noteworthy that a large percentage of the Japanese in the United States have come from a few districts, among which are Hiroshima (of first importance), Yamaguchi, Fukuoka, Okayama, and Hyogo. It is stated that 46,500 of the 84,576 passports issued by the Government between 1898 and 1903 to Japanese emigrating to countries other than China and Korea were issued to residents of these five districts. In all of these cases the majority of the farms are small. In Hyogo in 1888, 73 per cent of the holdings were of less than 8 tan, or 1.96 acres. The corresponding percentages for small holdings in Hiroshima, Okayama, Yamaguchi, and Fukuoka were 70, 66, 61, and 56, respectively." The wages of farm laborers, though they have risen rapidly, are small. According to the Twenty-fifth Annual Statistical Report of the Department of Agriculture and Commerce of Japan, the wages of those employed by the year, living with the employer and receiving board and lodging and perhaps clothing twice a year, were $16 in 1900 and $23.01 in 1908-for the year. Those employed by the day in 1900 were paid 14.8 cents; in 1908, 19.3 cents, without board and lodging. Work in the factories, mines, and various urban occupations has proved more attractive than farming or farm labor. In 1876, 77.8 per cent of those gainfully occupied were engaged in agricultural pursuits. In 1886 66.12 per cent, in 1900 60 per cent, of the families were reported as being agricultural in their interests. A large number of men have found employment in factories, where they constitute an increasing percentage of the increasing number employed, and in other nonagricultural pursuits. The wages in some of these occupations are shown in the following table, translated from the statistical report to which reference has just been made, the wages being reduced to American money: TABLE 7.-Wages of males in specified occupations in Japan. [Unless otherwise specified the amounts are wages per day without board and lodging.] Year. 1900. 1901. 1902. 1903. 1904.. 1905.. 1906. 1907. 1908. $15.995 $0.148 $0.153 $0.254 $0.193 $0.163 $0.143 $0.183 $0.193 $0.294 $0.234 $0.148 $0.269 .168 15.845 .158 .163 .284 .168 .143 .153 .178 .223 .309 .249 .153 .294 .148 .188 .223 299 209 .168 .284 .269 .289 .178 .294 294 .279 .163 .294 .319 .284 .168 .299 .339 .289 .163 .324 19.575 .178 .208 .309 .234 .208 .208 .249 .259 .369 .289 .178 .374 23.015 .193 .208 .344 254 .218 228 .244 .269 .382 .341 .193 .402 • Yosoburo_Yoshida, "Sources and causes of Japanese emigration," Annals American Academy of Political and Social Science, vol. 34, pp. 159-162. Y. Ichihashi, "Movement of population in feudal and modern Japan," unpublished manuscript. • Wages per year. TABLE 7.-Wages of males in specified occupations in Japan—Continued. The sums entered in this table are small as compared to the $1 to $2 per day Japanese have generally earned in this country. Direct comparisons of wages in the two countries are not worth the while, however, for prices and conditions of living differ greatly. Nor can these differences be measured and allowed for. It may be said, however, that most of the Japanese immigrating to the United States have come with the intention of working for a few or several years and then returning to their native land with such gains as had not been sent on before them, and that the average laborer has been able to save much more to send home or to invest in this country than he could earn in his native land. Indeed, his annual earnings in Japan at the rates of wages indicated above are a mere fraction of the amount of surplus over and above living expenses reported by Japanese laborers engaged in different occupations. These figures, together with the amount of money sent abroad, are shown in detail later in this report. It should be added, however, that the wages earned by Japanese laborers are somewhat higher and their employment more regular than before restrictions were placed upon their emigration to this country, with the result that their savings are naturally somewhat larger than formerly. It has always been possible for a Japanese to meet the expense of immigrating to this country-some 65 to 69 yen since 1906 for passage and a smaller sum for incidentals-and after a few years of work, if he did not remain longer in this country because of the gain to be realized, to return to Japan with sufficient means to establish himself as a small landowning farmer or in some higher economic position. When he has not returned to his native land it frequently has been because of opportunities found here to become an independent farmer or business man. It is this possibility of economic gain, witnessed when persons have returned to Japan, commented on by the Japanese press in some instances, and written about to friends by those residing in the United States, which has given rise to emigration from Japan directed toward the United States. This movement, moreover, when unrestricted by the Japanese Government has been stimulated in various ways. As one of these is a In Chapter VI. Since 1906 the fare for immigrants from Japanese ports to San Francisco has been from 65 to 69 yen and from San Francisco to Japan $51. to be noted the publication and circulation among the Japanese of guides to different occupations and similar literature, most of which have exaggerated the advantages presented by the United States. Of far more importance, however, has been the influence of the emigration companies in Japan and the institutions in this country, which, with or without cooperation with the emigration companies, have paved the way and found ready employment for such as came. Little of the immigration to this country, except of the student class, has been independent of the emigration company; usually the first employment in this country has been under the Japanese contractor. The Japanese Government has been paternal in its treatment of its subjects. The inhabitants are registered in the localities in which they live, and if one emigrates it is with the consent and under the protection of the Government. Those who emigrate are selected, passports are granted for limited periods, and security is required for the welfare of the emigrant while abroad, and in some cases for the care of his family while he is absent, and for his return to Japan when sick or disabled. The regulations of this character, adopted by the Japanese Government after the prohibition of emigration from the country was discontinued, have been instrumental, if not in calling into existence, at any rate in providing opportunity for and strengthening the position of the emigration companies, of which there were 12-some of them with branches-in existence in 1899. Most of the emigration has been through these companies, whether for contract labor in Mexico, Peru, or elsewhere, or for the United States, where the immigration of laborers under contract has been unlawful. In return for a fee, varying from 10 to 20 yen, these companies, when the individual secures his passport, arrange for his emigration and perhaps for the surety required by the Government. Moreover, these com-. panies, in pursuit of profit, have advertised for contract laborers to go to Peru, Mexico, and elsewhere, and some years ago, according to a report made in 1899, " in a general way through circulars, pamphlets, and by means of traveling solicitors, for emigrants going to the United States." For several years before this was discouraged by the Japanese Government, emigration for the United States was thus encouraged; from first to last, through the efforts of the companies, emigration has been rid of its inconveniences and made easy for the individual. In this country the Japanese employed as section hands on the railroads, as "cannery hands," as laborers in the sugar-beet fields, as laborers in large groups in other branches of agriculture-in fact, in most occupations outside of various city trades, have worked under "bosses" or contractors who serve as employment agents for one or a few employers. This has been the most characteristic thing in connection with Japanese labor and accounts in no small degree for the success which the Japanese have attained in this country. Except during the winter season, the demand for Japanese labor in the West has been such that these contractors could readily find employment within a short time for all the men they could bring under their control, and frequently the contractors have been unable to Immigration of Japanese" (House Doc. No. 686, 56th Cong., 1st supply as many as were wanted for railroad work. The larger contractors have usually conducted boarding houses and supply stores, the one as a means of assembling laborers, the other as a means of providing those employed under their control with the larger part of the goods consumed. Moreover, the keepers of boarding houses who have not directly engaged in "contracting," if they had many patrons of the laboring class, have usually had close connections with those who were supplying labor for different industrial establishments. These relations are evidenced by the fees boarding houses, according to their association rules, are to charge contractors for supplying them with laborers as $1.50 in Seattle and $3 in San Francisco for each railroad laborer. The other phases of this organization of labor will be discussed elsewhere. The point to be emphasized here is that this situation has at least guaranteed the immigrant the quickest and the most regular employment, and its existence has in and of itself stimulated the immigration of this race. To what extent the contractors and boarding house keepers in the United States and the emigration companies in Japan cooperated when immigration to this country was without restriction is unknown. There is little direct evidence of any business connection between them. In one instance, however, a member of one of the large emigration companies has conducted a business in this country and has supplied Japanese laborers to several railways. Their first employment in any considerable number was arranged for just previous to a visit to Japan, which visit was followed by the immigration of 200 laborers who were set at work under his control as section hands. Whether they came under contract is unknown. Another man who was formerly connected with supplying railway labor in one of the Rocky Mountain States, returned to Japan, where he became interested in the emigration business. Most of the contractors in this country, however, have come as wage laborers and later have risen to the position they now occupy. Yet it is noteworthy in this connection that in 1899, when an investigation of this matter was made by the Immigration Bureau, six of the emigration companies had agents in California." As already noted, upward of 37,000 Japanese came from the Hawaiian Islands to the mainland during the seven years, 1902 to 1908. In 1900, partly as a result of the importation of contract laborers, partly as the result of voluntary immigration of laborers to work on the sugar plantations, a large Japanese population of 61,111 (of a total of 154,001) had been built up in those islands. In 1900, as a result of the rapid influx of Japanese to the continent at that time, many being diverted to San Francisco from Honolulu because of the bubonic plague which had made its appearance, agitation began in California for the extension of the Chinese exclusion law to include the Japanese as well, an agitation which has become more persistent since 1905. The Japanese Government has been responsive to the feeling exhibited in the United States, with the result that emigration for the mainland was more or less discouraged from 1900 until it was greatly restricted in 1907. For several years, how a See Rice, op. cit., p. 6. Rice, op. cit., p. 6, where names and addresses were given. For a discussion of the opposition to Japanese immigration, see Chapter VIII. |