form in the appendix. The 91 establishments from which details relating to capital employed, amount of business transacted, number of employees, wages and rent paid, races of patrons and related matters were obtained included the following: Twenty-two boarding houses and hotels, 17 shoe-repairing shops and 1 shoe store, 7 tailoring and repairing shops, 7 grocery stores, 6 laundries, 4 watchmakers, 4 restaurants serving American meals, and 23 others representing branches of business of less importance or interest.

The details presented below show the following facts:

1. That most of the Japanese business is conducted on a small scale.

2. That Japanese are employed in these establishments almost exclusively.

3. That the Japanese have encountered so much opposition in a few branches of business that their progress has been slow, while in some cases they have found it impossible to maintain the position they formerly held.

4. That except in the restaurants serving American meals, shoe repairing, and the laundry trade, the competition with white business men has thus far been of little importance.

5. That most of the business establishments conducted by Japanese are patronized exclusively or principally by the members of that race. 6. That most of the wants of that race are provided for by Japanese establishments and professional men.

Inasmuch as the business of the Japanese laundries, shoeshops, and restaurants serving American meals has been of the most importance from the viewpoint of competition with others engaged in the same branches of business, the details relating to these may be presented at length, after which the other branches of Japanese business may be discussed more briefly."

LAUNDRIES.

The first Japanese laundry was started in San Francisco in 1890. By 1904 the number had increased to 8, and by 1908, because of the handsome profits realized, to 18. Six of these were investigated by an agent of the Commission, and they are representative of the larger number.

a From the viewpoint of the number of persons employed, the capital invested, and the amount of business done, the most important branches of Japanese enterprise are the art stores, provision stores, restaurants, hotels and boarding houses, and shoeshops. The following figures are taken from the Japanese-American Yearbook for 1910 (p. 160). The figures seem to be based upon a thorough investigation undertaken two years before but not completed:

The Japanese proprietors have not been able to secure the permits necessary in San Francisco to operate steam laundries. Hence, all have remained "hand laundries." With the exception of one equipped to operate with steam the amount of capital invested in the 6 investigated varied from $1,000 to $3,200, the number of employees from 6 to 37, the amount of gross receipts from $9,000 to more than $15,000, the amount of profit realized from $1,200 to $6,000 per year. At an earlier time, because of the inexperience of Japanese men in laundry work, almost all of the Japanese laundries employed white persons for those occupations requiring any great degree of skill. As the orientals gained skill, however, they gradually filled the positions, until now they alone are employed in Japanese laundries. Of the 89 employed in the 6 laundries investigated, 82 were adult males, 7 adult females. They all received board and lodging in addition to wages. The wages per month for males varied from $15 to $50, for females from $15 to $21 per month. The median wage for those of the male sex was $30, the average $28.90 per month. The details of earnings are shown in the table given below.

These wages are for days varying in length. Though the Association of Japanese Laundries in America, organized in March, 1909, had fixed upon eleven and one-half hours per day and sixty-nine hours per week as normal and provided for overtime payment, the hours normally worked were found to be ten per day and sixty per week in one establishment, eleven per day and sixty-six per week in three, eleven and one-half per day and sixty-nine per week in one, and twelve per day and seventy-two per week in the sixth. There is considerable overtime during the summer months. For this and for work on holidays and Sundays employees who receive less than $20 per month are paid at the rate of 10 cents per hour; those who receive $20 but less than $30, at the rate of 15 cents per hour; and those who receive $30 or more per month at the rate of 20 cents per hour.

As stated above, all of these employees receive board and lodging in addition to wages. The agent of the Commission found the food provided at the laundries investigated to be satisfactory, both from the point of view of quality and quantity. The cost per employee averaged $8.50 per month at the laundries investigated, and with regard to lodgings, which are in the structures housing the business, each married couple was provided with a separate room, while two or three single men were ordinarily assigned to one room. In one instance, however, all of the men (there were no female employees) were sheltered in one large room serving as a bunkhouse.

The bedding was good and the linen was kept clean. Occasionally, however, the lodgings were deficient in one or more respects. In one case the two rooms were not well cared for, and the ventilation and lighting were poor. In another instance the rooms were crowded and not well cared for. In a third case 10 men were given lodging in three small rooms, which were in disorder, poorly lighted, and poorly ventilated. The lodgings in the ramaining three cases were on the whole satisfactory, though in one of these eight single men lived in one large room arranged as a bunkhouse.

As against the 18 hand laundries, some of which are large, operated by Japanese, there are in San Francisco some 102 small hand

laundries operated by Chinese, perhaps as many French laundries, some of them large establisments, and 18 large white steam laundries. Included in the investigation were 6 French laundries, employing 169 persons, and 4 white steam laundries, employing 344 persons.

Though the amount of unremunerated overtime in the French laundries can not be accurately estimated, the hours of work per day and per week were found to be shorter and the wages higher than in the Japanese laundries. In two of the six French laundries the usual hours were nine per day and fifty per week; in two others, nine per day and fifty-four per week; in a fifth, ten per day and sixty per week; in the sixth, ten and one-half per day and sixty-three per week. Omitting drivers who receive commissions in addition to or in lieu of wages, 32 men employed received from $15 to $60 and averaged $37.69 per month, while 20 women received from $12 to $52 and averaged $33.18 per month, with board and lodging. Fifty-two men and 65 women did not receive board and lodging in addition to wages. The wages of the former varied from $26 to $97.50 and averaged $58.56, while those of the latter varied from $24 to $65 and averaged $40.53. The lodgings provided (by four of the establishments) were found to be simply but adequately furnished, and each of the rooms were occupied by 2 or 3 persons. In some cases living and reading rooms were maintained for the use of the employees. In none of the four cases where the "living-in" system obtained were conditions found to be unsatisfactory. Of the 169 employees 17 were native and 152 foreign-born. Of the latter, 77 were French, 31 Italians, 11 Portuguese, and 33 members of various other races, chiefly north European. The steam-laundry trade in San Francisco is thoroughly unionized. The Laundry Workers' Union has about 1,500 members, while the Laundry Drivers' Union has a membership about one-sixth as large. According to the agreement between the Laundry Workers' Union and the laundry proprietors, the standard work week was forty-nine hours at the time of the investigation, but at the end of the year 1909 was to be reduced to forty-eight hours. The agreement fixes the rate of wages for each occupation and stipulates that all overtime, amounting to a few hours per week, shall be paid for at the rate of "time and a half." Working under this agreement, the wages of 140 males, 18 years of age or over, employed in 4 laundries investigated, were found to vary from $20 per month, paid to 2 apprentices, to $92 per month, paid to "head markers and distributers." Of the 140, 36.4 per cent earned less than $50 per month, 14.3 per cent $50 but less than $70, and 49.3 per cent $70 or over. The average wage for the males was $69.74 per month. The wages of 204 females, 18 years of age or over, varied from $20 per month for a beginner to more than $70 per month for 11 skilled persons. Of the 204, 79.9 per cent earned less than $50 per month, 14.7 per cent $56 but less than $70, and 5.4 per cent $70 or over. The average monthly wage of the female employees was $44.33, while the average monthly wage for both males and females was $53.94. It may be added that of the 344 employees (other than drivers) of the 4 steam laundries investigated, 162 were native-born, while 182 were foreign-born. Of the latter, 85 were French, 33 North or South Italian, and 8 Portuguese. Most of the remaining 56 were immigrants from north European countries other than France.

The details relating to the earnings of the several groups of laundry employees are shown in the following table:

TABLE 2.-Number of employees working in steam laundries earning each specified amount per month, by sex.

Thus it is seen that if the cost of board and lodging of the Japanese employed in Japanese laundries is reckoned at between $8 and $10 per month, which is the approximate cost, their wages are materially less than those of the employees of French and white steam laundries, while their hours are longer. This of course can not be interpreted as indicating that the labor cost of the work done is necessarily less in the Japanese laundries than in the other establishments, for there are differences in the efficiency of the oriental and white employees and differences in the equipment of laundries, which are important factors to be taken into consideration in this connection.

The six Japanese laundries investigated estimated their annual receipts at $83,200. Something less than 80 per cent of this sum$65,510-represented the value of the business done with white patrons, the remainder that done with Japanese. The establishment of these laundries in recent years has not affected the Chinese shops. In fact, the Chinese do little work which would be done by other laundrymen, and do it generally "by the bag" rather than at piece rates. The French laundries do a general business, but a large part

of it is in laundering articles requiring handwork, such as shirtwaists, lace curtains, etc. The steam laundries do the kind of business done elsewhere by establishments of that type. Though there has been much competition, especially between the French and the steam laundries, there has been, in a way, a division of the business between Chinese, French, and the other laundries along the lines of the kinds of work to be done.

The Japanese doing handwork have competed with the French and the white steam laundries, but more with the former than with the latter. Their prices have been somewhat lower than those of the French laundrymen and these in turn, on certain articles, lower than those of the steam laundrymen. How much lower the Japanese prices have been it is impossible to estimate. At the time of the investigation the Association of Japanese Laundries, organized in 1909, had provided for a uniform list of prices to be charged. In most cases these are the same as those in the printed lists of other laundries, while in a few they are lower. Moreover, the association authorizes the members to accept family washings at reduced rates. It is conceded by all that in the past, and to a certain extent at present, the Japanese laundries charge somewhat less than their competitors. By locating in residence districts, where their shops are convenient for patrons, and by collecting laundry from all parts of the city and doing the work at lower rates than others the Japanese laundries have gained their present position. Though their establishments are not so numerous as those of the French and not so large or so well equipped as those of the "American" proprietors, their competition has come to be felt. Fear has been expressed that if their establishments were equipped with modern machinery while maintaining their lower wage scale and working longer hours their competition would become a serious matter.

Partly because of the facts noted and partly because of a general feeling of opposition among the working classes toward the Japanese, there has always been more or less agitation in San Francisco against the Japanese laundries. This has been directed chiefly by the trade unions, until recently the only type of organization which could well conduct an agitation against a business of this kind. In March, 1908, however, steps were taken to organize the "Anti-Jap Laundry League, an organization which has (August, 1909) locals in Fresno, San Mateo County, San Rafael, and Oakland (Alameda County), as well as in San Francisco. This organization was effected by the members of the Laundry Drivers' Union, to which reference has already been made. The drivers are usually paid a commission on the laundry they collect, or rather, have their routes and collect laundry which they deliver to their respective laundries, paying them for doing the laundering. Because of this arrangement the Japanese competition has directly affected the members of this union as well as the proprietors of the steam laundries. Through the activity of the Drivers' Union, the proprietors of steam laundries, the laundry workers, and the drivers, all working under agreements between their respective organizations, were brought together in the Anti-Jap Laundry League. The funds for conducting the campaign have been obtained from the proprietors, who contribute 10 cents per month for each employee on their respective pay rolls and from contributions of $100