CHAPTER IV. '

JAPANESE IN CITY TRADES AND EMPLOYMENTS IN SACRA

MENTO.

[For General Tables, see pp. 372-382.]

INTRODUCTION.

Because of its location in the Sacramento Valley the city of Sacramento has for twenty years been an important distributing point for Japanese laborers. Electric and steam railroads run to Oroville, Marysville, Newcastle, Woodland, and Vacaville to the east, north, and northwest of Sacramento, and down the valley to Stockton, Fresno, and other places. Boats on the Sacramento River carry laborers to various places as far down as Antioch and to the islands of the San Joaquin. The larger part of the land in all the communities about the localities mentioned and along the American River is devoted to producing deciduous and citrus fruits, berries, grapes, vegetables, sugar beets, and hops. The production of all of these involves much hand labor, and for ten years or more the Japanese engaged in work of this kind have been more numerous throughout this large district than all other races combined. Many of the laborers during periods of interruption in work spend their time in Sacramento. To supply their own needs while in the city and to supply provisions and Japanese goods to those working not far away many Japanese have engaged in business in Sacramento. At the same time others have engaged in businesses designed to secure the patronage of other races, while still others have found employment in the houses of and in establishments conducted by white persons.

The Japanese population of Sacramento is estimated to have been 12 in 1883 and 100 in 1893. According to the census it was 337 in 1900. In June, 1909, it was estimated at 1,000. About 700 of these Japanese were connected with business enterprises and professions or were unoccupied members of the families of persons thus gainfully employed. Some 300 were employed as porters in saloons, clubs, and other places conducted by white persons, as domestics, or as general "help" in the city. The 1,000 just mentioned is the estimated number of the Japanese "settled " or regularly residing there. The "floating population " varies in number. The minimum number might be placed at 200 and the maximum at 2,500, the latter being the figure during the last two weeks of August, when the Japanese gather in Sacramento on their way to the hop fields near by.

When the transient Japanese laborers came to Sacramento in considerable number toward the end of the decade 1880-1890 they found no welcome in white boarding houses, and the accommodations available in the lodging houses conducted by Chinese were not regarded as suitable. Consequently there was great need for Japanese boarding

• U. S. Census, 1900, "Population," pt. 1, p. 802..

and lodging houses. A lodging house and two hotels were opened in 1891. Several others were soon established, four or more being opened in 1895 and 1896. The first provision store to supply Japanese with Japanese goods was opened in 1893. Another was started in 1894, and the number increased until it had reached 12 in 1909. The first restaurant serving American and Japanese meals was opened in 1893, and the first Japanese barber shop began business in the same year. The first bathhouse had been established two years

earlier.

As the number of transient Japanese became larger the number engaged in these branches of business increased and many new branches were engaged in. Some of the establishments have been designed to serve the wants of persons other than Japanese. The number and kinds of business conducted by the members of this race in Sacramento are shown by the following table based upon an enumeration made in June, 1909, by Japanese and white agents employed by the commission.

TABLE 4.-Business conducted by Japanese in Sacramento, Cal., June, 1909.

a Some of the barber shops, baths, and pool rooms are conducted in the same establishment.
b Not including 1 artist, 9 carpenters, 5 interpreters, 5 physicians, and 2 dentists.

The agents of the Commission investigated the general situation and collected details relating to the business carried on in 55 of these establishments conducted by Japanese and 23 conducted by other races in the same districts and in those branches of business enterprise where the competition between the Japanese and others was said to be of consequence. Detailed data were obtained from the following Japanese establishments: Seven boarding and lodging houses, 7 restaurants, 4 barber shops, 2 pool rooms, 2 tailor shops, 2 photograph galleries, 5 grocery stores, 4 labor and real-estate agencies, 2 men's furnishing stores, 1 dry goods, 1 drug, 1 shoe, 1 general store, 1 jewelry, and 5 confectionery and tobacco stores, 2 laundries, and from 8 other establishments indicated by tables printed in the ap

pendix. Similar data were obtained from the following establishments conducted by members of other races: Four restaurants, 6 barber shops, 3 grocery stores, 2 groceries and saloons, 2 tailor shops, 1 men's furnishing store, and 5 laundries. The data relating to the date of establishing each place, the amount of capital employed, the amount of the capital borrowed, the value of annual transactions, the number of employees, the rent per year paid, the net profit realized, and the races of patrons are presented in tabular form in the appendix. Personal data were secured from the Japanese conducting the 55 establishments and other members of their households. The data are presented in a later part of this report, while the tables are printed in the appendix. With few exceptions these being some of the shoe-repair shops, barber shops, laundries, and furnishing storesthe Japanese places of business are in the "Japanese quarter." This occupies both sides of L and M streets, between Second and Fourth, and the intersecting streets. Within a space of some 5 or 6 blocks most of the Japanese live and carry on the greater part of the business in which they engage. It is evident that they are closely colonized.

DATA RELATING TO JAPANESE BUSINESS.

Barber shops.-The Japanese barber shops number 26. With few exceptions they are small, having one or two chairs and are conducted by the proprietor, and possibly his wife or an apprentice, and infrequently a barber working for wages. Formerly all of the Japanese shops were located in the "Japanese quarter," but in recent years there has been competition for the patronage of persons other than the Japanese, and several shops have been established in another section of the city. Of those located outside the "Japanese quarter," there are now 10. These are in the oldest part of the business_section and compete with shops conducted by Americans, Greeks, Italians, and Negroes. Fifty to 80 per cent of the patrons of the Japanese shops located there are members of the white race, Greeks and Italians being prominent among them.

Until recently the Japanese barbers charged 20 cents for hair cutting and 10 cents for shaving, but in July, 1909, the union scale was changed to 25 cents for hair cutting. All of the Japanese barbers belong to this Japanese organization. Most of the Greek, Italian, Negro, and some of the American shops charge the same prices as those recently established by the Japanese union. Some shops, conducted almost entirely by Americans, which are not far away, charge 15 cents for shaving. Though it is evident that there is little difference in the charges for the services rendered, the white barbers of this locality complain bitterly of Japanese competition-not underbidding through low prices, but an increase in the number of shops due to the incoming of the Japanese. One American proprietor whose barbers are employed on a commission basis (usually the barbers receive 60 per cent of the receipts, with a minimum wage of $14 per week guaranteed and a maximum fixed at $22) states that his four barbers earn on the average $5 less per week than before the Japanese shops were established. The shop in question was well equipped, well lighted, and clean, but 15 cents was charged for shaving.

It is interesting to note in this connection, however, that most of the shops conducted by white men have been established in recent years and while the Japanese shops were in process of becoming more numerous. Moreover, the majority of them are being conducted with profit. In the" Japanese quarter," which is not extensively frequented by other races, the Japanese shops in no case draw more than 30 per cent of their customers from among the members of, the white races. The profits of the four Japanese shops, from whose proprietors detailed information was obtained, were $540, $600, $700, and $720. Only one of these had more than one "chair," and in that case the only employee was an apprentice working for his board and lodging. (See General Table 44.)

Baths. The seven baths are conducted in connection with barber shops and pool rooms. They are patronized by Japanese only, for they are of the foreign type, i. e., with large tubs in which several people bathe before the water is changed.

Laundries. Of the six Japanese laundries, four are "hand" and two are small "steam" laundries. The hand laundries have few while the largest of the steam laundries has but 9 employees. The smaller establishments are patronized by Japanese almost exclusively, while the larger are patronized chiefly by white persons. Eighty per cent of the patrons of the largest laundry are whites, 20 per cent Japanese. Though there are 20 Chinese "hand laundries" in addition to those conducted by the Japanese in the city, there has been little complaint of oriental competition. That the business of both Chinese and Japanese laundries is comparatively small is shown by the fact that five white steam laundries investigated had 227 employees. Moreover, the Japanese laundries with white patrons have practically the same list of prices as the steam laundries conducted by Americans and Italians investigated by the agent of the Commission. A comparison of the "lists" obtained shows as many instances in which the prices charged by the Japanese exceed those charged by the other laundries as the reverse. There is little or no underbidding by the Japanese in the laundry business.

Restaurants. Of the 36 restaurants, 28 are located in the Japanese quarter, serve Japanese meals, and are patronized almost exclusively by members of that race. Seven of these 28 are licensed to sell intoxicating drinks. Most of the restaurants serving American meals are located in the Japanese district and have Japanese and white laborers as their patrons. Of the few located elsewhere, two have white patrons almost exclusively, these being largely of the laboring classes. The price of meals is 10 or 15 cents. The establishments are of the same general character as those conducted by Greeks, Italians, and Slavs in the same localities, and there is no material difference in the prices of meals served. The Chinese restaurateurs are more serious competitors than the Japanese. They conduct four large restaurants in the poorer quarters of the city, charge comparatively low prices, and have many patrons belonging to all races.

• See discussion of organizations, pp. 259 and 260.

The wages paid to cooks, waiters, waitresses, and dishwashers in the Japanese restaurants were found to be somewhat less than those paid in an American, a German, a Danish, and a Slovenian restaurant of the same general type and located in the same sections. Of five Japanese cooks, one was paid $50, one $45, two $40, and one $25 per month. Of four cooks employed in the white restaurants, one was paid $80; two $60, and one $40, while a second cook was paid $25 per month. The Japanese waiters were paid $30, eleven waitresses $25, two $20, and one $18 per month. Of the waiters in the other restaurants, four received $40 and one $32 per month. The dishwashers and kitchen help in the Japanese restaurants investigated were paid $20 per month; in the other restaurants $8 per week or $25 per month. All received board, and the Japanese, except in one case, received lodging in addition to wages. From a comparison of the data presented in the appendix it would appear that the rate of profit on the business transacted is larger in the Japanese restaurants than in the others and that the former are making larger net annual profits.

Hotels and lodging houses.-The keeping of hotels and lodging houses was the first branch of business engaged in by the Japanese in Sacramento, and these are now the most numerous of all the establishments conducted by members of that race in the city. They are located in the Japanese colony and have only Japanese lodgers and boarders. Some of the houses occupied are cottages, while others are two or three story buildings. Almost without exception the buildings are painted and in good repair and the premises are well kept. With very few exceptions the rooms are well furnished, having good beds and clean bedding, including pillow slips, counterpanes, etc., carpets or matting, and other furnishings of good quality. Both the exteriors and interiors of these places are superior, in appearance to those conducted by orientals and most other foreign races in other cities investigated. The price of lodging is from 10 cents to 50 cents* per night and from $5 to $15 per month. Some of these houses provide meals as well as lodging, the price per meal being 10 or 15 cents, but most frequently the latter sum. The lodging houses, considering the fact that most of the patrons are transient laborers, are orderly and well conducted. A boarding and lodging house keepers' association was established in 1901. Until 1907 all of the proprietors had membership in it. It was reorganized in that year and now has only 17 members of 37 who were eligible. The written agreement among the proprietors effected through this association provides, among other things, that all accounts must be collected in cash; that the association shall deal severely with all irresponsible patrons, and shall publish the names of patrons who have been guilty of dishonesty or misconduct; that each proprietor shall see that there is no disturbance after 11 p. m., and that patrons have returned to the house by that time. To prevent undue competition the association has also regulated prices.

Tailor shops. The six Japanese tailor shops are all small, and most of them do little more than clean, dye, and press clothes. The price charged for pressing men's suits is 75 cents, which is the customary rate in the part of the city in which these shops are located.