cents per hour, according to the division of the road to which they were assigned. For some years previous to 1907 the corresponding rates of wages per hour had been 13 and 15 cents. At that time they were reduced somewhat because of the financial depression, but were soon increased to 12 and 14 cents, or $1.20 and $1.40 for a ten-hour day-the wages which prevailed at the time of the investigation in 1909. At these wages the Japanese have always been lower paid than any race save the few remaining Chinese. Their wages have usually been 25 cents per day less than those paid the Italians, for example. Most of the Greek, Scandinavian, and Austrian section hands are paid $1.50 per day, but whatever the wage in the different localities investigated, it was found to be somewhat higher than that paid the Japanese similarly employed.

On another road operating in the Northwest the Japanese were first employed as section hands in 1897 or somewhat earlier, these laborers being secured from a contractor to whom reference has already been made and who for years has supplied Japanese laborers to several railroad companies. The number employed in 1900 was reported as 313, or about one-fifth of the entire number of section hands. By 1905 the number had increased to an average of 793, but since then it has diminished to an average of 685 in 1906, 626 in 1907, 550 in 1908, and 430 in 1909. The wages paid in 1897 were $1.05 per day; in 1900, $1.10; for some years previous to 1907, $1.50; in 1907-8, $1.20; at the time of the investigation, $1.35. These wages have been less than those paid to white laborers, most of whom since 1900 have been south and east Europeans. The Japanese have generally been preferred to the other races for this kind of work at the wages which have been paid. In this case it may be added-for it is very exceptional-preference for Japanese over Chinese was expressed by a prominent official of the company who had had much personal experience with the members of both races employed as railroad laborers.

The history of the employment of Japanese in the maintenance of way departments of two railways operating in the Southwest differs from that in all of the cases to which reference has thus far been made. In one case previous to the employment of Japanese, native whites, Indians, Chinese, and natives of Mexican descent had comprised the larger number of the section hands and laborers in "extra gangs," all but the first mentioned being employed for the greater part in the desert country of Arizona and California. The Chinese, for reasons already noted, decreased in number and the Indians worked irregularly, while with the development of new industries there was a tendency among the white men to find other work. Under these circumstances Japanese were employed through a contractor of that race and in 1900 constituted slightly more than onehalf of the total number employed on the western sections of the road, the members of this race being assigned to those divisions where the conditions of work and living were least desirable. The Japanese were paid $1.10 per day, the Mexicans (including the native-born of that race), the Indians, and most of the white men $1.25. Though the Japanese were at this time the lowest paid laborers, they were less strong and less satisfactory than some of the other races. Moreover, they were not suited to the warm climate and were unsatisfac48296°-VOL 23-11-4

tory in other ways, and particularly, when compared with the Mexicans, in the matter of discipline.

Under these circumstances a contract was entered into with a supply company then organized for that purpose to provide Mexican laborers for maintenance of way. The men were drawn from El Paso and were paid $1 per day-the wage they have since been paid-except for a short time in 1906-7 and since the autumn of 1909, when it was $1.25. Since 1902, few persons other than Mexicans have been employed as common laborers by this company, except for a time in 1905 when Japanese were again tried. The Mexicans, though inferior to native white men and north Europeans, are regarded as more satisfactory than the Japanese, and when the present contractor has proposed to employ Japanese, the officials of the company have not given their consent. The Mexicans are preferred at the same wage. Though given to drink and irregular at work after pay days, they are stronger and more obedient than the Japanese, and unlike the latter, are not given to making organized demands for higher wages or better conditions. The increase of wages granted to them on two occasions has been due to the employment of Mexicans elsewhere at higher wages, this making it necessary for the company in question to increase its wage in order to obtain a sufficient number of men. With variations in detail the history of the competition between these two races has been about the same on the other railroads operated in southern Nevada, southern California, Arizona, and New Mexico. The Mexicans have been cheaper laborers than the Japanese. Moreover, though they do not accomplish as much work and are not so satisfactory in other respects as white men of the type formerly employed rather extensively, they are preferred to the Japanese at the same wage. At present few of the latter race are employed in maintenance of way work in that entire section of the country save by one railway company which has not the same advantage as the others in reaching the supply of Mexican labor at El Paso.

Formerly Japanese were employed in large numbers on all of the railways in that part of California lying north of the Tehachapi as well as in the part lying to the south. They were invariably paid lower wages than any other race save the few remaining Chinese and the Mexicans working as far north as Fresno. Because of the opportunities to engage in agricultural work, however, their wages rose considerably even while the number arriving at San Francisco was greatest. Within the last few years the one company controlling most of the railways of northern California has transferred its remaining Japanese section hands to Nevada, where the conditions åre such as to render it difficult to secure men of other races, and their places have been filled chiefly by Italians, Greeks, and Slavs at higher wages than had been paid to the Asiatics.

In Nevada and Utah the Central Pacific, the Western Pacific, and the Salt Lake and San Pedro, employ many Japanese. On one of these roads which has a history covering a rather long period, Chinese were at one time employed in large numbers, but it would appear that with the decrease in the number of that race, more natives and Irish were employed. During the nineties all of the races mentioned gradually disappeared and their places were filled by the incoming Italians and Japanese, the former at $1.50, the latter at $1.10 per day.

In

From 1895, when they were first employed, until 1901 the Japanese were the most numerous of the races employed as laborers. They were then displaced by Greeks at a higher wage, but were later reemployed at a lower wage than that paid to the displaced race. 1906 they numbered 1,000; in 1908, 900; at the beginning of 1909, 700. They are now paid $1.40 per day, while the Italians, the other important racial element in maintenance of way work, are in some cases paid $1.50. On the other two roads referred to, the Japanese are paid the same wages as all white men, $1.45 per day, and in one case more than the Mexicans employed on the southern end of the route. They are also paid the same wage as Greeks, Italians, and Slavs, and all white men employed on another road with its western terminus in Utah. The Japanese are employed in Utah and Wyoming, while the majority of the members of the other races are employed farther east. The Japanese were first employed in 1900. In 1904, 600 of this race were employed; in 1905, 1,000; in 1906, 1,400; in 1907, 1,200; in 1908, 900. In 1900 they were paid $1.20. Since then, because of the tendency of the Japanese to engage in the more remunerative occupations of coal mining and sugar-beet growing, their wages have been increased until they receive the same as most of the others, viz, $1.45 per day of ten hours. At the higher wage more have been wanted than the contractor, through whom they are supplied, can furnish.

These instances are sufficient to present the variations in the history of the employment of Japanese in the maintenance of way in the West and to indicate the more-important conclusions to be drawn. These conclusions are: First, that with the exception of the Chinese and the Mexicans, until recently, the Japanese have been the most lowly paid laborers employed, and that in the majority of cases in 1909 they were paid less per day than Italians, Greeks, and Slavs. Secondly, that with their acceptance as desirable laborers and the expanding opportunities presented in agriculture, mining, and other occupations (as well as with clever bargaining on the part of the contractors), their wages rose materially, and that the difference between their wages and those paid to white men of various races tended to diminish, even while the number immigrating to this country and finding employment on the railways was greatest. Thirdly, that the Japanese have been displaced by other races at higher wages in a few cases, and more extensively by Mexicans at lower wages. Finally, that the opinions of the Japanese, as section hands, vary considerably. Where they and the Mexicans have been employed the latter are preferred almost without exception. Of several men who had had experience with both Chinese and Japanese, all but one preferred the former because more tractable, more painstaking in their work, and more satisfactory generally in spite of the fact that they are less intelligent, less adaptable, and less progressive-all qualities receiving little emphasis in work of this kind. With few exceptions the Japanese are preferred to the Greeks, who are almost invariably ranked as the least desirable section hands, because they are not industrious and are intractable and difficult to control. As between Japanese and Italians, opinion is fairly evenly divided. The same may be said of them and the Slavs. Though the Japanese are usually ranked below the Chinese and Mexicans, they compare favorably with the south and east Europeans, who

constitute a still larger percentage of the common laborers in maintenance of way work.

Reference has been made to the tendency on the part of the Japanese to leave their employment as common laborers in the maintenance of way department in search of more remunerative or more agreeable work elsewhere. The annual earnings of 73 Japanese employed as section hands on three railroads were secured from personal schedules taken. Their average earnings were $435. The minimum was $150 for a few months work; the maximum, $900, secured in large part from contract work in beet fields. Of the other 71, 2 earned between $200 and $250; 13 between $300 and $400; 42 between $400 and $500; 12 between $500 and $600; 1, $640; and 1, $720. In several instances the men had done other work as well as that in which they were engaged at the time of the investigation, so that the earnings given can not be accepted as showing the possibilities offered by maintenance of way work.

The Japanese, like other laborers employed as section hands, are usually provided with lodging in box cars "set" on the sidetrack. The men live in a cooperative group, purchasing much, if not most, of their supplies from the contractor under whose control they work. The limitations imposed upon them by these conditions are not the least important in explaining the strong tendency exhibited by the Japanese to secure other employment. Their desire for better equipped and clean "bunk cars was cited by one roadmaster as an important source of trouble with the Japanese. The Greeks and Italians were satisfied with less.

In addition to the above facts, this branch of employment has offered little opportunity for progress. Some Japanese serve as subforemen, and a few, on one railway, as foremen. However, like the Mexicans and most of the other races not known as "white," they usually work under foremen of other races, and chiefly the natives and north Europeans, who occupied an important place as railway laborers fifteen or twenty years ago and who have more experience, better technical knowledge, better command of English, and the confidence of the roadmaster.

Comparatively little construction work was in progress at the time of the investigation. The Japanese have been employed in many instances, but not so generally as in maintenance of way, for they are deficient in weight and muscular strength. They were or had been employed on three railways under construction during the time covered by the investigation made by the Commission. In one instance they were employed in comparatively large numbers and with satisfactory results. In another case they were employed only to level and straighten track and were found to be superior for that work to the other races employed, chiefly Greek and East Indian. In the third case they were found to be less desirable than white men of many races, but chiefly foreign born, and orders had been issued that no more should be employed. In a general way what was said in some detail concerning the wages paid to Japanese and others employed as section hands applies to railroad construction work as well.

The same circumstances which explain the gradual substitution of Japanese, Italians, Greeks, Slavs, and Mexicans for the native and north European white men and Chinese in the maintenance of way.

departments, explain also a partial substitution of the one group for the other in the unskilled work of the railroad shops and roundhouses maintained at terminals and division points-the substitution becoming apparent about ten years ago. In one case, however, the change was largely incidental to a strike covering a considerable period of time. The Japanese and other races conspicuously employed as section hands, being readily available, have been substituted for other races as they have risen in the scale of occupations with expanding industry or as they have been attracted elsewhere for more attractive or better paid work than found in the lower occupations of the railroad shops. Agents of the Commission investigated 25 shops. Japanese were employed in 12 of these, in fact in practically all of those belonging to railway systems employing them as section hands. They were first employed to do the most unskilled labor, as in the yards, or the most disagreeable work, such as engine wiping. Though most of the work done by them now is unskilled, they have risen somewhat in the scale of occupations and in several instances were found to occupy positions which are stepping stones to skilled work. Of 470 Japanese employed in the shops investigated, 240 were common laborers, 71 engine wipers, 14 boiler washers, 80 car cleaners, 9 car repairers, 33 boilermakers' helpers, 22 machinis helpers, and 1 a blacksmith's helper. They were employed as common laborers in 12 shops, as engine wipers in 8, as boiler washers in 6, as car cleaners in 4, as car repairers in 2, as boilermakers' helpers in 3, as machinists' helpers in 3, and as blacksmiths' helpers in 1. They are found in a wider range of occupations than the Greeks, Slavs, and the Chinese, but in a less wide range than the Mexicans and the Italians.

Though more Mexicans than Japanese are engaged in semiskilled work, this is explained by the fact that most of the former are employed in shops located in places where it is difficult to secure men of other races. Indeed, the foremen of shops in the Southwest usually rank the Japanese ahead of the Mexicans for shopwork, but regard both as distinctly inferior to the native white laborers. The Japanese are more industrious, more alert, more progressive, and more temperate than the Mexicans, who, when of the peon class, are generally deficient in these qualities. They are invariably preferred for such work as engine wiping, though the Chinese are regarded as still better than the Japanese. For other than this and the most unskilled labor, however, the Japanese are regarded as better than the Chinese because they learn the details of the work more quickly. Both are preferred to south and east European races also for engine wiping and similar work. Moreover, in only one of several shops where both Greeks and Japanese were employed were the former, though generally paid higher wages, preferred to the latter. The Japanese are more industrious, more ambitious, and more tractable. In several instances the Japanese were preferred to the Italians also, but these instances were less numerous than those where the contrary was true.

While the Japanese have generally been employed to replace the Chinese, who have become fewer, or white men no longer available for unskilled work at the rate of wages which obtained, the replacement has not always taken place at the rate of wages which had been paid to white men. As would be expected, there seems from the first