These changes for the years 1905 to 1909 were, approximately, as

follows:

The wages of Japanese have never been as high as those paid to white men. At first there was about 50 cents per day discrimination against the Japanese, but that difference has become less until it is now about 25 cents.

In communities where Japanese have come in numbers there has been a growing prejudice against them on the part of white men, but it has not been as pronounced in Oregon as in California.

WASHINGTON.

The earliest Japanese immigrants to Washington were of the sailor class and found employment in the lumber mills and in the cities. The number of immigrants was small, however, until 1897 or 1898, when large numbers began to arrive from Japan to engage in railroad work under Japanese contractors. It is stated that a few were employed on farms near Tacoma and Seattle as early as 1888 or 1889, and that the first lease of land was made in that locality as early as 1892. But few engaged in agricultural work until after a great number were employed upon the railroads. During the last ten years many have left their employment as section hands to find work as agricultural laborers or to lease land, and there has been a smaller movement of the same kind on the part of Japanese employed in other occupations. In 1909 some 3,000, and possibly a few hundred more, were engaged in agricultural work in the State. The great majority of these were in western Washington about Tacoma and Seattle, where the maximum number of Japanese on farms conducted by the members of that race was estimated in 1909 at 2,484, while the minimum during the year was estimated at 834.

The majority of the Japanese farm laborers in this district work on berry, truck, and dairy farms, conducted by the members of that race. In eastern Washington more than 200 are found for a few weeks each year in the beet fields near Waverly engaged in the handwork, which is done almost exclusively by them. This sugar-beet industry is in a sparsely-settled district where it is difficult to get help. For the first year or two of beet growing, which was begun in 1899, "transient whites" were employed, but they were too irregular to be satisfactory. The sugar company turned for relief to a

Japanese contractor in Portland, Oreg., who agreed to furnish men. At present local contractors provide all of the Japanese required. As gardeners and nursery laborers near North Yakima about 75 Japanese are employed and about Wenatchee some 20 or 30 are engaged in farm work. The regular and the seasonal work in the numerous orchards of these two districts are performed almost entirely by white farmers and laborers. Near White Salmon on the Columbia River some 40 Japanese were, in 1909, engaged in clearing land. In Washington also very few Chinese have engaged in agriculture and these have been truck gardeners near cities. The fruit and berry farms of the State have been developed recently and the Chinese-exclusion law limited the immigration of that race before a demand for many laborers arose in these districts devoted to intensive crops. This fact and the consequent development of these districts with white labor accounts for the small part taken by the Japanese in the farm work of Washington as compared to California. The wages of Japanese farm laborers have changed materially since they first appeared. From 1890 to 1895 Japanese were paid from 75 to 90 cents per day without board, while white men received from $15 to $18 per month with board. From 1895 to 1900 Japanese averaged $1 per day without board and white men $20 to $25 per month with board. In 1900 Japanese were paid $1.10 and by 1906 $1.25 per day. In 1909, $1.35 per day without board was the usual wage for regular work throughout the year, while $1.50 was the standard wage for seasonal work. During berry picking and potato harvesting, when the demand for men is greatest, $1.75 per day was frequently paid. The white farmers pay for most of the seasonal work on a piece basis, and some of the Japanese farmers do likewise. On such a basis the laborers make larger earnings per day. Japanese gardeners on a monthly basis were paid from $25 to $35 per month with board and lodging, and dairy hands were paid $40 or $45 per month with board. White laborers employed regularly by white farmers were usually paid $35 or $40 per month with board and white milkers were paid $45 and $50. The Japanese have always shown a tendency to underbid white laborers, but to a less extent now than formerly, and since restrictions have been placed upon further immigration their wages have more nearly approached those of white men.

There has been some opposition to the Japanese in Washington, but as a rule they have been favorably received in agricultural districts.

IDAHO.

The Japanese farm laborers in Idaho are and have always been chiefly engaged in the seasonal handwork connected with the raising of sugar beets in four districts-Nampa, Idaho Falls, Blackfoot, and Sugar City. The beet-sugar industry in Idaho dates from 1903, when the factory at Idaho Falls was opened.

The Japanese do the greater part of the handwork in the beet fields of the State, while white persons do most of the work with teams. The German-Russians who were brought by the sugar company into one district to give competition to the Japanese and to place them "on their good behavior," are an important element in

that locality. In another district about one-half of the work is done by white persons, principally natives, and among them many school children who find the employment in thinning suitable.

The Japanese beet workers have generally been secured through the "bosses" of organized gangs. In one important district, however, the "boss" system has been modified, so that the growers contract directly with the men employed. The Japanese are brought in by a large Japanese contracting company which is paid by the sugar company $1 per acre for each acre worked by the Japanese laborers plus 35 cents per acre to defray part of the cost of transporting laborers to the community. The sugar company also pays the salary of the resident agent of the Japanese contractors. The Japanese laborers are distributed among the growers who contract with them directly and they are paid the full contract price by the growers, without any "boss's" commission deducted. They are paid on a piece basis for the various processes, so that their earnings vary with the amount of work accomplished. The German-Russians are usually paid a flat rate of $20 per acre for doing the handwork in the beet fields. The Japanese contracts are now usually on a basis of $20 per acre for beets running 12 tons to the acre, with a reduction of 50 cents for each ton under 12 and an addition of 60 cents per ton for each ton over 12.

This graduated scale has been found advisable in the case of the Japanese to secure the best work, for by putting a premium upon good work, their tendency, when paid on a straight rate per acre, to overthin in the spring in order to have less beets to harvest in the fall, is overcome. During the slack months many of these Japanese remain in these localities and engage in other branches of agricultural work.

The Japanese have been generally preferred by Idaho beet growers to German-Russians and to such transient white men of other races as are occasionally employed. The German-Russians are considered more acceptable by some growers, however, for they settle permanently with their families in the community.

UTAH.

In Utah also the employment of Japanese in agricultural work is mainly confined to the handwork in the beet fields. There are probably a little more than 1,000 employed in the whole State. In the oldest beet-growing district in the State, where the industry dates from 1889, the handwork has always been done by the white farmers, their families, and the regular farm hands. In the other three districts of the State the Japanese do much of the work, white farmers and their families doing the remainder. In one of these districts the Japanese do nearly all of the thinning and hoeing, but almost no harvesting, in another district they do three-fourths of all the handwork, while in a third they do only one-half of it.

The first Japanese farm laborers in Utah were brought directly from California by a beet-sugar company in 1903, and set at work in a district where beet growing was introduced in that year. The locality was thinly settled and the sugar company and the employment agency contracting to supply laborers were unable to secure enough white men from surrounding towns, so 40 Japanese were im

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ported from the beet districts of California, and later in the season 60 more were secured from other places. Much loss resulted from the inability to secure laborers. The following year several Japanese contractors appeared, but still white men were employed to do much of the work. The third year enough Japanese to do practically all of the handwork came to the district. In another place the establishment in 1904 of a second sugar factory in a more thinly settled part of a district led to the bringing in of Japanses in 1905. In the third community, where previously the work had all been done by white persons, the Japanese employed in railroad work began to bid for the handwork in the beet fields in 1906.

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The first Japanese were brought to Utah through labor "bosses," and they were employed mainly under "bosses" for three or four years. An interesting feature of the labor situation has been a partially successful attempt in two districts to eliminate Japanese bosses." As a substitute the sugar companies employ salaried agents, in one case a Japanese and in the other an American who speaks the Japanese language, to secure Japanese laborers and distribute them among the growers as needed. The purpose of this movement was to eliminate the evils of subcontracting under which the laborers who actually did the work would often receive only three-fourths of the contract price, which resulted in poor work. Under the present system the workers receive the full contract price paid by the growers.

As a rule the opinions of beet growers in Utah are favorable to the Japanese laborers. The principal complaint against them has been the evil of subcontracting under the "boss" system, which has been largely removed by eliminating the Japanese "boss" himself. About Ogden, and to a very slight extent elsewhere, Japanese find a place as laborers in growing asparagus and garden truck, but, with the exception of 25 employed by a company growing asparagus and operating a cannery, they are almost all employed by their countrymen who have purchased or leased land and are farming on their own account. They find very little employment in harvesting the crops of the orchards which have been rapidly developed in different localities and now cover a large acreage.

COLORADO.

Colorado is another State in which the employment of Japanese agricultural laborers is connected mainly with beet growing. The Japanese numbered 2,627 out of a total of more than 15,000 persons engaged in the handwork of the sugar-beet industry of the State in 1909. Of other races so employed there were 6,560 German-Russians, 2,632 Mexicans, and over 3,000 "miscellaneous white persons," besides a few Indians, Koreans, and Greeks. The importance of the Japanese, however, is greater than their numbers indicate, as they do more work per individual than the laborers of any other race. The "miscellaneous white persons" are largely farmers who plant beets on only a part of their lands, and the women and children of the families do much of the work in the fields. The German-Russian men are less efficient than Japanese, doing only about two-thirds as much work per man, and a large part of the German-Russian laborers are women and children, who accomplish still less work. The

Japanese excel the Mexicans also in the amount of work accomplished by each man during the season. In Colorado, where "miscellaneous white persons," German-Russians, and Mexicans predominate, and Japanese constitute only one-sixth of the total number, the average hand worker in the beet fields cares for a little more than 8 acres per season, while in California, where Japanese constitute two-thirds of the total number, the average hand laborer attends to nearly 11 acres. The Japanese began coming into northern Colorado as early as 1903, when 200 of them were secured in one district to increase the supply of laborers and to afford competition against the GermanRussians. During the same year about 100 appeared in other northern Colorado communities. For a time trouble with irresponsible 99 bosses caused some decrease in the number of Japanese, but by 1909 the number of Japanese in northern Colorado had increased to 2,100, as against 5,800 German-Russians and 1,000 Mexicans. In southern Colorado the "miscellaneous white persons," German-Russians and Mexicans, did all of the handwork until 1904, when the Japanese were first employed. In 1909 the latter race in southern Colorado numbered 442 in a total of 3,918 handworkers, the Mexicans with 1,630 being the most numerous. In western Colorado only 25 Japanese were found among the 550 handworkers in that part of the State in 1909. Their small number is explained by a strong local race prejudice against them.

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The organization of Japanese laborers under "bosses" similar to the "gang" system in California prevails in Colorado. The Mexicans and German-Russians also work in groups, but the group in the case of the latter is the family. The beet districts of Colorado are so situated that formerly they had a very small local labor supply. The German-Russians were brought in from Nebraska for the season by the sugar companies and the Mexicans and Japanese were secured from distant places. At first the companies paid the transportation of the laborers, but now those coming from other districts must pay their own railroad fare. Many German-Russians and Japanese have purchased or leased lands and are permanently located in these districts throughout the year.

The contract prices for the handwork in the beet fields of Colorado are higher than those paid in California, which is accounted for largely by the greater difficulty of securing laborers. As a rule, a flat rate of $20 per acre is paid for the thinning, hoeing, and topping. For this reason the rates of earnings for Japanese laborers are somewhat higher than in California. Out of 370 representative Japanese beet workers in northern Colorado, 200 averaged between $3 and $3.50 per day during the thinning season of 1909. The earnings of handworkers in the beet fields of Colorado are sufficiently above those of common laborers in other industries to attract them from other localities and from neighboring States for the season. The Japanese come principally from the coal mines and smelters of Wyoming and Colorado, and from maintenance of way work on the railroads.

Opinion concerning the Japanese in Colorado varies all the way from extreme race antagonism to extreme favor. In northern Colorado where most of them are found the attitude of white persons toward them is favorable, and on the whole they stand higher in the esteem of the beet growers than they do in California. Except in western Colorado, what opposition exists to the Japanese is appar