ties where much seasonal labor is required and the Japanese are the predominant element in the labor supply. In these localities not only have the farmers provided most of the necessary equipment, but have also frequently provided the money necessary to pay current expenses, so that the tenant required no capital at all. Moreover, in the production of sugar beets the beet-sugar companies have ordinarily advanced a part of the necessary capital. At Newcastle and Vacaville, and in other localities devoted to the growing of fruit and vegetables, the commission merchants usually make advances of supplies for shipping the product, and of cash, taking a lien upon the crop in order to secure the loan. In several instances the competition between the shippers for business has led to the making of advances long before the crop matures, and in large amounts. About Newcastle it was found that some of the shippers had leased land and then subleased it to Japanese tenants in order to control the business of shipping the product. With assistance in these forms (extended to other growers also) the Japanese laborers with little or no capital have been able to begin tenant farming. And even where the system of making advances has not been extensively adopted the tenants who pay cash rent usually do not need much capital of their own, for it is customary to pay the rent in installments, and credit is extended by the Japanese and other provision merchants. In some instances, as about Florin, Cal., leasing has been encouraged by arranging for the larger rentals to be paid during the later years covered by the lease.

Finally, the Japanese in many localities have usually formed partnerships when leasing land. In some cases this is virtually required by the landlords, in order that there may be a larger nucleus for the needed labor supply and that the tenants may be more closely held to the terms of their contract because of the greater amount of labor they invest in growing the crops. It is significant that 194 of 462 tenant farms investigated were leased by partners. There were two partners in 116 of the 194 cases, three in 36, four in 22, five in 12, six in 2, seven in 3, nine in 1, and ten in 2. The formation of partnerships enables the Japanese to engage in farming with less individual capital, and has made it possible for them, like the Italians among whom this form of organization prevails in leasing land, to quickly establish themselves as farmers.

Most of the land owned by Japanese is in California, Texas, and Oregon. In the other States the number of farms which have been purchased is few and the acreage is small. That no land has been purchased by them in Washington and Idaho is explained by the fact that in those States aliens may not acquire title to it by purchase. Most of the land purchased in Texas is in a few large tracts and is owned by corporations or by wealthy individuals who have come to this country to invest their capital in speculative enterprises. Some have immigrated with $10,000 or more; one of the farms owned by them embraces 3,500 acres, another 2,224, a third 1,734. At Liv

a See "Japanese and German-Russian Farmers of Northern Colorado" and "Japanese Farmers of Northern Utah.”

Constitution of Washington, Article II, section 33, and Idaho, Revised Code, section 2609. In both States these provisions were adopted before there was any question as to the desirability of Japanese immigrants.

ingstone, Cal., a large tract of land has been purchased by a Japanese corporation and is being disposed of to Japanese farmers in small holdings on the installment plan. Moreover, in a few instances, as in Oregon, large tracts have been purchased by Japanese who have accumulated wealth by selling supplies or by contracting

for labor.

With such exceptions as these, the purchases have been made in comparatively small tracts by men who have risen from the ranks of labor, and have successfully engaged in farming as tenants. They have been assisted in making their purchases by the extension of liberal credit. Some of these farms are valuable, however. Of 44 investigated, embracing 1,849 acres, four were worth $500 but less than $1,000, four, $1,000 but less than $1,500, eight, $1,500 but less than $2,500, fourteen, $2,500 but less than $5,000, five, $5,000 but less than $10,000, seven, $10,000 but less than $25,000, and two more than $25,000. In all of these cases the owners had come to this country with little or no capital. High prices have been paid for land in some instances, but the number of purchases has been so small and scattered over so many communities that they have had no effect upon the market value of land.

In a large number of localities the Japanese farmers are organized into farmers' associations. Such institutions are found in various localities about Tacoma and Seattle, about Ogden, about Lupton, Colo., and along the Sacramento River, about Agnews, Moneta, and in various other localities in California. In some instance these act as agents in finding ranches for Japanese who wish to become tenants; in a few cases they limit the competition for land by fixing a maximum rental, as about Lupton, Colo.; in a very few cases they assist in marketing the product and in obtaining supplies, as some of those

a Somewhat similar to the venture at Livingstone is that in Dade County, Fla., where the Yamato colony was organized in 1904. This colony is incorporated under the statutes of the State of Florida. The president of the corporation and the head of the colony is one J. Sakai, a Japanese land agent of the Florida East Coast Railway. The corporation owns or has an option on a few sections of land, a part of which is being farmed in the name of the colony until such time as it can be sold to Japanese. When the colony was first established it had 23 members, all of whom were adult men. Sakai has gone to Japan at different times to secure more members, but of those who have come some 60 have deserted, leaving 37 in the colony in the spring of 1908. Of these 37, 34 were men, 2 women, and 1 an infant. Almost all of the members of the colony came directly from their native land, but it is said that 3 or 4 have joined the colony after having lived in the Western States. Practically all of those who have come have been drawn from the larger cities of Japan. Some of them were novelty makers, other silk weavers, and still others students and bankers. Being used to city life and city trades, the majority have found the bard agricultural work in the warm and humid climate disagreeable, hence the desertions mentioned above.

The majority of those residing in the colony work for wages for the corporations; a minority have purchased land or leased land for a share of the crop. About 80 acres have been set in pineapples. While these are developing the colonists raise tomatoes, peppers, and other vegetables of various kinds. The land is sold on the installment plan, for from $6 to $25 per acre in its wild condition. After it is cleared and reduced to cultivation it is worth as much as $300 per acre. Most of the land has been cleared by negro laborers. Some of the Japanese find employment in a packinghouse at Del Rey, not far away, while others were employed during the season of 1908 in a canning factory near by.

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about Tacoma, Seattle, and Ogden; in several instances they interest themselves where disputes arise between landlord and tenant; while in several instances they have had more or less to do with the dissemination of scientific knowledge of horticulture and agriculture among the Japanese farmers. One publication issued by the organization in the Stockton district is particularly interesting in this last connection. These organizations are of interest, chiefly, however, as evidence of the capacity of the Japanese to cooperate and secure the advantages of organized effort in meeting the problems confronting them.

Independent farming by Japanese has had several effects upon the communities in which it is carried on. It is evident from what has been stated that the competition of Japanese tenants has caused the rental value of land to increase. It is evident, also, that tenants of other races, to some extent, have been displaced by them. Another effect more difficult to measure has been that of the presence of farmers of this race upon the influx of white families to the community. There can be no doubt that the extensive leasing by them about Newcastle and in a few other localities has caused prospective settlers to locate elsewhere, and the white population of some neighborhoods has actually diminished. In other words, there has been a partial substitution of Asiatic for white families. But it should be noted in this connection that in some communities much of the land leased was reclaimed and reduced to cultivation by Japanese, or was first devoted to intensive farming by them. In such cases they have added to the wealth of the community and their farming has not necessarily affected the white population adversely. Another effect of leasing by Japanese, as by Chinese and other races similarly circumstanced, has been to encourage the holding of large tracts of land by corporations or as "estates," and to remove the premium which would otherwise be placed upon their subdivision and sale to white farmers. This is very evident upon the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers, where in some instances several hundred or several thousand acres are owned in one or a few tracts, and the managers prefer to retain them as investments and to lease them to Italians or Asiatics at comparatively high rentals, rather than subdivide them and dispose of them to permanent settlers. While some of these holdings are in communities which have not been developed to the point where white families would care to live, this is by no means true of all. Leasing in the form which there obtains places a premium upon landlordism which will stand in the way of the normal settlement and development of these communities.

One characteristic of Japanese farming is that with their shorttime interests the farmers frequently specialize greatly in the production of the crop which has proved to be more than usually profitable. As a result of the rapid increase in the number of these farmers in certain localities and this specialization, overproduction has resulted and profitable prices could not be maintained. This is especially true of the strawberry industry, which has been expanded rapidly by the Japanese because of handsome profits realized a few years ago, until the prices have become very unremunerative. Nearly all of the few white farmers and many of the Japanese have now withdrawn from this branch of production. A similar instance of

overproduction is found in asparagus growing on the Sacramento River, where many of the Japanese tenants have been involved in great loss during the last two years. The prices of some vegetables about Tacoma and Seattle also appear to have been adversely affected by the larger acreage devoted to their production with the increasing number of Japanese farmers. It appears that other farmers withdraw from the production of such crops before the Japanese, because they are not satisfied with as small profits.

But the instances where the prices realized for crops have been adversely affected as a result of Japanese competition are comparatively few. As a matter of fact, where their acreage has been added to that productively used in the community it has generally been devoted to growing crops not extensively grown by white farmers. Moreover, most of the markets are not local and narrowly limited. The effect of Japanese farming upon the rental value of land is much more general than any effect upon the prices of produce.

Another effect of the leasing of orchards and other ranches under cultivation to Japanese has been to cause a further displacement of laborers of other races. Except for some of the work with teams and the cutting of fruit preparatory to drying nearly all of the laborers employed by these farmers in the West are of their own race." While numerous instances are found in which white men and women and Hindus are temporarily employed by them, these are after all comparatively few. Like the Italian, Portuguese, and Chinese farmers, they usually employ the members of their own race in so far as they can secure them. The only essential difference between the races in this regard is found in the fact that the Japanese laborers have been available in larger numbers than the others. In so far as comparisons of wages have been possible, it has been found that the Japanese farmers frequently pay their countrymen somewhat more than they are paid by other farmers for work of the same kind. It must be noted in this connection, however, that the workday is somewhat longer, and that, in some instances, they have been able to secure the best laborers in the available supply.

Moreover, until a few years ago, they had the advantage, as compared to farmers who employed higher priced laborers, possessed by all farmers who employed the Japanese at the lower wages which then prevailed. Yet the Japanese farmer's workday is not so long as that of the Italian, and he has always paid his laborers as high or higher wages. It is clear that Japanese farming has given rise to a further displacement of laborers of other races. While it is not clear that their outlay for labor is now less than that of their white competitors, and while it is clear that it is certainly not less than that of the Italians, the situation was somewhat different a few years ago when Japanese labor was cheaper.

In several localities in California where the Chinese have been employed or have leased land there is much dissatisfaction with the Japanese tenants. There is no doubt that they are less careful workmen than the Chinese, and that their farming is frequently inferior. It is generally agreed that the Chinese who have had long experience, and this counts for much, are better pruners of trees and vines and

a On the rice farms in Texas this is not true. 48296°-VOL 23-11-7

prepare the product better for shipment. There has also been much complaint of broken contracts in the case of the Japanese. The complaint is not without reason, for the Japanese do not regard a contract as inviolable, while the Chinese do. In some communities a few Japanese farmers have not fulfilled their contracts, just as a few contractors" have run away with the wages due their laborers. In some localities the preference for Chinese, partly racial, however, has been so great that farms have been leased to them for a lower rental than Japanese have offered.

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This is not infrequently true in the leasing of orchards. The preference for Chinese tenants has become just as marked as for Chinese laborers in most of the California communities. It is noteworthy, however, that in communities where Chinese have not been employed and do not serve as a standard for comparisons no complaint was made of the character of the farming of the Japanese, and little complaint was heard of failure to fulfill their contracts. On the contrary, in such communities they are generally regarded as good tenant farmers and as "fairly reliable" in their contractual relations.

Some of the Japanese farmers have realized large profits and have accumulated wealth rapidly, while many have met with loss. In some cases they have fallen back into the ranks of the wage-earning class. Some of those who have not been successful have been too inexperienced in the kind of farming undertaken. A more common cause of failure, however, has been found in the fact, already commented on, that they produce almost entirely for the market and specialize greatly, and in some cases have depressed the prices of produce until they would not cover the expenses incidental to the harvest. This is notably true of strawberry growing for the Los Angeles market and of asparagus growing on the lower Sacramento River, cases to which reference has previously been made. A comparatively large number of the tenant farmers in these localities have become bankrupt, and some of them have been led to break their contracts with the landowners from whom they leased. Moreover, the wages paid to laborers of their race have recently advanced rapidly and it has become difficult to secure laborers in sufficient numbers. This change in the labor market has been a further source of difficulty to the Japanese farmers. It is proving so serious that in some localities they insist upon leases for one or a few years, where a few years ago they desired to secure leases for a period of several

years.

Of 647 Japanese farmers, including partners, from whom information was obtained, 432 reported that they had made a surplus over living expenses during the preceding year. Of the other 215, 114 were involved in a deficit while 101 reported that they had neither surplus nor deficit. The average amount of surplus realized was $579.88; of deficit, $561.02. Some of the gains were very large. Those of 31 of the 432 were less than $100; of 92, $100 but less than $250; of 146, $250 but less than $500; of 114, $500 but less than $1,000; of 35, $1,000 but less than $2,500; of 14, $2,500 or over. Some of the deficits also were large. Those of 5 of the 114 were less than $100; of 27, $100 but less than $250; of 37, $250 but less than $500;