of 23, $500 but less than $1,000; of 20, $1,000 but less than $2,500; of 2, $2,500 or over. These figures must not be taken too literally, however, for the amount of surplus and deficit, especially in farming, is difficult to estimate. Moreover, and more important, no allowance is made for investments in developing strawberry patches and asparagus and other crops which require two seasons before the plants begin to yield a remunerative harvest. The failure of the figures to make allowance for such cases greatly exaggerates the number who sustained deficits and increases the amount of deficits reported. The estimated value of property owned by 488 Japanese engaged in farming as individuals or as senior partners was ascertained by the agents of the Commission. Many of them are in debt for land or supplies purchased or for advances made, so that the value of their property over and above indebtedness is frequently very much less than the gross value of the property in their possession. Of the 488, 86 had nothing over and above the indebtedness outstanding against them; 16 had less than $50; 10 had $50 but less than $100; 45, $100 but less than $250; 77, $250 but less than $500; 92, $500 but less than $1,000; 48, $1,000 but less than $1,500; 43, $1,500 but less than $2,500; 41, $2,500 but less than $5,000; 17, $5,000 but less than $10,000; 10, $10,000 but less than $25,000; and 3, $25,000 or over. In considering these figures, it must be held in mind, however, that they do not include the value of growing crops and of such improvements made upon leased land as do not become the property of the tenant upon the expiration of the lease. The fact that allowance is not made for these causes the number who are represented as having little or no property to be unduly large, for most of the data were collected during the harvest season when large investments had been made but before the returns for the crop had been received. Moreover, many of the Japanese invest heavily in improvements in the land, hoping to secure a profit from them before the expiration of the lease. The value of such improvements can not be estimated, however, and is not included in the values given. In most localities the Japanese are the most recent race to engage in farming on their own account, so that there is a striking contrast between them and the other farmers in the West-in wealth as well as in the form of tenure and permanency of their relations in the community. While many of the Japanese farmers have accumulated considerable property and have become fairly independent in the conduct of their holdings, the largest number have little property and many of them have a form of tenure which limits their freedom in production. Moreover, because of the circumstances under which they have engaged in farming an unusually large number of the Japanese have failed. Yet it must be held in mind that most of them have begun to farm much more recently than the farmers of other races. The wealth accumulated by a small minority in a few years has induced many to undertake farming on their own account. CHAPTER V. JAPANESE IN CITY EMPLOYMENTS AND BUSINESS. JAPANESE IN DOMESTIC AND PERSONAL SERVICE AND RELATED EMPLOYMENTS. As opposed to those employed in the various industries discussed in the preceding chapters, perhaps between 12,000 and 15,000 Japanese are employed in the 11 States and Territories comprising the Western Division, as domestic servants in private families, and as "help" in restaurants, hotels, barrooms, clubs, offices, and stores conducted by members of the white races, while some 10,000 or 11,000 a "It is estimated that between 8,000 and 10,000 are employed in these capacities in the cities and towns and on the farms of California, but any estimate for the State as a whole or for any city must necessarily be largely a matter of guesswork. The nature of these employments is such that even those most familiar with them differ widely in the estimates made. Only a census would reveal the approximate number. The estimates here made are based upon the estimates of Japanese employment agents, those of union officials in the trades embraced under personal service, and those of the secretaries of Japanese associations. The corresponding number for Washington is perhaps between 2,800 and 3,000; for Oregon, 600; for Colorado, 300; for Utah, 250; for Nevada, 175; for Arizona, 150; for Montana, 120; for Idaho, from 40 to 70, according to the season of the year; for Wyoming, 50. Agents of the Commission made a general investigation of Japanese employed in domestic service and related occupations in Seattle, Tacoma, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Denver, and Salt Lake. The character of the employments is such that only the more general facts can be ascertained without the expenditure of much more time than the details warrant and than that at the command of the Commission's agents. Japanese business was investigated in a comparatively large number of places named below. General information was collected with reference to the situation, and schedules were collected for 368 business establishments conducted by them in Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Sacramento, Fresno, and Watsonville, for 439 business men of these cities, and for 427 wage-earners and salaried men. "Individual slips were also collected from several hundred men employed in the establishments investigated or elsewhere, or living in boarding and lodging houses or in groups of house cleaners. The general results of the investigation are set forth in this chapter, the emphasis being placed upon those cities in which the largest number of Japanese residents are found, and in which they have been engaged in domestic and other work and in business for the greatest length of time. The details are set forth at greater length in a number of special reports as follows: "The Japanese in city employments and business in Washington, with special reference to Seattle; "The Japanese in city employments and business in Portland, Oreg. ; The Japanese in city employments and business in San Francisco;' ""The Japanese in city employments and business in Sacramento; "The Japanese in city employments and business in Los Angeles; Japanese in city employments and business in Salt Lake City and Ogden, Utah;' Japanese in city employments and business in Denver, Colo.; " "The Japanese in business in Idaho; ""Immigrants in Fresno County, Cal.;' "The Japanese of Pajaro Valley, Cal.;" and "Immigrant laborers and farmers in the Vaca Valley, Cal." The first eight of these are grouped so as to form a series, while the last three are reports dealing primarily with immigrant agricultural labor and immigrant farming (in which the Japanese in the town trades and employments are incidentally discussed), and are therefore to be found in Volume II of this report, relating to agriculture. 99 66 99 99 66 99 66 more are engaged in business for themselves or are employed by those who are thus occupied, or are professional men and craftsmen working on their own account. Few are found in city employments other than those indicated. The number engaged in this group of occupations varies greatly from one season to another, for during the spring and summer months many leave most of the cities and towns, in which they spend the winter, for work in fish and vegetable canneries and in the beet fields, orchards, and gardens. With the close of the "busy" season in these places many return to the cities to find employment as house cleaners, domestic, and general help, or to live upon their savings until the spring months return. The figures given would perhaps be too conservative as an estimate of the number of Japanese engaged in these occupations during the winter months. Most of the Japanese employed in this group of occupations are found in a few cities which have large populations of that race, and are with one exception ports at which many immigrants of this race. have arrived. The number so employed in Seattle is perhaps about 2,400, in Tacoma 150, in Portland 470, in San Francisco possibly 4,000, in Los Angeles possibly 2,000. Upon their arrival most have found work through Japanese "contractors" and employment agents. The Japanese contractors have directed the majority into railway or agricultural work, while a large percentage of the others have engaged in domestic service in its broader meaning. The student class and farmers' sons and those who had not been gainfully occupied in their native land have furnished a large percentage of those engaging in domestic service. The same is true of the business men. The work is less arduous than in the country, the conditions of living are materially better, and the opportunity to learn English and certain American methods are present. It is a significant fact that of 490 men now engaged in farming 54 found their first employment in domestic service. The corresponding figure for 317 employed at present as agricultural laborers was 13. Only 11 of the former and 7 of the latter engaged in other city occupations. Of 433 men now engaged in business on their own account, on the other hand, 138 found their first employment as house servants, 5 as members of house-cleaning groups, and 66 in other city employments, but chiefly as restaurant "help." The corresponding figures for 410 wage-earners in various city occupations were 148, 10, and 101. The large number found in Los Angeles is explained partly by the favorable climatic conditions. which prevail there, but largely by the fact that many migrated to that city as a result of the fire in San Francisco in 1906. These cities, with Oakland, have the largest numbers of Japanese engaged in this group of occupations. Sacramento has perhaps 300, Denver 230, Salt Lake City 150, and other cities comparatively small numbers. In the aggregate, however, the number found in the smaller cities and towns of Washington and California, and upon farms in the latter State, is large. For convenience this general group may be divided into four minor groups, viz, those engaged as cooks and other servants in private families; house-cleaners, and other "day workers;" those employed in restaurants, hotels, barrooms, and clubs; and those employed as general help in offices and stores conducted by white men. It is very difficult to obtain accurate data with reference to the number of Japanese and other house servants, the wages they are now and have in the past been paid for the same kind of work, and what the effect of Japanese competition has been. Briefly the results obtained in San Francisco and Seattle and set forth at greater length in the special reports dealing with the Japanese in city trades and employments in those places are these: In San Francisco it is probable that some 700 or 800 Japanese were employed as house servants in 1898, and that the number had increased to more than 3,600 in 1904. More recently, however, with the restrictions upon immigration, their tendency to leave domestic service for other work or to engage in business, and the higher wages they command so that there is no longer the same pecuniary advantage that was formerly found in employing them, their number has diminished and is possibly at present not far from 2,000 in a total of several times as many. Perhaps from 300 to 500 of these are "school boys" who work short hours and in return receive board and lodging and from $8 to $16 per month, the sum depending upon the number of hours of work over that (three or four per day) regarded as an equivalent for board and lodging. A part of the day or the evening is spent in attending classes or in private study. Those regularly employed as domestics in 1909 were paid from $25 per month for those with little experience as house servants to $60 per month for the most experienced cooks. The average wage per month of 70, from whom personal data were secured, was $36.86. Though the number from which this average is derived is small, it probably reflects the situation very well. The wages now paid are materially higher than those formerly prevailing. According to the records of Japanese employment agents the prevailing rate for plain cooks in 1900 was $20 to $30 per month. By 1903 the rate had advanced $5 per month, and by 1907 another advance of $5 had taken place. The field of domestic service in private families is shared chiefly by Japanese and Chinese men," and white women, of whom many are foreign born. Since the Japanese have immigrated to San Francisco in large numbers the Chinese have materially diminished in number as a result of the exclusion acts. The Japanese have much more than made good the decrease in the number of Chinese employed, but with the growth of population and the larger number of families keeping servants, it appears unlikely that the increasing number of Japanese servants at any time caused an actual decrease in the number of white domestics in employment. Though the Japanese, at any rate until recently, have been regarded as the cheapest servants for cooking, waiting on table, and cleaning (the kinds of work they have done), there has generally been a scarcity of white Contrary to the custom in Honolulu, very few Japanese women take employment as domestic servants in the Western States. It is impossible to compare the wages of Chinese, Japanese, and white women, for the occupations of these persons when employed as domestics differ. For years the Chinese men have done practically no work except cooking and some cleaning incidental to that; the Japanese have been occupied in the same way, except that they do somewhat more of the work about the house. A large percentage of the white females, on the other hand, are women of all work." 66 |