JAPAN AND AMERICA RESULTLESS NEGOTIATIONS JAPS CANNOT ON LAND IN CALIFORNIA.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 72, 26 March 1914, Page 4

JAPAN AND AMERICA RESULTLESS NEGOTIATIONS JAPS CANNOT ON LAND IN CALIFORNIA.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPOI BEST.) SAN FRANCISCO, 23rd Feb. For almost a year past there have been negotiations between the Governments of the 'United States and Japan concerning the latter's objections to the law adopted by California which has the effect ot denying to Japanese the right to own land in that State. Within the \aM few days it has been announced that the negotiations have come to an end, and it is just as it was when the King of France marched his men to the top of the hill aud marched them down s again. In other words, reams of discussion has advanced the matter or changed the situation not at all. The law stands unassailed- Carefully drawn as it was, and designed to expressly conform to the treaty between the two nations, it has been deemed useless to attack it in the Courts. President Wilson and his Administration took every possible step to prevent the enactment of the law. He and his advisers have listened with attention to the representations of the Japanese Government, and the conclusion of the whole matter is that they now " consider the incident closed." Japan naturally is disappointed at the failure of its efforts to interfere with and override the domestic legislation of an American State An elaborate statement df the Japanese position is contained in the report of a speech made to the Parliament of Japan on 21st January by Baron Makino, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and telegraphed in full to Washington and there made public. This statement plainly shows that the Japanese authorities have come to see that the Federal Government/ cannot successfully attack the California State law. "The replies of the United States were not found satisfactory," said the Minister in his speech, "and the Imperial Government have come to see the necessity of considering some other ways for solution of the question. However, to the regret of the Government, the time has not arrived for reporting on the point." The position the American Federal Government has assumed in its negotiations with Japan, notwithstanding President Wiison's dislike for the California law, has been that the National Government cannot under the constitution dictate to a State what its land laws shall be, and that no Court decision has denned whether a treaty can override a State law or vice versa. The veiled references in the speech of the Japanese Minister to "some other ways for solution of the question are understood to refer to plans for negotiating a new treaty between the two nations more specifically defining the rights of the citizens" of each in the territory of *he other. Apart from this, it is not known what the Minister can have had in his mind No such treaty has yet been formulated or even drafted, but the American Government is believed to be perfectly willing to negotiate a new treaty. Another incident showing the line of cleavage between local sentiment on the Pacific Coast and that of the national Government on the question of the Japanese invasion occurred recently in Washington. A representative from California, John E. Raker, introduced a Bill to excrude all Asiatic labouress, extending the provisions of the CMneee Exclusion Act to mchid© Japanese and Hindsrus. By invoking some of the .peculiar rules that govern the defiberations of Congress, the Government succeeded hi putting an effective extinguisher on the Bill. The leaders in the House of Representatives, acting in concert with President Wil&on. and the Administration, decided that the Rules Committee should bring in. a rule pre venting any amendment to the immigration law. Thus Raker's Bill is pigeonholed, and cannot even be debated in 'Congress. The excuse given for these steamroller tactics in favour of the Japanese is that the proposed Bill in several respect* contravened existing treaties, parttcnlarry in so far as it would violate ! the "most favoured nation" clauses. Congreseman. Raker declares that the I Japanese immigration question in California is of far greater importance than the Chinese question ever d wae. Even wit)h the check of the immigration of coolies that the present "understanding" between the two nations furnishes, the number of Japanese in California in in- ; creasing at a wonderful rate. In some comities the birth registration for 1913 showed the number of Japanese births to equal 25 per cent, of the total birth registration — Plaocr County was one of these.