AMERICA & JAPAN.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLIII, Issue XLIII, 12 April 1909, Page 1

AMERICA & JAPAN.

j ON DELICATE GBOUND. : WESTERN STATES AGGEESSIVE. I NEW YORK, Feb. 19. j In Congress there has been a somewhat exciting debate upon the annual naval appropriation bill. Mr JRoose- , velt asked for four new battleships. I The House gave him two, and at first I I lie Senate was inclined to grant only oiic. Afterwards it conceded two, but sought to reduco the tonnage from 25,X)00 to 21,000. This reduction lias now been defeated, and there has been attached to the bill (a? passed in the Senate) a provision authorising the President, in his discretion, to keep half of our entire navy in Pacific waters. It is quite clearly the opinion of the Senate that half of our warships ought to be there at all time?.. I understand that the new battleships will be larger and more powerful thau any now afloat. This movement for a large and permanent naval force in the Pacific is due in part to the excitement caused by recent attacks upon the Japanese ■in the Legislatures! of nur Pacific ■ Coast States, and 1 presumo that a brief report of what has taken place there will not be wholly without interest iv Australia. , 1 At about the middle of last month several anti-Japanese bills pending in the Californian Legislature attracted tho attention of Mr Eoosevelt, who promptly telegraphed to Governor Gillett that the passage of any of these measures would be injurious to the State and the nation, pointing out that Japan had faithfully observed the terms of the emigration agreement, and that in the six months ending with October the number of Japanese departing from the States had exceeded the number of those arriving by more than 1000. The Governor s«t out to ' suppress! the obnoxious bills, and consideration of them in the Californian House was deferred for one week. Bitter articles about them had been published in the Opposition newspapers of Japan. Postponement for another week was ordered on January 27, against the angry protest of the author of several of the bills, one Johnson, formerly a [ member of Congress at Washington. !In a special message, the Governor 'urged that all such bills be laid aside, J because they had embarrassed the National Government in its dealings with Japan. Mr Drew, a member who earnesly sought the passage of a bill forbidding Japanese to own land, consented, at the suggestion of our State department, so to amend this mcasnre that it would apply to all aliens. It was expected that this bill would be enacted, but, on tho 3rd inst., it was lost by a vote of 28 to 48. The defeat of all the other bills was then predicted. On the following day, the bill forbidding Japanese to be directors of corporations was voted down, and with it (by a tie) another empowering cities and towns' to confine Japanese residents in dir« cricts set apart for them. BILL PASSED. Unexpectedly, however, ou the same i day, a bill excluding Japanese children from the public schools was ! passed, by the decisive vote of 48 to 26. President Eoosevelt at once .elegraphcd that this was the most offensive of all the bills. He urged .hat the action be reconsidered. Govcruor Gillett aided him by a long message to tho Legislature. The Speaker of the House (Mr Stanton) made an impassioned appeal to the members. "A crisis has arrived," •aid he. "We are treading upon very dangcruus ground. I wish I could :ell you something I know, but my ips arc scaled.' He had received telegrams from the President. The mysterious and disquieting information he has uot yet dis«losed. A motion for reconsideration was entered, md action was postponed until the 10th. The President redoubled his efforts. One of Californa's senators! it Washington, Mr Flint, had helped him; the other, Mr Perkins, had prompted the obnoxious bills. "I am istounded," said Mr Eoosevelt, in a telegram, "at George C. Perkins' conduct. For the last seven years he has done all he could to hamper us in the upbuilding of the jia\y. Yet now he advises a policy of wanton insult." In a long telegram to Speaker Stanton the Speaker argued earnestly against the proposed legislation, saying that Japan was loyally carrying out the policy agreed upon; that the sehoo' bill was a violation of treaties; that the supporters of it were "following i policy which combines the very minimum of efficiency with the maxi■num of insult," and which "might accomplish an infinity of harm." The 'emigration agreement, he added, should be tested for a year or two longer. yielding to all his pressure, the Californian House on the 10th reconiidered its previous action, and rejected the school bill by a vote of 37 to 41. The movement against the Japanese had been checked. At about the same time a resolution asking for the exclusion of Japanese immigrants was defeated in the Legislature of Oregon, and in the Legislature of the .adjoining State of Washington resolutions were adopted declaring that no measures against the Japanese should be considered. , But the Legislature of tho little rotten borough State 'of Nevada (adjoining California on the east) set out to surpass the opponents of the I Japanese in the latter State. The House there by a vote of 44 to 1 adopted resolutions characterising the Japanese as "these parasites of the world," aud also saying:— "We believo that if we must have war with tho Japanese Empire sooner or later, now is a better time than ever to lay down the terms to that empire, and teach these arrogant people that our rights cannot be cneroached upon; ani

! that they cannot, nor ever will, be allowed or given an opportunity to acquire a foothold iti this country or i to assimilate with our race." i j THE NEVADA SENATE. After another resolution, calling for battleships in the Pacific had been adopted, the little State's two senators at Washington interfered and duced the Nevada Senate to sinothor all the House's incendiary' measures in committee. We are unfortunate in having such a State. In 1900 ita population was only 42,835, against 45;7C1 10 years ago. And yet it has as many representatives in the National Senate as New York, with a population of 8,500,000. Our plan of Government is defective in that it permits one State — and a State so small as Nevada — to disturb interna, tional relations by its actions or utterances. This defect is tho subject of a long statement, prepared by ihe i leader of the Japanese bar; and pubI lished here this week. He predicts tjijit unless our constitution shall oe, amended there will be war; either international or civil, owing to tho inability of the treaty, making centra' Government to control promtply and surely the states with respect to matters covered by treaty obligations. While the Legislative niovoinent again?t the Japanese has been checked the attitude of a majority of the people of our Pacific coast towards Japanese residents! has been clearly shown. For years wo have h.id national laws excluding Chineso of the labouring class. In the option of a majority of the white Americans on the coast, the Japanese have tho defects of the Chineso, without somo of the latter 's virtues. Both live on little or nothing, and underbid natives in the field of labour; but the Chinese are submissive aud humble, whilo the Japanese push forward and assort themselves, insisting upon a social equality, which the natives will not concede. With respect to schools, the complaint is that nativo children are injuriously affected by close and daily association with Japanese, who are not children but men. Invading the best streets of- San Francisco, Japanese tenants, or merchants in a "small way, reduce the market value of all property in the block where they reside. This is a cause of complaint. 1 In the agricultural districts their very light living expenses make their com, petition with natives annoying and burdensome. To tho tyhtes their pride is ridiculous. Mr ' Drew, the author of the Alien Bill, which was rejected, and a prominent agn'xulturist in a fruitgrowing district said last week in the course of an address dc* livered in one of th c Sacramento churches: — ' ' Tho white race never has stood, and never will stand; where the yellow or the black race meets it. If the present conditions continue, it will not be fifty years until the whito race here becomes the typewriters and servants if the yellow. To compete' with the yellow race the white man must starve to death. If the Japanese come, the white man must. go. The two races cannot live together. I say to you, don't permit them to livo here; dbn't allow them to take our land; don't permit them to drive out Joiir people." , Unquestionably a desire prevails throughout our JPacific coast that Congress shall exclude Japanese, as it has excluded Chinese, but Japan will very strenuously object to such exclusion. Fortunately, the emigration agreement negotiated by Mr Eoosevclt is gradually reducing the number of Japanese iv the States. During the debate in the Senate. at Washington, Senator Flint, of Cali. fornia, was asked whether he thought half of the navy would keep the Japanese out of that State. "I think so, ' ' he replied. Senator Lodge, of Massachusetts, an intimate friend of the President, said thafi to preserve the peace and guard our interests, in the Pacific we ought to keep thero a fleet powerful enough tq overcome any force that might oppose it. Senator Perkins, of California, whom tho Presidetn had criticised for his a'» titude to prevent naval expansion^ heartily supported the appropriation for new ships, and eve nSenator Halo, who fought against new fhipii last year, commended the proposition that half of the warships should be stationed in the Pacific.