the Japanese language. These are attended by the Japanese pupils after the public schools close for the day. They are primarily for the study of the Japanese language and are not intended to perpetuate the traditions and moral concepts of Japan. Of course, these are criticized by hostile Americans. But says Professor Millis, "They are supplementary schools, and at the worst, there is much less in them to be adversely criticized than in the parochial schools attended by so many children of the South and European immigrants. No real problem is yet evident connected with Japanese children on American soil.” These are some of the more obvious facts concerning the status of Japanese residents in California.

In conclusion, Mr. President, the undersigned, in their unofficial capacity as representatives of their countrymen, have thought this a fitting opportunity for directing your attention to the status of our people on this coast. We approach you in no spirit of complaint. If we have grievances we recognize that such grievances are inseparable from the conditions which now exist and that they must be borne with patience. It is our firm belief, however, that fuller knowledge and better understanding on the part of the American people of our aims and aspirations as residents of the great State of California will tend to disabuse some prejudices and make our condition happier. We would convince the people of California that our presence and our activities are not a menace to the commonwealth, but that its dearest interests are our own. We are happy to be able to count with confidence upon your love of justice and we ask your powerful help in so shaping public thought and opinion that every obstacle to harmony may be removed. It is the earnest desire of the Japanese people in this state to dwell in peace and good will with their American neighbors, and they desire to so direct their energies that the best interests of the state and communities in which they live may be subserved.

If it is our good fortune to impress you with the sincerity of these, our purposes and aims, we shall feel that your visit to the West has been most fortunate and we shall remain gratified and grateful.

We have the honor to remain, Sir,

Most respectfully yours,

THE JAPANESE ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA.

TRUTH OF THE JAPANESE FARMING IN CALIFORNIA.

By TOYOJI CHIBA, Managing Director of the Japanese Agricultural Association of California.

INTRODUCTION.

At the close of an unprecedented war, in which nearly 10,000,000 lives and $300,000,000,000 in treasure have been sacrificed, the people of every nation must concern themselves deeply in order that such a great calamity shall not occur again. The putting forth of our best efforts in uprooting all international complications is the duty of mankind. the responsibility of every people.

From this point of view the League of Nations has been proposed and the conception has been reached that the competitive civilization of the nineteenth century must be swept away and in its place the golden age of cooperation must be realized. We have the profoundest sympathy and respect for the contentions and standpoints of those who are putting forth their very best efforts for the realization of this ideal. President Wilsen, the humanitarians of the Orient and the Occident, the world democrats and international pacifists.

We believe that the historical friendship between Japan and America must be maintained in the future as in the past; that the waves of the Pacific must be made even more peaceful than before and during the great war; and that by conducting our international relations in such a way that trade and navigation shall become more and more flourishing the prosperity of both nations and the happiness of both peoples will be promoted and, at the same time, the peace of the world and the progress of eivilization will be advanced.

But in order to maintain and increase this friendliness in the international relations of Japan and America, first of all there must be mutual understanding and harmony. At the present time, however, there are a number of difficult questions, both international and domestic, which mar the mutual understanding and harmony of the two nations, estrange the feelings of the two peoples, impede their friendly interecurse and tend to bring disaster to the welfare of both peoples. This is truly deplorable. Therefore we believe that it is the most urgent duty of every true citizen who desires justice and humanity and perpetual peace between Japan and America to think deeply on this point and devise plans to ward off the calamity in advance.

Just now among the difficult questions between Japan and America are the race question, diplomatic questions, financial questions, political questions, and social questions. The situation is very complicated, but we believe that if instigation, estrangement, misunderstanding, prejudice and discriminatory ideas were removed, these questions for the most part would disappear.

We also believe that the anti-Japanese question which is now being vehemently discussed among certain statesmen and others is being confused by lack of proper understanding of the facts about the Japanese, and by prejudiced instigation by certain gentlemen, and by that

relic of a past age, the idea of discriminatory competition. For example, the usual arguments of those who oppose the Japanese are: (1) The Japanese are unassimilable and should be expelled in the future interests of the whites and for the preservation of western civilization; (2) Japanese laborers are to be feared because they will destroy the white man's standards of living and wages and therefore should be expelled; (3) the Japanese are evading the California land law, buying land, encroaching on the sphere of the whites, and will ultimately invade the whole of California, therefore they should be expelled; (4) Japanese by photograph marriage are importing large numbers of women who breed like rabbits. Consequently California would in future be controlled by Japanese, therefore measures must be taken immediately to eradicate them.

Such arguments are all based on misunderstanding, prejudice and discriminatory ideas. Whatever may be the motive and whoever may advocate such opinions, they are not worthy of our respect, and it is difficult to believe that impartial Americans will share such opinions. But in every nation or society there are people whose business is misunderstanding, crooked argument and instigation. The important thing is to inform the majority of the people of the exact facts and secure their impartial judgment. If this can be done, all will be well. We do not think it absolutely necessary to refute the arguments of the anti-Japanese party, nor do we recognize any absolute necessity for defending the standpoint of the Japanese, but inasmuch as the question affects the diplomatic relations of the two nations and may possibly affect the peace of the world, we believe that in the interests of international peace, the best thing to do at this time is to observe and examine the facts impartially without concealment and submit them to the people of both nations for their candid judgment. And as for the California anti-Japanese question, we are convinced that instead of making it a diplomatic question between the two governments, the opening up of a way to solve the question by mutual understanding and harmony among the individuals residing within the same state is not only the most appropriate method, but that the reaching of just conclusions on the basis of an examination of the facts and just judgment of the facts, instead of debates between the so-called anti-Japanese and pro-Japanese parties, the object in view being the welfare of California, placing the emphasis upon worldwide international sympathy and upon individual character which transcends differences of race and nationality, in the spirit of true democracy, is the method which is most just and proper.

HOW JAPANESE FARMERS SETTLED IN STATE.

In the investigation of the facts concerning the Japanese in California, it is necessary in the first place to consider the history of their coming. Fifty years have elapsed since Japanese first came to California. But the motive of their coming was not altogether the result of overpopulation or merely because they were impelled by conditions in the homeland. The excellent climate, broad lands and wealth of capital in California unquestionably were strong motives enticing the

Japanese to California, but besides this, conditions in California at that time were such that the financial opportunities which inevitably awaited immigrants skilled in farming like the Japanese must not be overlooked. As the result of the enforcement of the Chinese exclusion law of 1884, California farms experienced a shortage of laborers year after year. But just at that time grain farming and stock raising in California were giving place to fruit and vegetable farming, and most California farmers were realizing greater profits from fruit farming than from grain and stock raising and were turning their attention exclusively to that industry, which required a large number of laborers in harvesting. Without due attention to this fact they recklessly planted fruit trees. And besides, as a result of the sudden springing up of irrigation projects, the growing of sugar beets, beans, potatoes and other vegetables gradually became flourishing and the farmers encountered great difficulty in obtaining suitable laborers for harvesting their ripened products.

But the Japanese, who were expert farmers through years of training in their own country, active and nimble in body, possessed special characteristics as workers which rendered them exceedingly desirable to the landlords who experienced great difficulty in securing suitable farm workers from among European immigrants. Japanese were regarded as very valuable immigrants and efforts were made to entice them to come.

In the summer of 1888 about sixty Japanese were invited to Vacaville to gather fruit. The result was highly satisfactory and after that there was a great demand for them in the hop fields of the Sacramento Valley, in the production of sugar beets in the Salinas Valley, and the grape harvest in central California. Gradually, Japanese were induced to come from Hawaii and the main land of Japan. It must not be overlooked that the motives of their immigration were the development of California, the labor famine which accompanied the sudden expansion of agriculture and the urgency of financial necessity due to the shortage of farm laborers.

Among the opponents of the Japanese in California are some, who, seeing that the Japanese are making special developments in agriculture, are spreading the report that the Japanese are encroaching on lands of the whites and driving them out. But the fact is that the majority of laborers who have migrated from Europe are not only unsuitable for farm labor but they prefer work in the city rather than in the burning heat and the rain of the farm. Compared with the severe labor of the farm, city labor is easy. Wages also are much greater and life far more agreeable in every way. Labor in the city is so much more agreeable than farm labor that the large majority of European immigrants, even when they settle for a time on the land, as soon as they get a little capital and financial leeway, they tend to move to places where there are plenty of theatres, saloons and other places of amusement. No matter how much artificial encouragement is given them to remain on the farm there is no tendency to do so. Whether the Japanese come and settle or not, if it is left entirely to European immigrants, the rich farm lands of California probably will return to the wilds.

TENDENCY OF AMERICAN POPULATION TO CONCENTRATE IN CITIES CONSIDERED IN RELATION TO JAPANESE SETTLERS.

The tendency of population in America to concentrate in cities has become increasingly manifest in the twentieth century and the resulting disparity in the proportion of population in city and country has given rise to many complicated social and economic problems of grave importance to America. According to the census of 1910, the population of America was 91,972,266. Compared with the population in 1900, 75,994,575, there was an increase of 15,977,691, i.e., 20 per cent. In 1900 the urban population numbered 31,109,645, and in 1910, 42,623,383, an increase of 11,011,738, or 34.8 per cent in ten years. The rural population in 1900 was 44,384,930, increasing in 1910 to 49,348,883, an increase of 4,963,153, or only 11.2 per cent. In other words, in 1900, 40.5 per cent of the people were in cities and 59.5 per cent in the country, while in 1910 46.3 per cent were in cities and 53.7 per cent in the country. Particularly in the flourishing Eastern and Middle States an extraordinary increase in urban population was shown, and inversely, there was a marked yearly diminution of rural population in not a few states. In Iowa, for instance, in the ten years from 1900 to 1910, the urban population increased 19.9 per cent, while the rural population decreased 7.2 per cent. In Indiana the urban population increased 30.5 per cent and the rural population lost 5.1 per cent. In Missouri, the urban population increased 22.3 per cent and the rural population lost 2.5 per cent. In Ohio there was an increase of urban population of 31.5 per cent and a decrease in rural population of 1.3 per cent. California, being a newly opened country with a sparse population of only 15.3 persons to the square mile, and an agricultural state, the rural population has not shown such an extreme decrease as has occurred in the Middle and Eastern States but the tendency to disparity of population between city and country is much more extreme than in other states.

In 1900 the urban population was 810,193 and the rural population 674,860, the proportion being 52.4 per cent in cities and 47.6 per cent in the country, but in 1910 the urban population numbered 1,469,739 and the rural population 901,810, i.e., 61.8 per cent urban and only 38.2 per cent rural. California has taken first place in the United States in the matter of disparity of urban and rural population.

The causes of this concentration in cities are many and complicated, but the principal causes, it is needless to say, are:

1. The United States has shifted its center from agriculture to manufactures, resulting in greater opportunity for labor in the city than in the country.

2. Consequently wages are generally higher in the city than in the country and opportunities for gain in city occupations and the rate of profit have come to be greater than in agriculture.

3. City labor is less strenuous than farm labor, city occupations are less hazardous and difficult than farming, and even if one fails he soon

recovers.

4. The difference in culture between city and country is extreme. Particularly in such a country as America, with its system of widely. separated villages, country life has very few opportunities to enjoy the