THE JAPANESE PROBLEM IN THE UNITED STATES CHAPTER I THE IMMIGRATION OF JAPANESE TO THE Japanese in the United States. — According to the Census, the Japanese population of the continental United States April 15, 1910, was 72,157. There is good reason to believe, however, that the enumeration was by no means complete and that the true number was several thousand larger than the number recorded. Since 1910, the Japanese population has changed little. In all probability the number of American born has somewhat more than offset the number who have left the country or died.1 The development, composition, and ter 1 As is evident from the data presented in this chapter, the writer has been unable to obtain any evidence in support of the statement made (Hearings of House Committee on Immigration, February 13, 1914, p. 48) by the Commissioner General of Immigration that the number of Japanese in the United States had doubled in the last six or seven years. The population estimates given in the Japanese-American Yearbook, which in different localities have been found to be fairly accurate, but to exaggerate somewhat, have been as follows: ritorial distribution of this population should be described first of all, for much of importance relating to the Japanese problem is contained in the details thus brought out. Early Immigration. The early history of Japanese immigration to the United States is neither clear nor important. From 1638 to 1868, when the present Imperial Government was organized, emigration from Japan was prohibited. It was not definitely legalized until 1885. But while emigration was still forbidden, a few Japanese sailors and students reached our shores. Moreover, in the Sacramento Union and other California papers for 1869 we read of a colony of a few score of Japanese settled as prospective silk growers at Gold Hill, California, where they were received with great favor. The promoter of this colony expected more to follow, but evidently this expectation was not realized because of the failure of the project. In the report of the United States Treasury Department for 1893, it was stated that between 1861 and 1870, 218 Japanese had immigrated to this country. The Census of 1870, however, reported only 55 Japanese as residing in the United States. The corresponding number reported in 1880 was 148, Checking over the reports of the Japanese associations, entries and departures, the Immigration Commission arrived at an estimate of from 95,000 to 100,000 for 1909. The Japanese-American's estimate was 98,715. 1 Some of the details relating to the early immigration of Japanese have been presented by Y. Ichihashi in Japanese Immigration: Its Status in California. in 1890, 2,039. These 2,039 Japanese reported as residing in the United States in 1890 is evidence of the larger number of immigrants to this country following upon the legalization of emigration by Japan in 1885, and the enactment of the Chinese exclusion law in 1882, which, before 1890, had begun to effect a decrease in the number of Mongolian laborers, to cause a dearth of farm hands, and to cause a rise in the wages of common laborers in California. The Immigration Commission presented the following table based upon the reports of the Commissioner General of Immigration, to show the immigration of Japanese, except from our insular possessions, beginning with the fiscal year 1892-93:1 table it is seen that numbers grew slowly. Not as many as two thousand Japanese arrived in any one year until 1898. In 1900, 12,626 were ad 1 Immigration Commission, Reports, Vol. 23, p. 5. mitted, but this unusual number is explained largely by the diversion of Japanese from Honolulu to the Pacific ports. At no time since has the direct immigration from Japan been so large. During the six years 1901 to 1906, the total number immigrating directly was 34,491. For some years, however, this direct immigration was greatly augmented by an unfortunate indirect immigration by way of the Hawaiian Islands. A large number of Japanese, who had gone there to work on the sugar plantations, came to the mainland seeking higher wages or better opportunities to establish their independence of the wage relation, than were offered in the Islands. Still others, when the Japanese government discouraged emigration to the continental United States, emigrated to Hawaii as a stepping-stone to the Pacific Coast. Thus as against 39,531 admitted directly from Japan during the years 1902 to 1907, some 32,855 are reported to have sailed from Honolulu for the mainland.1 Since 1907 great restrictions have been placed upon direct immigration from Japan, while immigration indirectly from our insular possessions and our neigh 1 The number of Japanese leaving Honolulu for the Orient and for the Pacific Coast are reported by the Territorial Board of Immigration and the United States Commissioner of Labor (in Bulletins 66 and 94). The total number reported as going to the Pacific Coast was 35,634, but 2,779 of these, in 1907-08, immigrated to Canada. See Report of W. L. MacKenzie King, Royal Commissioner appointed to inquire into the methods by which Orientals have been induced to come to Canada. The more important parts of this report are found quoted in Reports of the U. S. Immigration Commission, Vol. 40, pp. 66-71. With reference to this movement, see, also, Reports of Immigration Commission, Vol. 23, p. 6. boring countries has been prohibited. The history of this most recent period may, however, be reviewed to better advantage presently. Character of the Immigration. Most of the Japanese who came directly to this country were young men. They came seeking opportunities to study, or better opportunities to gain a livelihood than were in prospect at home. They were of course drawn largely from the most intelligent and ambitious of the middle class. Along with these young men came a smaller number of older men who had failed in business or had found farming or wage labor in Japan unattractive. A third element came from Hawaii, where a large percentage of the total number had been drawn from the poorest and most ignorant class. Many of the most ambitious of these, dissatisfied with their lot as poorly paid plantation laborers, availed themselves of the opportunity to come to the mainland. From Mexico came some corresponding closely to the classes arriving from Hawaii, from Canada a few like those immigrating from Japan. Age of Immigrants. - Combining 11,585 of these diverse elements, the Immigration Commission found that almost twenty-three in each hundred (22.6 per cent) had come to the United States when under twenty years of age, and that more than one half (53.2 per cent) had come when under twenty-five. On the other hand, only about twenty-five in each 100 (24.7 per cent) were thirty or upward, and less than five in each one hundred (4.2 per cent) forty or over.1 1 Immigration Commission, Reports, Vol. 23, pp. 7–8. |