TOPICS OF THE MONTH. 



463 



as an inferior by speech, dress, and de- 

 meanour. Public opinion inexorably 

 forced him to the bottom of the social 

 ladder. So frequently was he reminded 

 that no one asked him to come, so often 

 was he urged, should he complain, to 

 betake himself whence he came, that a 

 very high valuation of that unattainable 

 distinction, American nativity, grew up 

 in the immigrant's mind. Even the edu- 

 cated, clear-thinking immigrant, no 

 matter how specious the claim of racial 

 superiority might appear to him, keenly 

 felt the pressure of a patronising, 

 almost hostile environment, and often 

 accepted, unconsciously perhaps, the 

 subordinate rank accorded him and his 

 nation by those born beneath the Flag. 

 Of this force behind this grinding de- 

 nationalising process none but an immi- 

 grant can gain an adequate conception. 



NOT ADMITTED BY THE JAPS ! 



But this subtle process of self-degra- 

 dation so pleasing to American nostrils 

 never takes place in the Japanese soul. 

 In his scanty baggage the immigrant 

 brings from Nippon an abiding belief 

 in the grandeur of his nation, a feeling 

 of superiority over the rest of the world 

 as unyielding, as well developed, as 

 deeply rooted as the American pride of 

 race. The Japanese is the first immi- 

 grant who has not only failed to pay 

 homage at the shrine of American 

 nativity, but who has also challenged 

 the right of the Caucasian to march at 

 the head of the procession. By his as- 

 sertion of equality the yellow Japanese 

 immigrant has stung American pride to 

 the quick. At the same time his refusal 

 to worship American nativity implied 

 an assumption of superiority over the 

 naturalised white immigrant who did 

 thus worship. And the naturalised 

 Americans, feeling the double slight, 

 resented the implication bitterly. None 

 is louder in the demand for Japanese 

 exclusion than the white immigrant or 

 his offspring. 



PROVING EQUALITY. 

 The Japanese did not come to Cali- 

 fornia until after the passage of the 

 Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882. Like 

 their cousins from the mainland, the 



insular immigrants became farm lab- 

 ourers, house servants, hewers of wood 

 and drawers of water. The Japanese 

 rendered the same menial services that 

 the Chinaman used to perform, but the 

 Japanese was not submissive, obedient, 

 pliant, yielding. The Japanese was not 

 a servant who would " do what he was 

 wanted to." The Japanese " talked 

 back." 



After the victory over the Russians, 

 the Japanese immigrants, having em- 

 barked in all lines of business with 

 eminent success, began to insist openly 

 upon the equality of white and yellow, 

 developed a tender skin, a sensitiveness 

 incompatible with their status as immi- 

 grants, the Calif ornians thought. Lift- 

 ing chin and squaring shoulders, the 

 Japanese asserted by their bearing that 

 they were at least as good as any white 

 man. 



What was worse, they nroved the 

 assertion. 



BEATING THE WHITE MAX. 



Thousands of well-bred, well-edu- 

 cated Japanese who sought their fortune 

 on the Pacific Coast showed beyond 

 doubt that they were the white man's 

 match in any line of endeavour. On 

 the farm, in trade and business, they 

 outstripped their competitors, exerted 

 an influence far greater than their num- 

 ber warranted. Three times in succes- 

 sion Shima, the Japanese grower, vir- 

 tually cornered the potato market of 

 the Pacific through superior knowledge, 

 better foresight and greater daring. As 

 the Italians and Portuguese had dis- 

 placed the Swedes and Norwegians in 

 the Calif ornian fishing industry, so the 

 fapanese commenced to displace the 

 Latins. No line of business was " safe " 

 from the yellow invasion. 



Not all of the remarkable business 

 success of the Japanese was due to 

 superior ability and greater industry 

 the individual immigrant. A large 

 measure of the victories was due to the 

 low standard of business ethics thai 

 distinguishing mark of many of the 

 Japanese, to the unscrupulous, question- 

 able methods employed by the brown 

 men without hesitation. 



