LEADING ARTICLES. 



597 



population is about 26,000, while the Japan- 

 ese is about 1200, rising in the sumnier sea- 

 son to over 2000. Some 200 are engaged in 

 the salt fields ; but the rest give their time 

 to market gardening, orcharding and gene- 

 ral agriculture; and without their assistance 

 the orchards of the district could neVer place 

 the fruit on the market in proper time and 

 condition. It is their deft fingers that handle 

 the millions of cherries, tomatoes and apri- 

 cots that swell the market in season, and 

 they also take an important place in the im- 

 mense wheat harvest of the vast fertile valleys 

 of the State. 



In the northern portion of the great 

 State there are some 16,500 Japanese, 

 nearly all of whom are devoted to the 

 tilling" of the soil. Perhaps the most 

 successful and important Japanese 

 farmers of the State are in this northern 

 district. Around Sacramento they are 

 among the greatest fruit growers, vine- 

 yardists and vegetable producers the 

 country knows. 



The low-lying district along the river )•; 

 tabooed by the native population, and given 

 up almost wholly to the men from the rice 

 fields of Nippon. Without the Japanese this 

 whole fertile district would probably be idle 

 and useless. Near Stockton alone there are 

 about 4000 Japanese farmers, all doing a 

 brisk and productive business. I have seen 

 a good deal of these: have lived near them 

 and bought from them, and have always 

 found them a practical, honest and enter- 

 prising set of men. 



ONE JAP. EQUAL TO FOUR ITALIANS. 



Describing the agricultural and horti- 

 cultural beauties of the San Joaqum 

 Valley, this writer says they could not 

 have been developed without the 

 Japanese labourers. 



This vast harvest of fruit and grain could 

 hardly be gathered in but for the help of 

 Japanese hands. During the time of the 

 anti-Asiatic agitation the number of Japari- 

 ese in this district became somewhat reduced. 

 Indians, Greeks, Mexicans and Italians tcok 

 their places; but these were soon found to 

 be inferior to the Japanese as practical 

 orchardists and harvesters. Tlie Am<"ricaii 

 managers freelv admit that one Japanese 

 proves equal to at least thre« or tour of 

 these other nationalities, when it comes to 

 agriculture. It is now, I think, admitted 

 that middle California cannot be hilly de- 

 veloped without the assistance of Japanese 

 labour. 



SOBER AND HARD-WORKING. 

 As to the character of the Japanese 

 workers the writer of this article is very 

 explicit. He evidently speaks from an 



intimate knowledge of the country and 

 his countrymen there. He says: — 



Round about Los Angeles the Japanese are 

 the chief agriculturists and market gar- 

 deners. They form the most influential and 

 enterprising of the greengrocers in the mar- 

 kets of the southern city, always outdoing 

 natives and Chinese. The same is true of 

 them along the coast towns. The Japanese 

 farnuM-. as in his native land, is a sober, 

 iuird-working man, always trying to have 

 his own little hut and his wife and family, 

 when he is permitted to have a wife. He 

 does not hang around the saloons and ques- 

 tionable places, wasting his savings. It will 

 indeed be a .sad day for agriculture in Cali- 

 fornia wlien the Japanese abandon it. 



AN UPHILL FIGHT. 



The Japanese in America are not all 

 agrarian workers, however ; they engage 

 also in commerce and the professions, 

 and in this respect are no less successful 

 than the other immigrants settling down 

 in the Ignited States. 



In trade the Japanese have an uphill fight: 

 for the native population is likely to deal 

 chiefly with its own tradesmen, so that the 

 Japanese are left to cater to their own coun- 

 trymen for the most part. As importers and 

 exporters the Japanese are, however, coming 

 more and more to occupy a position of im- 

 portance in the trade of California. As 

 hotel keepers, provisionei-s, laundrymen, and 

 cooks they are unexcelled, and are doing a 

 very flourishing business. The income from 

 each of the branches of enterprise mentioned 

 was, last year, over .£200,000; while other 

 arts and crafts are followe<l with varying 

 degrees of success by large numbers of other 

 Japanese. The most prosiierous of this class 

 are in San Francisco, where the Japanese 

 population is now over 7000. When one 

 thinks of the handicaps they have had to 

 contend with there, the marvel is that they 

 liave succeeded so well. In such trades as 

 laundry business, tailoring, dyeing and shoe- 

 makiug, tlie competition is extremely keen, 

 and jealously prevails to a great degree; but 

 the Japanese are well holding their own. In 

 Fresno, in middle California, tlie Japanese 

 were at first separated from the commercial 

 centre of the native mercliants; but the 

 .lapaucso have now opened shops suj^plying 

 natives and Japanese alike, and are doing 

 ui'U. The Japanese report that at least 70 

 I)er cent, of their customers in Fresno are 

 white people, or yink people, to speak with 

 due re.s[)ect for truth. 



FISHERIES. 



The Japanese m (California also take 



a considerable share in the fisheries of 



the Stale. On this point we quote 



again : — 



First I)eginning at Monterey and Los 

 .\ngeles, tliey are to be seen engaged in 



