PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-THIRD FRUIT-GROWERS ' CONVENTION. 71 



public that we may have gone a step too far in excluding altogether 

 those who are adapted to do certain work in which there can be no 

 competition, because white men will not do it. 



We exclude the Chinese absolutely, but are opening our doors to the 

 Japanese and the Hindus, although both classes are more objectionable 

 than the Chinese. Such discrimination is unwise and unfair to both 

 ourselves and the Chinese. If a reasonable restriction is deemed advis- 

 able it should apply with more force to the Japanese and Hindus than 

 to Chinese, for the latter is the least objectionable of the three, and 

 there are conditions under which we can utilize the labor of a limited 

 number of Chinese laborers without bringing them into competition 

 with white labor, while the Japanese are certain to be a constant menace 

 to both employer and employe. 



Suppose that the exclusion law was so modified that a limited number 

 of Chinese were allowed to come to the Pacific Coast? Is it not prob- 

 able, then, that we would have a class of reliable laborers who would 

 perform certain field labor which men of our own race will not do on 

 account of the physical and climatic conditions that prevail, and which 

 can not be eliminated? It is no experiment. We already know that 

 Chinamen are patient and industrious ; that they are content to move 

 from place to place where their labor is needed, and that, next to the 

 sober, reliable white men, they are the most satisfactory laborers in 

 the horticultural and agricultural industries. 



Of course to remove opposition to the modification of the restriction 

 law as suggested, it will be necessary to convince the people, and 

 especially the laboring classes, that to continue under present conditions 

 means limitation of the operations of the American producer, to put a 

 check upon progress and development, and to limit the field open to 

 American genius and enterprise. They must also be convinced that to 

 employ Chinese in menial service which no other race can or will per- 

 form satisfactorily can not possibly bring them into competition with 

 white labor. 



In any event, the solution of this question can only be reached by 

 honest, fair-minded, patient investigation, uninfluenced by political 

 expediency or cheap demagogy. The situation is this: We must have 

 more available labor at certain seasons of the year, otherwise land- 

 owners will be forced to abandon crops that require cooperative hands 

 and return to primitive methods in which the labor is not such an 

 essential factor. No one will dispute that the tendency among men is 

 to accomplish their purpose with as little effort as possible and with the 

 least possible discomfort. It has been convincingly demonstrated that, 

 owing to existing conditions which it seems can not be changed, at 

 certain times of the year certain kinds of work are necessary for which 

 white labor is not available. 



