RACE PREJUDICE IN THE FAR EAST 



983 



involved and which are equally danger- 

 ous in other parts of Asia. 



Eet me tell you a story as it was told 

 me by a Harvard graduate, who is now a 

 minister of the Japanese Crown. ''When 

 Perry came here," said he, ''and Town- 

 send Harris (of blessed memory) fol- 

 lowed him and made the first treaty with 

 Japan, it was stipulated that we (the 

 Japanese) should give them ground for 

 their legation and their consulates, com- 

 pounds. We did so. Yokohama was 

 then an unimportant place, a native fish- 

 ing village. It was the natural port of 

 Tokio, but as we had no foreign trade 

 that meant nothing. We gave them 

 ground in Yokohama for their consulate. 

 Merchants and traders followed, and we 

 gave them ground also for their shops. 

 The British and the Russians and other 

 European nations came in and we gave 

 them like concessions. In Yokohama, as 

 you know, houses and stores are not 

 numbered as you number them in Amer- 

 ica — no Broadway, for instance — but 

 are numbered in the order in which they 

 were built. Thus, "Number i Yoko- 

 hama" may be half a mile distant from 

 "Number 2 Yokohama." This method 

 of numbering still survives. 



"Well, as time went on the village 

 grew into a city. Under the treaty of 

 Townsend Harris and all the other trea- 

 ties the right of extra-territoriality was 

 recognized. That is, whenever a case 

 arose in which a foreigner was involved' 

 it must be tried by the consul of the 

 country to which the foreigner belonged. 

 As time went on, Sir Harry Parks, the 

 British minister, asked for ground in 

 Yokohama for a race-track. We cau- 

 tiously suggested that horse-racing was 

 said to be wicked by the European mis- 

 sionaries. But he insisted and we gave 

 him the ground. Then we were asked 

 for ground for a social club for the for- 

 eigners, and we gave them a plot on the 

 sea front, the finest piece of land in the 

 city. 



"Later they wanted to play cricket and 

 football, and finally golf. Well, we gave 

 them ground for this. As the city grew, 



this cricket-field was so surrounded by 

 buildings that it was practically in the 

 center of town. Understand, all of this 

 ground was donated. Last year we sug- 

 gested that we could use the cricket-field, 

 and we offered to give in place of it a 

 field in the suburbs. As railways had 

 been built meanwhile, the new field 

 would be even more accessible than the 

 old one was when we gave it. The for- 

 eigners demurred, and proposed that we 

 buy the old field and with the purchase- 

 money they would secure a new one. 

 Finally, we compromised by paying for 

 their improvements and furnishing them 

 a new field with like improvements free 

 of cost. 



"The question of taxation arose. Yo- 

 kohama had grown to be a city of 300,- 

 000 inhabitants, with millions of dollars 

 invested in buildings owned by for- 

 eigners. We asked no taxes on the 

 ground we had donated to them, but we 

 did think it fair that they should pay 

 taxes on their buildings. They said no, 

 that everywhere in the West the build- 

 ings went with the ground. We sub- 

 mitted the question to the Americans, 

 but they dodged the issue, saying they 

 would do whatever the others did. Then, 

 under the law of extra-territoriality, we 

 were compelled to leave the decision to 

 the British consul, and he decided against 

 us. The case has now gone to The 

 Hague Court. 



"Finally, when I tell you that in the 

 light of this history no native Japanese 

 gentleman has ever been permitted to 

 enter the club-house or the grand-stand 

 of the race-track or to play upon the 

 cricket-field, perhaps you will understand 

 why there is some feeling against for- 

 eigners in Yokohama." 



When Commodore Perry went to 

 Japan in 1853 he wrote a letter to the 

 Japanese Emperor containing these 

 words : 



"With the Americans, as indeed with 

 all Christian people, it is considered a 

 sacred duty to receive with kindness, and 

 to succor and protect all, of whatever 

 nation, who may be cast upon their 



