5. Wilful desertion for two years.
6. Habitual drunkenness for two years.
The Situation in ’Frisco.
About the least pacific section of our united country just at present is the Pacific slope. The action of the Board of Education of San Francisco in excluding Japanese children from the regular public schools of the city, and requiring that they be segregated in schools set aside exclusively for them, has aroused the deepest interest all over the country, and its echoes are reverberating on the shores of the Chrysanthemum kingdom. It is becoming increasingly evident that the matter of excluding the Japanese from the public schools is not the crux of the matter. It is but a symptom of a very general condition of dislike and distrust. The people of California frankly declare that the more they see of the Japanese the less they like them and that since the Russo-Japanese war, as one resident of the state puts it, “the Japs are getting too blamed cockey.” The Californians assert that they have the sympathy and support of the entire Pacific slope in their determination to hold the Japanese in check. They point to the fact that the little brown men practically dominate the labor situation in Hawaii, and that they are making that territory merely a half-way house to California, which they will likewise over-run. The labor unions, which are particularly strong on the slope are strong in their antagonism to the Japanese.
It is boldly declared by many representative citizens of California that they will not stop short of introducing a bill in this or the Sixtieth Congress excluding the Japanese from the United States on practically the same terms as are now applied to the Chinese, who are held in some quarters to be more desirable.
Many interesting questions of national and international law are involved in the present situation.
Those who advocate a federal law excluding the Japanese are reminded that the existing treaty, which was negotiated by Mr. Gresham in Mr. Cleveland’s second administration, provides that “this treaty shall go into operation on the 17th day of July, 1899 and shall remain in force for a period of twelve years from that date.” Twelve months’ notice, from the time of expiration, must also be given by either party, if such party desires to terminate the agreement. Notice of termination cannot be given, therefore, until July 19, 1911, and until July 1912, it must continue as the supreme law of the land. Consequently the adoption of a Japanese exclusion law cannot become effective for five years and a half. The President’s advocacy of naturalization for the Japanese is not received kindly on the slope. In addition to all this Mayor Schmitz and Abe Ruef, the political “boss,” have been indicted for extortion.
TREED!
Philadelphia North American