An evening school for teaching English to adult Japanese was formerly maintained (in connection with the Mission Church) in Vacaville, but it was discontinued a few years ago. At present plans have been made for establishing an elementary school where the children may be educated in the Japanese language and literature.

None of the Chinese and few of the Japanese are connected with any local religious organization. In Vacaville there is a small Japanese Methodist mission, which at one time had 50 members, but since the destruction of its building by fire three years ago its membership has decreased and now numbers only 15.

The Japanese also provide a small hospital for the care of those who are sick or injured. This is the only hospital in the community. These Asiatic races do not have membership in any American fraternal organization. Nor, in so far as known, do the Chinese have any organization of their own. The Japanese have a local branch of the Japanese Association of America, but its membership at the present time is only 42. No other organization is found among the members of this race.

There is practically no association between the Chinese and Japanese (this is true of the East Indians also) and the white population of the community save that incidental to the conduct of business. There is, however, no prejudice against the Chinese save that due to difference of race. Against the Japanese, on the other hand, there is a very strong prejudice. It is partly due to racial differences, but more to the progress made by the Japanese, their position as laborers and tenants, and other matters commented on earlier in this report. The extent of this prejudice is shown by the fact that three years ago the Japanese mission was burned to the ground, and the act was, in a way, approved by a great many of the natives. For the past year (previous to August, 1908), the Japanese have tried in vain to get a permit to erect a modern brick church building, which would not only comply with all ordinances of the town of Vacaville, but would be superior to practically all of the buildings in the community.

The East Indians are regarded as the least desirable of all races. There is a strong local prejudice against them because of their dress, color, filthy habits, taboo of articles of food not prepared by themselves, and their primitive method of living.

CHAPTER V.

IMMIGRANT LABOR IN THE GARDEN-SEED AND DECIDUOUSFRUIT INDUSTRIES OF SANTA CLARA COUNTY, CAL.

INTRODUCTION.

Most of the agriculture of Santa Clara County is intensive. Of farm and dairy products as reported for 1908, aggregating $8,389,680, the value of deciduous fruit, "green," dried, and canned, was $5,175,010; of vegetables, $1,043,670; of berries, $116,000; of garden seeds, $1,000,000; of cereals, hay, dairy, and miscellaneous farm products, $1,055,000. The gardens, berry patches, orchards, and seed farms require many seasonal laborers and involve much hand work. The labor employed on the seed farms was investigated by an agent of the Commission in 1908, in the deciduous fruit orchards in 1908 and 1909.

IMMIGRANT LABOR ON THE SEED FARMS.

The several large seed farms require a considerable number of laborers throughout the year, and a much larger number during the busy season from March to November. On the several small ranches, on the other hand, very few men are employed except during the spring and summer months.

In the production of garden seed two kinds of labor are required— that with teams and that for hand work. The work with teamsplowing, cultivating, and hauling is, with rare exceptions, done by members of the various white races. With somewhat more numerous exceptions the hand work is done by Chinese and Japanese. The Asiatics find little place in the one kind of work, because they are not good with teams and because white men can usually be obtained in sufficient numbers for work of that kind. They do most of the hand work, on the other hand, because white men are not, as a rule, available for it, and because the Asiatics have been both better and cheaper.

The white men employed on the seed farms from which detailed data were obtained belong to various races. Of 26, 2 were nativeborn, 8 were French, 5 were German, 6 were Portuguese, 2 were Swiss-Italian, 2 were Spanish, and 1 was English. All these races have long been represented in this country, and there has been no particular choice among the white races employed as teamsters on the oldest of these farms. The teamsters are almost invariably hired by the month and are paid $35 with board and lodging, or in the

Report of the California State Agricultural Society for the year 1908, pp. 166-168.

few cases where they are married, $12 or $15 more per month in lieu of board. Those employed in supervisory capacities are paid from $50 to $65 per month, and in a very few cases, on the larger ranches,

even more.

All of the hand work on the three seed farms investigated was being done by Chinese and Japanese. In this respect these ranches are typical of all of importance in the county. A few ranchers who have been engaged in the business of growing seeds for twenty years or more have been able to obtain a sufficient number of Chinese, and employ no Japanese; a somewhat larger number have found it necessary, as the Chinese have become scarce, to employ Japanese to complete their labor forces, while most of those who have only recently engaged in this branch of farming employ Japanese only in the hand work.

The Chinese, as is suggested above, were formerly employed by those who entered the industry of growing garden seed twenty-five or thirty years ago. The laborers were obtained in the numbers desired through the Chinese boss employed on each ranch. The members of this race were very satisfactory. They boarded themselves as a group, worked for 80 cents and 90 cents per day, and were efficient laborers. This hand work requires much skill and care. The plants must be carefully selected and all "sports" removed, the plants well irrigated and carefully cultivated, and the seeds carefully harvested. The Chinese have been regarded as the best of all races thus far employed, because they are skillful and give the close attention and care required to obtain the best product.

With the decreasing number of Chinese engaged in agricultural work and the expansion of seed growing, however, it became necessary, before the close of the decade 1890-1900, to employ other races. Some white men, chiefly Portuguese and Italians, were employed. It was more inconvenient to obtain them than it had been to obtain the Chinese, because they were not organized into groups, did not remain on the ranch year after year as the typical Chinese had done, and were not so skillful in their work. In one instance, it is stated, Chinese were employed to follow the Portuguese to do the parts of the work not satisfactorily done. Under these circumstances the Japanese have readily found employment since they appeared in this community in considerable numbers about ten years ago and have practically displaced the white men doing hand work and made good the diminishing number of Chinese. Like the Chinese, they have been secured and paid on each ranch where they are employed through one of their countrymen serving as "boss." They have proved to be more satisfactory than the white men who have been employed, but, on the whole, much less so than the Chinese with whom they are invariably compared. They do not remain on the same ranches year after year and master all of the details of the work as do the Chinese, so that they are less skillful. They are easily attracted by more remunerative work elsewhere, with the result that if their demands are not satisfactorily met the labor force becomes depleted. Moreover, they are less attentive and less careful in their work, do not look to the employer's interests as do the Chinese, and require more supervision.

On the ranches from which detailed data were obtained 80 Chinese and 30 Japanese were employed. Taking all of the seed farms, however, the number of the Japanese exceeds that of the Chinese. Moreover, most of the laborers added during the busiest months are members of the former race. The wages paid during the busiest months are frequently changed according to the demand for labor. For Chinese and Japanese they are, however, most frequently $1.65 or $1.75 per day with lodging, but without board. During the winter months they are paid $1.25 or $1.40 per day.

IMMIGRANT LABOR IN THE GROWING AND HARVESTING OF DECIDUOUS FRUITS.

Cherries, apricots, peaches, and prunes are the most important of the many kinds of deciduous fruits grown in Santa Clara County. Most of the cherries and peaches are packed and shipped "green," while the prunes and most of the apricots are dried and then packed and shipped. All kinds of fruits are canned to some extent, and especially those which do not find a ready market at profitable prices. The labor involved in the industry is, therefore, that required for growing and harvesting the crops and that required in packing houses and canneries. Some of the packing, especially of cherries, however, is done on the ranches and not in the packing houses in town.

Most of the ranches devoted to fruit growing are comparatively small. Some contain only a few acres; one of 50 acres is an unusually large ranch. The owner of a small ranch usually takes care of it without aid of hired hands except for pruning and for harvesting the crop. On the larger ranches one or two men are hired throughout the year, the wages varying from $40 to $50 per month, without board, but with lodging, a house being furnished by the ranch owner, or from $30 to $35 per month, with board and lodging. On some of the medium-sized ranches hands are hired from time to time as needed, to assist with the plowing and similar work, the usual wage under such circumstances being either $1.50 or $1.75 per day without board.

The general laborers employed are usually white men and, as a rule, of the same race as the ranch owner. Though there are large numbers of Asiatics, South Italians, Portuguese, and Swedes in this county, the vast majority of the ranchers are native-born. Chinese and Japanese, it is true, have leased several orchards, but these cases are, after all, comparatively few. With a single exception, in all of these cases investigated, the Chinese or Japanese tenant hired as regular help persons of his own race. In the one exceptional case, a Japanese tenant and purchaser of fruit on the trees, employed white men as teamsters because they are more proficient than the members of his own race. The Italians who own or lease land are chiefly vegetable gardeners, not orchardists; the same is true of the Portuguese. On the other hand, the Swedes among the fruit growers are rather numerous. They employ few ranch hands, however. The native ranchers almost invariably employ what is known as "American labor"; i. e., white men other than Portuguese and Italians. Now and then, however, Japanese, and, less frequently, Chinese are em

ployed as gardeners or as laborers. In this latter case the object generally in view is to have an Asiatic available to serve as a boss and as agent in securing his countrymen for the harvest season. In harvesting the fruit crops, the classes of laborers employed vary from locality to locality. This is especially true as between the vicinity of San Jose, where there is a large number of South Italians, and Sunnyvale and Mountain View, which are small towns, 8 and 14 miles, respectively, from San Jose.

Within a few miles of San Jose there are many cherry orchards. The races employed during the harvest season were investigated by an agent of the Commission in May and June, 1909. Two methods are employed by the ranchers of this locality in harvesting cherries. In one of these the grower hires his pickers and packers directly, and markets the crop through commission men or fruit-shipping firms. The other method is to sell the fruit on the trees. It is estimated that more than one-half of the cherry crop about San Jose is disposed of in the latter way. This method is seldom employed in other localities, though occasionally fruit is sold in this way to Chinese or Japanese labor contractors.

Those who purchase the cherry crop while it is on the trees are Italians. Many of them are without any means whatever to begin with, but in time are able to accumulate a small sum of money. They are enabled to engage in this business by advances made by the fruit companies shipping from San Jose. These companies, in competing for business, make loans to the fruit buyers at the ordinary rate of interest. The buyers purchase their boxes and other supplies from the companies, and make their prices through them, paying, of course, the usual commission.

The Italian fruit buyer is usually a married man with children. He sets the members of his family at work, the boys aiding in the picking, the girls and the wife in the packing. If necessary other Italian men and women are hired to do a part of the work. In no instance where the crop had been purchased on the trees by an Italian fruit buyer were any employees other than Italians found at work. The Italian pickers are paid the current rate of wages, $1.50 per day. The women packers are almost always paid $1. On ranches where the fruit is not sold to one of these buyers, the packing is on a piece basis, and the packers are able to earn more than this wage.

The purchases referred to above are chiefly of the fruit on the smaller ranches. The owners of most of the larger ranches hire their employees and ship their fruit through the fruit-shipping firms. Most of the pickers and packers employed by them are white men and women, including a large percentage of young persons who go to the orchards each day from their homes-chiefly in San Jose. Of 31 cherry pickers on 4 of these large ranches, 16 are native born of native father, 10 South Italians, 1 Irish, 1 English, 1 Swede, 1 German-American, and 1 Irish-American. Of 40 women packing, 18 were native-born of native father, 3 German-Americans, 13 South Italians, 5 South Italian-Americans, and 1 English.

The changes of race during the last twenty years have been unimportant. A few Chinese were formerly employed and a few Japanese are found working as pickers or packers near San Jose, but these are exceptional cases. The Italians and the members of other