English and only 10 could write it. Their wives having migrated to this country more recently in the majority of cases, and having practically no associations with other races, have little knowledge of the English language. Of 26 women, only 2 could speak and only 1 read English. (See General Table 170.)

Under these circumstances, it is not surprising that most of the newspapers taken are Japanese publications and that most of the reading is of works in that language. No newspaper at all was subscribed for in 15 of the 55 households. There was 1 in 16 and from 2 to 7 in the remaining 24. Newspapers printed in English were found in only three households, including two instances of a newspaper printed in both English and Japanese. The other newspaper printed in English deals with farming and farm life and is largely devoted to scientific matters.

The limited knowledge of English and the character of the newspapers taken show very well the limited extent to which the Japanese farmers and their wives have become assimilated. It is shown also by the church attended and the organizations in which they have membership. The Japanese who attend church attend a Buddhist mission at Penryn, where services are held once a month. No other provision is made for them in the district.

No tenant or landowning farmer of those on the 55 farms visited belonged to any organization save a Japanese association. They are not regarded as eligible to membership in the numerous fraternal orders in which many white persons of the district have membership. There are two of the Japanese associations-the Japanese Association of Loomis and the Japanese Association of Placer County. The purposes of these organizations, like those bearing similar names elsewhere, are to protect and to further the interests of the Japanese race in such ways as present themselves. Of 71 farmers, 55 were members of the one organization or the other.

The few Japanese children who are old enough attend the public schools. Aside from this, there is practically no association between the Japanese and other races of the district, save that incidental to work and business. White employers do not board Japanese laborers nor do Japanese farmers board or provide lodging for any laborers other than Japanese. They do not attend the same churches nor do they have membership in the same organizations. The Japanese, like the Chinese and East Indians, stand as a race apart from all others of the communities in which they live.

THE JAPANESE AS TENANT FARMERS AND THE EFFECTS OF THEIR PRESENCE UPON THE COMMUNITIES IN WHICH THEY LIVE.

When the Japanese first began to lease orchards in this district they displaced some Chinese tenants, for they were willing to pay higher rents. During the past year or two, however, a change has been made on several ranches from Japanese to Chinese tenants, the change in some instances being accompanied by a reduction of rent. The preference for the Chinamen has become well-nigh universal. "The fruit houses will take a Chinese tenant in preference to a Japanese every time" is the conclusion of an agent of the Commission. The explanation of this preference is not difficult.

In the first place, the Chinese are entirely honest in all contractual relations. The confidence in them is so great that they usually pay no rent until the crops are harvested. The fruit-shipping houses frequently make loans to them on their personal unsecured notes. They do not abandon their leases. The standing of the Japanese, on the other hand, is much lower. They are usually required to pay a part of the cash rent in advance, the loans made by fruit shippers are secured by mortgages on the crops, and the loans are limited in amount to the value of the work done. In rather numerous cases they have abandoned their leases, with the result that in some instances there are two or more outstanding leases for the same land covering the same period, the land being leased to new parties as abandoned by others.

There is widespread complaint that the Japanese are unsatisfactory in other respects. It is commonly said that they neglect the orchards and teams furnished them and that farms leased to them are permitted to deteriorate rapidly. That there is some foundation for these complaints is shown by the very general preference shown for Chinese and the fact that leases are made to them for less rent than required of Japanese. Yet more and more of the land has been leased to Japanese for cash rentals, the Japanese usually having in such cases a large amount of control of the land and crops.

Of more importance is the general effect of their presence upon the communities in which they live. Their presence has increased rents; their leasing has tightened the control of the Japanese race over the labor supply of the community. Some houses once occupied by the families of white farmers are now occupied by Japanese, and in at least one locality the number of white inhabitants has materially decreased. From specific instances it would appear also that the presence of large numbers of Asiatics has deterred white men from purchasing land and settling, with their families, in the community.

CHAPTER VI.

THE JAPANESE OF THE PAJARO VALLEY, CALIFORNIA.

[For General Tables see pp. 822 to 829.]

INTRODUCTION.

Watsonville, Cal., is the shipping, financial, and residence center of the Pajaro Valley. The Pajaro River, as it flows to the ocean, constitutes the boundary between Santa Cruz and Monterey counties. Watsonville Township in the former and Pajaro Township in the latter, together with the foothills which all but inclose it, constitute the Pajaro Valley. The Pajaro Valley contains some 43,000 acres of rich, fairly level land admirably adapted to the growing of various kinds of deciduous fruits and especially apples, berries, potatoes, sugar beets, and hops. Because of this fact practically all of the economic activity of the community immediately about Watsonville relates to agriculture and horticulture and their nearly related industries.

At the present time some 15,000 acres, more than one-third of the total, are in apple orchards and the acreage is rapidly increasing. The growing of apples and the marketing of them is by far the most important industry of the valley. Some 1,000 acres are devoted to the growing of strawberries. The acreage so used is diminishing somewhat because of the greater emphasis placed upon the growing of apples. Perhaps 300 acres are devoted to the growing of blackberries, logan berries, and raspberries. Some 1,000 acres are devoted to the growing of sugar beets. Between fifteen and twenty years ago this was the most important industry of the valley, but recurring difficulty with the sugar company to which they were sold, with regard to the price to be paid for beets, greatly injured the industry and reduced it to a position of minor importance. The berry industries and apple growing have increased, with the result that at the present time only about 1,500 acres are available for the growing of beets. With the beets a great many hops were formerly grown. At the present time, however, there are only two hop yards in the valley. The giving up of hop growing is explained by the recurring low prices of hops which have obtained and the high prices which have obtained for fruits of different kinds. Peaches, apricots, and fruits not already mentioned have little importance, but probably cover 500 acres. The growing of vegetables is of little importance, but some 500 acres are devoted to the growing of potatoes. All told, one half of the land of the valley is used for the above-mentioned purposes, all representing an intensive agriculture and requiring much hand labor. The remaining half is devoted to general farming, which has become of less importance as the population of the valley has increased and its market facilities have improved.

The population of the Pajaro Valley is estimated at about 15.000, but rather less than more. Of these 15,000, approximately 5,000 live

in Watsonville. Analysis of the population of the valley shows from 250 to 300 Chinese, some 1,000 Japanese, between 750 and 1.000 Dalmatians (including their numerous American-born offspring), and a considerable number of Danes and Portuguese. A few Italian families may also be found. The remainder of the population is very largely of native stock. Added to the above figures, however, are those for seasonal laborers who come to the community to harvest the crops. During the summer and autumn months some 700 or 800 Japanese and as many more Dalmatian laborers migrate to Watsonvill to pick berries and to pick and pack the apple crop. The Danes and Portuguese are, for the most part, old settlers who have come into the ownership of land and occupy the same economic position as the natives.

The 300 or fewer Chinese are all that remain of some 2,000 who, twenty years ago, were living in the valley, thinning, hoeing, and harvesting sugar beets, growing hops, and doing the greater part of the agricultural work not done by the owners of the land and their few regular white employees. The Chinese have grown old and many have been drawn off to occupations other than those which find a place in this community. It must be said, too, that the influx of the Japanese has had something to do with the elimination of the Chinese, since members of that race competed with the Chinese for the handwork to be done. At present the Chinese operate and "man" two small establishments for evaporating apples and engage to a slight extent in small farming. They are no longer an important element in the general farm labor supply.

In some respects the Dalmatians occupy a position not unlike that occupied by the Japanese. Two or three Dalmatians came to Watsonville in 1887 and obtained employment in the orchards. They harvested apples and remained during the winter to prune trees. Other members of the race followed, primarily because of the importance of the apple-growing industry, an industry in which most of them had engaged in their native land, and because of the presence of their countrymen in the community.

After working a few seasons in the orchards and at common labor during the winter months, some of these men began to purchase the fruit crop on the trees at budding time, and when it ripened to pick, pack, and ship it to wholesale dealers in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and elsewhere. From the first they have employed their countrymen, in so far as available, in all of the work to be done. For years Dalmatians have been the most important element among the laborers engaged in picking and packing apples. As the apple industry has expanded and as the members of this race have gained more and more control of it, new representatives of the race have been attracted to the community. The influx during the last ten years has been very rapid. Some have come from the mines, others from the lumber camps, and still others from the cities of California where they had been employed as laborers, while in recent years many have migrated directly to Watsonville from their native land. Some of those migrating directly have had assistance from their countrymen already located there, and there is reason to believe that some have migrated to this country under contract to work for comparatively low wages until the expense incidental to their immigration had