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population, however, are much smaller than the number who immigrate for work.

CONCLUSIONS.

The immigration of Europeans to the Western States has not given rise to any problems which are not found in more acute form in the States of the East. For this reason nothing further need be said concerning immigration from that quarter except that the West is in need of a larger population to settle the land, exploit its resources, and provide a supply of labor for the maintenance and expansion of its industries.

The Mexican immigrants are providing a fairly acceptable supply of labor in a limited territory in which it is difficult to secure others, and their competitive ability is limited because of their more or less temporary residence and their personal qualities, so that their incoming does not involve the same detriment to labor conditions as is involved in the immigration of other races who also work at comparatively low wages. While the Mexicans are not easily assimilated, this is not of very great importance as long as most of them return to their native land after a short time. They give rise to little race friction, but do impose upon the community a large number of dependents, misdemeanants, and petty criminals where they settle in any considerable number.

At present the Chinese laborers are excluded from the territory of the United States by law, and the Japanese and Korean laboring classes are as effectively excluded by agreement. Elsewhere the Commission has recommended that no change be made in the present policy of the Government as regards the immigration of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean laborers.

The East Indian laborers of the class who have been coming to the Pacific coast during the last few years are, from no point of view, desirable members of the community. The British Government has consented to regulations which have effectively excluded the laborers of this race from Canada, which measures have been closely connected with and partly responsible for the more recent immigration of East Indian laborers to the Pacific Coast States. Elsewhere the Commission has recommended that an agreement with Great Britain be sought, which would effectively exclude the same classes from the United States.

The conclusions reached with regard to the desirability of permitting Chinese, Japanese, and Korean laborers again to enter this country after such immigration has been restricted are based upon a number of considerations, in part social and political, in part economic. In the first place, while the laborers of these races have done much to develop certain industries, notably fish canning and intensive agriculture, and while their labor in other instances, as in domestic service, has been a great convenience, they have competed keenly and generally at a lower wage in certain industries, displacing laborers of other races to an extent and retarding a desirable increase of wages. Their immigration has been a detriment to labor conditions, and while the great majority have been transient laborers, returning after several years to their native land, an increasing

a See p. 47.

minority of the laborers have settled here indefinitely, and by engaging in petty business, and especially in farming for themselves, have competed with the small business men of the cities and towns, as in the laundry and restaurant trades, and the small farmers of other races. This is especially true of the Japanese, who, because of their ambition, ability, and industry, and the limitations placed by others. upon their progress as laborers, have made rapid advance in securing control of land and of certain petty trades, with a consequent displacement of laborers of other races and discouragement and loss of profit to the members of different races engaged in these branches of enterprise. In brief, the immigration of those who first found employment as laborers has given rise to a competition not limited to the laboring classes. While the Chinese and Japanese as tenants have reduced to cultivation much land which has proved unattractive to others, they have also leased land for which there was a general demand, thus preventing the influx of other races and their settlement as farmers. Furthermore, whatever the capacities of these races for assimilation may be, where any considerable number have appeared sooner or later a situation has developed which has greatly retarded or prevented the desired end, so that the Chinese who have been here for many years have been assimilated to only a slight extent as compared to the white immigrant races, and the more adaptable Japanese are encountering the same difficulties.

Friction and race conflict have developed on several occasions which have imperiled the harmonious relations between the governments to which the contestants owe allegiance. Trade relations have also been imperiled because of these conflicts incidental to the contact between the races. Whether the Asiatics have fewer assimilative qualities than certain European immigrants or not, there is as a general phenomenon a feeling exhibited against them not exhibited against others, which tends to prevent the assimilation of those who remain here and which is a source of difficulty. Finally, it is not believed that the necessity exists for changing the present policy and permitting a limited or an unrestricted immigration of Asiatics to maintain industries which have been built up with the assistance of Asiatic labor. The continued need for that specific kind of labor presumed by some to exist, especially in the beet-sugar industry and certain branches of California agriculture, is not apparent.

The present general policy of preventing the immigration of eastern Asiatic laborers is indorsed by practically all classes represented in the West, save those who assert the moral necessity of according the same treatment to all races with little regard to consequences which result from so doing and those who assert that this specific kind of labor is essential to the prosperity of such industries as those just mentioned.

A few memorials have been presented to Congress requesting a limited immigration of Chinese; many assert the necessity of more Japanese if the Chinese, whom they prefer, are not forthcoming. If the present specialization of communities in growing sugar beets or only a few intensive crops, the present large holdings now found in many places, the present methods of securing laborers, and the existing wages, hours, and conditions of living and work for farm laborers are all to remain the same, Asiatic labor is of course necessary,

for these have been given shape by the employment of labor of that kind. If it is essential that these conditions should remain as they are at present, then Asiatic labor is necessary to the maintenance of the industries. There is, however, the question whether, with the possibility of securing Asiatic laborers now in the country for work which is of such a character that the employment of others does not seem feasible, changes and readjustments can not be made which will make it possible to substitute, without prohibitive cost, white laborers at the rate of a few, or, if need be, several thousand per year as Asiatic laborers become fewer as a result of the present policy of restriction or exclusion. In this connection the following features relating to certain agricultural employments, which aside from salmon canning alone have been dependent in any real sense upon Asiatic labor, are in point:

(1) Though in some agricultural communities, as a result of the employment of Asiatic labor, certain occupations are not regarded as "white man's work," there is no work engaged in by Asiatics in the West which is not done, to some extent, by white men and in which white men do not engage in other parts of the country.

(2) It is believed that the supply of white laborers available for ranch work could be greatly increased if the living conditions, which are confessedly bad in many cases, were improved. In a relatively large number of cases it has been found that where the living conditions were good no difficulty had been experienced in securing the white laborers needed except for brief seasonal employment. Furthermore, it would appear that the greater efficiency of laborers thus obtained would frequently offset the extra outlay required.

(3) The problem of the seasonal demand for labor, which is a conspicuous fact in certain industries, can, in a number of cases, be solved in part at least by fuller utilization of the white labor supply of the cities, which, with an abundant, organized, and convenient supply of Asiatic labor at hand, has not been used in many instances. At Vacaville, however, some 2,000 were obtained through employment agents for the fruit harvest in 1908. With the exception of a few communities most of the hops are now harvested by white people, who come for the picking season. One difficulty has been that the orchardists and other small growers have not been in position to secure the white labor themselves because it has not been organized, or to guarantee work so as to make it attractive. In southern California, however, in several instances, the packing houses and the citrus fruit associations have "crews" of white pickers who are sent to the ranches where they are needed for harvest work. In some other industries, as in the deciduous-fruit industry, where the fruit is shipped "green," a similar organization is possible. In fact, some shippers now pack the fruit delivered to them." It would be pos sible to extend this system and maintain "gangs" of pickers and packers and send them to the places where needed.

(4) Mexicans, German-Russians, and other white races can be used more extensively in the hand work in the beet fields until such time as the lands are subdivided and the growing of beets takes its place in diversified farming-a condition which obtains at Lehi, Utah, where the families of American, English, and other farmers, with the assistance of regular farm laborers, do the work in the fields.

(5) A greater diversity of crops and of industries in the community can be developed so as more nearly to equalize the demand for labor and to provide fairly regular employment for laborers where it is not now to be found. This fact has already appealed to some growers on the Sacramento River and has simplified the problem on certain ranches.

(6) With a diminishing number of Asiatic laborers, there will be a tendency to subdivide the large vineyards and vegetable farms which have been conducted here and there as "estates" or by corporations. This would induce a settlement of families upon small farms, the members of the families would do most of the work, and this would incline toward solving the problem of labor, for smaller holdings would naturally be accompanied by a greater diversity of crops.

(7) A development such as that indicated and a diminishing number of Asiatics will increase the influx of families from the East and Middle West, which, without doubt, has been retarded by the presence of the Asiatics.

(8) Finally, a larger influx of laborers and families, especially of the Italians and Portuguese, would follow the completion of the Panama Canal. While there has been much criticism of immigrants from southern Europe, in so far as it has been connected with the agricultural class it is principally based upon the fact that they have been clannish and have usually worked for their countrymen. With increasing numbers there is no reason to believe that they would not be available as a part of the general labor supply, and prove to be fairly satisfactory laborers and small farmers.

IMMIGRATION CONDITIONS IN HAWAII.

The complete report of the Immigration Commission on this subject.

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