The independent. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1902-1907, February 21, 1907, Page 15, Image 15

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    FEmuTAirr 21,1907.
15
THE NEBRASKA INDEPENDENT
Japanese School Question
Mf
I Colliers: Crossing from Oakland to
San Francisco I had my first glimpse
of the problem on the spot. Some
boys of fifteen or sixteen called out to
a pair of tocky . coolie Japanese on
the ferry: ''Hello, Skippy! How's
your, friend Roosevelt?" The Japanese
'looked straight out to sea. "Say, Skip-
py," the boys persisted, "we're going
to paint the white house .yellow fr
you." Still no answer from the Jap
anese, except a catlike dipping of the
eyelids. Nor would there be any unless
they were attacked. Then they would
have fought like devils.
I had been reading the local dailies
In the tdeepcr, and "these irresponsible
gamins," thought I, in my wisdom,
"are the product of newspaper agita
tion." Michael de Young, of the
-Chronicle" started the furore. He
knew that the way to make circulation
is not to caution people to be reason
able, but to spring sensations which
will confirm them in all their suspi
cions, prejudices, and dislikes. When
De Young got a 'rise," Immediately
Hearst's "Examiner" took the cue. In
tense rivalry followed.
The "Chronicle" is still in the lead.
Michael de Young' alone, without re
serves, support, or a line of communi
cation, is able to mash Japan to a
jelly with one hand. The Hearst organ
has landed at least two army corps
of Japanese .veterans with artillery
concealed in their pockets in Hawt.ll.
Coolies who ballast the Southern Pa
cific have located all the gun positions
at strategic points in the Rockies,
which seems a little strange to me,
considering that in the war . with Rus
sia the Japanese went by Russian
maps which they had captured. As
for spies, a new Species in a new place
is found every day. They are the
pawns in the war of publicity.
Ruef and Schmitz were quick to join
the procession. Schmitz, eloquent over
exclusion, declared in an anti-Japanese
mass meeting that he was ready to lay
down his life possibly to postpone his
trial for extortion. Besides, he wouid
not be needed when De Young had al
ready spoken first for the privilege.
Perhaps he and Ruef had the same
object as the man who diverts atten
tion from - himself by crying: "Stop,
thief!"
And now I hear you say you w'-io
live three thousand miles away, with
the beam in your eye tliat "its all
been a matter of dirty politics, this
transgression of a great principle."
Not in the least. The politicians have
simply pandered to public sentiment.
"Every printer, reporter, editor believed
in the policy acclaimed by the press.
This view has been r.rystalized into a
habit like that of the Irish about
Cromwell. The political mouthings of
that automatic speechmaker, Con
gressman Kahn, and others were the
efforts of individual craft to get .more
wind 'than their rivals."
- San Franciscans are a people used
to having their own way. They come
of that breed. They live over the
divide, and with the mountains at
their backs they look out to sea. When
they were beginning to . build their
city anew they concluded possibly be
cause knight-errant Michael brought
it so sharply to their attention that
this was the time to make one of the
changes they had long had in mind. -
The result was the oriental school.
When I visited it and saw all the Chi
nese and the Koreans whom we for
get in the east I could understand
why I would not want to attend there
if I were a Japanese. The Chinese
and the Koreans rarely wash, while
the Japanese take a bath every day.
The Chinese say that the Japanese
smell like fresh fish, and we can im
agine ourselves how the Chinese smell
to the Japanese. One solitary Jap
anese boy, Frank Kobayahi. now
attends the oriental school. He has
written to the president s;iying that he
prefers segregation because he learns
faster than he did in American classes.
Kobayashl Is to me a marvel in racia!
anomalies. He is a pea that "grows
outside a pod like a cranberry.
To the San Franciscans their action
whs a part with that of a merchant
who decidts to put a partition between
two departments." Japan's protest was
as much of a surprise as If u merchant
from a neighboring town has wanted
the partition down because one of the
clerks was a relative of his. Were
they living In Oermany that they
might not regulate their local affairs'
If so, then it wan to be borne In mind
that the kuiser has been a long time
In making hit Polish .aibjcet. drink
out of the Teutonic crin'k. Th presi
dent'. iio-Khafte turned their Polish ex
axperutton Into a white bent of anger,
hlcli lm oIm to a quiet d termina
tion n the part of thinking Sun Fran
ilxiHtis, whll'1 .Michael do Young has
yHled louder than fver.
II H Michael' baying which lend
the r-t of the country to think that
I he whole cry I inoiihin and not
ntiwnliillvc, .MU-hael'M baylnc r
dui.fx Ul Meruit and ejreiw. It might
one . day lead to riot. . For the first
time I saw the sentiment of an Amer
ican community acting toward an out
sider as the Japanese in their racial
exclusiveness and concealment act
toward any Caucasian. .It was amaz
ing. The conduct of the Japanese is. for
the most part, exemplary. So their
emperor orders. A diplomatic ca.su is
ever in preparation. Tick-tick-tick,
the Japanese consulate keeps an ac
count of. every act of violence against
a Japanese subject. The Japanese, d
not segregate in quarters as the Chin
ese and European immigrants do.
They rarely get intoxicated. They
take off. their kimonos and incase
their bowlegs in unbecoming "pants."
the ranks of the day laborer among
the debris are closed to them as are
the ranks of all the trades. If they
open restaurants or stores with Ameri
can goods little custom, comes, though
they undersell rivals. Tiicj may ba
servants, cobblers, draymen, and till
in-, tho odd jobs which the 'American
does not want. At school the children
of the coolie cla.:s are slow: having
no knowledge of English, they are a
positive drag on the other pupils.
Those of the merchant , class are
usually bright. All are clean and at
tentive. -
"But," say the San Frpneiscians,
"grown, men go to school with our
young girls. We will not stard for
that."
"Then," instantly suggests the visi
tor, "why not make a rule limiting
the ages of the grades?"
That brings pructu;ji'v answer
that they do not want Orientals in
their schools anyway. No public
charge of the offense feared his been
brought against any "study bov. '
When the board of education :;pcakx
of the immorality of the Japanese as
a cause of offense, a cynic may ak if
there is anything worse in Japan than
the organized promotion of brothels
by the city administration.
But the morals of Ruef are not tho
morals of San Francisco. Her family
code, unlike that of Japan, does not
contemplate as legitimate and re
spectable the sale of a girl by her
parents into prostitution, or grant a di
vorce on the volition of the husband
who dismisses his wife as Jhe would
discharge a ' 'servant; The Japanese
insist that we have things worse. We
have, perhaps, but the San Francis
cians insist that they are our kind of
worse, just as the Japanese kinc! U
Japanese. Probably no Japanese city
was ever, so badly governed as San
Francisco . is at this moment. No
streets are mere orderly than those of
Japanese towns.
Wb -n out of the 1,250. iir mi
grants expected next year a . possible
25,000 Japanese makes such a small
drop in the bucket; when the Jap
anese aie orderly and individually
ambitious, why the boycott of man
kind, if not of their goods? Why this
transgression of the great American
principle? Your average San Fran
cisan is as Intelligent, as fair, as gen
erous lis your New Englander; more
so, I think, where his own ox is con
cerned. His state needs labor, and
the .very employers of laber opposeJ
the Japanese. The San J ranciscan
is tho man on the spot. He takes a
train with many stops to New York
and i steamer with one stop to Japan,
lie knows Lis orient as we cf the east
do nit. In his city enthusiasm was
strong-fit of all cities for Japanese
vkitiry. His admiration of the Jap
anese nation remains. Why. then,
why"' The Japanese who migrate ar
of. tho coolie and merchant clases, a
caste of underlings with no rights for
thousands of years. It is they who
sell their daughters. The samurai
class, that ancient third of the pop
ulation hLch hae- made Japan great,
never come except as students. Yet
this point seems only a sophistry for
strengthening an illogical position
which has its roots in strong, thival
ioum race meeting strong, chivalrous
race, neither of which can understand
the strength of chivalry of the other.
"If you lived here a year ago yon
would be with us," is tho San Fran
ciscan's final answer. In any American
crowd a Japanese Is ai distinguishable
as an oak in a pln grove. The i renins
of humanity noing ens! ward and west
ward from the apple tree in the gar
den have sunk Into the channel.- they
have worn. So bmg wen tr Janan-
th iM-as In the pod of exclusion
that they have come to think alik"
and lok alike. Ours w;w ih tseed
carried by the wind of heaven west
ward. That Kalian laborer In tru- del.Hn of
Han I'Vaiicixcti'! ruin belong to tin race
that crowed th Alp on diet of dried
Huh to the rommewt 'f Caul and P.rlf-
aln unel to the race of the great dU- j
coverer; the Sp'tnlnrd to th' rc tint
ent It caravan around the world
with the Vlrpln ltninjr to fearful
oaths in 'the forecastle; the Portuguese
claims kinship with Vasco da Qarna.
Their eyes are straight; they read a
book from left to right: the Latin and
Creek classics and heritage art"- in-their
blood.
The Japanese peas, equally great
perhaps greater have suddenly broken
out of their pod. They have taken legs
as one man with one thought. But
they are a little late. The people of
the wind-blown seed are in California
first. And this, I think, expresses the
Californian's real answer to the why?
"That side you,", they say, "and this
side ourselves. Let us trade, let us
be friends and take all each other has
to offer; but we may not assimilate."
The school question, the trade-union
agitation,' all 'are but details. A Jap
anese is able to compete with us in
every walk of life and live cheaper and
work longer hours. San. Francisco, I
think, is ready to overlook all Japan
ese who are present and let them be
citizens, provided that Japan will
agree to the exclusion of American
laborers from Japan and Japanese
laborers from the United States. If
not, it would seem that Japan means
to quarrel. "She herself has set up
an actual if not a legal barrier," say
the San Franciscans, "by racial ex
clusion of foreigners. Ask any for
eigner who lives there if he has crossed
the barrier. If the traveler has not,
can the people who remain at home
in the avenues of their daily toil ten
thousand miles distant?"
TH!
FARMERS'
INSTITUT
Promoters of Agricultural Develop
ment of Mit4e.
The work of the farmers' institute
has grown so In popularity that under
our present system of conducting these
meetings -we are no longer able to
meet tho demands of more than two
thirds of our farming communities. We
must either change our system or make
fome provision to carry out the work
further than our present appropria
tion will allow. The Interest manifested
indicates the necessity of carrying
this work further.
Our farmers' institutes promote agri
cultural development. They have in
creased the . revenues from our lands
by increasing the profits pir aere. This
influences the selling value of the land.
By the study of crop? adapted to the
country our farmers' institutes have
opened the field of possibilities in un
tetled portions of our state and en
couraged the settlement of these sec
tions. " ' . " 0
The farmers' institute has sgce;eeeled
in introducing new crops best adapted
to different conditions found in . ojur
state. .' , . '
Our speakers on the subject of "alfal
fa have encouraged' the planting of
thousands of acres of this crop, in
ous
CO
NO LIMIT TO ITS POWERS FOR EVIL
Contagious Blood Poison has brought more suffering, misery and humila
tion into the world than all other diseases' combined ; there is hardly any
limit to its powers for evil. It is the blackest and vilest of all disorders,
wrecking the lives of those unfortunate enough to contract it and often being
transmitted to innocent offspring, a blighting legacy of suffering and shame.
So highly contagious is the trouble that innocent persons may contract it
by using the same table ware, toilet articles or clothing of one in whose
blood the treacherous virus has taken root. Not only is it a powerful poison
but a very deceptive one. Only those who have learned by bitter experience
know by the little sore or ulcer, which usually makes its appearance first, of
the suffering which is to follow. It comes in the form of ulcerated mouth
and throat, unsightly copper colored spots, swollen glands in the groin,
falling hair, offensive sores and ulcers on the body, and in severe "cases the
finger nails drop off, the bones become diseased, the nervous system is shat
tered and the sufferer becomes an object of pity to his fellow man. Especi
ally is the treacherous nature of Contagious Wood Poison,, fdiown when the
infected person endeavors to-combat the poison with mercury and potash.
These minerals will drive away all outward symptoms of the troubles for
a while, and the victim is deceived into the belief that he is cured. When,
howevcr,the treatment is left off he finds that the poison has only been driven
deeper into the blood and the disease reappears, and usually in worse form
because these strong minerals have not only failed to remove the virus from
the blood but have weake ned the entire system because ol their destructive
action. S. S. S. is she only real and certain cure for Contagious Iilood Poi
son. It is made of a combination of healing blood-purifying roots, herbs
and barks, the best in Nature's great laboratory of forest and fieUl. We
offer a reward of $1,000 for proof that S. S. S. contains a particle of mineral
O LO yO fluid,
Ditnn v ucrcTUDi r thoroughly-docs S. cleanse the
rUllLLY VhuLTADLb circulation that no sign of the disease are
ever seen again, and ofljipring is protected.
Write for our special lonk on Contai v.iH Ulnod I.nVn, which fully ex
plains the different stages of the trouble, and outlines a complete home treat
inent for all sufft rcrsof this trouble. No charge is made fur this book, and,
if you wishfpecial medical advice about case or any of its symptoms, out
hysaan3 will lc glad to furnish that, too, without liarge, -
Vic&mrrspzcmG co atiata. ca.
Kome localities, where farmers declared
that alfalfa could not be grown, att-;r
listening to a lecture before the farm
ers institute they have gone home and
succeeded In growing it on their farms.
A few years ago land could be bought
in the Beaver valley from five to ten
dollars per acre, and when tiie corn
crop failed in that section of the state
in 18P4 and '95, good farms were bold
for even- less money than this, and
their former owners went east and
south. Some of them found homes in
the. flint h'lls of Missouri and others
went back to the worn out lands of
Ohio and Indiana. Many of those that
stayed did so because they were too
pocr eo gei away. Airaira came 10 ineir
rescue. It has. made of this section of
tho country a iard ol gocd homes and
of prosperity. Today there are more
good country homes between Beaver
City and Dan bury than in any other
section of the state. Mr, Holdrege, of
the Burlington, says that more hogs
are shipped from that valley than from
any o'her equal area in the great
state of Nebraska. Alfalfa has made
these hogs, and hogs and alfalfa to
gether have riised tho value of thus-;
lands to four, or five times their sel
ling price ten years ago. The farmers'
institutes have more than paid their
cost to the state by educating the.
fanner on the ony question of alfalfa.
The subjects of "seed) corn selection"
and "growing better corn" have been
discussed before nearly every farmers'
institute, and has perhaps stimulated
more general interest than any other
.subject. Formers are giving more at
tention, to good Been and the culture
of the corn crop, and in many cases
farmers have Increased their yield of
corn from thirty bushels to sixty bush
els per acre, thus doubling the produo
in power of land. With corn and al
falfa we have n ration, that is produc
ing various kinds of live stock on the
farm cheaper and better than, ever be
fore. Not half enough is known about
corn and Alfalfa and the speakers on
these subjects are always popular be
fore every institute.
Many other topics of equal import
ance are discussed, the production of
beef, pork and u mutton, poulry "'and
profitable dairying, raising horses for
market and use on the farm, problems
in toil tillage and soil fertility, also the
various phases of horticulture and of
home economics. The lecturers on thesi
subjects are specialists. They speak
from personal experience of their suc
cess and tell others how they can suc
ceed. The people are always ready to hoar
the successful, farmer, the. man who"
has done something, and all over the
state you can find living testimonials
of the good the farmers' institute is
doing.
"Mr. W. P. Hill of Allen, Neb., said,
"The lecture on 'Pig Feeding'- at the
institute was worth $200 to me last
year in my feeding operations." One
man near Merriman, -: Neb., says that
humb
in any form. . S. S. goes down to the
cry bottom of the trouble and by cleansing
the blood of every particle of the virus and
nddinrrrich. healthful nualities to this vital
forever cures this powerful disorder.