HIGHER STANDARD 
 OF IMMIGRANTS 
 
 G. W. WHITMAN, Secretary 
 PEOPLES LEAGUE OF JUSTICE 
 Washington, D. C. Los Angeles, Calif. 
 
 EXCLUDE NON-AMERICAN ELEMENTS 
 
 One imperfection in the creed of Americans 
 is the inability to accept in their own country 
 the predominance of non-American elements. 
 "That all immigration from any country be 
 properly restricted into the United States." Let 
 all immigrants from Europe and Asia be sub- 
 jected to a test. Asiatics who are already in 
 this country should be eligible to citizenship 
 just the same as Europeans, provided they 
 stand the test. Educational requirements 
 
 should be the same in both cases. They should 
 be able to speak English, also to read and write 
 it. It is desirable that they be well grounded 
 in American history and civics, also have some 
 familiarity with the lives and writings of Wash- 
 ington and Lincoln. The alien who wishes to 
 participate in political affairs in the United 
 States should be a man of good moral 
 character. 
 
 TRUE-AMERICAN SPIRIT FOR 
 NEWCOMERS 
 
 There are diverse elements in America, eth- 
 nically speaking, but the idea of the equality 
 of men, as set forth in the Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence, is manifestly the goal for all new- 
 comers, whether they hail from Europe or the 
 Far East. 
 
 The principle of self-rule, the government 
 based upon "the consent of the governed," is 
 the cardinal doctrine of American political 
 philosophy. Any alien settling in this country 
 should fall in with American practices and con- 
 tribute to the success of democratic rule. They 
 
should realize that they are units, or may be- 
 come such, in advancing civilization in Amer- 
 ica, if they "love this land with love far- 
 brought." This is the right spirit, and aliens 
 coming to the United States should feel it a 
 privilege to live in this country. 
 
 In depriving Japanese residents of the right 
 to own or lease land, the Californians violate 
 the principle of the equality of men. This is 
 discrimination that they do not show some 
 other aliens. It is undoubtedly of great annoy- 
 ance to national politics. Americanization 
 results more satisfactorily when Orientals are 
 given the same rights and privileges in their 
 homes and property and in the pursuits of hap- 
 piness as Europeans now enjoy, than otherwise. 
 
 ARE JAPANESE ASSIMILABLE? 
 
 In one of his campaign speeches Senator 
 Harding urged upon aliens the importance of 
 adopting "American standards, economic and 
 otherwise." It is generally believed that "Eu- 
 ropeans of whatever race, can ultimately be 
 assimilated to the same American type as them- 
 selves," but Asiatics are in a different category. 
 This is a hasty judgment. They have much in 
 common, and will have more in common in the 
 future. Says Enos Mills: "Nature is universal 
 * * * Kinship is the spirit of nature." The 
 Japanese who have settled down in a town or 
 a neighborhood in the United States become 
 attached to the place, they become acclimated, 
 they adopt American standards of living. They 
 invest their savings in enterprises that will make 
 for the prosperity of their home town. Their 
 attachment for the commonwealth is strength- 
 ened not only by their economic relations to it, 
 but also through the children born to them in 
 their new home. Not a few of them who have 
 lived long in this country are bound to the soil 
 by an additional link, the grave of a child or 
 
some aged relative who died here, and they 
 themselves expect to be buried in this land. 
 These aliens have to a large extent American- 
 ized themselves; they have become imbued 
 with the American ideal. Those who have 
 their homes in California yield loving homage 
 to this "Golden State." As time passes, the 
 American-born children become indifferent to 
 the land in which their parents were born. 
 These native sons and daughters love America. 
 They are completely assimilated. 
 
 JAPANESE POPULATION IN CALIFORNIA 
 
 AND THEIR FARM PRODUCTS 
 
 True, the Japanese question is a national 
 and international issue, and yet it is of tre- 
 mendous interest to only a small number of 
 Americans, perhaps four or five millions, all 
 told. The "peaceful penetration" of the 
 Golden State by the Japanese has been greatly 
 magnified. Of California's total population, 
 about 2 per cent are Japanese. Total Japanese 
 births during the years from 1910 to 1919 is 
 much less than American births of a single year 
 of 1919. The Japanese own or lease 1.6 per 
 cent of farm land. Upon this 1.6 per cent they 
 produce 1 3 per cent of California's total food 
 output, that is estimated at about $67,000,000. 
 
 JAPANESE AS FOOD PRODUCERS 
 
 Is not the cultivation of agricultural land to 
 be encouraged? Among Japanese here the 
 trend toward rural regions is pronounced, but 
 among Americans there is a trend toward 
 towns and cities. According to the census of 
 1920, more than half of the people in the 
 United States live in urban territory. Agricul- 
 ture is "the one industry most indispensable to 
 our existence," is the opinion of Senator Arthur 
 Capper. A policy that will insure justice to 
 the Japanese farms will make for the solution of 
 
the land problem, which involves the increased 
 production of foodstuffs necessary to feed the 
 growing urban population. It is desirable to 
 instill the love of agriculture. To be farmers 
 working their own land and making it yield 
 abundantly — this is the mission of the immi- 
 grants in America. If they be excluded, their 
 loss will be felt in a decreased output of the 
 products of the soil. This would not be ad- 
 vantageous to the United States. Look the 
 facts in the face. Nothing is to be gained by 
 ignoring them. 
 
 NATION'S SENSE OF JUSTICE 
 
 Racial prejudice should not blind Americans 
 to the fact that the Japanese are friends of 
 progress. The Japanese population in the 
 United States is a power for good. The hun- 
 dred thousand or more of the men and women 
 who hail from Japan and their children born in 
 this country have added to the material wealth 
 and prosperity of the Republic, and they have 
 made, a contribution to the spiritual life of 
 America. 
 
 Racial feeling should not warp a nation's 
 sense of justice. The conviction is growing that 
 justice impartially administered to all classes 
 is the goal. The Japanese question in Califor- 
 nia will remain a smouldering issue until this 
 shall have been attained. 
 
 A hasty, ill-considered act of a janitor or a 
 policeman, dressed in a little brief authority, 
 may precipitate an international disturbance. 
 Arbitrary action on the part of Californians, 
 regardless of the principles of righteousness and 
 justice, is to be deplored. They should keep 
 in mind "the greatest good of the greatest num- 
 ber." Good Americans should not be blinded 
 by immediate results, but should be guided by 
 the dictates of far-sighted statesmanship. 
 
 This pamphlet was originally published by the People's League 
 of Justice. It is reprinted, ■with permission, by the Farmers' 
 Protective League, 258 Jackson Street, Los Angeles, California,