Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 116, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 May 1913 — JOHNSON WILL SIGN ALLEN LAND MEASURE [ARTICLE]

JOHNSON WILL SIGN ALLEN LAND MEASURE

Governor of California Sets Forth Position in Able Message to Secretary Bryan. i Governor Hiram Johnson, in a message to Secretary of State William J. Bryan, announces his intention of signing the anti-alien land ownership measure, recently passed in California, and the provisions of which have me’t federal opposition because of conflict with the United States treaty with Japan, at Which country the law seems to be directed. Secretary Bryan, at the instance of President Wilson, made a trip to' California and set forth the federal objections to the measure, and some slight modifications of the wording resulted. Mr. Bryan asked that Governor Johnson withhold his approval -of the bill until his return to Washington and stated that he would then send a method dealing with the subject. This was done, but it did not influence the action in California, and Governor Johnson states that he will sign the bill, which passed both houses of the-California legislature by almost unanimous vote. The message of Governor Johnson shows that he has given deep study to the situation from a diplomatic standpoint, as well as from the view point of California’s st*te right, and the interest of the people whose chief executive he is. It states that the people of the east have no idea how important the question is to California, where the Jap has become so numerous and where his methods of living have made the American standards impossible. No extensive explanation along this line is made in the message, and indeed none is necessary. That the situation is menacing is proven by the general opposition to Japs in California. The message takes up the question from a diplomatic view point, and points out that the constitution of California in 1879 made the distinction against the Japs and there had never been a protest since that time. The message accuses the national government with having overlooked similar legislation in other states and makes quite an issue of the California law, where there is much more need of it. Governor Johnson appeals to the people of the country to be fair in their judgment and to grant that California is passing the bill and he is signing it because the problem is a grave one to the people he represents.

The United States k in rather a queer, position by reason of the passage of the bill, for diplomatically Secretary Bryan and President Wilson must settle the question With Japan and meet its protest, either by continuing against California or now championing the action of that state. While the American people will certainly favor close adherence to our national treaties, they can not help but realize that the nation as a whole should not stand against one of its states and in favor of a foreign nation, when the. treaty the nation had passed was in its wording an insult to the state now seeking to defend itself.

Governor Johnson’s message was in every way an able paper, characterized with fairness and honest explanation that stands out far and above the 'essentially important diplomatic substantiation of the action, and we believe at this writing that he has overshadowed the secretary of state, the president and whatever advisers they may have had and that deep in the breast of every person who has followed t lie discussion there is a hope that the position of California, its legislature and its chief executive is already ratified.