Jasper County Democrat, Volume 23, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 July 1920 — POINTS DANCER OF JAP ENTRY [ARTICLE]

POINTS DANCER OF JAP ENTRY

Congressman Swope Says Time Has Come to Bar Nonassimilating Aliens. PROBES PROBLEM ON PACIFIO Chairman of House Subcommittee Which Recently Completed an Investigation of Japanese Immigration Issues Statement. p - - Louisville, Ky., July 30.—Congressman King Swope of Kentucky, who was chairman of Phe house subcommittee which recently completed an investigation of Japanese Immigration to Pacific coast states, declared In a statement Issued here that this country has “reached a point where we should not permit any unasslmilable race to fill up our Pacific states or any other states." He said the “privilege of entry of any and all Immigrants should be predicated upon their «billty and desire to become real, loyal, patriotic Americans.” The subcommittee will report to the, house committee when congress assembles in December. Mr. Swope declined to say what recommendations will be made. Violate “Gentlemen’s Agreement.” “The Californians allege," Mr. Swope said, “that the ‘gentlemen’s agreement’ Is being violated and that thousands of Japanese Immigrants are entering this country surreptitiously every year by way of the Mexican border. And in support of that statement they offer the fact that the Japanese population In California has doubled since 1913. “It must be said the Jap la thrifty and as soon as he saves something from his earnings he got* into business for himself, usually acquiring great tracts of land in California and taking over whole communities. “These facts led to the passage by the California legislature in 1913 of the antl-allen land law, which made It Illegal for those who are not eligible for naturalization to own land, or to lease it for more than But the Japanese have evaded that law to such an extent that It pratlcally serves no purpose at all. “For Instance, a Japanese who Is precluded by that law from owning land buys the land In the name of his infant native-born child and becomes the guardian of such child. The Japanese also form corporations with white ‘dummy’ directors and acquire land In enormous acreages. “The Californians assert tha't the Japanese offer a racial problem in that they could not be assimilated. It is very rare that a Japanese man marries a white woman, or vice versd. Both races seem to discountenance intermarriage. They love their mother country. They love the Japanese tradltions and the Japanese language, and for this reason it Is difficult to Americanize them. Sees “Picture Brides” Arrive. “We witnessed the arrival of a consignment of ‘picture’ brides, who came to this country already ‘married’ to Japanese men they had never seen. Marriage was arranged by correspondence and an exchange of pictures. “Such a protest against that practice was caused that the Japanese called a halt on the ‘picture brides.’ So that after Aqgust of this year, the Japanese men will be compelled to find another method of consummating their marriages with women In Japan.”