Asiatic Exclusion League, July 1911

“A Few Words by the Editor.” (Few?) I've marked some areas of particular interest. In this case, he starts off using the code term “Yellow Peril,” and then takes sort of a backhand swipe at blacks.

Almost the entire second page is dealing with the subject of slavery.

Chinatowns are “moral and physical plague spots.” The thought of intermarriage is “preposterous and revolting.” The Chinese civilization is “degraded.”

They are “heathens” and they do not respect our laws. The race question of the South is no where near as bad as the West Coast's race question. Also, he remembers to add Japanese and Hindus to his troublesome people grouping.

The one thing that reflects at least a small part of truth is the reference to “moneyed interests” which actually were, to a great degree, behind the initial and, say, middle time periods of Oriental immigration, the “moneyed interests” being the Hawaiian plantation owners (and the Big Five, as they were known) and West Coast agricultural interests.



Main Index
Japan main page
Japanese-American Internment Camps index page
Japan and World War II index page