Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, With the Annual Message of the President Transmitted to Congress December 3, 1901
Mr. Hill to Mr. Takahira.
Washington , July 25, 1901 .
Sir: Referring to your No. 13, of the 7th ultimo, in further relation to the deportation from Seattle, State of Washington, of two parties of Japanese immigrants in March last, I have the honor to inclose herewith for your information a copy of a letter from the Secretary of the Treasury inclosing copies of reports in the matter from the immigrant inspector at Seattle, and others.
Accept, etc.,
Acting Secretary.
Mr. Gage to Mr. Hay.
Washington , July 13, 1901 .
Sir: I have the honor to further acknowledge your letter of the 12th ultimo, inclosing copy of a note from the Japanese minister at this capital with reference to the detention and deportation of two parties of Japanese immigrants arriving at Seattle, Wash., in March last.
I inclose herewith copy of report and certain correspondence concerning the alleged irregularities in the treatment and hearing of the cases of these immigrants, from which it appears that the reports which have been made to the Japanese minister have failed to establish the real state of the case.
Respectfully,
Report of immigrant inspector at Seattle to the collector of customs at Port Townsend, Wash.
Deputy Collector’s Office , July 3, 1901 .
Sir I have the honor to return, with my report thereon, the letter of the Commissioner-General of Immigration and the Japanese minister.
I inclose letters from the agents of the S. S. Rosalie and the S. S. Mainlander which answer the inquiry of the Hon. T. V. Powderly. The letters show that it was not only for the convenience of the steamship companies but for the comfort of the immigrants; besides it was an absolute necessity, in the absence of a suitable secure place for their detention.
The immigrants were treated no differently from any citizen of the United States subpoenaed as a witness in a case and unable to give bond for his appearance.
[Page 372]I also inclose letters from Sheriff Cudihee, Attorney Fred H. Petersen, and our interpreter, Charles Sasahe, which explain themselves, and answer, I believe conclusively, the charges of ill treatment and robbery.
I will also add my statement that I was present when the secretary of the Japanese consulate at Seattle, the agent of the Oriental Trading Company, and Mr. Petersen conversed with the immigrants at the custom-house, just before they were removed to the Vancouver S. S. Mainlander, and at no time did they complain of insufficient food or of being robbed. If they had been so treated they would have reported it to some of the above-named representatives before leaving here, instead of waiting until they returned to the consul, who could do nothing but report the matter.
This omission is not only suspicious, but convinces me that their charges are groundless. As these letters may be referred to the Japanese minister, it may be proper to explain the character and standing in the community of Sheriff Cudihee, Attorney Petersen, and Charles Sasahe, and Dr. A. P. Mitten, president of the board of inquiry. Sheriff Cudihee was one of two men elected by an overwhelming majority over the candidate of the dominant party here, so he must be highly respected and reliable and credible. Mr. Petersen’s standing as a gentleman and lawyer has never, to my knowledge, been questioned. Charles Sasahe, a native Japanese, is a successful business man of integrity. Dr. Mitten, besides being deputy collector, was a practicing physician and at one time treasurer of this county; so these gentlemen, being above suspicion, would not misinterpret the case of excluded Japanese immigrants.
The other members of this board of inquiry are the customs inspectors who may happen to be detailed for that duty when occasion requires it.
As I stated in my letter of April 8, 1901, that as we had no stenographer and as there was no appeal, the oral testimony was not reduced to writing, so I again send the manifestsa of the steamship Rosalie, March 16, 1901, and the steamship Mainlander, March 17, 1901, as all the record of the case under consideration. It will be shown, however, that on each manifest, with one exception, all of the immigrants were farmers, had only about $30, and gave their destination as Seattle.
The exception on the Rosalie manifest was a tailor, and he was admitted, as he could probably support himself at his trade. This was also true of the exception on the Mainlander manifest, because he was a coal miner. I mention this to prove that the action of the board was not arbitrary; they only excluded those whom they did not believe could earn a living here. In March many of the Japanese were out of work; the boarding houses were crowded, many having been discharged from the section gangs of the Great Northern Railway, the place where hundreds had been induced to work under contract. The court records will show that the wages of these men are not drawn by themselves, but by contractors who receive a percentage of their wages.
The Japanese were the dupes and victims of the steamship runners who prevailed on them to come here under representations of plenty of work at good wages. In the case of the Japanese from Victoria, they had to pay $3.50 to a Japanese named Ohashi for a 25-cent ticket.
To prove that the board acted wisely in excluding these Japanese, I will state that the sudden tide of immigrants that was started up without an apparent cause immediately subsided, and the surplus Japanese laborers have been returning to British Columbia for the past three months.
If this unnatural influx had not been checked much destitution would have ensued.
Under section 5, act of March 5, 1893, I had no alternative but to hold for special inquiry “every person who may not appear to him clearly and beyond doubt entitled to admission,” so my discharge of duty is not “a construction of the law by local immigration officers not justified by facts.”
I understand that the Japanese Government has recognized the evil of induced and unrestricted immigration to this coast by limiting the number of passports to be issued in each province. As a result a more intelligent class of immigrants arrive direct from Japan by the Nippon Yusen Kaisha steamships, and, with the exception of stowaways, no Japanese have been deported to Japan in the past eight months. I only mention this to show that no Japanese is excluded without cause, and there is no intention or desire to discriminate against them. Only a very small percentage of Japanese even from British Columbia (where they have no such regulations about passports) are excluded by an impartial, intelligent, disinterested board of inquiry.
The deliberations of this board are surely judicial proceedings by sworn officials, and their decisions, in the absence of any appeal, should be presumed to be just and based on sufficient evidence, and to be preferred to the garbled statements of irresponsible, humble, interested persons. I use the word irresponsible advisedly, because [Page 373] the immigrants were not free agents, but the dupes and victims of those who purchased their tickets, coached them in the statements they were to make, and probably debtors to the extent of $30 to those who undertook to land them legally and afterwards collect their money and their wages, as has been done in other cases.
Owing to the conditions prevailing in Seattle in March, and considering all suspicious circumstances of the two lots of Japanese who failed to secure cards from the United States commissioner of immigration at Victoria and Vancouver, British Columbia, and who did not even buy their own steamship tickets, I think it was merciful of the board of inquiry to return them to the place where they came from at the expense of the steamship companies. Time has demonstrated the wisdom of this course, as hundreds of Japanese have since voluntarily returned to Vancouver.
In conclusion, I wish to state that at my last official station, Key West, Fla., it is the custom to hold in jail for deportation Cuban contract laborers, even those who hail from an island under the protection of the United States flag.
It is explained in my letter of the 8th of April that it was more humane to detain the immigrants in a warm room in a jail than in the damp hold of a ship or on an exposed steamship dock.
Hoping that the foregoing statements will be sufficient explanation, I am,
Very respectfully,
Immigrant Inspector.
Mr. Sasahe, interpreter, to Mr. Lavin, immigrant inspector.
Sir: Regarding the reported loss of valuables by the Japanese immigrants confined in jail last March, will state that I was present with you on both occasions when you delivered the Japanese on board the steamship Rosalie and the steamship Mainlander. I then, in your company, returned their money to them. At no time did they complain that they had lost any personal property.
In the case of the Japanese who were deported on the steamship Mainlander to Vancouver, I will say that they were taken direct from the custom-house after a conference with the secretary of the Japanese consul, the manager of the Oriental Trading Company, and their attorney, Mr. Fred Petersen. I was with the above-named in company of the immigrants, and they made no complaint of being robbed.
Very respectfully,
Japanese Interpreter.
Mr. Cudihee, sheriff, to Mr. Lavin, immigrant inspector.
Seattle , June 29, 1901 .
Dear Sir: In regard to complaint about treatment of Japanese in my custody March 17, 1901, I desire to say that the Japanese were not placed with convicted criminals, but were kept in the “hospital ward,” an apartment of the jail given up to boys under commitment to the reform school, inmates of the jail who are sick, and men charged with misdemeanors.
As to the food furnished them, it consisted of bread freshly baked every day, mush, potatoes—the best in the market—beef soup, fresh boiled beef, tea and coffee, with sugar, and pork and beans.
When these men were brought to the jail they were accompanied by yourself and a Japanese interpreter, and you and the interpreter searched them. The interpreter kept the valuables found upon them, including watches and money. When they were in jail and during all the time they were in my custody, there was never any complaint made by them, or by any of them, or by anyone else, of any missing coat or watch.
I believe the steamship company desired to have these people held in custody, as upon presentation of the bill for their board and keep the company cheerfully paid the same.
Respectfully, yours,
Mr. Petersen to Mr. Lavin, immigrant inspector.
Dear Sir: As per your request of this date you are hereby informed that in March, 1901, I was employed as attorney by a number of Japanese who had been debarred from landing by the board of special inquiry at Seattle, and pursuant to that employment I called at the custom-house and was present when the Japanese consul’s secretary and the secretary of the Japanese Association were present. We had a consultation with the immigrants and they concluded that they would not go to the expense of employing an attorney, and that they would prefer to return to British Columbia, and that it was not to their interest to appeal their cases, and so stated to me through a Japanese friend of theirs. Thereupon I informed the secretary of the board that it was my clients’ wishes to abandon the appeal, and that no further steps should be taken. The men stated that they would be glad to return on the boat on the next trip to British Columbia, and I have personal knowledge of their returning by such boat. I am further satisfied that these immigrants while at Seattle were properly treated, although there was some objection made in that they had been confined in the county jail, but upon inquiry I learned that there was no place whatever to have cared for them properly except at the jail, and I explained this to my clients and they made no further complaint.
I desire to say further that every courtesy was extended to me as their attorney, and to the aforesaid officers of the Japanese consulate and association as well. The immigrants were also treated in a kindly manner, and they were all informed through their interpreter by the officers what their legal rights were, but they unanimously concluded that they would not insist upon landing, but return to British Columbia. The interpreter chosen was a countryman of the immigrants, and he explained to them their rights and the law in my presence and also in the presence of the Japanese officers, and I personally had a conversation with the Japanese consul and his secretary concerning these immigrants. I remember distinctly that the Government officers told the immigrants that if they had presented cards from the commissioner of immigration at the port from which they sailed they would then have had little difficulty, as such a card would have entitled them to enter after passing a medical examination. In view of all that was done concerning these immigrants, I fail to see why any complaint should have been made, as the officers of the Government certainly did not otherwise than their duty, and what annoyance may have been caused to these immigrants could not have been avoided under the circumstances.
I remain, etc.,
Mr. Chapman, agent for steamer Mainlander, to Mr. Lavin, immigrant inspector.
Dear Sir: Regarding the care of the nine Japanese that arrived on the steamer Mainlander from Vancouver, British Columbia, would state:
After consultation with Colonel Fisher, it was thought advisable to take them to the county jail for safe-keeping, as well as for their own comfort, there being no suitable place on the dock for them, as the weather was very cool.
We paid all bills for their care at the jail March 8, 1901.
Yours, very truly,
Agent Steamer Mainlander.
Mr. Peabody, manager Alaska Steamship Company, to Mr. Lavin, immigrant inspector.
Dear Sir: Regarding the matter of proper and safe care of Japanese from Victoria, British Columbia, per our steamer Rosalie some time ago, I beg to state that as the accommodations on the wharf and the facilities for furnishing them with meals are very limited we thought it advisable to take them to the county jail, where they would be more comfortable and receive proper attention. The expenses for their care were paid by us to the county sheriff.
Yours, truly,
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