Japanese Pamphlets, Volume II, 1912-1920

Twenty-nine politically oriented pamphlets published between 1912-1929 set forth the pros and cons of Japanese continuing to reside in the United States and California. The White population was particularly concerned about the mixing of races and wanted laws that not only excluded the Japanese who were living in the United States (including children born in the United States) from citizenship but also from leasing or owning land. Arguments used against the Japanese living in America included claims of surreptitious entries (e.g., being smuggled in through Mexico), Japanese use of “Picture Prides, Japanese efforts to control the soil, Japanese use of “peaceful penetration” to take over the country, and fear by the White population that Japanese Americans were being trained for Japan’s service and hence a threat to the United States should there be a war. Those who were anti-Japanese described the Japanese as an inferior race incapable of assimilating into the White population. The pamphlets in this volume also include responses from the Japan Society of America and those sympathetic to the Japanese plight. V. S. McClatchy of the Sacramento Bee was particularly anti-Japanese as evidenced by the many pamphlets that he authored.https://digitalcommons.csumb.edu/hornbeck_usa_8_b/1001/thumbnail.jp