February 24.
Tax intelligence, emanating from Washington, that the new commercial treaty "between the United States and Japan, which has received the approval of the committee for Foreign Affairs of the Senate, does not provide restrictions upon Japanese immigration affords further reassurance for those who are interested in the maintenance of the world's peace. It is true that there was nothing to justify a pessimistic opinion of the relations between the two Governments. As far asthe outside world is in a position to judge, both the United States and Japan adhere implicitly to the spirit and the letter of the undertaking between the two countries that took the form of an exchange of Notes in November 1908. It is the wish of the two Governments, said the first clause of that agreement, to encourage the free and peaceful development of their commerce on the Pacific Ocean; and, States Government has been able to give effect to the spirit of its undertaking with Japan. The commercial treaty of 1894, which in ordinary circumstances would not Inpse for another year, is to be superseded at once by a new agreement, to enable Japan to carry through tariff arrangements simultaneously with all the Powers. There is to be no provision for restrictions upon Japanese immigration, but the matter is to be left to Japan to regulate in such a way that emigration from Japan of a character objectionable to the United States shall not be allowed.
Political quidnuncs will read into this arrangement much room for speculation; and attempts may be made to find in it confirmation of many reports regarding the unreadiness of the United States for a more aggressive attitude. The ni derstanding between the two Governments, however, is eminently creditable to both sides, and avoids: the harsh and undiplomatic discrimination that the Californian legis-nature has been asked to sanction. it was added, they are firmly resol- Th ved reciprocally to respect the territorial possessions belonging to each other in the said region. In the last two years, however, much has happened to cause the two peoples to look askance at one another over the paper on which those Notes were written. Japan has taken action in China an rea at the dictates of her own interests, and her policy has not invariably conformed with the altruistic principles that commend themselves to the American public. The immigration question in California has been raised in an aggressive manner that paid little heed to Tapaneso susceptibilities; while the construction of the Panama Canal fail to modify the international position in the Pacific in a way that will not simplify for Japan the regelation of her foreign policy. As the event has proved, however, the first effect of the Panama Canal has been to make for peace. Although the Washington Government has shown little sympathy with the anti-Japanese agitation on the Pacific Const, it has been unable to prevent it, until the rivalry for the site of the Panama Canal Commemorative Exhibition of 1915 provided it with a lever upon the exclasionists of California. Rather than surrender their claim to hold the Exhibition in San Francisco to the' people of New Orleans, the Californians have agreed to forgo an active propaganda against the Japanese. Accordingly the United is no reason to suppose that ese Government will try its responsibilities, as it is to the interests of the nation that there should be no indiscriminate diffusion of its emigrant population at a time when the consolidation of the Empire near home is desirable. The United States, on the other hand, are able to approach the question of immigration with the more consistency. In 1863 Congress was urged to promote immigration into the United States, but forty-four years later a Commission had to be appointed with a view to consider what restrictions upon immigration might be advisable. The change in the nation's attitude, however, is directed against the immigrant rather than against the principle of immigration, and the reason has been clearly set out in the Commission's Report. " From 1819 to 1883," we read, "more than ninety-five per cent of the total immigration from Europe originated in the United Kingdom, Germany, Scandinavia, the Nether-Belgium, France and Switzerland...In recent years more than seventy per cent of the movement has originated in southern and eastern Europe... The old immigration movement was essentially one of permanent settlers. The new immigration is very largely one of individuals, a considerable proportion of whom have apparently no intention of permanently changing, their residence," Further perusal of the Commission's Report shows that the immigration problem is no less acute for the United States Government on the enst coast than on the shores of the Pacific, and the question is one that calls for careful and uniform solution.
That solution, according tothe Commissioners, should keep in view the one desideratam of securing immigrants who will become traly American. The existing regulations for dealing with immigration have proved inadequate to obtain the end in view, and it is now realized that the best way to deal with the problem will be by measures that are capable of enforcement at the port of embarkation rather than at the port of disembarkation. Such measures can only be adopted with the goodwill of the Government of the country concerned, and thus the United States, if they carry out this policy, will have fo extend to European countries the arrangement that has now been arrived at with Jai The ce-operation of foreign Governments, it has been suggested, should be invited to regulate emigration by means of passports, which will give a guarantee, as far as possible, not only of nce of conviction for crime but of the personal character of the holder. here a Government refuses to adopt this system, all immigration from that country could be prohibited. The whole question is likely to demand the attention of the United States Government for a considerable period, and the interests of the country have clearly been studied inthe amicable adjustment for the time being of the problem of Japanese immigration.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.