California once almost caused war with Japan

Japan was so mad at the United States a hundred years ago that some in Tokyo demanded a declaration of war.

And the source for all this acrimony was us Californians.

In April 1913, the state captured the attention of leaders of Japan, and even some in Europe, because of a rather incendiary bill written, according to one political leader, so we could remain "a white man's state. "

The state Legislature rocked the halls of power from Washington, D.C. to Tokyo when it passed the Alien Land Act of 1913, barring anyone ineligible for U.S. citizenship from owning land or holding long-term leases in California. And since Japanese migrants were barred from citizenship, it was hardly a secret who this bill mostly targeted.

Let's face it, Japanese, and other Asian immigrants, were never given much of a welcome in California, except to do difficult work like building railroads or performing other heavy labor.

In the Inland Valley, Chinese laborers in the 1880s were hired to bore through rock below the mouths of San Antonio and Cucamonga canyons, fashioning tunnels that were so effective that more than a century later we still use them to channel water out of the mountains.

But while some were willing to allow "Asiatics," as they were sometimes called, to do backbreaking labor for them, it didn't mean they wanted them as neighbors.

In May 1905, a mob of 75 to 80 men descended on Joseph Dundas' orchard near Euclid Avenue and today's Arrow Highway in Upland where Japanese workers were camped in tents. They demanded the immigrants be removed, but Dundas armed himself and drove them away. At another Upland labor camp, the mob herded 28 Japanese onto a wagon and ran them out of town.

Given the deep-seeded feelings in those times, it was no real surprise on April 16, 1913 - 100 years ago today - the Assembly passed the anti-Asian measure by a large margin. If there was opposition - at least on this side of the Pacific - it was mostly silent.

The rhetoric that spewed out about the bill was received with uneasiness in Europe as well as Asia. For a while, British interests believed California might bar all aliens from owning land here.

Things got hotter still when Northern California Rep. William Kent spoke in Washington, D.C., in support of the measure.

"California thus far has been a white man's state and it is the intention of the people of California to keep it so," he was quoted by the United Press and published in the Pomona Progress of April 17.

The impact of the state's actions was felt not only outside the country but also in Washington, D.C., Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan, worried about relations with Japan, came to California to lobby the against passage.

In Japan, alarmists expressed outrage over California's plans.

"Open declaration that war with the United States is impending" was the message by former Japanese Premiere Shigenobu Okuma in a United Press dispatch in the Progess on April 18. "Changed conditions in Japan now make it impossible for the government to restrain the lower classes and irresponsible newspapers who are insistent in their demands for immediate war. "

But despite diplomacy at the highest levels, the state Senate passed the measure and Gov. Hiram Johnson signed it into law in mid-May.

While Japan obviously stewed over the action, any thought of war eventually subsided at least for a few years.

When some loopholes were discovered in the 1913 law, California voters in 1920 approved an initiative by a 3-1 margin that again limited the rights of Japanese immigrants.

The U.S. Supreme Court in 1923 considered the California measures but ruled the bills did not violate the due process guarantee in the 14th Amendment, as cited in opponents' arguments.

The Alien Land Law managed to remain on the books until 1952 when the California Supreme Court finally invalidated the 1913 and 1920 measures.

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