n
JAPANEBE HARVESTING CELERY IN CALIFORNIA-
JAPANESE WORK HARD.
Ambitious to Become All That W lute
Men Are in This Country.
Whatever may be the wrong or the right in
tho anti-Japanese Bentlment on the Pacific
Coast, tin re Is no question at all about the ag
gressiveness of thcj>e people in the K;ir West.
r J the Chinaman, the native of Nippon on
? g in America becomes ambitious to Ik- nil
that t!i<: white man is. Ho irf not content to be
1 mere laborer. On his arrival he may for a
lime work for a white man. digging sewers,
I rr railroads, picking fruit or doing house
tvork, but all this time he considers himself
!•.••:>■ going to Bchool. I 1 '' is simply preparing
for i imething better. And when he has learw '1
a bit of the language anil the customs of his
American employer he bids him goodby, starts
a farm of his own or opens a shop.
Tin: Japanese believes that he is every bit as
versatile, as quick witted raid as intelligent as
the white man, and in whatever business the
Caucasian may prosper, in that he thinks he,
tr>". can make money. And it would seem that
liis In lief U well founded. In some lines of
business he has even shown his superiority to
*he Caucasian and has crowded him aside. In
<Cie metropolitan district around the Golden
:•-. for example, Japanese florists have al
■Jaost a monopoly. In San Francisco, Oakland
kind Alameda marly all the Slower shops are
fjn by Japanese. They have big hothouses
bear Stanford University which vie with that
institution in attraction for tourists. They
Beem to be born gardeners, particularly skilled
In the use of fertilizers, and can make their
flowers grow larger and more brilliant than
.many a white man who calls himself a flori
culturist.
Japanese farm laborers are also going into the
fruit business in nearly all tho Pacific Coast
cities, much as the Italian has done in the East.
He may be se<n at the street corner beside his
stand, and always busy. When not attending
to cvi ''iini-rs he is hard at work rubbing his
oranges to make them look still more golden,
or delicately adjusting a pyramidal display of
silv< r primes. As a tailor he has even crowded
many a skilled and thrifty Jew out of busi
ness. One- tenth of the Japanese in skilled
c iv] itions in California are tailors. They are
particularly popular with women customers.
The reason is that a Japanese tailor stems
■J ich more, conscientious about making a flt
J. in a white man. Though frequently charged
»-ith trying to work off shoddy for "all wool,"
y. t few deny that he is especially solicitous
about shaping hit) g-arm^nts so that they hang
Wit) '111 a wrinkie.
A characteristic of the Japanese which has
contributed to his success Jn business is his
proverbial neatness. It is shown in any number
of ways. It is to b.- sen in his own personal
appearance, in the arrangement of the goods on
the shelves of his store, in the extra coats of
varnish on his delivery wagons, and In the care
ful grooming of his horses. Even if he is a hum
ble cobbler, with a shop down under the side*
walk, he is likely to show this trait more than
many a native of Europe who has become an
American citizen and boasts of a plate glas3
front Btore. For example. Instead of wrapping
the -lines he has mended in an old newspaper,
like Ins Italian competitor, he puts th"m In a
white pasteboard box, ties the cover with a
pica of ribbon, and then, to give an artistic
touch to the package, he will pasto on it a
liitlr picture of a tea. garden.
And not only on the coast, but in the Middle
\\ . t, tho Japanese are forging to the front.
In Ogden, Utah, for example, one of the leading
dry and fancy goods stores in the town is run
by a Japanese firm. There, too, are Japanese
watchmakers, Japanese pool parlors, Japanese
tobacco stores and Japanese barber shops.
In X« braska there has been a recent invasion
of Japanese who are eager to develop the here
tofore arid lands of the North Platte region,
ii iv l» ins turned into gardens with water from
a government irrigation ditch. About three
hundred >>f the Occidentals have secured three
th ; ,nd acres of land, on which they are rals
ti • -.!• beets and potatoes. Ar:.! thi
jv ; -.-••!. One Japane c iabortr who took a
uf f iiy acres In thLs pegion sold bis crop
NEW- YORK DAILY TRIBUNE, SUNDAY, DEGE&TKER 16, 11)00.
of potatoes last year for 51,385. Several Japan
ese colonies have been founded in the marshy
part of Texas skirting the Gulf of Mexico.
There they have laid out rice fit Ids and culti
vated them. Just as they would do at home.
News of the prosperity of tho Japanese in
America has had its natural effect upon those
at home. The Immigration of these people to
this country ha.=s recently been increasing at a
faster rate than that of any other aliens. In
IS3O there were only 2,033 Japanese in tho
United States, exclusive of 12.3C0 in HSwail
Ten years later there were 24,328 in the United
States and 64,111 In Hawaii. At th>» present
timo it Is estimated that there are SO.OOO in the
JAPANESE PREPARING OSTRICH FEATHERS ON AN OSTRICH FARM IN
CALIFORNIA.
TTnited States and about 70,000 In the Sa.ndwlch
islands. In California alone there are 40,000, of
whom about oxxc- third are living around San
Francisco Kay. And they are coming in through
the Golden Gate faster now than ever. In tho
first quarter of 15CC 2,160 arrived; the second
quarter. 3, GOG; the third, 4,500, and by the end
of the present quarter it is expected that 7,000
will have come. Next to California the Japan
ese prefer the State of Oregon. According to the
last Immigration report, the Japanese who came
in the yeitr ended June 30, 1905, distributed
themselves as follows: California, 2,022; Wash
ington. 1.200; Oregon, 279; New York. Mis
souri, 165; Texas, 88; Arixona, 70; Illinois, s*.
500,000 GALLON WINE TANK OF AN ITALIAN-SWISS COLONY IN
CALIFORNIA.
I c plea dar.ced insido this lar.!: vthmn it was completed.
JAPANESE GATHERING OLIVES IN CALIFORNIA.
THE AST! COLOSY.
Success of Experiment in Wine
Making in California.
In these days, when so much of practical
thought is being given to the solution of the dif-
Bculties between capital and Uib<r, it is sur
prising that the wurk of the Asti Colony In
California has been so targety eveiiookedi For
here Ld tho result of an experiment in philan-
thropy and co-operation that failed on Its initial
Unes, but aoceeeoed on new ones.
About twenty yeaxs ago a condition was found
in San FkaaeJaM which demanded of Lha warm
hefted Italian residt-ntd an effort to aid a num
ber of their more unfortunate countrymen, who
had been lured thither by promises of plenty.
The plight of the.se wanderers in a strange hxnd
led to the establishment of what is now known
as the tlajTlaa Tw' i Colony at Astl by a hand
ful of Italian business men of that city on a
tract of fift.s n hundred acres in Sonoma Coanty.
The character of the land was ideal for the cul
tivation primarily of grapes, but also of olives.
By Athertun Ilrowm-H.
lemons, oranges and the huge Italian chestnuts
that flourish in profusion under the bright Ital
lan sky. From the OH World were brought cut
tings from the choice t vines, which w*-re plant
ed after the initial labor of clearing the ground,
and the cultivation of the grape has grown, until
it la a large factor in an Industry that is one
of the greatest in the United States.
Under the original plan of the colony, each
on« of the laborers was to receive from $.i!> to
$-10 a month as wages, with board, meals and a
house to live in, but he was to take also five
shares in stock, the cost of which should be de
ducted from his wages at the rate of £> a month.
But this feature did not appeal to the workman
and they declined to become stoekholdf-rs. The
original promoters, therefore, continued their
, work without the co-operative factor, but re
tained all of the other liberally conceived I it"
nres of the enterprise, fTreat wineries wre
erected and experts were brought from Francs
and Italy, and a selling agency was also estab
lished, and to-day such is the success of the en
terprise that had any of the laborers deducted
the necessary ?." a month to pay for their '!•.-•
shares they would now he receiving $12 a month
in addition to their wag^s in the place of It.
Throughout the acres of the colony, wh^rf the
vines are growing Id profusion, the lansTtjay of
Italy is to be heard from the parents, but Kng
lish Is spoken by the children, who live in vir.e
covered and rose-embowerrd cottages. growing
up to be good Americans. For them has been
furnished rhurch and school. Each married
man has his own cottage and his own little
; piece of ground, which he cultivates for himself.
| Fences are unknown, but where It is necessary
to make a divisfon t - re will be found hedges of
roses and morning glories. There also arc ltirg»
dormitory buildings and dining rooms for the
single men of the colony. Asti Is a ♦••■•. in
itself, with its own postoffice. telegraph r.ffi^e
and telephone exchange, its own railroad station
and ••■ trie light plant, which gets Its pow»r
from the geysers twenty miles away and fur
nishes light to the neighboring towns.
If there is any serpent in the Harden of E.l^rr
it is not one that la to be found in the wir.<>
glass. Where win" fs free one might expect in
temperance to be the rule, but drunkenness is
never known at Asti, and among the town's
modern Improvements there is no police station.
One of the notable sights of Asti is the fa
mous tank capable of holding half a million gal
lons of wine. No such great receptacle for wine
exists elsewhere In the world, and in its in
terior, cut out of the solid rock, a hundred cou
ples have danced. Another sight is the beautiful
villa, a reproduction of the famous Casa de
Vetti discovered in ISST. in the ruins of Pompeii.
This Is the country residence of Andrea Sbar
boro, the projector of the enterprise.
WHAT PRESWFXT S tit.
Will Be Set Forth in Hi* Panama
Message, with Illustration.?.
TFV'jn t»i« Tribune I nreau. 1
"Washington. Dec. 15.— President Roosevelt has
just completed and win send to Congress M.in
day, one of the most unusual messages ever
prepared by a President of the United States.
In a communication nearly fifteen thousand
words in length, exclusive of appendices, the
President relates the conditions as he found
them along the line of the Panama Canal, and
Illustrates this remarkable state pax with
twenty-six full page halftone reproductions of
photographs taken on the spot. The reading;
matter will appear in two columns on each page,
while opposite the reading matter will be found
the illustrations, each the size of two columns
of the text.
Tkssa who have been permitted to read ad
vance proofs of the message describe It as one
of the most interesting travel tales they ever
read. With that graphic force and pictures, pie
expression which have made him so much ?n
demand .is a magazine writer, the President do
scribes the conditions on the Isthmus, the great
work accomplished, the few defects, the pros
pects and the men who are constructing the
canal. He makes recommendations to Congress
regarding the legislation needed, and Illustrates
the whole with a comprehensive series of photo
graphs.
There was no place of Importance on th«
canal rone to -which the President did not go.
He eschewed, in so far as possible, all aMd
functions, absolutely refused to spend his time
visiting "the sights," inspected mess rooms, la
borers' cabins, and sanitary arrangements with
th© thoroughness of an army inspector: ate at
unexpected places the same meals that are given
the laborers, examined the plans, the machinery
and the personnel of the force, and came away
well pleased with what he saw.
This interesting story will be told in the
President's own words in The Tribune of Tues
day, December IS. which Issue will contain the
full text of the message and illustrations.
English, French Etchings
of ism ckxttky.
MEZZOTINTS. PHOTOS AND r\KRONS
ok AM. nMntu 6.\UCCUS.
2 West 28th St. QGQWE BUSSE