California's Attitude Towards the Oriental

• Published date: 01 November 1925
• Date: 01 November 1925
• DOI: 10.1177/000271622512200124
• Subject Matter: Articles

199

California’s

Attitude

Towards

the

Oriental

By

ELIOT

GRINNELL

MEARS

Executive

Secretary,

The

Survey

of

Race

Relations,

headquarters

at

Stanford

University

THE

SURVEY

OF

RACE

RELATIONS

N

the

field

of

Oriental-American

relations,

the

significance

of

Cali-

fornia

is

out

of

all

proportion

to

its

area

and

population.

The

attitude

of

Cali-

fornia

and

Californians

has

largely

determined

American

foreign

policy

toward

the

Oriental.

The

reasons

for

this

situation

do

not

appear

on

the

surface.

Why

should

three

per

cent

of

the

population

of

con-

tinental

America

be

the

major

factor

in

these

diplomatic

relations?

Analogies

made

between

Orientals

on

the

Pacific

Coast

and

negroes

in

the

Southern

states

fail

to

provide

the

desired

clues

because

of

the

marked

points

of

differ-

ence,

among

which

may

be

mentioned:

eligibility

to

citizenship,

social

status,

language

difficulties,

organization,

in-

dustry,

thrift,

attitude

towards

women,

pride,

psychology

and

human

geogra-

phy.

A

fundamental

distinction

is

that

there

is

no

African

emperor

to

watch

over

the

interests

of

descendants

of

former

emigrants,

while

on

the

Pacific

there

stands

a

territorially

small

but

sensitive

and

powerful

nation

ready

to

protect

its

nationals.

Nevertheless,

a

balancing

of

these

various

factors,

as

weighed

by

the

writer,

an

adopted

son

of

Yankee

birth,

who

expresses

views

not

necessarily

his

own,

makes

it

appear

all

the

more

remarkable

that

the

wishes

of

Californians

and

their

com-

monwealth

should

dominate

this

situa-

tion.

It

is

in

California,

rather

than

in

the

northward

states

of

Oregon

and

Wash-

ington,

that

one

finds

leadership.

There

are

three

explanations:

first,

the

great

majority

of

Orientals

on

the

Pacific

Coast

as

well

as

in

the

United

States

(excluding

Hawaii)

have

resided

in

California;

second,

Pacific

Coast

affairs

have

taken

their

cue

mainly

from

California,

and,

in

particular,

the

locality

between

San

Francisco

and

Sacramento;

and

third,

the

cross

cur-

rents

of

the

coast

press

unduly

favor

this

state.

Relative

to

point

three,

it

is

worth

while

to

note

that

the

news

channels

to

and

from

California

operate

largely

east

and

west;

also,

California

news

is

fairly

well

distributed

in

Ore-

gon,

Washington

and

the

Province

of

British

Columbia,

but

the

return

news

is

meager.

Therefore,

the

California

attitude

as

expressed

by

the

ever-in-

fluential

press

permeates

all

sections

of

the

country,

including

the

Pacific

Northwest.

California

assumes

the

r6le

of

the

big

brother

of

the

American

Pacific

Coast.

Yet

the

national

importance

of

the

state

is

of

far

more

consequence.

The

part

California

has

played

and

is

play-

ing

in

the

determination

of

this

Amer-

ican

immigration

policy

is

in

marked

contrast to

the

failure

of

the

Southern

states

to

convert

the

nation

to

their

pronounced

view

on

an

intimate

racial

problem.

Locally,

it

is

believed

that

the

fairly

consistent

attitude

of

the

State

Department

towards

Californian

race

problems

has

been

too

negative

in

character

to

admit

of

needed

solutions:

hence,

the

virile,

determined

and

as-

sertive

state

residents,

both

native

son

and

adopted

son,

have

not

remained

quiescent.

Both

official

and

private

California

take

the

position

that

they

know.

Practically

every

step

taken

is

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