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This newspaper article written by Walter E. Davenport speaks about labor congestion in New York, dwindling demand for immigrant labor, and subsequent deportations. The first half of the article focuses on the experiences of Italian immigrant Giuseppe Pissaro trying to find employment and being ordered for deportation by the Board of Inquiry.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-06-06
An opinion piece from The Outlook magazine of London, England, discussing the debate over Japanese laborers in British colonies.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-10-12
Print shows, on the left, a long line of recent graduates with their “Diploma,” some labeled “Doctor” and “Lawyer,” passing by a man with a sign that states, “Wanted Skilled Labor – Mechanics, Designers, Carvers, Electricians, Artisans, Practical Men.” They end up at the “Employment Agency” where a sign is posted that states, “Wanted Day Laborers, Street Sweepers, Waiters, Hod Carriers, Street Car Drivers, etc., etc.” The man looking for skilled labor on the left, is now on the right signing up foreign laborers, as they step off the ship, for the positions the graduates turned down. Caption: The professions turned loose; they scorn skilled labor – but many of them have to seek unskilled labor in the end – while the employer of skilled labor finally has to get it from abroad.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1899-06-28
Print shows Uncle Sam using “Congressional Mortar” and building blocks carried by ethnic workers to construct a wall with the stones. The stones are labeled “Law against Race, Prejudice, Jealousy, Competition, Fear, Anti Low Wages, Non-Reciprocity, [and] Congressional Blunders.” Across a river, in the background, Chinese workers work with picks to dismantle the Great Wall, as China opens its doors to trading with the West. Caption: The American wall goes up as the Chinese original goes down.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1882-03-29
A picture indicates that Americans are mistreating Chinese workers in their country, ignoring their contributions to the infrastructure, and making the Chinese outcasts. This angers the Chinese and sparks their peaceful protests of America through boycott.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-08-10
President Roosevelt sends Secretary of State Root some interesting figures relating to Japanese immigration.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-03-28
President Roosevelt “heartily approve[s]” James Bronson Reynolds’s plan. While he regrets it, Roosevelt believes Japanese laborers and traders need to be kept out of the United States. He hopes Reynolds’s commission can do this “in the pleasantest possible fashion by mutual agreement” with Japan.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-08-30
President Roosevelt has received the letters from both Secretary of War Taft and W. Leon Pepperman of the Office of Administration of Isthmian Canal Affairs regarding the use of Chinese labor for the construction of the canal. Roosevelt emphasizes that his primary belief is that the canal must be constructed, and that therefore that means getting whatever laborers necessary, limited only by “the law of the land and the requirements of morality.” Roosevelt believes this first contract for Chinese laborers does not need to be bid on, as it is only for a small number of laborers and is “in the nature of an experiment,” but if there need to be further contracts then such contracts should be advertised for bids.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-07-27
Milton B. Goodkind is glad he amused Theodore Roosevelt with is last letter. He hopes to speak in person with Roosevelt soon, but discusses possible Democratic presidential candidates. In response to Roosevelt’s article “Whats the Matter with Business,” Goodkind list several things that are wrong with business and why things are so broken and why promises will no longer be enough for American’s.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-12-12
Thomas W. Mayo comments on foreign labor and how political parties are accountable to the voters.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-04-13
Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs Tadasu Hayashi has asked Ambassador O’Brien to pass on a summary of Japanese Ambassador Kogoro Takahira’s conversation with President Roosevelt on 25 October, 1907, to Secretary of State Root. Takahira advised Roosevelt that positive steps must be taken to counteract negative public opinion toward Japan, and expanded on several points to consider. It is the opinion of the Japanese government that an agreement allowing Japanese workers into the United States that is satisfactory to both parties is impossible under existing circumstances. Takahira also asks that the opinions he stated be kept in confidence, as he is not authorized to speak on these matters by the Japanese government.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-11-03
Secretary of Commerce and Labor Straus tells President Roosevelt that he is ill, and will be on bedrest for another day, missing a cabinet meeting. Straus has the contract lithographers labor case under control and will discuss it with Roosevelt next week. Straus is happy to hear that Roosevelt was not responsible for the financial crisis in New York.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-10-26
Journalist George Kennan shares his thoughts on the “Japanese question” in San Francisco and its political implications. He feels President Roosevelt’s position on the matter is correct but is not practical. The clamor from labor unions and the “constant fanning of the fire of race antipathy” by the press have created an environment for hostility. McClure’s Magazine did not publish Kennan’s articles on the topic.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-08-10
James F. J. Archibald reports to President Roosevelt on the submarine defense of the Pacific Coast and the Hawaiian Islands. Archibald believes America to be “so far behind” other nations in this area of marine warfare—particularly Great Britain, France, and Japan. Upon visiting principal cities and harbors, he finds the Pacific Coast and Hawaiian Islands in a “deplorably defenseless position” and notes that the people living in these areas feel vulnerable because of the large extent of “oriental labor and immigration.” Whereas guns and mines are not ideal defense weapons because of the foggy weather, Archibald feels the Pacific Coast is prime territory for the use of submarines due to the large harbors, climates, and topography of the region. Archibald details the number of submarines and personnel he believes to be needed at each of four geographic locations–the Puget Sound, the mouth of the Columbia River, the San Francisco Bay, and the San Diego Bay–as well as the costs of these fortifications, and he emphasizes that his opinions are shared by military officers and civilian experts.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-01-02
Secretary of War Taft agrees with President Roosevelt’s decision to appoint John Marshall Harlan. Taft then analyzes the political considerations in making the appointment of the Supreme Court justice who will succeed Henry Billings Brown. Taft also expresses concern about Chief Engineer of the Panama Canal John F. Stevens’s inability to answer the charges of Poultney Bigelow’s article in The Cosmopolitan, even if the charges have no foundation. In addition, Taft notifies Roosevelt that he tried to get Major George W. Goethals, an army engineer, to be Secretary of the Board to live on the Isthmus of Panama, but the presence of Secretary of the Isthmian Canal Commission Joseph Bucklin Bishop prevents it. Taft recognizes that Congressman Julius C. Burrows is “indignant” about Taft’s involvement in the appointment of District Judge in the Western District of Michigan, but Taft does not think Burrows is justified.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-08-21
Carroll Purman writes on behalf of the International Contracting Company regarding the Chinese labor proposal. He says timing is a vital feature.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-07-26
Emma Brace explains to Corinne Roosevelt Robinson her concerns about possible upcoming restrictions to immigration. She read in the newspaper that President Roosevelt is considering a change in policy that would require immigrants to pay a $25 tax in order to come, or limit immigration with national quotas. Brace feels this is a mistake because it is unfair to peasants and their families, especially Italians, who cannot afford the tax, and unfair to American companies who need good laborers. Brace tells Robinson about an idea she read in a book called Imported Americans, in which representatives from American companies would go abroad to villages and select the workers they want, thereby giving a certificate to those who meet the criteria and thus the “undesirable may not even leave their own commune.” Brace believes this idea is approved by Commissioner of Immigration Robert Watchorn and hopes Robinson will communicate this idea to her “active-minded brother,” meaning President Roosevelt.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-05-25
Secretary of War Taft wires that an executive order was accepted by the Panamanian authorities. Taft will be traveling to Jamaica to discuss migrant labor.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-12-04
Jeremiah Whipple Jenks has been touring Southeast Asia and the Philippines in an official capacity with the Philippine Commission and offers his views on numerous issues.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1902-07-10
Albert Whyte reports on the state of affairs in Hawaii. He says that the greed of sugar plantation owners has led Hawaii to be “overrun by the scum of creation.” Members of the Planters’ Association lament the lack of desirable labor, but Whyte believes they have not sincerely tried because they cannot get “white labor” as cheaply as workers of other ethnicities. He reports that the labor conditions on the plantations are practically like slavery and extremely degrading.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1901-11-18