California--San Francisco

Memorandum from William S. Cowles to Victor Howard Metcalf

William S. Cowles sends Secretary of the Navy Newberry comments on two letters from the Merchant Marine League. The League maintains that by chartering foreign vessels to transport coal to ports on the Pacific Coast, the United States has damaged merchant shipping without appreciating the true effect such an action has. Cowles relays the details and allegations the League submits for consideration.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-07-15

Letter from James F. Nichols to Oscar Hatsumi

Tax Collector Nichols informs Oscar Hatsumi that in order to obtain a license for his intelligence office, he must obtain approval from the Chief of Police.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-07-03

Letter from Charles F. Skelly to Kazuo Matsubara

Charles F. Skelly, Secretary of the San Francisco Board of Police Commissioners, informs Japanese Vice Consul Matsubara that permits for employment agencies were denied to Henry Fruya and several other Japanese nationals due to the board’s interpretation of a treaty between Japan and the United States. The board believes the applicant, Fruya, should bring a case to the courts to have his rights under the treaty determined.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-07-03

Letter from Benjamin Ide Wheeler to William Loeb

Benjamin Ide Wheeler is glad to hear of Assistant Secretary of State Robert Bacon’s positive report on John W. Garrett. Wheeler updates William Loeb on the local political climate in San Francisco, which he finds very confused. The “stable elements” of society are now in opposition to several formerly popular leaders, though it is hard to say exactly why. Wheeler believes it has to do with indictments against the men. Wheeler encloses a series of editorials from The Argonaut examining the situation.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-07-03

Letter from William J. Grandfield to United States Navy Department Bureau of Equipment

William J. Grandfield inquires from the United States Navy Department Bureau of Equipment whether it is possible for him to load some cargo bound for San Francisco, California, and Seattle, Washington, onto foreign ships that the U.S. Navy has chartered to ship coal to the Pacific Coast, as there are no American ships available.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-06-24

Note from Benjamin Ide Wheeler to William Loeb

Benjamin Ide Wheeler sends a newspaper clipping to William Loeb that he forgot to include in his recent letter to President Roosevelt. The clipping mentions an industrial peace conference to be held in San Francisco, California.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-06-20

Report on Japanese-American Relations

Anti-Japanese sentiment in San Francisco has spiked and the local authorities have yet to investigate or pursue justice. Tension between Japan and the United States is unusual, as an experienced diplomat on the subject stated: “America is the last country with which I expected complications with Japan. Traditional friendship of the two nations uniformly maintained by the government at Washington, makes me almost hesitate to believe that an anti-Japanese sentiment exists in Uncle Sam’s territory”. Fortunately, President Roosevelt is a capable and thoughtful leader, who will no doubt resolve the matter efficiently.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-06-06

Letter from Shūzō Aoki to Elihu Root

Ambassador Aoki appreciates the efforts of Secretary of State Root in the investigation of crimes against Japanese immigrants in San Francisco.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-06-06

Letter from Elihu Root to Theodore Roosevelt

Secretary of State Elihu Root encloses a letter from Japanese Ambassador Shūzō Aoki, telling President Roosevelt that it is proof that the conflict between Japanese interests and San Francisco is proceeding as an ordinary diplomatic issue, and that newspapermen are creating more drama than there is to enhance sales.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-06-07

Letter from Ian Hamilton to Theodore Roosevelt

General Hamilton commends President Roosevelt for his tact with handling San Francisco’s challenges to the Gentlemen’s agreement with Japan. He discusses different forms of combat. He believes that Japanese and Russian soldiers are more prone to fight in hand-to-hand combat, while superior soldiers rely on firearms. Hamilton relays his opinion of Captain Tanaka and Tamemoto Kuroki, and Japanese men more broadly. Hamilton was happy to see the photographs of Roosevelt riding his horse.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-06-11

Letter from Charles F. Skelly to Kazuo Matsubara

Charles F. Skelly, Secretary of the San Francisco Board of Police Commissioners, responds to Kazuo Matsubara’s inquiry into why the Board of Police Commissioners denied three Japanese permit applications to conduct Intelligence Offices. Skelly explains the cases of K. Oda, Y. Samejima, and H. Furuya, in which two of the men did not appear for their scheduled hearings and one application was not received.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-05-10

Directive from the United States Senate to Victor Howard Metcalf

The United States Senate directs the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, Victor Howard Metcalf, to provide copies of all documents related to his investigation of Japanese students attending public schools in San Francisco.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-12-05

Letter from Victor Howard Metcalf to Charles W. Fairbanks

Secretary of Commerce and Labor Metcalf responds to a resolution requiring his department to furnish the Senate with all documents related to his investigation of Japanese students attending public schools in San Francisco. Metcalf states that the investigation was undertaken under the authority and as the representative of President Roosevelt and not in his capacity as Secretary of Commerce and Labor. The documents, therefore, are now under the custody and control of Roosevelt, to whom Metcalf has forwarded a copy of this letter.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-12-06

Letter from Elihu Root to William Loeb

Secretary of State Root returns the original report made by Secretary of Commerce and Labor Victor Howard Metcalf on the exclusion of Japanese children from public schools in San Francisco.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-11-13

Letter from Kentarō Kaneko to Theodore Roosevelt

Kentarō Kaneko is disheartened to hear about the situation in San Francisco where the local school board will not allow Japanese children to enroll in schools. Kaneko is working his hardest to quell anger in Japan, and is heavily resting on the notion that this is an entirely local problem – not a national one.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-10-31

Letter from Benjamin Ide Wheeler to Theodore Roosevelt

President Wheeler of the University of California gives President Roosevelt an update on the San Francisco Graft Trials. Wheeler also gives Roosevelt a summary of the candidates for the 1906 California gubernatorial race and relates how California schools are segregating Chinese, Japanese, and Korean students.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-10-31

Letter from Victor Howard Metcalf to Theodore Roosevelt

Victor Howard Metcalf updates President Roosevelt about the tense situation growing between Japan and the United States over the segregation of Japanese children in schools. The California Supreme Court’s decision will be based on whether or not the treaty with Japan had a “most favored nation” clause. This will determine what the United States’, and thus California’s, obligation is to educate immigrant Japanese students in the same manner that it educates immigrant children from European descent, who are educated as if they were American children. United States District Attorney Devlin seems to think the clause was not included. This needs to be determined to decide whether or not segregating the students was in violation of the treaty. Metcalf notes hostility to the Chinese that is nearly as bad as towards Chinese immigrants and mentions that both parties are in support of legislation to restrict Japanese immigrants.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-11-02

Letter from Robert T. Devlin to William H. Moody

United States Attorney Robert T. Devlin replies to Attorney General William H. Moody’s telegram with details about lawsuits in San Francisco regarding Asian American children being segregated in public schools.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-10-26

Telegram from Kentarō Kaneko to Theodore Roosevelt

Kentarō Kaneko writes to President Roosevelt about the recent call in San Francisco by school administrators to pull Japanese children out of schools. Kaneko describes Japan as a “consistently firm friend” and asks that Roosevelt take appropriate measures immediately, for justice and humanity.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-10-26

Letter from Henry Martyn Hoyt to Theodore Roosevelt

Solicitor General Hoyt forwards to President Roosevelt a telegram regarding a lawsuit over the segregation of Japanese school children in public schools in San Francisco, California.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-10-27