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
Creator(s)
Metcalf, Victor Howard, 1853-1936
