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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.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-12-05
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.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-10-31
Senator Hale thanks President Roosevelt for consulting him about the Navy, is greatly satisfied with how Roosevelt has influenced events in Cuba, and is concerned with the Japanese in Hawaii but has few doubts that Secretary of the Navy Metcalf will be able to pacify the Japanese government and avoid war. Hale has studied the issue and is against building “monster ships,” but the General Board is divided on this question. Hale has summarized their recommendations about battleships for 10 years, but the recommendations seem to change every year and so has less confidence in them than Roosevelt does. Hale is glad to discuss this or any other matter further.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-10-31
George Kennan objects to the language in a California resolution that denies naturalization to Japanese immigrants based on their “disposition and characteristics,” which the resolution says make them “a wholly undesirable and unsatisfactory” addition to the country. It is an insult to Japan that this language excludes their people, while the United States continues to admit “the lowest, most ignorant, most degraded classes from southeastern Europe” and allows them to become citizens. Kennan intends to write about this subject in The Outlook.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-04-01
Hosea Ballou Morse believes the war has been a success for Japan and that Port Arthur will soon fall. He argues that there are three salient points to consider about Japan, including Japan’s ties to the feudal system and the nature of the Japanese people. Morse discusses “the yellow peril,” speculating about the motives of Japan and what will happen after the war.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-08-07
In a letter to Secretary of State Root, President Roosevelt expresses his concern over relations with Japan, specifically the need to check Japanese immigration. Roosevelt vents his frustration with members of the United States Senate who do not appreciate the need to build up the navy and treat the Japanese with respect. Roosevelt cites the need to send the navy’s battleship fleet on a worldwide cruise, and he provides details of his meeting with members of the Japanese diplomatic corps.
Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal
1907-07-13
Motohiko Miyasaki describes the flourishing Japanese community of Los Angeles, many of whom are involved in agriculture. Their community includes many successful businesses, and most people are well educated. Overall, Miyasaki characterizes Japanese people as desirable residents for a number of reasons, and emphasizes the warm relationship between Japan and the United States.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-03-21
The Japanese paper Nichi Nichi says that while it believes that the United States is fairly enforcing the immigration law denying citizenship to Japanese as it is written, the enforcement of such a law on the books will be detrimental to relations between the United States and Japan.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-03-25
The report provides demographic information for Japanese passengers traveling from Japan to Hawaii and the mainland United States in May and June 1908. The handwritten numbers indicate figures for May, while the printed numbers are for June.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908
A group of poor Eastern European immigrants and ragged anarchists, dressed in kimonos, pretend to be Japanese immigrants. They are stopped at the border. Caption: Perhaps, if they came in kimonos, the real undesirables might also be kept out.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1907-03-13
Samuel Hill, a Harvard University trustee, knows two Japanese jiu-jitsu masters who are far superior to Professor John J. O’Brien as they have six degrees and O’Brien only two. Hill offers to bring them to the White House for an exhibition.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-12-03