The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1926, Page 74

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74

THE LUTHERAN PIONEER.

Chinese immigration, which began in 1850, was
stopped in 1882 by a law in harmony with a treaty
negotiated for the purpose in 1880. Since that time
the Chinese population has steadily diminished and
in 1920 in continental United States was 61,639,
of whom 18,532 are American-born and therefore
are American citizens. They live chiefly in cities
and towns. East of the Rockies their most con-
spicuous industry is the “Chinese laundry.” Other-
wise they are traders and in the West, in decreasing
numbers, truck gardeners.

Japanese immigration rapidly increased from
1900 to 1908, when the “gentlemen’s agreement”
was adopted —without Congressional legislation.
Between 1908 and 1924 more Japanese males left
the United States than entered by 21,869; but
41,920 more females entered than left, leaving a net
increase of 20,051. Of these 10,959 were in con-
tinental United States and 8,500 in Hawaii. These
figures do not include American-born children. Of
the total Japanese population — 111,010 recorded
in continental United States in the census of 1920—
29,672 were American-born. In May, 1924, the
“gentlemen’s agreement” was abrogated by the im-
migration law of that year, which provided that
aliens “ineligible for citizenship” shall not be ad-
mitted as immigrants for permanent residence.
Exceptions for travelers, students, merchants, and
officials as temporary residents were, of course, per-
mitted. Japanese have settled chiefly in the Pacific
coast States and have hitherto been chiefly occupied
in agriculture, especially in California. Repressive
state legislation, however, is resulting in their taking
up city life and city occupations.

Chinese and Japanese students have come to the
United States in very considerable numbers (be-
tween 2,500 and 3,000 being present in our colleges
and universities in recent years). Their welcome
and fine treatment constitute a bright spot in fur-
thering good-will between the United States and
the Far East.

Indians in the United States.

In some communities there is no distinction
made between Indians and whites. Many of them
have already intermarried, and such groups are
rapidly being increased by the addition of educated
young people. There are still Indians who dress
more or less in their tribal costumes, some of whom
for various reasons have standards of living different
from their white neighbors. A few Indians are re-

_ ceiving immense oil royalties from the barren lands

to which they were assigned. Members of this
group are likely to be the subjects of the exploita-
tion, sentimental interest, or disdain of some mem-
bers of their own race or of the whites.

In the continental United States there are ap-
proximately 336,000 Indians; in Alaska about
37,000. They are mainly on 147 reservations and
in scattered communities in 20 States. ‘There are
more than 150 tribal bands and clans, all speaking
different languages and dialects. Less than one-
third in the United States are related to Christian
communions. ‘There are 233 government Indian
schools, including 154 reservation day-schools, 54
reservation boarding-schools, and 27 non-reservation
boarding-schools. There are also 37 Roman Catholic
and 20 Protestant mission-schools for them.

The majority of the Indian people live in small
towns or in rural communities, no longer segregated
since settlers have bought or leased so much of the
surplus Indian land. This has increased our Indian
problem. The pride of the Indian people and their
inexperience in modern life have rendered them
keenly sensitive to the real or seeming negligence
of the doctor, to the greed of the lawyer, to the
seeming prejudice of the new teacher, and the in-
creased prices of merchants. On the other hand
a sense of irritation is sometimes felt by the whites
because of the Indian’s seeming lack of appreciation
of his abundance of land and the Government’s aid
in the education of his children in the face of their
own struggles for a livelihood and the advancement
of their children.

Mexicans in the United States.

The Immigration: Act of July 1, 1924, allows
citizens of Mexico who pass the tests to enter the
United States in unlimited numbers. Before that,
however, Mexicans admitted by immigration authori-
ties had increased annually each fiscal year from
13,000 in 1914 to 87,000 in 1924, except in 1921
and 1922, when there was a recession. ‘This does not
account for those entering clandestinely along the
1,800 miles of the border.

Besides large populations of them in Texas and
other Southwestern States, considerable numbers
settled in Kansas, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska,
Nevada, Illinois, and Pennsylvania. In 1923, out
of a total of 297 families with children under
16 years of age in the beet-fields of five counties of
Nebraska and one adjoining county of Wyoming,
44 were contract labor families. Large Mexican
colonies are reported in the steel towns of Joliet, Ill.,