"We should have a text-book presenting a sympathetic analysis of the needs, duties, and ideals of the great races, proceeding to a comparison of their mutual influence in politics, religion, and the arts, and of their various associations for common action since the French Revolution, concluding with a study of the gradual emergence of various forms of world-organization, of the peace movement, and of the financial, commercial, and industrial developments that have already provided the world-organism with a single, sensitive, nervous system." This suggestion is splendid; but let it definitely include the Asiatic. We need a series of "Race Readers" in which the millions of children and young people in our schools and colleges shall learn of the noble characteristics and achievements of the various races. They should be taught to respect foreigners of every race, for each race has its noble ancestry and its heroes. The systematic education of our youth in Oriental history and civilization, is, to my mind, an important item in the new Oriental policy which must shortly arise and be widely adopted, if the relations between the white man and the Asiatic are to be right and just and mutually helpful. Indeed, for the general elimination of race prejudice, education is needed in regard to the histories of all the peoples from whom immigrants come to our shores. Anthropological readers should be prepared, devoting one or more chapters to each race and people of whom representatives live in our land, written from an appreciative standpoint and setting forth the notable deeds of each. They should be well illustrated with fine engravings of the best representatives dressed in modern European clothing, in order to avoid those caricatures which are so common in pictures of strange peoples. Such readers would help the young to get over their spontaneous feelings of race antipathy. The splendid deeds of heroism done by Jew and Spaniard, by Italian and Hungarian, by French, German, and English, by Japanese, Chinese, and Hindu, should all be set forth with appreciation. For Japan and China and India have had their illustrious histories no less than England, Germany, and France. Should not the outstanding characters and achievements of these lands be taught to our young? George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Benjamin Franklin, and many English and European heroes of progress and high ideals are known, not only by name but also for what they did, to all in Japan who have had a secondary education, and to all the higher classes in grammar-schools. How many in our land, even college graduates, could tell anything whatever of Shotoku Taishi, Kusunoki Masashige, Nichiren, Shonen, and other great leaders in Japan? It is high time that the study of Oriental peoples and histories should be introduced into our public schools. It would help greatly to race reconciliation, even as impartial and appreciative histories of the Civil War have done much to reconcile the North and the South. And why should not suitable peace instruction be introduced into all Sunday-schools and into every religious institution dealing with young people? The time to prepare for the much-dreaded military yellow peril is before it arises. And the way to prepare for it is to develop such a wide-spread understanding of, and respect for, the Asiatic among our people at large that we shall be able to do him justice, and assure him that there is no white peril. The only possible source of a military yellow peril is the conviction among Asiatics that they cannot secure justice or decent treatment or safety at the hands of the white man except by force. Had Russia, Germany, and France not forced Japan to return Port Arthur to China at the close of the Chino-Japanese War, there would have been no Russo-Japanese War. The injustice then inflicted on Japan, together with the whole attitude of Europe to Asia, was the real reason why Japan was forced to develop her armaments to a degree somewhat approaching that of a Western people. If Christendom refuses to Asiatics in our midst that courtesy and justice which we accord to each other, can we condemn those great nations of Asia for resentment and indignation? And this growing feeling in Asia of a real white peril may ultimately lead to a military yellow peril. But how is this attitude of courtesy and justice on the part of the white man to the Asiatic to be secured? It is not something that can be brought into existence by legislation. It can come only by habits of thought and feeling which are founded on knowledge and respect. This is the point of responsibility for pastors and educators. To the young of all the many races now here, we need to teach the good and noble things for which their respective ancestors are to be honored. We need to cultivate a spirit of mutual race appreciation on the part of the numberless groups that now make up our cosmopolitan people; and in this movement of mutual respect the Asiatic must be included. I well recognize that many practical problems confront us when we seek to reduce to practise our theories as to race equality. Would not, for instance, an open door to Asiatic immigration, as that door has been open to European immigration, involve us in intolerable difficulties? It would, without doubt. But I contend that the equal treatment of Asiatic with other races does not demand universal free immigration. The solution which I have proposed is a limited immigration for all races. But this is not the place for the presentation of this plan in detail. Those who are interested in the subject I may refer to my volume on The American-Japanese Problem. The center of the plea which I here present is that all those who occupy positions in virtue of which they are able to educate our people, and especially the young, have a new responsibility placed upon them by the awakening of Asia. We live in a new world. We can no longer ignore Asia, even as Asia has discovered that she can no longer ignore us. Our pastors and our educators must lead the way in training our young people, so that our rapidly growing contact with Asia may be freed from the danger that confronts us and may become, on the contrary, a source of mutual advantage. APPENDIX V HAWAII'S AMERICAN-JAPANESE PROBLEM A DESCRIPTION OF THE CONDITIONS, AND SUGGESTIONS FOR THEIR SOLUTION [The following discussion was the result of a special investigation by Dr. Gulick of the Japanese situation in the Hawaiian Islands in March, 1915, at the request of important leaders in those Islands.] Part I I. GENERAL INTRODUCTION The following discussion is the result of a visit to the islands of Hawaii, Maui, and Kauai, covering a period of nearly two weeks (March 10-21, 1915). The plantations visited were as follows: |