"Gentlemen's Agreement"

In consequence of anti-Japanese utterances in the House and the retention of the Japanese Exclusion feature, Section 12 (b) of the Johnson Immigration Bill, Masanao Hanihara, Japanese Ambassador to the U. S., protested to Secretary of State Hughes. The correspondence was notable as eliciting concrete expression of the famous "Gentlemen's Agreement," negotiated by President Roosevelt with the Japanese Government in 1908, in lieu of specific Japanese exclusion legislation.

In an annually outspoken note, the Japanese Ambassador denied the charges that Japan had violated the "Agreement" and declared that Section 12 (b), providing for exclusion, "would not only seriously offend the just pride of a friendly nation. . .but would also seem to involve the question of the good faith, and threfore the honor of their government. . .I have stated all this in a most friendly spirit, for I realize the grave consequences which the enactment of the measure would inevitably bring upon the otherwise happy and beneficial relations between our two countries."

The terms of the Gentlemen's Agreement, as stated by Mr. Hanihara and confirmed by Secretary Hughes, are:

1) The Japanese Government will not issue passports to the U. S. for laborers, skilled or unskilled, or for their families, unless previously domiciled in the U. S. . The definition of "laborer" is accepted as given by U. S. Executive Order of April 8, 1907;

2) Passports are issued by a limited number of officials, under close supervision from the Japanese Foreign Office, and then only after exhaustive investigation;

3) Issuance of passports to so-called "picture-brides" has been stopped by the Japanese Government since March 1, 1920;

4) Monthly statistics covering incoming and outgoing Japanese are exchanged 'between' the American and the Japanese Governments;

5) The agreement does not extend to the Hawaiian Islands, but practically identical measures restrict Japanese passports to these islands;

6) The Japanese Government exercises further control over emigration of Japanese laborers to foreign territories contiguous to the U. S. (Canada and Mexico), to prevent their surreptitious entry into the United States.

Secretary Hughes submitted the Hanihara correspondence to Senator Colt, Chairman of the Senate Immigration Committee. Its publication occasioned Senatorial thumpings, and oratorical flurries, including an effort from Senator Shortridge of California, who branded Hanihara's protest as a "spurious, verbose communication, unfounded on fact," Ex-Senator Phelan of California issued a statement demanding that the United States rescind the Gentlemen's Agreement and regulate its own immigration laws rather than delegate this authority to another country. He was supported by the American Legion, the National Grange, the American Federation of Labor, and the Native Sons of the Golden West.

Unfortunately for him, the chief effect of Mr. Hanihara's note was to alienate the Senators who had previously been the best friends of the "Gentlemen's Agreement."

The change of heart of Senator Reed of Pennsylvania was typical. He had been in favor of leaving the Japanese question entirely out of the immigration bill and continuing the "Gentlemen's Agreement." But after reading Mr. Hanihara's letter to Secretary Hughes threatening "grave consequences," Senator Reed refused to submit to dictation from a foreign diplomat, and declared himself now in favor of the clause excluding Japanese, and of the abandonment of the "Gentlemen's Agreement."

The same atitude was expressed by Senator Lodge, who said he "never would consent to setting any precedent to permit a foreign power by threat or compliment to tell us what we should do in legislation."

Secretary Hughes had previously proposed that the 2% restriction be applied to Japanese just as it is to be applied to other nations. Under this restriction only 246 Japanese could enter per year. Here was a practical way out, but Hanihara's "grave consequences" have apparently made it impossible.

By a vote of 76-2 the Senate rejected an amendment which would have kept the "Gentlemen's Agreement" intact. Next day they voted unanimously for complete exclusion of all Japanese except ministers, artists, students, their wives and children.