Marjorie R. Stearns

“ The Japanese, however, were never an important element in agricultural labor supply, for they early began to operate farms of their own or to work on farms operated by fellow Japanese.7 In 1905, 35% of the Japanese were farmers, 26 % were still employed on the railroads, 10 % were cooks and houseservants, with the remainder working in canneries, or employed as woodchoppers, merchants, and stu dents. ”

“ They had to pay a good price for the rental of the land, usually $15 an acre, but they took the best lands so that every acre would be productive.'4 "It is said that those who have rented their farms out to the Japanese are realizing more money each year than they did when running their farms themselves," says a feature article in The Oregonian. "One farmer, at least, says he is receiving $2,000 a year for 120 acres . ”

“ At that time only 4%o of the Japanese population were women and children.8
Between 1900 and 1910 the population increase was less than one thousand9 but the areas where this additional population was settling were indicative of a new trend in their interests. Less than half of the Japanese population was as yet rural in 1910, but the increasing tendency towards settlement in agri cultural districts was unmistakable.10
It was between 1910 and 1920 that large numbers of Japanese women arrived in Oregon. ”

“ As far out as Pleasant Home, 22 miles away from Portland, there are four farms rented to the little brown men and their owners are taking life easy and getting as much money as if they worked and worried themselves. ”

“ Davey reported 450 Japanese, mostly laborers in the lumber mills or in the canneries.i9 They had made no ventures into the farming, fruit, or berry industries, nor had they bought or settled on any lands in the country. The number of women and children was small, forty women and forty children. Some of the Japanese in Astoria operated soft drink places, cheap eating houses and lodgings. ”

“ Takagi started a restaurant business here, thus marking the be ginning of Japanese business enterprise in Oregon.3 Four years later there were 25 Japanese in Oregon, twenty of whom were in Multnomah County.4
In the nineties the increase in population was rapid. A few Japanese had been employed as section hands about 1889, but it was in 1892 that large numbers were brought in for railroad labor. ”

“ Report made to the Con gressional committee by T. Abe, President of the Japanese Asso ciation of Oregon. The birthrate for Japanese was high through out the state. There were 2631 men averaging 39 years of age and 862 women averaging 28 years. There were 100 births in 1916 and 190 in 1919. A high birthrate was predicted for the next ten years, p. 3. 25Japanese were willing to pay high prices for land lease rental? $6 to $40 as compared with $4 to $15 before the Japanese came. ”

“ Unobstrusive and little noticed, they lived for the most part in boarding houses kept by their fellow countrymen. Picture brides were brought to Seattle where they were met by the men waiting for them, were married there, and then brought to Astoria or other Ore gon towns. ”