During the last session of the California legislature, that of 1909, several bills concerning the Japanese were introduced, one of which was as follows: “Every school, unless otherwise provided by law, must be open for the admission of all children between six and twenty-one years of age residing in the district, and the Board of School Trustees or city Board of Education have power to admit adults and children not residing in the district whenever good reasons exist therefor.
“Trustees shall have the power to remove children of filthy or vicious habits or children suffering from contagious or infectious diseases, and also to establish separate schools for Indian children and for children of Mongolian or Japanese or Chinese descent.
“When such separate schools are established, Indian, Chinese, Japanese or Mongolian children must not be admitted into any other school; provided, that in cities and towns in which the kindergarten has been adopted, or may hereafter be adopted as part of the public primary schools, children may be admitted to such kindergarten classes at the age of four years; and provided further, that in cities or school districts in which separate classes have been or may hereafter be established for the instruction of the deaf, children may be admitted to such classes at the age of three years.” Practically the only difference between this bill and the present law is the insertion of “Japanese.”[345]
President Roosevelt considered this and the other bills of such serious import that he telegraphed to the Governor of the State to use his influence to prevent enactments of this nature. After a long fight the bill was killed. The legislature made an appropriation for a census of the Japanese in California in order to see just how serious the problem was.[346]
The people along the Canadian Pacific coast are facing a question similar to that in California. A member of the provincial Parliament from Manaimo, British Columbia, has recently given notice that he will introduce a measure providing for the exclusion of Oriental children from public schools, declaring that his purpose is to compel the government to maintain separate schools.[347]
DR. CHARLES W. ELIOT ON SEPARATION OF RACES IN SCHOOLS