Japan Seeks Way To Halt Land Law.

New York Times 100 years ago today, May 21, 1913:
Will Probably Bring Suit to Hold Up California Legislation, Says Foreign Office Official.
HAS FAITH IN WASHINGTON
Reluctant to Raise Naturalization Issue Except to Establish Her Place Among Nations.
Special Cable to The New York Times.
    LONDON, Wednesday, May 21.— A Tokio dispatch to The Times says:
    "The signature of the California Land bill had been anticipated here of late and was regarded in official quarters as formally opening a new stage in the negotiations between Tokio and Washington. The former still places full reliance on the efforts of the latter to solve the problem, and the press quotes a Foreign Office official as stating that the Government's aim now is to prevent the enforcement of the act, probably by resort to a lawsuit.
    "In some quarters there is a tendency to regard the Land act as a flagrant National affront. In others the peculiar conditions of the American Government receive full recognition, and the difficulties of the Washington authorities are acknowledged.
    "It is, nevertheless, clear that there is a widespread feeling that Japan's claim to the position of a first-class civilized Nation is at stake, and the Government would never yield and survive.
    "The best counsellors advise patient yet persistent effort till the goal of equality with European races is reached, but the Government is reluctant to raise directly the naturalization issue, except in the last resort.
    "It is noteworthy that certain publicists view the whole problem as an issue between the white and colored peoples of the globe, and demand that the former's pretensions to superiority should yield before the steady development of the latter. Yet these disclaim the idea of an anti-foreign propaganda and invoke the principle of humanity."

    LONDON, Wednesday, May 21.— The Morning Post says editorially that it is absurd to suppose that the California dispute will lead to a rupture between the United States and Japan, since both Governments are convinced of their ability to find a basis for a friendly settlement.
    "The Japanese Government," says The Post, "must be well aware that the Washington Administration would never concede the claim to full equality of treatment for Japanese immigrants. It may therefore be hoped that if diplomacy can find some means of saving Japan's face, her Government will not insist upon pressing claims which the United States can never grant."

    TOKIO, May 20.— The news that the Alien Land bill had been signed by Gov. Johnson was received here with regret, although it had been discounted. It was hoped up to the last moment, however, that Washington's intervention would prove successful.
    The efforts of the Government are concentrated on pacifying public opinion, but the task is regarded in many quarters as more difficult than at the time of the California school controversy. Since the death of the old Emperor the authority of the Government has steadily diminished in resisting the influence of public opinion, while the spirit of democracy is growing throughout the empire.
    Arthur Bailly-Blanchard, Secretary of the United States Embassy, visited Baron Noboaki Makino, the Foreign Minister, to-day, and reiterated the determination of the United States Government to make every effort in order to find a satisfactory solution of the question. He emphasized the fact that it was a Californian and not an American question, and thanked the Government for its friendliness and its efforts to restrain the excitable public opinion of Japan.
    It is generally believed here that Washington will find a solution of the problem, but the conservative elements in Japan are now echoing the public agitation for equal treatment of the Japanese. They assert that the racial issue which is involved and the recurrence of anti-Japanese bills in California should have a permanent solution.
    A prominent official said to-day: "The Japanese people feel that their National honor is involved. The present question will be solved peacefully, but what is needed to assure the permanence of our traditional friendship is a change of heart in some Americans toward the Japanese."