per cent received from $1.50 to $1.75, inclusive.”*> And that
was the situation in 1909.

Now, “two dollars is the usual rate for picking fruit and berries
in every locality visited, and the wage for packers is usually
somewhat higher. Lower payment of Japanese than of white
men engaged in the same occupations is almost entirely a matter
of the past. Piece rates, so important in harvest work and the
almost universal rule in the cultivation and harvesting of sugar
beets, are not only uniform for ‘white’ and Japanese laborers,
but they have shown a tendency about Fresno and in other
localities visited, to increase somewhat. Here and there the
Mexicans are proving to be the best bidders for such work and
undertake it for less money than the Japanese.’’? It is needless
to be added that “ white employers nearly always prefer white

“men as teamsters and usually state that they would prefer white
: men for all work, but the Japanese are better workers than the
irregular white men usually available for hand work.” ?

  
  
 
 
 
 
 
   
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
   

Japanese Farmers.

There is a general misconception, indeed, an apprehension as
‘regards Japanese farming in California, owing partly to the
complicated systems under which Japanese cultivate land, but
largely to the purposely exaggerated statements frequently
asserted by the interested parties, the Asiatic Exclusion League
to-wit. We will first examine the facts. Soon after Japanese
began to work on ranches, white farmers applied to the Japanese
the systems under which Chinese cultivated land. The first of
these was “contract” system, under which Japanese boss or bosses
were bound to furnish necessary labor throughout the season of
}a given industry at a previously fixed price. The second was
| share system, which is not the same as metayage, for under it
| che proprietor held an absolute control over the management of
| he farm. It only differs from contract system in that under this
‘olan the leasor and lessee share alike profits and losses under
| stipulated conditions. Cash leasing did not begin till about 1900.
5 Immigration Commission, Ibid., p. 65.

1 Millis, Ibid., p. 124.
2 Immigration Commision Reports, Vol. 23, p. 68.

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