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Huerta and Adachi: An Interpretation of Japanese-Mexican Relations, 1913-1914

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 December 2015

Jessie Sanders Lyon
Jessie Sanders Lyon*
Affiliation:
Placentia, California
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Extract

On May 9, 1913 the California State Legislature passed an alien land bill designed to prohibit Japanese ownership of land in California. Based on prejudice and clearly discriminatory, the California Alien Land Act embarrassed Washington and provoked a controversy with Japan. Relations with that country rapidly approached the point of tension verging on war because Japan viewed the act as an affront to her national dignity. Many notes passed between the two governments during the remainder of 1913 and the first half of 1914, however, Washington's efforts to conciliate the Japanese failed. From the California viewpoint the passage of the alien land bill was strictly a domestic issue but it caused a serious break in the friendly relations between Japan and America and just as important it had serious implications for American diplomatic relations with another country. That country was America's neighbor to the south, revolutionary Mexico.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Americas , Volume 34 , Issue 4 , April 1978 , pp. 476 - 489
Copyright
Copyright © Academy of American Franciscan History 1978 

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References

1 Ambassador S. Chinda to Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan, May 9, 1913, United States Department of State, Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, 1913, Washington D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1920, p. 629 Google Scholar, Hereinafter cited as Foreign Relations.

2 John A. Vails to Bryan, April 18, 1913, United States Department of State, National Archives, 712.94/4; Mrs. J. H. Jackson to Mrs. Woodrow Wilson, March 27, 1913, United States Department of State, National Archives, 712.94/3. Hereinafter cited as D.S.N.A. followed by the serial number.

3 Letcher to Bryan, May 3, 1913, D.S.N.A. 812.00/7427.

4 Chargé d’Affaires Nelson O’Shaughnessy to Bryan, July 17, 1913, Foreign Relations, 1913, p. 812.

5 Ambassador Henry Lane Wilson to Bryan, July 12, 1913, D.S.N.A. 812.00/8029.

6 Adachi to Japanese Foreign Office, August 24, 1913, Records of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Microfilm Collection, Library of Congress, MT 1.1.3.3. Japanese-Mexican Relations (Nicki-Boku-Kan), October 1909-December 1926, Reel 28, pp. 2420–2441. Hereinafter cited as L.C. MT 1.1.3.3. Japanese-Mexican Relations.

7 Ibid., p. 2440.

8 Ibid., p. 2443.

9 Chargé d’Affaires J. Bailly-Blanchard, Tokyo, to Bryan, August 6,1913, D.S.N.A. 712.94/5.

10 Bryan to Henry L. Wilson, June 15, 1913, D.S.N.A. 812.00/7743.

11 The New York Times, August 9, 1913.

l2 Circular from Bryan to American Legations in thirteen countries, August 15, 1913, D.S.N.A. 812.00/ 10638C.

l3 Delivered by the Japanese Embassy, Washington, to Bryan, August 22, 1913, D.S.N.A. 812.00/8515.

14 Japanese Minister Foreign Affairs to Japanese Ambassador, Washington, August 23, 1913, given to State Department August 26, 1913, Foreign Relations, 1913, p. 651.

15 Pooley, A.M., Japan’s Foreign Policies, London: Allen and Unwin, 1920, p. 131.Google Scholar

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17 Guthrie to Bryan, September 22, 1913, received 8:29 A.M., D.S.N.A. 812.00/8932.

18 Bryan to Guthrie, September 22, 1913, 11:00 A.M., D.S.N.A. 812.00/8932.

19 O’Shaughnessy to Bryan, October 11, 1913, Foreign Relations, 1813, p. 836.

20 Bryan to O’Shaughnessy, October 13, 1913, Ibid., p. 838.

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22 Circular to Diplomatic Representatives, November 7, 1913, Foreign Relations, 1913, p. 856.

23 Guthrie to Bryan, November 11, 1913, D.S.N.A. 812.00/9666.

24 Guthrie to Bryan, November 13, 1913, D.S.N.A. 812.00/9688.

25 Guthrie to Bryan, November 13, 1913, D.S.N.A. 812.00/9697. Various spelling is used in the documents for the Izumo. For the sake of consistency Izumo will be used throughout.

26 Ibid.

27 Ibid.

28 Crow worked as a newspaper man in both China and Japan. From 1916 to 1918 he was the Far Eastern representative of the Committee on Public Information, Who Was Who in America, 1943–1950, Chicago, 1950, p. 137.

29 Crow, Carl, Japan and America, New York: Robert M. McBride & Co., 1916, p. 188.Google Scholar

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32 Sammons to Guthrie, November 29, 1913, D.S.N.A. 812.24/21.

33 Guthrie to Bryan, December 11, 1913, D.S.N.A. 812.00/10120.

34 Sammons to Guthrie, December 19, 1913, D.S.N.A. 812.24/22.

35 Lind to Bryan, December 13, 1913, D.S.N.A. 812.00/10168; Lind to Bryan, December 14, 1913, D.S.N.A. 812.00/10185; Lind to Bryan, December 22, 1913, D.S.N.A. 812.00/10291.

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37 Stadden to Bryan, December 22, 1913, D.S.N.A. 812.00/10296.

38 Pooley, , Japan’s Foreign Policies, p. 133.Google Scholar

39 Adachi to Makino, December 25, 1913, LC. MT 1.1.3.3., Japanese-Mexican Relations, Reel 28, pp. 2459–2460.

40 O’Shaughnessy to Bryan, January 24, 1914, D.S.N.A. 812.00/10676.

41 O’Shaughnessy to Bryan, January 26, 1914, D.S.N.A. 812.00/10687.

42 Ibid.

43 O’Shaughnessy to Bryan, January 26, 1914, D.S.N.A. 812.00/10695. Copied to the President.

44 O’Shaughnessy to Bryan, January 28, 1914, D.S.N.A. 812.00/10730.

45 Guthrie to Bryan, January 31, 1914, Wilson Papers, II, 45. Cited in Curry, Roy W., Wilson’s Far Eastern Policy: 1913–1921, New York: Bookman Associates, 1957, p. 131.Google Scholar

46 “President Wilson on his Foreign Policy,” World’s Work, XXIII (October, 1914), pp. 485–490. Taken from stenographic notes of Wilson’s bi-weekly talks with newspaper correspondents.

47 Adachi to Makino, February 28, 1914, Records of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Microfilm collection, Library of Congress, MT 3.8.2.285–1. Miscellaneous Documents relating to Japanese Immigrants: Mexico. Sect. 1: February 1912–July 1920, Sect. 2: February 1921-November 1926, Reel 740, p. 124. Hereinafter cited as LC, MT. 3.8.2.285–1, Japanese Immigrants; Makino to Adachi, March 3, 1914, Ibid., pp. 125–127.

48 Adachi to Makino, February [March?] 4, 1914, Ibid., pp. 129–135. As a matter of fact the Japanese government had lived up to its agreement with the United States quite well. In 1907 the government had issued 3945 passports to Japanese emigrants to Mexico; in 1908—18; 1909—13; 1910—37; 1911—60; 1912—74; 1913—106. See Kato to Numano, November 16, 1914, Ibid., pp. 222–24.

49 Lind to Bryan, February 25, 1914, D.S.N.A. 812.00/10970.

50 Lind to Bryan, February 19, 1914, D.S.N.A. 812.00/10929.

51 O’Shaughnessy to Bryan, March 9, 1914, D.S.N.A. 812.00/11109.

52 Stadden to Bryan, March 16, 1914, D.S.N.A. 812.00/11194; Davis to Bryan, March 17, 1914, D.S.N.A. 812.00/11306.

53 Stadden to Bryan, March 19, 1914, D.S.N.A. 812.00/11224.

54 Adachi to Makino, March 25, 1914, LC. MT 3.8.2.285–1, Japanese Immigrants, pp. 188–192.

55 Meyer, Michael C., Huerta: A Political Portrait, Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 1972, pp. 188–189.Google Scholar

56 Woodrow Wilson to Mrs. Mary Hulbert, February 1, 1914, Baker, Ray S., Woodrow Wilson, Life and Letters, 8 vols., Garden City, New York: Doubleday, Doran & Co., 1927–1939, IV, 304–306.Google Scholar

57 Lind to Bryan, February 3, 1914, D.S.N.A. 812.00/10778.

58 O’Shaughnessy to Bryan, March 9, 1914, D.S.N.A. 812.00/11109.

59 Ibid.

60 Lind untiringly counseled the State Department against the secret help that he suspected the British Minister was giving Huerta. See Lind to Bryan, February 23, 24, March 10, 11, 1914, Stephenson, George M., John Lind of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press, 1935, p. 258.Google Scholar

61 Lind to Bryan, March 6, 1914, D.S.N.A. 812.00/11076.

62 Ibid.

63 Guthrie to Bryan, April 23, 1914, D.S.N.A. 812.00/11631.

64 Guthrie to Bryan, April 24, 1914, D.S.N.A. 812.00/11670.

65 New York Times, July 16, 1914.