JAPANESE CANNOT BE DISPENSED WITH

Club Women of Seattle Opposed to Idea of Exclusion -- Declare That It Would Be Domestic Calamity.

MONGOL HELP DOCILE, HONEST AND RELIABLE

Women of the East Do Not Come Here to Do Menial Labor and the Men Want to Rise Higher.

To forbid the employment of Orientals in domestic service, especially Japanese in this city, would be a positive calamity, and I am surprised that any men or set of men would suggest such an absurdity," said Mrs. W.B. Judah, vice-president of the Ladies' Musical Club, in discussing the plans of the Seattle Japanese-Korean Exclusion League, which proposes to exclude all the Mongol races from the United States and urges employers to discontinue the practice of hiring them.

"I have tried female help of the white variety and I found that it was impossible to get faithful service," continued Mrs. Judah. "Every white girl who applies for a position wants to know if we keep a second maid, fearing that she will be called upon to do some actual work. If you inform her that you are going to have company to dinner she will shirk and sulk. She says nothing, but it is pretty certain that if the work is to be done at all you will have to do it yourself. The Japanese, on the other hand, are docile, teachable, humble and lovable. They appreciate all you try to do for them. I think the best kind of missionary work that one can do is to hire Japanese men or women and treat them with Christian kindness."

No Sympathy With Idea.

"I have no sympathy with this exclusion idea whatever," said Mrs. W.P. Harper, president of the Classic Culture Club. "If the proposition were carried out many women would be unable to get help. As it is, it is difficult for some men to get dinner for themselves and families in their own homes because the help is either incapacitated by alleged illness or positive business. Many a man who ought to be eating with his own family at his own table is taking most of his meals at a hotel. We must have Oriental help in our homes or do our own work, which, however commendable, is not always practicable. Personally, I have had no difficulty about help."

When Mrs. Harper was asked if she thought the moral standard of the Jap servant was a high one, she said that she knew nothing of that. "But," she said, "if his moral standard does not reach a higher altitude than the white man's it must be low indeed."

Mrs. Loue P. Bush said she believed in every woman doing her own work.

"However," she continued, "civilization has not advanced sufficiently far to make that practicable, so I think we had better keep our Japanese and get more when necessary. Seattle positively could not dispense with them. White women will not do domestic work because they have the mistaken notion that it is undignified, and if they will not do the work somebody must take their place, and the Japanese are, to my mind, the most desirable class we can have for that service."

Hotel proprietors are generally agreed that it would be a difficult matter to run their hostelries in all departments without the help of Mongols, but Mrs. E. Langford, proprietor of the Washington Annex, is sure she could get all the white help she needs.

Women to Blame.

"The whole trouble," said Mrs. Langford, "is with the women of American and not with the help. They do not know how to treat the girls and they are unable to manage them. They think that anything is good enough for them to eat; that any place is good enough for them to sleep and that they are entitled to neither respect nor consideration. In a hotel it is often forgotten that the success of the institution depends very largely on the kind of girls who are employed in the dining rooms and other places where they might with propriety work.

"I am never on terms of familiarity with my girls, but I treat them well. I manage them well and I demand from all the guests proper respect from them and let me tell you they get it. The whole trouble is that we have a great number of people in Seattle who have become suddenly wealthy and with their wealth have acquired the domineering spirit of the merely rich. This is resented by the girl who would otherwise become a domestic and then the Japanese or Chinaman is employed because he will patiently submit and do the homage demanded of the lowly by vulgar wealth."

"We positively could not get along without the Japanese," said the manager of the Lincoln Hotel. "We have about forty of them and we find them honest, docile, obedient and reliable. They can be trusted to be on hand when required. It is impossible to get reliable white bell boys, and if we do get one, we lose him, for, if he has any get-up, he will soon get into a better position. If he is a bright boy and remains with us, you can depend upon it, he is grafting or doing something that would not stand the light of day.

Scorn Menial Work.

"The class of women who come West do not immigrate for the purpose of doing menial labor. They will not wash dishes, they scorn to put their hands into greasy water and would be horrified at the mere suggestion of scrubbing the floor. They may use a whisk broom occasionally, but to take a big, clumsy, vulgar looking mop in their hands would be a discredit to their training, they think. "Let us have all the Japs that are willing to come here."

Kaido Suguki, who is the head bell boy at the Lincoln, is said to be the son of a Japanese baron. He said: "The Japanese are no more anxious to do menial labor than a white man, but we have to earn a living, and if we must answer the ringing of a bell to do so, then we must; that's all."