Australia and British Columbia, similarly
threatened by Japanese immigration, were equally opposed to it.

Out of deference to Great Britain, with which she had been allied since
1902, Japan consented that her immigrants should not force their way
into unwilling communities. This position facilitated an arrangement
between the United States and Japan, and an informal agreement was
made in 1907. The schools of San Francisco were to be open to oriental
children not over sixteen years of age, while Japan was to withhold
passports from laborers who planned to emigrate to the United States.
This plan has worked with reasonable success, but minor issues have kept
alive in both countries the bad feeling on the subject. Certain States,
particularly California, have passed laws, especially with regard to the
ownership and leasing of farm lands, apparently intended to discriminate
against Japanese who were already residents. These laws Japan has held
to be violations of her treaty provision for consideration on the "most
favored nation" basis, and she has felt them to be opposed in spirit
to the "gentlemen's agreement" of 1907. The inability of the Federal
Government to control the policy of individual States is not accepted
by foreign countries as releasing the United States from international
obligations, so that, although friendly agreements between the two
countries were reached on the major points, cause for popular irritation
still remained.

Philander C. Knox, who succeeded Root as Secretary of State, devoted his
attention rather to the fostering of American interests in China than
to the development of the general policies of his Department. While he
refrained from asking for an American sphere of influence, he insisted
that American capitalists obtain their fair share of the concessions
for railroad building, mining, and other enterprises which the Chinese
Government thought it necessary to give in order to secure capital for
her schemes of modernization. As these concessions were supposed to
carry political influence in the areas to which they applied, there
was active rivalry for them, and Russia and Japan, which had no surplus
capital, even borrowed in order to secure a share. This situation led to
a tangled web of intrigue, perhaps inevitable but decidedly contrary to
the usual American diplomatic habits; and at this game the United States
did not prove particularly successful. In 1911 there broke out in
China a re