res law and a few others
are very onerous to our people in La Questa."

"Do you mean to tell me, Miss Owens," Parker asked, "that you despair
of educating these little Japanese children to be useful American
citizens?"

"I do. The Buddhist school over yonder is teaching them to be Japanese
citizens; under Japanese law all Japanese remain Japanese citizens at
heart, even if they do occasionally vote here. The discipline of my
school is very lax," she continued. "It would be, of course, in view
of the total lack of parental support. In that other school, however,
the discipline is excellent."

She continued to discourse with them, giving them an intimate picture
of life in this little Japan and interesting revelations upon the point
of view, family life and business ethics of the parents of her pupils,
until it was time to "take up" school again, when she reluctantly
returned to her poorly paid and unappreciated efforts.

"Well, of course, these people are impossible socially," John Parker
admitted magnanimously, "but they do know how to make things grow.
They are not afraid of hard work. Perhaps that is why they have
supplanted the white farmers."

"Indeed they do know how, Mr. Parker. And they can produce good crops
more cheaply than a white farmer. A Japanese with a wife and two
fairly well-grown daughters saves the wages of three hired men. Thus
he is enabled to work his ground more thoroughly. When he leases land
he tries to acquire rich land, which he robs of its fertility in three
years and then passes on to renew the outrage elsewhere. Where he owns
land, however, he increases fertility by proper fertilization."

"So you do not believe it possible for a white man to compete
economically with these people, Farrel?"

"Would you, if you were a white farmer, care to compete with the
Japanese farmers of this valley? Would you care to live in a rough
board shack, subsist largely on rice, labor from daylight to dark and
force your wife and daughter to labor with you in the fields? Would
you care to live in a kennel and never read a book or take an interest
in public affairs or thrill at a sunset or consider that you really
ought to contribute a dollar toward starving childhood in Europe?
Would you?"

"You paint a sorry picture, Farrel." Parker was evasive.

"I paint what I see before me," he answered doggedly. "This--in five
years. And if this be progress as we view progress--if this be
desirab