Speech #920248602

Of the total in 1900. 10.151 were living in California. By 1908. there were over 100.000. distributed in almost every State of the Union. The period between 1900 and 1924 may be labeled the golden era of Japanese immigration to the United States. Many of the immigrants were single young men who came to make their fortune. As they grew older and better established. they wanted families. The more affluent ones went back to Japan for their brides. but a larger number resorted to proxy marriages by photographs. Picture brides did not fit with American customs and mores and provided fodder for much antiJapanese propaganda. but family responsibilities resulting from these marriages were credited with toning down the earlier wild aspects of young. headstrong male immigrants. The peak year for picture brides was 1915 when a total of 973 young women entered San Francisco and Seattle to meet their future husbands. After March 1920. the Japanese Government declined to issue passports to picture brides. The immigrants became established in a variety of industriesagriculture. commerce and fishing. to name the main areas of their endeavor. In agriculture. the earliest instance was the Wakamatsu Tea and Silk Colony mentioned earlier. In 1875.