Speech #920248609

I wish to join my colleagues in recounting and honoring the contributions made by Japanese and Japanese Amerirans in taming our frontier and developing our nation. particularly in the Pacific Northwest. Though fewer than in many other areas. the Japanese played a significant role in the growth.of the northwest. entering the region primarily through the port of Seattle or working their way up north from San Francisco. I would like to comment particularly on the role of the early Japanese immigrants and their sons and daughters in Oregon. The contribution of the Japanese in the three northwestern States of Oregon. Washington. and Idaho was first in the sweat of their brows as they came in large numbers at the turn of the century to work as laborers in the lumber mills and on the railroads. Through diligence and frugality. they saved their money and went on to reclaim land that earlier settlers had overlooked or given up as nonarable. First as tenant farmers and gradually as farmers owning their own land. they made their distinct mark in the developing history of the Northwest. In spite of many Americans who appreciated their ethic of hard work. frugality and enterprise. the Japanese immigrants in the Northwest. however. shared with their brothers who settled elsewhere in the western sections of the United States the hard facts of racial prejudice. based on ignorance and economic jealousy. The earliest record of Japanese in Oregon is found in 1834 before the area became a State. A Japanese fishing boat had drifted on the black current and ended up near Marshfield.