children may be admitted to such kindergarten classes at the age of four years; and provided further, that in cities or school districts in which separate classes have been or may hereafter be established for the instruction of the deaf, children may be admitted to such classes at the age of three years." Practically the only difference between this bill and the present law is the insertion of "Japanese."
President Roosevelt considered this and the other bills of such serious import that he telegraphed to the Governor of the State to use his influence to prevent enactments of this nature. After a long fight the bill was killed. The legislature made an appropriation for a census of the Japanese in California in order to see just how serious the problem was.[12]
The people along the Canadian Pacific coast are facing a question similar to that in California. A member of the provincial Parliament from Manaimo. British Columbia, has recently given notice that he will introduce a measure providing for the exclusion of Oriental children from public schools, declaring that his purpose is to compel the government to maintain separate schools.[13]
DR. CHARLES W. ELIOT ON SEPARATION OF RACES IN
SCHOOLS
The third incident referred to, though not a matter of legislation, did much to focus the attention of the country at large upon the question of the separation of the races in schools. The Twentieth Century Club of Boston met at luncheon on the 14th of February, 1907, to consider the situation of Berea College. Dr. Charles W. Eliot, then
