Tacoma’s Japanese Residents Organize War Aid
As tensions mount between Japan and Russia, Tacoma’s Japanese community mobilizes to send funds and volunteers to support the war effort.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
A circular letter has been sent to every Japanese resident in the state of Washington by V. Yamamoto, asking them to subscribe to a fund of $25,000 to be sent to the minister of war in Japan to support the war against Russia. There are about 3,000 Japanese in the state, with 1,300 of that number in the employ of the Northern Pacific. The outcome of the first clash of arms between Russia and Japan was received with a great deal of enthusiasm by the Japanese residents of Tacoma. During the China-Japan war, the Japanese employed on the Northern Pacific railroad in this state signed a petition addressed to W. H. Remington, asking him to deduct one dollar per month from the pay of each until the war ended to be sent to Japan as a war offering. All of the Japanese in the city are eager for war news and are ready to a man to return to Japan and take up arms in support of their country if necessary.
“All of the Japanese in the city are eager for war news and are ready to a man to return to Japan and take up arms in support of their country if necessary.”
This article provides a stark reminder of the global nature of local communities in early 20th-century Tacoma. The fervor expressed by these laborers for their home country would, within a few decades, be met with systemic state hostility and the eventual internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.
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