Hellraisers Journal – Thursday August 6, 1903 Oxnard, California – J. Murray on Unity of Japanese and Mexican Laborers, Part II
From The International Socialist Review of August 1903
A Foretaste of the Orient
[-by John Murray Jr.]
[II of III]
The San Francisco Call March 27, 1903
[After the murder of Louis Vasquez] the unarmed union men were horrified but not frightened. They pursued and captured the fleeing Arnold, and, after disarming him, handed him over to the police. Sheriff McMartin himself told me that if it were not for the protection afforded by the union leaders, Arnold would have been hung on the spot. In twenty minutes the whole affair was over. No arrests were made, because none but “strike breakers” were guilty of assault, and the next day the daily press all over the country broke out with scare heads telling of the “Riot in Oxnard.”
Proof of the complicity of the town and county officials was quick to follow. The place of holding the inquest was twice changed from one town to another-making the summoning of witnesses a most difficult feat-and the dead man’s body hurriedly given to the unions on two hours notice in such a decayed condition that immediate burial was necessary, thereby attempting to prevent the public demonstration of a big funeral. But in spite of this most vile scheme, nearly a thousand men escorted the body to its grave. Japanese and Mexicans, side by side, dumb through lack of a common speech, yet eloquent in expressions of fraternity, marched with uncovered heads through the streets of Oxnard. On the hearse was a strange symbol to Western eyes, a huge lotus flower-an offering from the Japanese union.
From the highest to the lowest, the officials of the county acted as one man in their attempts to suppress public investigation, the final proof of which culminated in the act of the district attorney, Selby, who refused to hold a preliminary examination of Deputy Constable Arnold, although nearly a dozen witnesses testified, at the inquest, that Arnold shot an unresisting union man in the neck and precipitated the killing.
The worth of the Japanese and Mexicans as labor organizers was now put to proof. At the Japanese headquarters there was system like that of a railroad office or an army in the field. They had a well-trained corps of officers-secretaries, interpreters, captains of squads, messengers, and most complete system of information. A map of the valley hung on the wall, with the location of the different camps of beet thinners plainly marked. Yards upon yards of brown paper placards were constantly being tacked up, giving in picturesque Japanese lettering the latest bulletins, directions or orders.
Meetings of the executive committees from the two unions were constantly being held for agreement as to mutual action. I was intensely interested at the manner in which they got over the difficulties of language at the conferences. The joint committees would gather around a long table-at opposite ends sat the respective presidents, secretaries and interpreters-and first the question to be discussed would be started in English, then each nationality in turn would listen to an explanation of the affair in its own language and come to the conclusion; then the results would be again stated in English and the final agreement recorded by the secretaries. Respect for order was a marked feature of these meetings, each nationality keeping politely silent while the other had the matter before it for discussion and decision. The innate courtesy, which is always found in Spanish blood, was fully equaled by the decorum of the Japanese.
Seeing that there was no law for their personal protection in Oxnard, the unions organized a patrol to cover the town. Squads of little Japanese and Mexicans relieved each other all through the night and day, for no man knew what the next murderous action of the strike breakers might be. On every hand troubles began to multiply. Many men were without a cent of money, and the unions opened a restaurant where those who were broke could get their meals. Funeral expenses, care of the wounded, and assistance to men who had families, were met by collecting the few dollars left in the pockets of the union men. To all of which the Japanese, being the richest, were the largest contributors.
Statement to the Public from Japanese-Mexican Protective Association
A few days after the shooting, the unions published the following:
STATEMENT TO THE PUBLIC.
Owing to the many false statements printed in the Los Angeles Times and other daily papers about our organization and the murderous assault made upon the union men last Monday afternoon, we ask that the following statement of facts be published in justice to the thirteen hundred men whom the Japanese-Mexican Labor Association represents:
“In the first place, we assert, and are ready to prove, that on Monday afternoon, and at all times during the shooting, the union men were unarmed, while the non-union men, sent out by the Western Agricultural Contract Company, were prepared for a bloody fight with arms purchased, in many cases, recently from hardware stores in this town. As a proof of the fact that the union men were not guilty of the murderous violence, we point to the fact that the authorities have not arrested a single union man-the only man actually put under bonds, or arrested, being Deputy Constable Charles Arnold.
“Our union has always been law abiding, and has in its ranks at least nine-tenths of all the beet thinners in this section-who have not asked for a raise in wages, but only that the wages be not lowered, as was demanded by the beet growers. Many of us have families, were born in this country, and are lawfully seeking to protect the only property that we have-our labor. It is just as necessary for the welfare of the valley that we get a decent living wage, as it is that the machines in the great sugar factory be properly oiled-if the machines stop, the wealth of the valley stops, and likewise if the laborers are not given decent wage, they too, must stop work, and the whole people of the country will stop with them.
“We assert that if the police authorities had done their duty many arrests would have been made among the occupants of the company’s house from which the volleys of bullets came. In view of the fact that many disorderly men have lately been induced to come to Oxnard by the Western Agricultural Contract Company, and that they took part in the assaults of Monday after noon, we demand that the police do not longer neglect their duty, but arrest those persons who plainly participated in the fatal shooting.”
(Signed) J. M. Lizarraras, Secretary of the Mexican branch of the Japanese-Mexican Protective Association. Y. Yamagachi, Secretary of the Japanese branch of the Japanese-Mexican Protective Association.
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