They are not afraid of hard work. Perhaps that is why they have
supplanted the white farmers."
"Indeed they do know how, Mr. Parker. And they can produce good crops
more cheaply than a white farmer. A Japanese with a wife and two
fairly well-grown daughters saves the wages of three hired men. Thus
he is enabled to work his ground more thoroughly. When he leases land
he tries to acquire rich land, which he robs of its fertility in three
years and then passes on to renew the outrage elsewhere. Where he owns
land, however, he increases fertility by proper fertilization."
"So you do not believe it possible for a white man to compete
economically with these people, Farrel?"
"Would you, if you were a white farmer, care to compete with the
Japanese farmers of this valley? Would you care to live in a rough
board shack, subsist largely on rice, labor from daylight to dark and
force your wife and daughter to labor with you in the fields? Would
you care to live in a kennel and never read a book or take an interest
in public affairs or thrill at a sunset or consider that you really
ought to contribute a dollar toward starving childhood in Europe?
Would you?"
"You paint a sorry picture, Farrel." Parker was evasive.
"I paint what I see before me," he answered doggedly. "This--in five
years. And if this be progress as we view progress--if this be
desirable industrial or agricultural evolution, then I'm out of tune
with my world and my times, and as soon as I am certain of it I'll blow
my brains out.
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