SACRAMENTO, Calif., April 29, 1913 (UP) - There are many indications Secretary of State W.J. Bryan will fail in the mission on which he was sent here by President Wilson.
Leaders of the California senate and assembly today declared so far there had been no developments which would cause them to change their earlier opinions regarding the necessity of passing an antialien land owning bill. While Bryan may succeed in amending the wording of the pending bill, its intent, to exclude the Japanese, will probably remain unchanged.
Senator Newton Thompson, progressive leader and author of a drastic bill proposed as a substitute for the pending measure, said today:
"Nothing Secretary Bryan has said changed the situation in my view, or in the view of other members of the legislature with whom I have talked. I believe the exclusion bill will be passed."
Assemblyman J.D. Bohnett, progressive leader of the lower house, took the same view.
"While Bryan may have more forcible revelations," he said, "which he expects to deliver at the last moment, nothing he has said yet seems to have altered the determination of the legislature to enact a law based on the slogan - America for Americans."
Assemblyman J.W. Struckenbruck, democrat, and a close friend of Bryan, said:
"I have the greatest admiration for Secretary Bryan, but I cannot follow him in this. I know - and I told Bryan so in executive session - that the Japanese government is, and has been, furnishing to Japanese in my district the actual cash to buy land. It is hard enough for white men to compete with Japanese when they merely lower the standard of living, but when the Japanese is backed by the Tokyo government, competition by whites is impossible.
"If the legislature fails to pass a bill absolutely excluding the Japanese as land owners, the initiative law is sure to be invoked."
It is learned today that Bryan did not advance any new solution of the problem confronting the legislature, but merely conveyed to the members the advice of the president. He urged the legislature to postpone immediate action on the land bill to allow the state department to endeavor to negotiate new treaty arrangements with Japan, accomplishing the desired ends. If this plan should not be acceptable, he suggested that law similar to that in force in Illinois be enacted.
This permits aliens to hold land only six years, applying to all aliens alike.
