On October 10, Dorothy Gee, the Chinese girl banker of San Francisco,
presided over the ceremony celebrating the tenth anniversary of the
Chinese independence Day, held in the steerage. Besides giving a clever
address, she acted as interpreter for the speeches delivered by F. R.
Eldridge, chief of the Far Eastern Division for the Bureau of Foreign
and Domestic Commerce, A. F. Morrison and A. I. Esberg.
Many of us felt a great curiosity to see the engine that had pushed us
through the storm, so we descended countless iron stairs, down to the
very bottom of the ship; above us towered a bewildering assortment of
ladders, levers, pipes and valves. The heat was over-powering, so we
rushed to the ventilator and cooled off quickly. The deafening noise
prevented us from hearing all the engineer's explanations. Next we were
taken singly (as the space between the two massive doors will not permit
of more) through the two massive doors separating the boilers from the
rest of the ship. In case of an accident all the doors of the ship,
including these, could be automatically closed from the deck, dividing
the ship into three compartments.
We saw how the thirty-seven cakes of ice, consumed daily, were made,
inspected the laundry and peeked in where the precious, rapidly
diminishing liquors were stored, and we all felt satisfied that we knew
"What made the wheels go around."
With the regular meetings of the Executive committee, with Herbert
Hoover's Trade Investigation committee (consisting of Lansing Hoyt, C.
J. Mayer, Gordon Enders, E. Kehich, Paul Steindorff and headed by F. R.
Eldridge), mingling with the party to assist in establishing friendly
commercial relationship; with all those identified with certain
businesses and professions divided into groups, and even with the women
organized, we felt ready to meet any Oriental dignitaries, or
delegations.
We remember well how often Warren Shannon, with his unfailing humor,
sent us into gales of laughter, auctioning off the numbers that
represented the possible run of the ship on the following day. Louis
Mooser bid the first one hundred dollars on the number that won the
pool. C. H. Matlage, William Muir, F. H. Speich, Louis Brown, Mrs. S.
Schwartz and Mrs. Carrie Schwabacher were also heavy bidders.
Everyone started borrowing clothes from everyone else, right after
breakfast, the day of the masquerade. P. J. Lyon made a very gay girl,
C. R. Reed went as Woodrow Wilson, A. I. Esberg as a Chinese, C. B.
Lastrete as a bandit, Margarete Rice as Cleopatra, Mrs. Bruce Foulkes as
a beautiful Spanish senorita, Constant Meese, W. Levintritt, F. W. Boole
and C. H. Matlage as "Four Dainty Kewpies," Edward C. Wagner as an
oiler, and Carl Westerfeld was a regular devil.
Of course, Mrs. A. Gee, Mrs. A. B. Luther, Mrs. Washburn, Mrs. Wheeler,
Mrs. Boole, Mrs. Wood, Mrs. Shannon and Mrs. Grady looked charming, as
usual. The Misses Bridge, Miss Kinslow, Miss Neff and Miss Bell also
looked attractive. Dr. Gates, Dr. Judell, Miss Simon, Mrs. Rothenberg,
Mrs. Denson, Mrs. Dunn, Mrs. Yates, the Misses Hunter, Mrs. Barnard,
Miss James, Mrs. Ross, A. W. Morton, Jr., and Mrs. Krull went to such a
lot of trouble to get up their interesting costumes. Henry S. Bridge
had, "a fine make-up" and looked like a real Southern Negro. Pretty Miss
Howlett and Miss Wood always made one think of the posters of "Sweet
Sixteen."
Warren Shannon's Entertainment committee, assisted by Miss Moore, Miss
Craig, Mrs. Bercovich and Mrs. Panter, certainly discovered the talent
on board and we will always be grateful for the sweet singing of
charming Mrs. Gale, Mrs. Brown, Mrs. Schwartz and Miss Reed and the
playing of Miss Moore, Mrs. Alexander and of our talented "Mary."
If anyone felt a bit out of sorts all they had to do was to think of the
courage and sweet, uncomplaining manner of Mrs. Morrison or what good
sailors Mrs. Anna R. Luther and Miss Louise Elliott were trying to be.
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Columbus never strained his eyes more eagerly to see land than the San
Francisco Chamber of Commerce representatives did, when someone said
that the dim outline of Fujiyama might be visible above the hazy shore
that looked as much like clouds as land.
All the men of the party were so busy with their field glasses, admiring
Yokohoma Harbor's wonderful fortifications, that they did not even hear
the women question what sort of a dress would be suitable for the coming
grand reception, and yet, at the same time withstand sight-seeing in the
dust of the streets. Even Mary Garden on her opening night did not
receive such rapt attention as did this harbor.
As we looked down over the huge side of the Empire State upon the
turmoil of humanity, baggage and freight and the uneven street beyond,
we gave thanks to the Baptist missionary, who is credited with making an
old baby carriage into the first rickshaw, for the convenience of his
sick wife. When we saw the little brown men actually run away with our
most corpulent representatives, without any apparent effort, we forgot
all about "Man's inhumanity to man" and no baby ever enjoyed its first
perambulator outing more than our party.
First, we swooped down upon the banks to change our money, but the yen
and sen counted out to us seemed as valueless as stage money. However,
we grew to respect it, after visiting Benton Dori and departing with
elaborate kimonos that the shrewd businessmen and women of the party
would have passed by as being too expensive, at home.
It was great fun after being extravagant to figure out that a yen is
only a little over half as much as one of our dollars and that one had
only spent half as much as one thought.
Our party met the ladies (some of them American college graduates) and
gentlemen of the Yokohama Chamber of Commerce at a big reception in a
theatre. The governor, through his interpreter, said that our arrival
was on the first sunny day they had had in some time, that the
chrysanthemums were just blooming, and that this was a good omen, for
the war clouds had vanished. Geisha girls danced while singing a
specially composed chant of welcome, and an elaborate luncheon was
served in an adjoining hall. A. I. Esberg and F. R. Eldridge answered
the welcome saying, "That we hoped to establish much more friendly and
permanent relationship with the people of Japan."
Most of the party had the inevitable tea in the foreign settlement,
known as the Bluff. Most of these houses are of the vintage of fifty
years ago and range in rental from $125 to $150, unfurnished, the tenant
having to install his own plumbing if he wishes such a luxury. We wanted
to know why some better arrangement was not made and were reminded of
the law that does not permit of any foreign ownership of land.
Louis Mooser, former head of the San Francisco Real Estate Board, was
much interested in the situation. It seems that about one-seventh of the
small area available for foreigners was under perpetual lease to the
Germans and we were told that when war broke out it was taken over by
the Japanese, who only allowed their own race to buy, and all rents were
immediately raised.
It was said that instead of complaining about how little land Japan was
allowed in the United States, it would be fairer to give Americans in
Japan the same privileges that she enjoys in some of our states.
Americans in Yokohoma say that the Japanese law drafted to relieve this
situation and often proudly referred to by Japanese diplomats, has never
really been passed and therefore has no value. They add that if old
Marquis Okuma had more peace-craving followers and the lawmakers were
responsible to the people instead of the Emperor, for whom they are said
to act, differences between the United States and Japan could be more
quickly and completely settled.