californiaalienlandlawof1913

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_jennings_bryan

Hiram Warren Johnson (September 2, 1866 – August 6, 1945) was a leading American progressive and later isolationist politician from California; he served as Governor from 1911 to 1917, and as a United States Senator from 1917 to 1945. Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiram_Johnson

Thanks, We'll add the additional name information in the source data and reload the description.

This was taken sometime between the morning of April 29, 1913 and the afternoon of May 3, 1913. On April 29, 1913 Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan arrived in Sacramento at the bidding of President Wilson to plead against the passage of California's Alien Land Law of 1913. That morning at 11am he addressed secret meetings of the legislature with Governor Johnson, Lieutenant Governor Wallace and 120 members of the legislature, according to this New York Times article: query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9C04E3D9173FE633A... Governor Johnson "rallied the anti-Japanese lobby, however, and the bill passed. despite statements by both the President and the Secretary of State that this law offered insult to the Japanses people and their government." ( ref. books.google.com.au/books?id=PKL4DQ4XLtUC&pg=PA45&... ) According to this New York Times article, Bryan addressed a joint session of the California Legislature on the afternoon of May 3, 1913 prior to his departure for Washington: query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9C0DEED9173FE633A... The text of Bryan's speech to the California legislature in 1913 is here: www.archive.org/stream/farewellremarks00bryarich and it is therefore likely that the two others in the photograph apart from Bryan and Johnson are Lieutenant Governor Wallace, and or Speaker Young, and/or State Senator Lee C. Gates. Of course, the papers of William Jennings Bryan are in the Library of Congress, so there's likely to be more about this occasion there: lcweb2.loc.gov/service/mss/eadxmlmss/eadpdfmss/2006/ms006... Here's an article from the New York Times of April 27, 1913 giving much of the background to Bryan's pending visit to California: query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9C0DE...

The evidence regarding when the photo was made is also helpful. We'll adjust the date in the description, as well. Thanks!

Juichi Soyeda and Tadao Kamiya COMES TO COUNSEL JAPANESE HERE; Dr. Soyeda Sure That in the End Californian Situation Will Be Settled Amicably. "The Japanese are much surprised by the attitude of the Californian Legislature, and some of them are annoyed, but the thinking persons in Japan trust that the trouble will be solved in the light of justice and humanity," Dr. J. Soyeda said yesterday at the Hotel Astor. ... Dr. Soyeda and Tadao Kamiya who is associated with him in his mission, were entertained at a luncheon yesterday by the Publishers Association of New York ... Source: June 26, 1913, Thursday; New York Times Link: query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9D04E5D6103CE633A... I have started a Wikipedia entry for him: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juichi_Soyeda

Richard Arthur Norton: Thank you for your information on Juichi Soyeda and Tadao Kamiya. It is great to have their full names and some idea of why they were in the news at the time. We will add some of the information to the description when we update the database.

Date inscribed on photo negative: 6-22-1913. They were here to lobby against the racist California Alien Land Act of 1913. So was Mr. Iijima:

A detailed entry on Soyeda, aka Soeda Toshikazu, on Japanese Wikipedia: ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%B7%BB%E7%94%B0%E5%A3%BD%E4%B8%80

Richard Norton It seems as if Soeda is now the accepted transliteration of his name, so it might be best to have the Wikipedia article under that name.