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- Frwt Factianaliswt. to "One Filipino Rnce" BORN IN 1905 in the Ilocano region of the Philippines, Ponce Torwith a group of his schoolmates, emigrated to the United States via Seatde lraL925. Within two weeks of his arrival, Torres had signed on with a contractor recommended to him by tov"nmates who had arrived in Seattle several months earlier. Seatde's Chinatown, he explained, *was the center of job emplol'rnent to go to Alaska [because] . . . the offices of those |apanese, Chinese . . . , md Filipino contractors" were there.r By the end of the decade, the continual circuit of summer work in Alaska salmon canneries and fall apple harvests in Washington's Yakima Valley prevented him from consistendy attending college-a dream he had held from his earliest thoughts of emigration. The onset of the Great Depression further exacerbated his plight, and by l932the frustratedTorres plunged intounion organiz.ation as an alternative to his earlier endeavors. Mary of Torres's fellow countrymen thought he'lvas crazt''to bring up unionization publicly in Seatde's Chinatown, virarally in front of the contractors' offices.2 Torres responded: '"W"e are but [a] laboring family that would belong to one class, that [we] are brothers rather than . . . Visayans or Ilocanos or Thgalog[s] or Pangasinan[s] or any sectionalist feeling. That . . . [is] the hardest part for us to do, to make ourselves understand that we are one Filipino race.ns Torres, like most Fitpinos, entered the cannery labor market relatively.late. Chinese and |apanese were so well entrenched in the labor recruitment and management system that despite Filipinos'numerical dominance in the cannery crews by the late L920s, very few found positions as contractors. As a resuh, upward mobility was severely limited. Oppomrnities outside cannery employment were large$ in seasonal agriculture or domestic service, so the chances for the additional schooling Filipinos believed would give them mobiliry seldom materiali?r;d. Ultimately, the depression curtailed remaining avenues to which Filipinos had looked for advancement. The centrdity of cannery work to Filipino led some of them to fight for greater representation in the industry's labor recruitrnent and management res, along ffi pry [+ telr the )ng rcs- oen ons ren. 9ase lese rctireat t25 riil ijil I;ii i.ii lr,l ti CHAPTER 6 126 Frwn Fasti.snslisrn to system, particutarly through unionizationr By tr: mid--1930s, the 'Varming{ of organized labor toward Filipinos and other "ethniC'laborers, and ttre political climate of the New Deal, gave enough suPPort to the unionization efficrts that Ponce Torres and other Filipino unionists achieved their goal of uniting most of their fellow immigrants behind their organizngefficrts.4 How Filipinos first approached cannery work and then departed from established practices in the new labor organizations illusuates the persistence of ethnic loyalties amid class- mv to\Mn."ro based activities. L926 Lan Ennies In the years before World War I, Filipinos who immigrated to the United States and its territories most often went to Hawaii. Plantation owners recruited them to supplement Chinese, ]apanese, and Korean there.s Of the few Filipinos who ventured to the laborers rlt after Americans occupied the islands in 1898, most came United States"dy as students.6 Not until the end of World War I and the Passage of the I92I and 1924 immigration acts that forbade Asian immigration and restricted many Europeans did Filipinos begin to joruney to the United States in significant numbers. Classified as United States nationals, they aaveled with United States passports and were not affected by the ban on Asians.T Aftir their contracts with planters expired, Filipinos often migrated to the United States. Of those entering C{iQrnia in the 1920s' 56 percent came from Hawaii. Before mid-decade, that percentage ran high; in 1923 alone,84.6 percent migrated frorin Hawail To p-lantation workers, the U.S. labor market promised greater choice and freedom of action.s Direct migration from the Philippines took on a greater role by the end of the decade. R.gol"t, direct steamer travel to Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seatde made available relatively inexPensive steerage rates for emigrants.e The steady commercialization of agriculture oir the archipelago until the mid-1920s also contributed to the number of Filipinos seeking passage out of the islands because it created a corps of wage laborers **g the peasantry. Displaced Peasants together with urbanites extendedtheir search ficr employment to the American West. Many Filipinos, influenced by American teachers in the islands, migrated as laborers but had higher education in mind as the ultimate puqpose of their relocation. For them, earning ryonlY in seasonal or iomestic work was a means to attend American schools. Ramon Thnci*nottring to do in oco, like many others, left simply because ttrere was ccOne Fihiyirto Raot" 1928, with well-established travel routes and plentifirl encouragement to leave the Philippines, !f pelcen! gl rll Fili-p-inos arriving itiCtff"-ia had embarked from Manila, while only 35'4 percent came from Hawaii.rt Whether they came from Hawaii or the Philip-pines, !{pi""-t tmmigrated with increasing frequency._In Califirrnia from 1920 to L922, *i.r.r"g. of 618 attnoally enteredthe state from overseas. From 1923 to f925lthe average anttu1 number jumped to 2,535, and then from In it 6aped to 5,408'i2 Atthough ,h1$.1 reflect.Filipino immigration only to califomia, the increase in Filipino employment orr., ft. decade itt th. Alaska canneries can be taken as a sign of their sreater presence in the United States. Ir_1192L, nearly a thousand FiliChr1e19 9y near]Y 1 fiitror #od ed in Alaska, where they outnumbered to L929, hundred and fapanese by more than three hundred-r3 Filipinos had *ne#' ethnics, including nearJy foury9n competed with o^ther lyndred Mexicans and Mexican Americans, for those positions. The Mexican presence in Alaska peaked :rrrL923 and then waned as Nisei and Filipiiros began to push ih.m out of the canneries. S_o many Filipinos found work ii the industry that in 1925 theJaneadt Gateway apdy remarked: .Very seldom wilI ybu meet a Filipino who had Sg Pacific Coast "1"-"g who hands cannery Filipino ,r.u.i b".n to Alas"ka."ra The'Aliskeros," I,065 to 3'9.\6,compared numbered journey north, by 1928 made the rs Chinese, 1,445 i apanese, and I,269 Mexicans. Filipinb immigration to the United States thus supplied sufficient workeri without any significant .PT PTlgf canners or con"1..4e friendship networks and familial Instead, tracrors ro recrut ov.tias. the wesds migrant into them integrate helped among the immigrants in the United Sates, friends and Relativis and se"asonal labo-r markets. the newcomjob greeted oppornrnities, about rlr."dy knowledgeable met be "right at the would friends or ers. Tirose with6ut relatives Ii.they "did not contractors. ambitious more docks" by some of the when of incomd' source good one Alaska realtzr that going to [was] it meaht that learned they Tories, ironCe they first arli"ea] explained *quich" though not "eas5" money.l6 ' Cannery j"obs were a part of a-large migratgry circuitalong.which Filipinos toi,tit a in the Far West. Work in lumber mills, for railroads, *.f ott ranches and cash-crop farms of the West, as well as domestic service positions, was availabie to Filipggs, as it had been to the chi.ro. *i fapanese before them. Bythe I920s, however, the continued capitalist trinsformation of the entire American West forced Filipinos inio far-flung searches for employment. M*y follo'rved the *gp;, taking seasonaljobs in Oregon, Washington,Idaho, Montana, California, rii .l! 'ii i{ ]r,i i'l r,,l CHAPTER 6 I28 and fuizona, and Texas' Transponation routes unavailable to Chinese to purchase Taoanese and the availability of credit allowed Filipinos very .rir to follow that wide ciicuit. Some of the immigrants-were boys .r."ai". in obtaining autos. Toribio M. Martin noted: "some fr"tl1"rc . . . , but tf,..*. dort't even belong to th"T' ' ' -' T.h"y p-"y ."r, yoo know- When [they are] unable to te^eg. [uPJ. on the ;;;; "rt" ;;*; ii* dealershipl goo do*. there [to Califomia] and -piiqst it up."r7 '--- i.Til rti Filipinos defauked on loans but instead pooled.funds in rn. n""ff g-"pt of family, friends, qd ftry*:ill"gitt,h *,Ttl-*Z todgng' traveled t"naf,meer car paym€nts an! PaV for fuel, fircd, and of il"lif;t""p ahfi"tion aid' cooperation rirarked,signrfcanl -asPects their with cope them. ttre fifrpin6 immigrant experieice that helped American West. In the *riri-ir "r ittt"ntitiomt tiUor migrants in ihewas both an asset and a .norr"ties, the imall group ["i""i^6"" "irh" hindrance, as we discuss later'r8 Can'nery EmPloYment jobs The agricultural labor circuit, zupplemented with various urban enough only immigrantswith tfuouihout the year, provided Filibi"" *You make i*"-? r" ,o*i*. As'Toribio P. Madayag explainedt * can't ex€€Ptlol' no money in Catifomia."re Cannery.employm3nt ^qt"fq "W. ..ia depend on one jo!, arid thit ii the Alaska lgg.urery]toigbs Selsicl," remarrca Jonn Castillo.2o Those ProsPects drew Filipinos ..Intemational' District, which housed a variety ot mmrgrant "rtfJs *J"rfrni. groups. There they waited out the months of deepest winter of that b"f";;-.d.ry"ttipr sailed north. The Alaskeros lived most contracof friends or contractors time in Seattli in iooms owned by atr. C."tg" Nishimura, who had started off as one of Goon Dip's himIananese .ibcor,u".to^ in Seattle and later became a contractor Ma;*.0 Zacarias Alaskeros,," to hire a house for the l.if, -*Pl"i":q stroUa Alaska to go [stay]_free'"21 those that will "Jgr*;S"pp"sedly Nisf,imura dil ttot ieduct rent from-workers'wages, but the Fili.pino Filii"i"-* he put in charge of running the boardinghouse.charged ..sfot' a like "big acted and airs pino residens a fee. HJdso put on r-; -u"zz Nishimura made'no effirrt to develop the same oybaru-hnw" (pii"r_.hild or superior_inferior) relationships yi.+ his boarders *i;'il ,hared with his fellow )apanese. Neither did his Filipino foreman.23 -- - - hotel and boardinghouse beds and dependent oa job on advances doled out by chinese and |apanese contractors for o""ur.d up in their Frmn Faaionalisru to (One Filipino Ra,ee" L29 in prospect,'Filipino workers often accumulated considerable debt before the curning setrson b"g*.^ Aside from cash and credit advances for rooms, Chinese and |apanese contractors issued meal tickets redeemable at the restaurants they owned. While the extension of credit helped workers short on cash, who for a 15- or 20-cent ticket got a meal and dessert, it also put them in debt for as much as a month's wages. Coffractors also forced workers to buy clothes, bedding and rubber boots at inflated prices from their stores. Workers had no particular use for some items, such as the dress clothes, and sold them to pawnbrokers to get some cash. |ose Acena commented that Seatde's iapanese pawnbrokers did well because'?inoys [Filipino immigtants] w6uta go there in the pawn shop to get lmoney] . . . to gamble,"zs but many did so to redeem part of their advances in cash to spend or save as they saw fit. Aware that the workers had funds, the proprietors of Chinese gambling houses offered free meals to attract hungry and bored Filipinos waitrng to go norrh.a The entrepreneruial success of Seattle's Chinese and fapanese communities depended heavily on Filipino clientele, coerced or not. Like business enterprises in the_Chinaiowns in Sacramento and in the San |oaquin River deka area, Seattle's *parasites" feeding off these Chinese and |apanese businesses were workers'incomes. Local contractors were also deeply involved in these businesses. If a Filipino complained too loudly about the circumstances) he found it difficult to land a cannery job in subsequent - yetrs.27 Such practices created much resentment. M*y Filipinos retaliated by flocking to the pool halls, restaurants) and boardinghouses run by oiher Filipinos, who had scraped up the capital to open small businesses. Even though the few Filipino contractors were involved in these small businesses, ethnic ties to the workers prevented extreme exploitation. Bibtiana Castillano recalled no coercion in her husbands contracting and merchant activities. FIe was "so charitable he almost supporteilthe whole town," she contended. When Alaskeros b"oght goods from him, they purchased only '\rhat they want and can affcrd.tt28 Filipino workers felt litde animosiry, panicularly in the 1920s, toward their countrymen who had established themselves as contractors and businessmen. The contractors admitted that they made "a little money'' in the affangement, but workers like |ohn MendoT'a can' curred that the three oi four Filipino contractors in Seatde 'lvere all pretty good' to their Filipino crews.2e Like Chinese and Iapalese before'them, Filipino contractors, subcontractors, and most foremen gave favored triatrnent to members of their own ethnic group. Each ir : ij !l 'I i''.iii f30 CHAPTER 6 ..boss," Teodolo A. Ranjo explained, gave special treattment to certain people, who in tum remained loyal to him. I was not really discriminated upon by the conuactor. . . . Pedro Santos, we call him Panyell, he used to hvor the students. He would hire [Filipino] students 6efore he gets some6y else because he knew we were ,t*ggli"g for better eduJation and he beliwe[d] we were goodworkers. I haf,'a nice job from Pedro Santos every time I went to Alaska'3o Whether contractors favored students because they admired their aspirations for a better life or because they considered them more pliant workers is not clear. But what is clear is that Filipino contractors tried to protect at least some of their countrymen working for them, just as Chinese and fapanese had done.3r Not many Filipinos became contractors, however, because-of the oligarchy of Chinese and |apanese. Owners tended to retain Chinese *iJ"p*oe contracrors with whom they had d9a-lt fier years, and that practicie contributed to a minority rule in the labor market. Filipino ivorkers believed that Chinese and fapanese contractors did not rePresent their interests and even set them against each other, as the boarders in George Nishimura's boardinghouse testified. Nonethelest, q"I persisted in"their attempts to gain iccess to_cannery jobs. Some tried io break into the industry byplaying on the owners' prejydices' In I93I a group of Filipinos represented by ke P. Root, a'\vhite" contractor,lubmitted i bid to the Fidalgo Island Packing Company (FIPC) for the 1932 season in which Root promised "an ample slPPly of Filipino labor headed by competent foremen."32 Root differed from Asian^contracrors by telling the owners that dealing wrth him yould mean doing "business witha reliable wltite marr."3] Filipinos in RooCs crew may not have known the language he used in communi.lfug wirh the tomp"ny, but they must have hoped that the colnmon ethnicity' shared by Root and the owners mrght bring them i"b:. . Even those favored by the existing system at times tried to bypas,s the contracrors. When thb FIPC's main Chinese contractor Seid Back died in 1932, members of the Filipino students' Association at the University of Washington hoped to take _advanlage of the.situation by negotiating with tle company themselves without the he$ of a contrtcbr. The students submitted a bid that was 5 cents Per case lower than the industry average and assured the company $1"[we are] blessed with two very capable foremen . . . ["td have]- just the .ight *.tt for your canneiies.o-* The company prompdy and politely nined down the request the nexr day. Company managers preferred to select workers from established contractors rather than from up- From. Faaional.isnt' to "Onc Filipina Rard' 13l srarts like the students.3s Their failure aside, the students'decision act through a small group was in line with their cukural noffns. to Filipiios ordinaiily broke into the rgks of contractors only under special'.ir.o*rt*..s. When, in the -i9*. of negotiations. yr$ the t'fpC fo,. the L932 season, Seid Back died, the company hired 1*'o separate contractors, dividing its business between another Chinese, a reiative of Seid Baclq and a Filipino, Pio De Cano, who ran the most extensive Filipino contracting and subcontrTti"g bu{nery in the Pacific Northwdst and had previously supplied Filipinos for th9 comPany and as a subcontractor. Discrission about iliattget in labor recruitment the since company in t!eway under been had practices management that hoped Managers prices. product declining of because late I920s the move would save them money and make the handling of- crews ."*i"r. They also avoided the plobli:mof relying on-untried parties like those represented by Root or the Filipino-students. The managers were ,rot r.rdy to break new ground in their labor recruitrnent and management Dractices.36 while a few Filipinos,like De cano, managed to become co.ntracaorr, .*rr..s, prefeiences for experienced labor.provisioners allowed mosi "aspirant'" Filipinos to rise only to the position of.foremen Own.rs, arrd'Chinese -d ;"p*.*e contractors, believed that Filipinos worked best under "bossei" from the islands. They thus delegated the responsibilities of recruitment and management to Filipino foremen, wtio in rurn received relatively high remuneration and special treatment. sylvesue A. Tangalan's-experience reveals just how much be."-l"g i for.-* -.anito Filipino immigrants. Tirngalan had worked during"the 1930s in the canneri.s to finance his education in architec*r.1?.fr. University of Washington. When he.graduated, he received nvo job offers, o.t" an architect in Manila and the other as a foreman "r he reported, the position in Manil-a'fuas a in Alaska. unfornrnately, little d,ismal compared to what i could Bjj is a foreman in Alaska."37 He took the Alasi
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Attached.

Running head: CONCLUSIONS

1

From Factionalism to "One Filipino Race
Student’s Name
Institution

CONCLUSIONS

2

The text opens by talking about Ponce Torres’ relocation to the United States with a
group of his schoolmates. After arriving at the United States, he signed a contract with Seattle’s
Chinatown after they were recommended by his town mates who had been in the town for long.
In 1932 Torres joined a union organization during the start of the Great Depression, and that
made his fellow country mean to think that he was crazy.
Torres joined the cannery labor market relatively late since the Japanese and Chinese
were already entrenched within the labor recruitment. As a result, the upward movement was
very much restricted. Opportunities outside cannery employment were mostly within seasonal
domestic or agriculture service.
During the years before the First World War, Filipinos who moved to the United States
most regularly went to Hawaii. Farm owners hired them to supplement Chinese, Korean, and
Japanese laborers. Out of the few Filipinos who moved to the United States after America
occupied the Islands during 1898, the majority came as learners.
Direct immigration from the Philippines assumed a higher position by the conclusion of
the decade. Whether they originated from the Philippines or Hawaii, Filipinos migrated with
growing frequency. The Filipino cannery hands that made the trip north by 1928 totaled 3916
contrasted to 1445 Japanese, 1065 Chinese, and 1269 Mexicans.
Filipino migration to the United States hence supplied adequate employees with no
significant attempt on the part of canners or contractors to hire abroad. Cannery jobs were part of
a substantial migratory circuit along which Filipinos trekked within the Far West. The majority
followed the crops assuming seasonal duties within Idaho, Oregon, Washington, California, and
Montana.

CONCLUSIONS

3

The agriculture labor circuit complemented with several urban jobs throughout the year...


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