William Kent to William Jennings Bryan

The proposed legislation in the State of California directed against the ownership of land by aliens who are ineligible for citizenship appears to me a matter of greatest importance if we are to maintain a real democracy. The country has recognized the need of curtailing the right of Orientals to enter citizenship, in the interest of the white race.
Land–ownership means permanent rooting that as is necessary to democracy.
The California situation is not academic but practical. There have been established certain Oriental communities in which white men are not welcome, and which white men regard as disagreeable communities in which to live. The permanence of such a condition must rest with land tenure.
I see no reason why Japan or any other Oriental nation should object to our control, in a matter so much our own peculiar business as is tenure of land. It is not for a moment because we feel our superiority or the inferiority of the Japanese that we object to their monopolizing, as they have done, certain sections of our State. We do not ask, and especially do not demand, that Japan modify her land laws to let us in. We merely recognize in frankness what they must recognize, although they do not wish to let the fact be known, that there are such things as racial lines that cannot be crossed except with peril and irritation. The negro problem under which this country labors is a sufficient proof of this fact. We cannot afford to have any more such problems with us. The bitterness involved in racial friction prevents the growth of domestic ideas and hampers our advancement.
It is distinctly in the interest of peace and good understanding and to avoid the irritation that is bound to occur that I strongly advocate the alien land laws of California. Any action taken ought to be taken in the most diplomatic, careful manner, free from offensive language or argument. If the Japanese pretend they cannot understand the race argument, and bluster about unfriendly action, they are certainly taking offense where none is intended.
No loosely drawn treaty can stand for a moment against the patriotic desire of our people to protect the future of democracy and the integrity of the race, both of which are menaced by the prospective citzenship or permanent land occupation of those whom we cannot assimilate.