His face brightened.

"Oh, a Chinaman is different. He's a regular fellow. You can have a
great deal of respect and downright admiration for a Chinaman, even of
the coolie class."

"Nevertheless, the Chinese are excluded from California."

He nodded.

"But not because of strong racial prejudice. The Chinese, like any
other Oriental, are not assimilable; also, like the Jap and the Hindu,
they are smart enough to know a good thing when they see it--and
California looks good to everybody. John Chinaman would overrun us if
we permitted it, but since he is a mighty decent sort and realizes the
sanity of our contention that he is not assimilable with us, or we with
him, he admits the wisdom and justice of our slogan: 'California for
white men.' There was no protest from Peking when we passed the
Exclusion Act. Now, however, when we endeavor to exclude Japanese,
Tokio throws a fit. But if we can muster enough courage among our
state legislators to pass a law that will absolutely divorce the
Japanese coolie from California land, we can cope with him in other
lines of trade."

She had listened earnestly to his argument, delivered with all the
earnestness of which he was capable.

"Why is he not assimilable?" she asked.