Updated:
July 17, 2007
eview of payroll and employment records at the Mission Inn reflect a diverse ethnic mix of employees. Miller’s biographer Zona Gale wrote (1938) “He (Miller) had great feeling and fondness of other races – perhaps that was one basis of his internationalism (p.131).” Riverside had a long history of employing those from other countries. The expertise of the Chinese from the citrus growing Guangdong Province assured the success of Riverside’s citrus industry. Among those who worked at the Inn were immigrants from China, Mexico, Europe, the Philippines and Japan, including Frank Sawahata and Jose Arias.
Frank Miller’s international convictions extended far beyond the operation of the Mission Inn, the ethnic diversity of his employees, and his acquisition of objects from around the world. In 1913 California passed the Alien Land Law. “This law prohibited "aliens ineligible to citizenship" from owning land." (http://www.janm.org/nrc/internch.php). Japanese immigrant Jukici Harada, placed his family’s Riverside home on Lemon Street in the name of his three children born in California. The California state attorney general sued Harada, claiming he had “acted illegally (Klotz, 1982).” Frank Miller financially supported Harada (Klotz, 1982). The California State Supreme Court, making Harada’s action legal, upheld a local judge’s ruling. |
