Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1888-11-22

100000 dispatches were sent. Til
telegraph system hers is under the con
troll of the government, and its receipt
very nearly meet its expenditures. Tn
telegraphiug is done in japanese, and a,
extra charge Is made chen kilograms ar
sent in foreign language.
The Japanese call themselves tn,
Americans of Asia and they are to a Ger
tain extent right. They are like the
Americans in the ready adoption of new
things and in their being ready to risf
the present for the future. They are
quick witted and they want to be up te
| the times. They lack, however, I an
prone to believe the Americans desire
of accumulation, his industry aud per
severance, and above all his wonderful
creative faculty. You will find a patent
Office at Toxic but you can number the
noted Japanese inventions upon your
fingers. Up to this stage in their career
the Japanese have been an initiative
rather than creative nation. What they
have had in the past has been adopted
from other nations. The civilization
| which preceded the one now coming in
was largely Chinese. The chief religion of
the japanese to-day is Buddhism. and it
came from India.
l have visited during the past few days
many of the government departments of
the empire, and I find they are using
many American inventions. In visiting
the army saw troops dressed exactly
like the soldiers of Germany going
through the military maneuvres just as
they are laid down in the tactics of our
military schools and in the arsenal where
Japan makes her rifles, her cartridges
and her gunpowder, the machinery was
altogether like ours. The factories, bar
ring the brown faces, the crack eyes and
bare feet of the employees might as well
have been in Pittsburg as in Toxic and
this IS much the same with all the gov
eminent institutions. The work however
and the management is eli under the con-
troll Of the japanese and the number of
foreigners employed by the government
decreases every year. The Japanese hire
foreigners merely as Teachers. They
study hard under them aud when they
have learned their specialties they are
very ready to dismiss them.
AS to japanese education the mission
ariss largely teach through the aid OF
the government and English is taught in
many OF the schools. Education is now
OoHi phoOIy III odpaH; OUT IHe SCd6iSblc5
show that only about half of the children
go to school. The school age is from to
IA years and the Japanese boys and girls
go over their lessons in sing song tones
in bare feet and gowns. There are 5000
coo of them in the regular schools and the
technical schools have $500 pupils.
Japan has $4,000 common schools pre-
sided over by $4,000 men teachers and
4,610 women teachers. There are more
than 1000 high school teachers and the
professors in the imperial University of
Toxic, number 1914. This university is
kept up by the government. It has 1880
students, and is turning out scores of
almond-eyed doctors, lawyers and gov
eminent officials every year. 1t is better
than the average American college. It's
preparatory course includes English,
mathematics, geography, physics, his
tory, political economy, philosophy, and
il covers three years. It takes five years
to graduate, and the Japanese have here
an opportunity to get a good education
without going away from home.