Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1888-11-24

WIN uSuN IOOiS running around them, IN
in which lived their soldiers. Under
them there were $4,000 families of
Samurai and the Samurai were, as a rule,
as dictatorial as the bad man from Bitter
creek. Each of them carried two big
swords whenever he went out to walk and
they were not at all backward in using
them. The common people were afraid of
them and the farmers, tradesmen and the
mechanics trembled before them. When
the revolution came the Shotgun was put
down, the Mikado was made the real ruler
of the country and the dukes and soldiers
were forced to give up their swords and
their habitations. Many of them were
taken into the new government and many
of them are now engaged in trade Most
of the Daimios were paid pensions in lieu
of their lands, and some of them having
sold their rights are among the poorest of
the poor in Japan to-day. The new Japan
aims to establish itself on the basis of our
and the European civilization. 1t is rap
idly advancing, and it is now a land of
postoffices, telegraphs and schools.
Japan has day as good a postal sys-
tenn as any country of Europe, and the
originator of its system was an American.
His name was Bryan. He was in the
Postofiice Department at Washington,
and, if / am informed correctly, lost his
position there through Il change in the
Administration. He concluded to come to
Japan. He offered the Government his
services in the organization of its postal
system. They accepted, and after much
trouble he succeeded in 1885. The Japan
csc Postofiice carried last year 57,O00O0O
letters, more than 100000 postal cards
and over 100000 newspapers. Its rev.
enue during this time was nearly equal to
its expenses, and there are now about
5000 Postoffices in the Empire of Japan.
At the bureau Of engraving and printing /
saw japanese men dressed in European
clothes who were engraving the postage
stamps which are used throughout the
Empire, and in another department of the
same building | saw hundred Japanese
girls in white nightgowns who were
bundling up japanese postal cards for dis
tribution to the various offices as fast as
they were printed.
| saw school books printed in English
for the use of the scholars of the high
schools and there are those who believe
the English language will be the japanese
language Of the near future
Japan has now over four hundred miles
of railway and four hundred more miles
are being constructed. All of the import
ant cities and towns are connected with
each other by lines Of telegraph, and in
1885 more than 100000 dispatches were
sent. The telegraph system here is under
the control Of the Government, and its re-
ceipts very near meet its expenditures.
The lapanaca COLL tbon,cai fba ,,o,,
cans of Asia, and they arctic certain ex.
tent right. They are like the Americans
in their being ready to risk the
present for the future. They are quick
witted and they want to be up to the times.
They lack, however, | am prone to believe,
the Americans desire of accumulation, his
industry and perseverance, and above all his
wonderful creative faculty. You will find
a patent office at Toxic, but you can num-
Der the noted japanese inventions upon
your fingers. Up to this stage in their ca
reer the japanese have been an initiative
rather than a 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. Corea boasts of being
the author of many of the schools of Jap
anese art, and Japanese literature is large
ly based on Chinese characters. As to the
present civilization, Japan is trying to
choose the best from all nations, and it
hopes to make up whole better than any.
Its imitation is not blind imitation. The
japanese have always prided themselves
on being reasonable people, and they are
using their reason now. Their code of
laws comes from France. They are choos-
ing their models for army discipline from
Germany, but their general culture will be
like their language, English.
have visited during the past few days
many of the Government departments Of
the Empire and ! find they are using many
American inventions. In visiting the army
| saw troops dressed exactly like the sol
diers of Germany, going through the mill
tary maneuvers just as they are laid down
in the tactics of our military schools, and
in the arsenai, where Japan makes her rifles,
her cartridges and her gunpowder, the ma
chinery was altogether like ours. The fac
tories, barring the brown faces, the crack
eyes, and the bare feet of the employees,
might as well have been in Pittsburg as in
Toxic, and this is much the same with all
the Government institutions. The work,
however, and the management is all under
the control of the Japanese, and the num-
Der of foreigners employed by the Govern
ment decreases every year. The japanese
hire foreigners merely as teachers. They
study hard under them, and when they
have learned their specialties they are
very ready to dismiss them.
AT present nearly all the employees of
the Government wear European clothes
and this is required in many cases. The
clothes worn are well fitting and as a rule
OF good cut, but they make the little
japanese forms look smaller than ever and
the people are more handsome in their
loose flowing gowns belted in with a girdle
at the hips. The departments of the Gov
eminent are built on the European style
and the State department. is not much
different in its interior appointment from
our department at Washington. 1t has
messenger in livery at the door who
bows low as you enter and motions you
into papered reception room which has
a brussels carpet upon the floor and an
electric button in the wall 1t is the
fashionable thing here now for the
house, and there are many houses here
which would not look out of place in
Washington city. Some of the young men
who like European ways keep up estab-
lishments of both kinds, and their fathers
and mothers who do not take kindly to
the new ways are housed la japanese.
The number of Japanese travelling abroad
steadily increases and there were in 1885
1850 japanese living outside of Japan.
of these, more than thousand were in the
United States aad the purpose for which
most of them went was for study. These
men come back filled with the new civil
zation. They learn English and they adj
vocate the changes There are also a.
number of foreigners in Japan. This
number, all told, is about 1000. The moss
of these are merchants and not few are
missionaries. The missionaries claim 10
have 10000 japanese Christians in their
churches and this aids greatly in the work
of civilization.