Omaha daily bee., 1888-11-18

fractions of police regulations where the
fines run from five cents to 81. 95 each. Com
mon pleas courts have jurisdiction of crimi-
nal and civil matters, and they receive from
$500 to $4,000 a year. The appellate Judges
get from So, 500 to a, 600 n year, and the SUI
preme jugdes receive from "a, O00to $500 per
year. All of these amounts, however, must
be reckoned in Japanese dollars, which are
only worth scventy-hve cents. So that the
$4,000 man does not get 1000 gold dollars,
ana the S4,COo man gets about three.
THE SUPREME COURT
is composed Of twenty judges, and these are
divided into four ella sses of five judges each,
so that four courts are kept going at the same
time. l was introduced TO four of these
judges, and not one of them could speak a
word of English. They all wore European
dress, and they shook hands after they had
bowed in the Japanese fashion. l was re-
ceived by them in one of the reception rooms
OF the supreme court and we chatted about
Japan and its laws, while we slipped little
cups of tea out of egg-shell china, and
smoked cigarettes, which we lit in Jap
anese hibachis. | noted among these four
judges some striking American %resemblan ces
One looked very much like Stilson Hutchins
Of the Washington Post, and another was
the living likeness of Judge Cooley Of
Michigan. | spoke of the immense rambling
structure composing the court, and
one of the judges politely said that
the Japanese believed more in the ad-
dllOu u JuSliCC tutu III nut DulllllBS
They were very much interested in thu
supreme court at Washington, and were
pleased with the fact that our judiciary was
next TO the president in rank. They were
surprised that so many of our judges were
old men,, and told me that the twenty judges
of the Japanese supreme court ranged from
forty to sixty years of age. AS i arose to
leave we again shook hands and bowed, and
each of the great judges sucked in his breath
and bowed again as we separated. 1t takes a
great
MANY CLERKS
to run these japanese courts, and the click of
the typewriter is unheard in the clerical part
of the building. Some of the clerks wear
Japanese gowns and others dress in European
clothes. They use paint brushes and black
paint Instead of pen and ink in their book
keeping, and the documents of the court and
the records are stored away in green oiled
paper covered baskets, so that may be taken
out quickly in case Of fire. These clerks get
from Sl2 TO SO a month, and the prosecutors
receive from $500 to S2,2O0 "a year.
THE POLICEMEN
are paid from seven TO fifteen Japanese dol
lars a month. Think of ''the dandy coppers
of the broadway squad getting five Amcri-
can dollars o month, or a dollar and "A quarter
n week and board themselves. Still there
are five thousand policemen in Toxic, and the
great majority of them receive less than two
dollars a week. They seem more orderly
than our American policemen, and their little
ohl'hhtbS i uOb nail II olLS VI tlDSC
OF our officials. They dress in white linen
duck during the summer, and their natty
clothes are of European cut. They wear
caps instead of hats, and carry long swords
instead of short clubs. All of them are good
swordsmen, and the policemen have a drill of
fencing, and have to be proficient in the use
of the f0ils before they can go on the force.
When they arrest a man they tie him up with
ropes as well as handcuff him, and instead of
grabbing his shoulder and pushing him TO the
station, they drag him along by the rope.
There are 0,000 of these policemen in
Japan. and the Japanese police system is
organized after that of France. 1t has a
large detective force, and the SPY system is
such that the government is kept very well
posted as 10 what Is going on politically as
well as crlminally. The police stations are
all over Toxic, and at the corners
OF the principal streets you will see little
bcath-like sheds in which one Of these white
dressed officers sits. There are inspectors Of
police, const.hles, and u commissioner-in-
chief. The latter receives about twenty
seven hundred American dollars per year,
and the constables get from W TO pa per
month.
THE YIRs DEPARTMENT
Is under the police, and Japanese fires burn
down more houses than those of any other
nation Of the world. The al chitecture is
such that when q fire breaks out houses fall
like they did IN the Chicago c0niagration,