Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1894-12-13

cll Institutions of Japan are a com
roSite of those of other countries;
the system of Justice has been bor-
rowed from one, the system or ponce
from anol her; one has contributed
the newspaper. and another the news
paper censorship, and so on through
the list. Nor can it be said that the
systems are awkwardly used Tor tue
natural cleverness Of the japanese is
such that they are able to discern
what parts Of any given system are
suitable and what are unsuitable to
their own social and political needs,
and thus have made judicious Sc
lection, combining the pieces in such
manner as to produce a result
which, while not in every respect en-
lirely satisfactory, is yet great i'm
provement on the native original.
The effort to use Western institu-
tions in an Eastern fashion has, how
ever, been productive Of some curious
consequences. The Japanese have
newspapers, for instance, and such is
the popularity Of this occidental in
stitution that at present there are no
fewer than $50 newspapers and peri
odicals, seventeen dailies in Toxic
alone, all the Periodical press of
Japan having combined circulation
of nearly 50, 600, 600 y year. But the
native characters being still retained
in the papers, the publication of a
japanese periodical is attended with
ditiiulties almost insur mountable.
There are perhaps 20, 0C0 characters
in the Chinese Geographic system in
Japan; Of these over !, 600 are in daily
use; and the compoSitor must be pre-
pared to place in his stick" any one
of these 1000 types As it is phys
ical impOssibii ity for any man to have
1000 type in reach at one time, "a
number of boys are employed, the
copy is cut into takes" and handed
to them. There are forty-seyen kama
syllables, used for connecting the
ideographs, and with these at
his table the compositor waits
on the boys who are flying
to and fro among set Of library
cases, where the type are placed each
boy singing the sound of the ideo-
graph of which he is in search. AS
he finds each he brings 1t to the com
positor, and when all in his sake"
are collected he returns the COPY, re-
ceives another "take," and again sets
up his monOtOnous sing-song cry
After galley has been set up, a
proof is taken and sent to two proof
readers, one of whom says the copy
to the other. The onlce is thus a
scene of continual talk, chant and
confusion, but the japanese are sat
ished, and so long as they are con
tent nobody else has any Just cause of
complaint, but the effort to use an
occidental institution in an oriental
style causes a singular incorgruity.
The same effect is visibly produced
in society when an attempt is made
to combine the East and the West in
the matter of dress. The native
Japanese costume is picturesque and
very striking, but when to ii Japanese
gown or toga is added a swallow.
tailed coat and stove-pipe hat, the
effect is often very droll. The march
of progress, however, has not spared
the japanese raiment, and there are
many social circles in the larger
cities where European dress is the
rule, and a reyersiCn to the native
costume is regarded almost as a re-
lapse into barnarism.
Still, however, the wave of West
ern civilization has not overwhelmed
the people of Japan Even in the
leading centers of population the ma
tive dress is worn by more people
than adopt the foreign, while at 9th
er points the native life has hardly
been touched, or at least, seems not
to have been, by Western influences.
In the villages and country the ia
panese character is seen in it's native