The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1895-02-01
THE BRAVOSOF NEW JAPAN
AN ORGANIZED BAND OF PROBES.
SIGNAL THUGS.
The soshi Are Like No Other Men on
the Face Of the GiObe-Body-
guards for Statesmen.

class OF men who have ma
terially disturbed the Gov
eminent, writes Frank @. Carpenter
in the New York Press. I refer to the
Soshi. These are like no other men
on the face of the globe. They are a
kind of cross between an anarchist
and a political striker, and though
they exist in nearly every part of the
Empire, have never seen them de-
scribed in letters of travel. They are
a peculiar feature ofthe modern Japan,
and are the product of the old feudal
system married to the modern civili-
cation. Japan, you know, was twenty
five years ago much like Europe dur
ing the Middle Ages.
The Daimios, or mobiles of the coun-
try, owned the greater part of the
land, and each had number of sol
diers or Samural about him. These
Samural were all soldiers. and the
Daimio was expected to support them.
When the revolution came and the
Daimios gave up their estates these
men were out of job. They took up
with different branches of trade. A
large number went into the army.
Springing from it, however, are
these bands of Soshi, who are young
men, many of whom are ready to sell
themselves and their swords to the
highest bidder. Every politician has
number of them connected with
him, and every political meeting is
filled with them. They carry sword
canes, and during elections the papers
are full of the attacks of one band of
Soshi upon another, and of statement
as to how one prominent man, accom-
panied by his Soshi, was met by an
other statesman with his Soshi, ard
how the two fought the matter out on
the street.
These Soshi are numbered by thou
sands, and it is surprising how well
they are organized. Outside of those
who are attached to the politicians
there are bands or societies Of them
who work together for their mutual
benefit, and who are, in fact, bands of
thugs, assassins, blackmailers and
strikers. Some of them give their SER
vices for their food and clothes, and
for two or three dollars day they will
do anything. If they are arrested you
are expected to pay them for the time
they stay in prison, and to send few
luxuries now and then to the Jail. They
are not at all fond of foreigners, and
they form a large part of the anti.
foreign element of the country.
The action of the Government to-
ward these people has shown thst il is
afraid Of them. They have carried on
their work'openly a signboard was re-
Gently stuck up in one of the main
business parts of Toxic which read
''Soshi provided here. Terms mod
crate for the day or month" Among
the men who have shown much nerve
in the matter are our American Minis
ter and the Rev. Clay MacCauley, the
head of school in Toxic and a Uni
tartan minister of great prominence in
Japan. For some reason or other the
Soshi became incensed at DR.. MacCau-
ley, and they warned him that he must
! give up his school. They told him
that he would be mobbed if ne did not,
and they made all preparations to
carry out their threat. DR.. MacCau-
ley went to the American Minister,
Mr.. Dun, and told him the situation.
Mr.. Dun was very indignant, and
he at once went to the foreign Office
and told the Secretary of State that
the Government was responsible for
keeping the Soshi in order, and that
he proposed to drive, with DR.. Mao
Cauley, in the Legation carriage,
down to the school on the day fixed
for the mob, and if they were insulted
or attacked in any way the American
Government would hold the Japanese
Government responsible for it, The
Japanese officials at once took the matt
ter in hand and the Soshi were put
down upon this occasion. The streets
leading to the school were lined with
police and the result was that DR..
acCauley and the American Minister
passed through unarmed and unmo-
Tested by even look.
I asked number of prominent men
of Japan, including Count Ito, whence
the Soshi came, and I was told that
they were in most cases disafected and
unsuccessful students. Thousands of
young Japanese have been studying
professions, and there are hundreds
upon hundreds of lawyers and doctors
more than are needed. The Govern
ment places are all overcrowded, and
the universities have been turning out
their graduates by the hundreds a
year. The brightest students have
been picked out by the Government