The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-04-21
EDWIN ARNOLD REJoICES.
HIS JAPOMANIA BLOSSOMS AFRESn
IN VIEW OF VICTORY.
England OF che Pacihe-Such Is His
TITLE for Japan-Her Commerce
and Manufactures, He Thinks, VIII
Menace EarOpe md America.

Menace EarOpe nRd America.
Copyright
London, April n.-Japan has prophet
IN England who can scarcely contain him
sell sem Tor JOY over her vic
for her, and who is happy at her pros
pect, despite the fact that a part OF his
prediction is that through her gain Eng
States win be serevely stricken. Yet he is
an hnglishman born and has been knight
eu by the queen, an Englishman OF ever
bubbling patriotism. Yet he loves Amer
mired and respected by Americans. He Is
Sir Edwin Arnold, celebrated as the au-
thor of The Light OF Asia" and many
other wonderful books, and, lately, by his
shall We call II Japomania2 For the
most delightful Sunday afternoon OF my
stay in London am 10 him indebted.
england and the English evince an
even deeper interest in Japan and her re-
cent doingS than does America. The pa
pers here print less detailed news OF the
war, but they print more comment on
It's possible results and take the whole
thing more seriously than we do. A part
OF that can be attributed to the fact that
England Is willing to take almost anything
seriously, from the Prince of Wales to
an American joke; but a part of II Is also
due to the fact that this is a nation OF
experts on foreign affairs.
l am not IN any sense betraylng the
country of which 1 become more proud
every moment that / stay On this one.
when acknowledge that in foreign policy,
in foreign representation, in everything
pertaining to the conduct OF affairs and
judgment of affairs away from home. We
seem mere clumsy amateurs when COM
pared TO Englishmen. IL Is their speciality;
II is not ours. Our state department
changes with every political reversal.
With the coming of each new president n
new secretary and a new force have to
learn and unlearn all the things which
thor predecessors learned and unlearned
only forty-eight short months before our
diplomatic services changes its me thods
ana Its personnel as quickly as one of those
little brass-chained chameleons changed
its colors when 1t crawled from the brown
silk to the green velvet of a New York
society DANES dress before the s. +. G. A.
issued its prohibtive edict. The English
foreign service Is a trained corps OF men
whose lifetime has been devoted to study
Of the work that is before them and OF
nothing else. Its ambassadors and minis
ters and consuls general and consuls are
men who may feed practically sure that
nothing but promotion or bad service wall
cause their removal from the posts they
I'LL. Politics play almost no part in the
matter at all, except with the foreign min
ister-the nominal head OF the department.
And even he-and he Is by no means the
most important person I'm the SERVICES
certain to be chosen because he Is mt TO
All this rs merely 20 show that England
may be supposed TO be a better judge OF
the probable influence of the Japan-China
as the most pOrtentiOus and important
event Of modern history. Sir Edwin Arm
old-whO is no less politician than poet
-knOwns more about " than any other
Englishman. Here is part of what he
said
Japan is one of my most enthusiastic
loves. l have been there twice and both
visits we're long and pleasant. II ! i've
l shall go again. | see the Japanese
minister here every day, and l admire
him, his land and his people even more
heartily than / have ever said did.
"Japan's victory IS the greatest pro-
erosion that the world has seen since
the American colonies won their indie
pendenee; For uncounted centuries an
west and the east. England broke II
down so that India was open; America,
through Perry, broke II down so that
Japan was opened. Now Japan has brOk-
en- II down so that China-greatest con-
quest Of them all--is open.
Il do not mean by that that China
viii now or, perhaps, ever enter INTO
win not go far enough In her victory
to uproot the present Chinese government
"a government that has been handed
down with few changes since before the
time of Christ. Japan knows too much
for that. She understands the people
with whom she has to deal. She realizes
that they have been infected with a
virus Of stupidity and barbaric conserya-
tism from which It is scarcely reasonable
to hope to ever free them. CONTIGUOUS
was the man who killed China. His phi
losophy OF fatalism has been and Is the
Sleeping draught from whose effects she
may never wake. China Is like the grub
chosen by the lguna bird for her young
This bird injects subtle poison into
the worm she selects for her familys
food, which paralyzes II and without
killing IL makes II like a. dead thing. Con-
fucious was China's Iguna bird. He
introduced into her veins a poison which
has made her comatose for many. many
many centuries. IL Is, in one sense, a dead
thing which Japan has conquered, and
It Is doubtful If IL will ever come to nor
NAL life But It is a valuable corpse.
but Japan VIII be from now on the
great clvtlizng, regulating, dominating
power Of Asia. Without disrupting China
she will let the whole world reap the ad-
vantage of her resources. She will throw
down the barriers which have closed her
vast possessions to trade and commerce.
She will introduce such modern methods
as are possible into the interior. which
has been absolutely stationary for centu-
ries The day when lucifer matches and
mills and railroads and other results of
civilization can be shut out of one of the
richest and broadest countries in the
world ended with the decisive battle of
the Japan-China war.
Japan is great morally and intellec-
tually. She has her faults, but is any ma
ton without them2 Not long before |
last left Japan, Count Ito asked me what
would advise him to do In order to more
rapidly and importantly develop his ma
tion. I said: i would, If / were you,
double my navy, increase my army, edu-
cate my women and ransack my coun-
try for iron, coal and copperp
These things he has done and many
others. What is the result2 Japan has
become one Of the great facts of the uni
verse. When people say TO me that she
may come to grief some day laugh.
can see her future plainly, and am sure
my prophetic vision is not false, is not
even exaggerated. She will be one of the
worlds great naval powers. She can
build her own ships. She is building FIVE
now. She lacks iron, but she does not
lack brains. She can buy iron much
easier than she could buy brains, and the
margin Of profit which she will have to
pay will be smaller. ] do not consider her
shipyards to be competent to build battle
ships OF the first class, but they can build
splendid first and second class cruisers Of
the type Of your Chicago with immense
success. That is one way in which japan
will make her influence felt on the world
in the future as a great naval power, as
the great naval power Of the Pacific
ocean.
Then comes her Importance as q com
mercial nation. The victory of Japan
over China may well make certain English
and American Industries tremble for their
future. II means that from now on cheap
labor-labof which is incredibly cheap to
us-will be thrown into competition with
high-priced labor. Tariff duties will not
protect us or you. No nation could pro
teet itself by tariff against the attack
which Japan can and win make In the
near future, any more than II could pro-
tect itself by guns and forts against an