The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1896-12-01
JAPAN IS IN
THE FOREFRONT
She Has Outlined an Ambitious Pro-
gram for the Near Future.
HER EYES NOW ON HAWAII
Colonies Extended and Commerce Ex
panded- Diplomatic Corps Largely
Increased.
New York Tribune.

Beyond all question japan " k"tsihb
ON. She has not been content with tax
Ing "A leaf from the book OF American
and European progress. She has taken
the whole volume. and marked. read
and lnwardly digestcd u. and the diet
seems 20 agree with her. Never was
there another nation that showed such
growth In almost every direction In 50
short n time. as Japan has In the last
dozen years. Never was there one that
set before itself more ambitious pro-
gram than that which Japan now has
before her And with memory OF her
recent achievements fresh In mind. who
shall say she In unequal to the task OF
It's fuihllment3
The resignation OF Marquis Ito and
Count Mutsu. and the accession TO pow
or OF Count okuma. a few weeks ago.
was generally supposed to mean the
beginning Of a strong foreign policy.
There are now unmistakaole indications
that that suppositlon viii be more than
verified But Il is not necessarily TO be
a nghtlng policy. on the contrary
Count okumA believes diplomacy TO be
more potent than war. He would not
have given up Le,to-Tong and Corea as
meekly a. HE predecessor did. Mel
ther would he have gone TO war with
Russia and Germany and France TO re-
tain them But he would have TEN
porizcd. he would have made show
OF iron resolution; he would have at
tacked-diplomatically-th weak points
In his opponents position; he would. In
brief. have played a colossal game OF
"blufl." and In eventually yielding
would have contrived 10 secure for Jap
an some compensatory advantages
That Is what Greece did. ten years ago,
In the face OF all Europe and what
Greece could do Japan could surely do
Nor Is that all. nor more than the be-
ginning. Japau must enlarge her bor-
dcrs Her tide OF emigration is setting
strongly toward the south Formosa
is already hers Next to II are the Phil
ippines. and nothing could be more
proper than that she should ultimately
get them. and the Carollnes. Upon the
Hawaiian group still more she has fixed
her eyes. Her people are going thitheI
at the rate OF thousands every year
and already form more than one-fourth
OF the total population, vastly outnum'
being all other foreigners. 'The growth
"of Japanese influence has naturally
made Japan an object OF jealousy tc
foreign countries, such as America
Portugal and England. and there are
persons in the present Hawaiian gov
"ernnient who favor the idea OF a un-
lion with the United States" Where
fore Il Is expedient that a minister and
consul be forthwith stationed at Hon
olulu TO protect Japanese interests and
TO checkmate the designs OF rival pow
ers, until such time as the little repub-
lie, by force OF Its Japanese population
is absorbed into the Empire OF the Ris-
ing Sun,
Beyond all that. Japan must not be
content with mere piecemeal expansion
OF her territory. She must extend her
colonies and her commerce to the utter
most eds OF the earth. She must have
u minister at every capital and n con-
sui at every port. Brazil. for example,
is land OF vast possibilities. There is
room there for thousands of Japanese,
and there is an opening for much trade
for which, ideed. commercial treaty
Is now being consummated. Siam is a
bone of contention between England
and Frace. But Japanese immigrants
are pouring in, a Japan-Siam Society
has been organized at Bangkok, a COM
merclal treaty is being negotiated, and
Japan may yet slip in between France
and England and secure the prize. So
elsewhere. "The expansive power of
"the Japanese power of the Japanese
race must make itself felt through
North and South America and the In
"dies, through India, and through Poly
"nesia, dominating everywhere the
white inhabitants and supplantlng the
"black races"
Such is the ambition Of the new Jap
anese government as set forth in its
chief newspaper organ. Is It too great
" valuting? win It overleap itself
We shall see, What Japan has done
and is doing are, at any rate, not calcu-
lated to discourage faith in her ability
to do yet greater things. 1t is no light
matter to have awakened a great ma
tion from the sleep Of ages and to have
started II on a new career Of unmeas-