Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-07-06

y
preparing itself to fight somebody
The count responded laughiRgly: The
japanese are peace-loving people. What
trey seek is the healthful ply sical develop
ment, the bodily education. of the nation
lhey are not planning and. indeed have
hc cesie or inclination to fight anybody
Improve the Consular Service
Count Okuma's suggestion Of the i.,;;,ort-
ance of the cooperation of our consular
service In building UP foreign trade and of
the need OF greater efficiency en- the part
OF those agents is sound and touches a
weak point in our line Of assault upon the
markets of the world. Our consdls must be
actiFe, energetic men Of affairs. sni the
greater their experience and knowledge of
the business conditions and methods of the
ccuntry to which they are sent tine more
Valuable will their services be- In China
ard Japan at present our consuis are
Judges in courts of extensive jurisdiction
These officers with their Important com
mercial and judicial functions should cease
to be classed in the category of reward for
partisan or personal political services to be
distributed as tokens of grateful appr,.-
citation of skill in manipulating primaries
or a convention or some particular class of
voters. But Count Okuma's criticism while
well founded as general proposition would
be unjust If it were construed as applying
to the American consulate closest at hand
1t is generally conceded that the improve
ments In our export trade to JAPAN which
Count Okuma credits largely to the friendly
offices OF the japanese traders, are in great
measure due to the intelligent and perse-
Nering labors of Consul General McIvor at
Yokohama. Especially is this true in re-
latiOn he
cotton. and to the development now in
progress of our exports of lumber. Seuti-
mcnt plays a small part in international
trade. While Japan's grateful affection for
us was at its height.and while we were buy
ing far more from her than eny other nation
i'll the worl1, she bought very little from
us and patroniZed instead the Englshmen
whom she heartily disliked. Sentiment is
rot responsible for the recent increases in
fer American purchases. In the case of
cotton for instance, she now buys directly
from us instead of indirectly through
Liverpool. because Mr. McIvor convinced
the owners of the Japanese cotton mills
that II was economy to dispense with the
commission to a middleman and put them
III the way of obtaining a cheap freigh:
rate Tor the cotton from American rail-
reads. The individual purchaser of cotton
or iron or kerosene OF! in japan will bu1-
that article wherever h, can get it to the
best advantage and will not permit national
friendliness or unfriendliness 10 affect his
individual pocket book
These considerations minimize appreher-
sions Of a reduction of the volume, of orr
exports to Japan IN case of the imposition
by Congress of heavy duty upon tea. silk
ard m atting. Japan under the new treaties
VIII herself soon be increasing largely her
present duties on imports and her gov
ernmcnt will of course as a matter of
policy carefully avoid taking any position
at this time which imputes unfriendliness
in such increases on the part of the i'm
porting toward the exporting nation
Ja9nn's Intentions Concerning Hawaii
There Is no reason TO question the SINGER
lily OF the disavowal by the japanese gov
eminent of covetous inclinatons toward Ha-
wall. 1t speaks for today, not for rext year.
Or the next decade, and it speaks for itself
alone. not for the individual japanese
either in Japan or Hawaii. In the mme-
date future Japan has "other fish to fry"
Inc Keynote OF Japans foreign policy is
sounded in the quoted words of Count
okuma: Japan could then enter into COM
petition with Europe the representative
49, oAAeiie1i laws ASH 10y the ASH
atics' is the japanese Monroe doctrine.
and as the only genuine nation of the far
east, as the only oriental people welded to-
setser into Homogeneous and powerful
combination by a strong national senti-
ment, they are or aspire to be the Asiatics
for whom exclusively Asia is reserved De-
1eat OF even the smallest realization of this
ambitious hope is threatened by Russia.
which prevented Japan from securing a
fcothold on the Asiatic continent as a re-
suit of her victory over China, and which
VIII soon, it is evident, take for her own
use that which she compelled Japan to
reIhqulsh With the completion of the
siberian railroad to terminus In a seaport
open all OF the year, at present in the pos
session or China or Corea, Russia will DOM
inate the Pacific She can concentrate
tErough her railroad an overwhelming land
tcrce for Asiatic use, and her strong navy
viii be at home in her Pacific ha TO
Cooperate with army and Notifications.
Russia and Japan aspire to play the same
role in Asia, and only one can be s-,ccess-
full. The Japanese people have not enter
tanned the slightest doubt of their ability
to whip the Russians in Asia in a fight no.
tween the two armies. and their only an
prehension has related to their navy
Wnlcn they nave been necessarily strength
ening. Russia is steadily massing troops
and collecting warships at vladivostok.
Japan is spending the Chinese Indemnity
and much other money in warships, in
fcrtitications and in army development. All
Japan IS drilling, for the sake Of its health.
as Count Okuma says. Ii there is not a
collision in the near future between these
opposing forces 1t will be because japan
ccnfesses defeat in advance and aba adons
her dream Of Asiatic supremacy. Clearly
Russia will fight for a winter seaport ON
the Pacific. For centuries she has been
bottled up and confined to harbors closed
by ice for half the year. In the eyes not
only of apprehensive Japan, but of uneasy
England. she is now. like the Afrite in the
Arabian Nights. about to escape from the
bottle and to expand in stature until her
head touches the sky.
Japan Wants the Philippine Islands.
If Japan abandons hope of checking Rus
STA In the north her next ambition in ac-
cordance with the principle of Asia for the
Asiatics" is to annex the Philippine Is
lands. her neighbor on the south Japan
does not fear Spain, and would, it was