The Dalles times-mountaineer. [volume] (The Dalles, Or.) 1882-1904, 1897-01-02
THE ORIENTAL WAR.
It's Re esuIts May Prove q Men ace
to American Trade.
So Says Sir Edwin Arnold, Good
Authority-Japan May Make In.
roads Upon English and AmerI-
can Industries.
Japan has prophet in England who


can scarcely contain himself for joy
CT ov her victory; who predicts vast
things for her, and who is happy at her
p-ospcct despite the fact that part Of
his prediction IS that through her gain
EGri2nI VIII lose heavily and the
United States VIII be severely stricken
Yut, says the New York Advertiser, he
is an ElyI;shnan born, AMI has been
linighted By the queen; an EnglishmaL
Of cycr-ba bbiing pa triotism. Yet he
loves America, took an American wife,
and is loved and respected by Ameri-
cans. he is Sir Edwin Arnold, cele-
brated as the author of THE Light of
Asia" and many other wonderful books,
and, lately, by his-shall we call it
Japomania?-Sir Edwin Arnold, w ho
is no less a politician than a poet,
Knows more about the Japan-China war
than any other Englishman. Here is
part of what he said:
Japan is one of my most enthusias-
tic loves. l have been there twice and
both visits were long and pleasant. If
live shall go again. Japan's victory
is the greatest progress that the world
has seen since the American colonies
won their independence. For un-
counted centuries an impossible
boundary existed between the west and
the east. England broke it down so
that India was open; America, through
Perry, broke it down so that Japan was
open. Now Japan has broken it down
SO that China-greatest conquest of
them all-is open.
Il do net mean by that that China
will now or, perhaps, ever enter into
the column of progressive nations.
japan will 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 under
stands the people with whom she has
TO deal. She realizes that they have
been infected with a virus of stupidity
and barbaric conservatism from which
it is scarcely reasonable to hope to ever
free them. Confucius was the man
who killed China. His philosophy of
fatalism is the sleeping draught from
whose effects she may never wake.
China is like the grub chosen by the
iguna bird for her young. This bird .
!njects 4 subtle poison into the worm
she selects for her family's food, which
paralyzes it, and without killing it
makes it like dead thing. Confucius
was China iguna bird. He introduced
into her veins poison which has made
her comatose for many, many centuries.
1t is, in one sense, n dead thing which
Japan has conquered, aad it is doubtful
if it will ever como to normal life. But
it is valuable corpse.
But Japan will be from now on the
great civilizing, regulating, dominating
power of Asia. Without disrupting
China, she will let the whole world
reap the result of her resources. She
will throw down the barriers which
have closed her vast possessions to
trade and commerce. She will intro
duce such modern methods as are pos
sible into the interior, which has been
absolutely stationary for centuries.
The day when lucifer matches and mills
and railroads and other results of civil
ization can be shut out of one of the
richest and broadest countrie in the
world ended with the decisive battle of
the Japan-China war.
''The victory of Japan over China
nay well make certain English and
American industries tremble for their
future. 1t means that from now on
cheap labor-labor which is incredibly
cheap to us-will be thrown into COM
petition with high-priced labor. Tariff
duties will not protect us or you. No
nation could protect itself by tariff |
against the attack which Japan can |
and will make in the near future, any |
more than it could protect itself by |
guns and forts against an invasion of |
the influenza epidemic.
Let your cotton growers look to |
their positions. Even England's Indian !
cotton will be hard pressed, and if the |
growers are in danger then the manu- |
facturers are in greater danger. The |
capacity of the japanese and the Chi |
nesc for incredible detail in their work 4
makes for them the most perfect work |
men in the world, rs they are the most |
rapid. And when one realizes that this
ability and capacity can be obtained |
there for an average of eight cents
day, against from a dollar and half |
upward in England, it is not hard tc
see there is reason in what 1 say. be-
lieve that japan will ere long play very |
hot with Manchester, our great Eng |
Iish cotton manufacturing center, and |
there are American cities which, while
they may not feel the evil effects OF
this modern progression quickly, will
not feel them less seriously in the end.
"And cotton is only one of the indus
trial branches of which Japan is des-
tined to become the queen. In silk
growing and silk making and the labor
and resources of China which she will
develop she will be supreme, and in an
varied and infinitely numer-
Gus list of other industries in which
cheap labor must be the chief clement
such as matchmaking-she will ruls
.pe W..