The Red Cloud chief., 1899-07-21
THE E CLOUD CHIEF.
JAPAN STEPS TO THE FRONT.
Few Treaties Place Her on New Foot.
int with h World,

int with the World.
WAsHISeToN, July ia new treaty
between the United States and Japan
vent into effect to-day, at which time
also new treaties between Japan and
nearly all Of the countries of Europe
and some Of the South American no.
publics also went into effect. IL Is an
event OF far reaching Importance in
the relations between japan and the
United States, as IL does away with
the treaty methods which have been
In vogue for nearly fifty years and
u bstit utes an entirely new method Of
procedure. The same is true In the
relations OF japan with the countries
OF Europe, and some of the many new
treaties which 90 into effect place ia.
pan on an entirely new footing with
the world at large, as she Is recog-
nized, for the first time, as an equal
In every respect.
The treaty with this country was
made November %, 1894, in Washing
ton between Secretary Gresham and
Minister Kureno, who then repre-
sented japan here. The changes II
made were so far reaching that IL was
determined the treaty should not go
into operation until July IA, 1899.
Mr.. Jutaro Komura. the present
Japanese minister in Washington,
gives an interesting outline Of the
more important features Of this ar
rangement. He said:
"To understand the change II Is
necessary to look at the system under
the old treaties. This was essentially
based on two principles: First, hat
foreign residents in japan shall enjoy
the privileges Of extraordinarily,
hat is, they should be amenable to the
laws and jurisdiction OF the consul Of
their " country and not to Japanese
jurisdiction; and, second, that foreign
residents in japan shall be confined
to certain open ports, outside OF which
foreigners could not reside, W prop
erty or engage in trade. The result
was, in effect, about fifteen or sixteen
systems OF ourts in Japan, for the
purpose Of trying foreigners who COM
init o~ffenses in japan. Furthermore,
most of the powers claimed that jap
anese laws were not binding upon
foreigners. For i~sntance, take our
quarantine law. While it protected
us rs against our own people, yet
there was no protection in the case Of
an infected foreign ship. The only
exception to this refusal to recognize
Japanese laws was the United States,
which recognized from the first the
binding force Of the Japanese law.
lone Of the bad effects of this sys-
TEN was that foreign residents had en-
tire immunity from taxation. The
Japanese paid all the taxes. All this
has now disappeared, and foreigners
have the same privileges as we'll as
the same obligations as the Japanese
citizens, nc more and no less. The
first step in the new system is to put
An end to the old fiction of extra-ter-
ritorially by which foreign citizens
were judged by different standard
THE second essential thing Is the
opening of the entire interior of Japan
to foreign residents and trade. Until
now there have been only five treaty
ports-Yokohama, Nagasaki, Kobe,
kakodate and Nigata. In those
places foreigners had been able
to live, to purchase property
and to trade, but outside of
there they could not even travel
without a special permit. These
five places are an Insignificant part of
Japan. Henceforth the entire interior
OF the empire, with its populous cities
and inviting fields of industry is
thrown open to foreigners They
may live anywhere, engage in any
kind of business and will be assured
OF the same protection to life and
property that is given to the Jap
anese.