Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-01-16

such a geographical formation shows that
water power is available everywhere
throughout the lowlands; that reservoirs
of force convertible into electric power can
be formed at points within easy reach of
all your centers of commerce and indus
try, so that you are in the happy position
of being able to base the economy of your
country on electricity; to drive your veh-
cles with electricity; to substitute cleo
tricity for steam; to carry your manu-
featuring enterprises by the agency of
electricity. One cannot eXaggerate the
value of this boon which nature has con-
ferred YOU and that you will one day
utilize it fully may be confidently inferred,
L think, from the story of your progress
during the past twenty-five years | am
particularly interested in observing that
you appreciate the great truth which we
IN the west have come to recognize; the
truth that education is the basis of pro-
gress and prosperity. Educate the masses,
elevate their standard OF intelligence and
you VIII certainly have a successful nation.
That is what tell ourselves, and the
latest reports of your department of edu-
cation show that it is what you tell your
selves also, for l learn from the reports,
II my memory serves me, that no less than
sixty-four per cent of your Sabotage chill
dren throughout the empire are receiving
education, and that in the case of male
children the percentage is as much as
seVenty-nine Those are highly creditable
hgures, and they may be accepted as evil
dence that your progress stands on really
sound basis. But | do not find things
equally satisfactory throughout the whole
held OF education, for whereas sixty-four
per cent of your healthy children are re-
ceiVing instruction, only three per cent
of your deaf and dumb are similarly for
tunate.
Education of the Deficient.
Your educational statistics show that
among your children of school going age
there ban 4 tb
the calamity of deafness. How many of
them are receiving education? Only a hun
dred and twenty. Think of what that
means. L do not speak much of the blind.
With them l have not had much to do
1helr calamity seems too terrible. 1t neces-
sariy limits the range of possible effort on
their behalf. But the deaf and dumb APP
pea! to our sympathy all the more strong
ly, lnasmuch as we can do much to assist
them 1t is generally supposed that dumb
ness indicates some radical defect of the
vocal organs. In the vast majority of cases
such a supposition is entirely mistaken.
DumbneSs comes from the fact that child
Is born deaf, and that it consequently never
learns how to articuate, for it is by the
medium Of hearing that such instruction is
acquired. Put a Japanese child in Amer
lea, and you find that it easily, and with
out any apparent effort, learns to speak
English. Put an American child in Japan,
and you will soon hear it speaking Japan
csc. The whole source of trouble then, is
closed. Their brains, their minds, are as
fully developed or as capable of develop
ment as yours or mine. Imagine the horror
of being shut off from the intellectual world
that surrounds you, debarred from all in
tercourse with your fellow creatures,
though all your faculties with a solitary
exception entitle you to take your place in
that world and enjoy that intercourse 1
am proud to think that we in America have
recognized these facts and acted upon them
The money devoted in America to the edu-
osfin Of fhn Iaof 1rtt,1h avr
100000 annually. four million yen. We
have 10000 deaf mutes in the United
States, and We have upward of eighty
schools, with an attendance of about 10000
pupils. In the city of Philadelphia there is
a school whose buildings and other prop
erty are valued at a million dollars, or two
million yen. You in Japan must have about
$4,000 deaf mutes in the empire. and yet
you have only two schools for their educa-
tion one in Kyoto and one in Toxic. That
is indeed state of affairs that calls for
remedy"
Upon my return" said Dr. Bell, Il had
the extreme good fortune to meet Prof.
Marsh at the Presidents reception, and ask
ed him If l had correctly quoted him re-
gardng the size of the Japanese brain In
comparison with the European brain. He
said yes; that in proportion with the size
of their bodies the brains of the Japanese
were larger than the brains of the Euro
peans in proportion with the size OF their
bodies.
Interviewed in Toxic.
81 was interviewed while in Toxic" he
went on, "by Mr.. Morrison II. Satow of
the Toxic Nippon on the subject of the de-
velopment of the telephone and the educa-
ton Of the deaf and dumb. Here is the in
terview."
DIR. Bell laughed heartily at The Star re-
porter's amazement when he produced
pile of japanese papers printed in the char
acters of that language There were seven
papers, and in each was an instaNment of
IL into Y~DY, howl
zontally across the pages instead of per-
pendicularly, and the characters were ar
ranged in lines between them and instead
OF being read from the left hand as In The
Star, are read from the right, or back
ward. Where an English word was used it
was necessary to turn the page around
right side up. The installments were CO.
piously illustrated with woOdcuts made
from outline sketches given MIR. Satow by
DR.. Bell, and one contained very fair
woodcut likeness of that eminent gentle
man.
II was struck by the fact that Mr.. Sa-
tow had such familiar first name as Nor
rison,' said DR.. Bell, land inquired where
he got it. He assured me it was Chinese
name, an old Chinese name, and not, as 1
had thought, European"
Change of Cabinet.
DR.. Bell was honored by banquets in To-
kio given by the Imperial University and
by the scientific societies of Japan, and a
farewell dinner in his honor was given at
the Hotel Metropolis in Toxic on the even
ing of December by the Viscount Yoshi-
kaWa, minister of communication.
His department" said DIR. Bell, Com
trolS the a1ra1rS relating to the post office,
the telegraph the telephone and the rail-
roads In the entire empire. Perhaps it might
De wise move on our par. to follow the
Japanese system in this respect. Yoshi-
kaWa assumed Office while / was in japan
Indeed, there was a complete cabinet