The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1900-08-05
TIE JAPANESE CIVILIZATION
IS LITTLE MORE THAN LACQUER
She Is Only First Rate Power in the Eyes of
Those who Know Her Not-Little or No Re
lgious Belief-Fer Emperor Sur
prisingly Great Man.
prising!y Great Man.

nave utt d IuuC SEQ" at a QuDlTeQ
yards and the Japs just played with them,
the usual piayfulness of the Orientals
upon such occasions, the killing Of every
body in sight.
A SURPRISING MAN.
The Emperor of Jaear IS one of the really
great men Of the times; surprising man
considering his lineage, early training and
environment Born the 'Son of Heaven
and upon whose face no ordinary subject
could look: an autocrat of the autocrats,
the absolute monarch Of all he surveyed,
he came down to earth's level, made him
self as mortal in the eyes Of his people,
forced them to shake off the old-time
shackles, gave them a constitution and
legislative body, and. by an effort almost
worthy of being denoted superhuman,
brought them to the front. Still, with all,
the modernization OF the Kingdom is simply
a veneer, lacquer, as it were, which the
Japs are so famous for producing. The
influence of twenty-five centuries cannot be
supplanted by other, and radically differing,
in the short span Of twenty-five years.
The glitter and irridescence which is go
striking is that of the rhine stone, not of
the diamond.
Civilization, as we understand it, is
something which must have a foundation
to be based upon, root imbedded in fertile
soil, germ to be propasated in a congo
NAL atmosphere. Japan's civilization is an
exotic, a hot-house growth, forced beyond
innate strength, and liable at any time to
dr0op and Wither away by exposure 10 aO-
verse winds.
Nerve, the Emperor has in abundance
and he has succeeded in SO infusing his
principal advisers with it that they have
stood 10 him one man in StraininS to the
utmost the resources of the Empire. to
forward it farther in a single generation
than a conservative view of the situation
ton a
; great bulk of the population IS poor, and
largely. as the Chinese, subsisting from
! hand TO mouth.
The density or settlement is extreme,
especially on the central or main island.
| III. thir:y-six thousand square miles OF
which have to afford sustenance for elSh-
teen millions of people, Or tive hundred TO
the mile.
Formerly there were food-stuffs, and to
snare, to meet the demands of the home
consumption but the new order of things,
the establishing of a large standing army,
the naming of great navy ana the gen
eral disposition to experiment in modern
employnents has so Withdrawn matureQ
labor from the old fields of effort, that
Japan has become a large importer OF food
products. Fabrics for home consumption,
at the least the materials therefor,
has also grown into a huge import In Its
bulk, Japan importing four times the
value of raw cotton, cotton yards and cot
ton manufactures she exports. Flannels.
wool!ens and cloths largely increase the
aggregate of imports of fabrics, the forty
millions of dollars worth of silk, and silk
goods. exported being counterbalan,eu by
the total OF cotton, woolien and other i'm
ports necessary to clothe the people. Tea
exports, from various causes, do not in
crease to the extent of making up for the
losses in other directions, and, agricultur-
t. I'm ion, ir1F3fr
tive of an immediate future, 50 rich and
productive a country should promise. It
is true that the volume of exports has
steadily increased year by year, but it is
likewise the fact that the volume of i'm
ports has been much more than proportion
ate. The balance of foreign trade is large
ly against Japan. She Is a. purchaser in
outside markets for fully twenty-five per
cent. more than she sells in them.
LARGE PUBLIC DEBT.
For several years the expenditures of the
Government have exceeded the revenue,
and but for IGngland's position toward
| Japan, the prediction 10 favor her in Lon
don. there is scarcely a question that her
| credit would have suffered depreciation.
! The public debt has comparatively recently
| been increased by flfty million loan
! placed in England. and the aggregate of
| the country'S obligations now exceeds three
| hundreds Of millions This may not appear
I
| with other nations. but conditions are far
| from parallel inasmuch money in Japan
| means a possession that is the exception
| and not the rule What would hardly SUIT
| flee for day. in the way of food for aver
| age man in this country, would sustain the
f! average Jap In plenty for week So as
| well. in regard to flabitation and personal
comforts the average .Iananc<e would be
| considered a man Of wealth who lived as
| our average mechanic. The dollar, to a
| dollar and quarter, day. 5Nr laharer
| receives would be almost princely pay to
! the Jap for a weeks work without regard
TO hours: indeed the general run of coolies
| would easily live fortnight on it.
| The impression that Japanese modern;-
! cation is more than skin deep is soon dis
! PEELED by journeying in the interior, or
for that matter, to the seashore centers
! not frequented by Europeans. There life
! has in no wise changed md mere snper-
fetal investigation a:scloses the existence
Of feeling of general antagonism to for
eiGn ways which is not confined to er''n-
cial classes or localities, but IS wide
spread. There are Prince TuanS in japan
as in China, and were the Government
less strong than it is the prevalence OF
dissatisfaction and unrest would forbode
serious eventualities The bad class in
Japan is not wiped out. despite the severe
| methods the Government has employed
The boxer" clement is precisely as thei,
yellow fellows in China, and. with a crisis
in the Govers1ent the situation in tbs
Mikado's realm would be the same as ii
is to-day in the Celestial Empire. The
massacre of the Chinese who fell into
| japanese hands during the war demon
strated that with all Japan's progress to-
| ward civilization. the inherent cruelty
and snvagery came to the surface at the