The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-01-22
YANKEES OF THE ORIENT.
MIEIT1RY AND NAV1L DEYELOP-
 MENT OF IHEJdPANESE

The Navy That Japan Has Buslt Up iu | Thirty-one Years-Effective Work n,
 the Naval College on Etnji ima Islnmd--
 AdmtrableArmy DrilI-Gettinw Ready
 In an address MT. Arthur Diosy, at
 the opening meeting of the ninth ses-
 sion of the Japan Society, in London
 related some experiences of a visit tc
 the far East. Among the things which
 filled MT. Diosy with admiration was
 the navy of Japan.
 Upon this topic he says; ''There is
 only one word for the navy of Japan
 and that is miraculous. It is indeed
 a miraculous navy When you think i that thirty-une years ago the navy of
 Japan consisted of two steamships, one
 of them about the size of Citizen A on
 the Thames, the other a very ancient
 American man-of- war; which had been
 sold at very big price to Japan, and
 when you think that at the present mo-
 ment the ships of the Japanese navy 1 are second to none in the world in their 1 ppNCtI III llielT HuHllitSS, III lnelT TdCG
 of speed, in what may be called their
 fighting efficiency, which is produced,
 az naval experts know, by putting to-
 gether the ships speed, armor size, weight of metal that the ship con throw
 at the enemy in a certain time-coal
 consumption, steaming radius and
 handiness-it is gratifying to be able to
 say that in all these essentials the ships
 of Japan are behind none in the world. | Even in numbers the Japaneae navy | now stands eighth on the list of naviea
 of the world, and in another two years time will probably stand fifth, may be
 even fourth, but all events fifth, unless some very great efforts are made to in- | crease their navy by the powers now ahead of Japan. Moreover, the ships of the Japanese navy may be described, ! think, as being the most intelligently designed warships in the world, because they are designed for the particular work that they have got to carry out, and for no other. The Japanese know that their battles will be fought near home, and that consequently they need not have very large spaces for carrying coal, and thus the space can be devoted " iilplG ullS anu lllDit piRJCN NAliSp, which, as we know by recent naval warfare, is the chief point The ship that can pump the greatest weight of metal into another ship in the shortest time will be the victor.
 That is as regards the material. Now, what about that which is much more important. the men. The men of the Japanese navy are simply perfect. The officers who command them are first rate. they showed it not many years ago Besides, had an opportun ity, thanks to the great kindness of cer- tain Japanese naval officers old friends of mine. one of whom Is an honorary member of this society-namely Rear Admiral Kawara whom many of you will remember as captain of the fine cruiser Yoshino, who entertained many of us so hospitably on board his ship in Plymouth Sound in 1S93-of seeing | how they make Japanese naval officers. I saw the factory at work
 On the island of Etaiima one of the | most beautiful islands in the beautiful inland sea, there lies the Imperial Navy | College, at which the cadets are trained | who afterward become officers in the [ Japanese navy. will not weary you with description of what is one of the | most perfect naval educational estab- lishments in the world will simply tell you that the Russon Naval At tache at Tokio an authority who could not be suspected of any undue predilec- ton for things Japanese, said to me: Hal It is a model for all the navies of the world; it is absolute perfection!" And absolute perfection 1t is. There is several hundred young Japanese gentle men of splendid physlqueI have never seen finer body of young men between the ages of 15 and 20 that I saw there are trained in all that goes to constitute an efficient modern naval officer, that Is to say, in every mortal thing that you ,an think of. They are trained there in the midst of the healthiest surround ngs. The island is entirely given up to the Naval College; they can roam over it at will; they can even go shoot ing deer in the woods; they have their games, their sports, their boating, their sailing, and their life is an absolutely healthy one. Every care is taken to keep their minds as healthy as their bodies. It was taken into the battery, he finest, most accurate representation )f the fighting battery of a first-class oattleship that I have ever seen, battery containing every kind of the most up-to-date guns that are ueed at sea. Outside on the greensward were 20 cadets-clad in their flannel singlets lnd white duck trousers, and with those white Japanese socks, with a division Or the great toe, which form such ex- cl,i | , ng al attention, solid like wall. I was equested to inspect them. did SO. { lever saw a finer lot of young men in 1 ny life. At one word spoken by the chief gun lery instructor the 120 young men tum- 'led into that battery. I timed them by ny watch-twenty-e eight seconds from 2