The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-01-13
JAPAN'S M-ORALPROGRESS
A REAT MOVEMENT THAT HAS
BRUSHED AWAY AN AsIATIC HAM
Extraordinary Fruits Gathered from
Crop Grown from Seed Planted
Less than Fifty Years Ago.

VI
Asia is the face of a thing. So far from
being an index to reality. it is the cover
for conceaIment. A Chinese convicted of
crime will willingly suffer torture, death.
loss OF property and all the comforts of
life. provided he can save the face OF
his reputation. The Empress dowager and
court would to-day gladly agree TO the
full indemnity demanded and return 10
Picking to live In sheds. provided they could
save their face" Let the people believe
that the siege and rescue OF the legations
by foreign armies was simply a misunder-
standing or a dream. and all would be well
that is, go on as before No wonder that
China Is a land Of lies. Her very first need
Is truth. The whole Chinese nation dwells
fn the age OF nominal'sm. Hence the tor
tuousness of the chinaman's mind. To
see things as they are will prove his saliva
ton
So il was in old Japan. Pretty much
everything on the surface was a sham.
Nomfnalism and ultra conventionalism ruled
the day. Even the government in Yedo
was fraudulent. Offices and titles bore
about as much relation TO reality as did
the figures on playing cards TO actual kings.
queens and knaves. Almost every one of
lofty name was a puppet, while the real
rulers OF low rank were hidden. No Won
der that Townsend Harris, our first Amer
lean minister. declared that the japanese
were 'the greatest liars on earth" This
false "face" in high places was at once
the cause and effect of the falsehood that
everywhere prevailed i'm Japanese society,
etiquette. customs and speech, even as 1T
prevails in China to this very hour. Re-
hgion and philosophy were also to blame,
for nominalism ruled and reality was
secuted. Such a thing as personality In
deity and individualism in man were ruled
out. In the professions all science was
tradition, and facts had to bend TO theory.
''The masters favorite red cap" settled
every case. Scales and scalpel were moth
ing. Criticism was dead or in prison.
Such was the actual state of affairs in
Japan a half century ago. and no one knew
this better than the reformers who demand
ed reality. These brave men, martyrs. first
wrote out their convictions and then, OF
propriety and necessity. committed hara-
kiri. Those young men knew IL, who drove
the wedge of the revolution of 1868 TO its
logical conclusion, demanding, as did Ito
in 1854 enow in 1900 for the fifth time pre-
mier), that everything should be re-
formed.
THE NEW ORDER OF THINGS.
Yes. New Japan has changed the old or
der of Chinese Asia. Her makers knew that
lasting success in business, diplomacy and
national life must rest on reality. In
science they dug up and dissected a de-
capitated malefactors body, TO see whether
Chinese theory and the actual facts of
anatomy agreed In war they threw away
their masked helmets and fans, their UNI
breilas and their armor of hide and iron,
and, dressing lightly, adopted American
rifles and tactics. They eschewed junks and
bought steamers. They believe now in the
very best rifles, battleships, commissariat
and discipline. They have taught the So
called Christian nations that If they can
not be respected for their aesthetics and
etiquette, they must be because able to
show their teeth. At Picking they have
shamed, If IT were possible TO shame, sham
Christianity.
A mighty crop OF books on Japan has
sprouted up, but few show the wonderful
moral progress of the nation since 1880. The
average writer is more concerned with
things on the surface than at the roots.
Before the young reformers of 1868 over
turned the old government, the Mikado
had for ten centuries squatted on mats and
lounged on cushions behind screens and in
the harem. They made him stand up and
walk the earth like a man. In his name
they ratified the treaties negotiated in
the hfties with tina big fgurehead. the
Tycoon. They made education the basis of
progress. Once it meant prison or death
for a Japanese to sell a map or give in
-~r,A 70 c1~s,-- u
contrary, the japanese government in an
annual volume publishes TO the world
everything about the population. national
and local administration social and vital
statistics, revealing at once Japan's glory
and her shame. In this Resume Statistique
We learn not only of her splendid army and
navy. postofice and school system, but even
her skeleton is dragged out of its closet.
We can read of her sham family life now
passing away. OF her curious domestic
system, in which a collection of individuals
In partnership passes for a family, where
adoption does not mean benevolence but
business, where marriage does not signify
wedlock but only living. where prostitution
Is not together only legal but ~safeguarded
on every side by law. where there are three
divorces TO every marriage, besides thous-
ands OF concubinal unions known with
slight scandal. and where legitimacy means
simple registry, and nothing more. The
Japanese now hides nothing. Truth has
come out OF the well.
n SIGNIFICANT FACT.
This simple fact OF publicity speaks vol
umes. Indeed, a more astonishing revolu-
ton than that noted by the world at large
has taken place in Japan. Her moral
progress IS far more wonderful than any
thing she has been able 10 accomplish oy
borrowing so largely from the West.
adopting nothing. but adapting every
thing" The growth of ethical sentiment is
marvellous, and the increase OF her genuine
religious sentiment and power is none the
less so. Whether we realize IL or not. one
OF the best elements working toward the
recognition by Japan OF the moral stand
ards prevailing in the west was her relig-
ious Indifference. The imported Chinese
philosophy Of the gentry prior TO 1S0. had
reduced deity TO something ~unknowable, a
mere fasciculum OF laws and principles.
Shinto the indigenous faith had become
mythology. fairy Ties and bric-a-brac. The
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