Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-09-03
JAP ANESE PREMIER
Count Katsura's Message to
the American People.
EAST COPIES WEST
IMITATORS AND FOLLOWERS OF
THE UNITED STATES.
Take the Spirit of Progress With Them
Effect if They Are Allowed to
Govern Manchuria.
EAST COPIES WEST
BY WILLIAM E. CURTIS.

Special Correspondence Of The Evening Star and
Chicago Record Herald.
AT SEA. August 8. 1901.
Bishop Mckim Of the episcopal diocese of
Tokyo Is aboard the good steamer fremont,
on his way to attend the general confer
ence at Boston. He has been engaged in
missionary work in Japan for twenty-five
years and has seen that empire develop
from year to year into its present strength
ana wealth. He has personal acquaint-
ance with men as well as things, and per-
haps no one understands the motives and
purposes Of the government and the infiu-
ences that control 1t any better than he.
There Is no yellow peril in Japan
said Bishop Mckim in reply to a question
The agitation is absurd and is intended
to prejudice the Christian nations against
the japanese. Not long ago the Rev. George
Washington, chaplain of the English
church in Paris. wrote letter to The Liv
Ing Church, one of the weeklies of our de-
nomination, saying that the present war,
any way We may lock at it. would be
calamity TO Christianity als over the world
II Japan We're victorious, he said. it would
be considered triumph of paganism. If
Japan We're de Gated there would be one of
the most pltiless prosecutions of the fol-
lowers of Christ in all history. Thousands
OF Christians would be murdered, he pre-
dicted and all foreign missionaries would
be driven from the Japanese empire.
This publication. being far from the
truth and so prepos.erous. excited my in
dlgnation, and l replied to Mr.. Washing
ton. mentioning the meeting of May To-
When Christian missionaries of all denomi-
nations, after conference with Buddhist and
Shinto priests at Tokyo, adopted res olu-
tons setting forth correct view OF the
situation. l inclosed also a copy of an
edict of the prime minister on the subject
nf ha ,ir,iS of
education to the Shinto clergy. | said that
the missionaries were perfectly satisfied
with the situation, and were not at all
alarmed at the prospect, and perhaps those
who were living and working in Japan are
more familiar with the situation there than
Mr.. Washington. At the end of the war
with China in 1895, when three Christian
nations unjustly compelled Japan to recede
the Liaotung peninsula to China and al
lowed Russia to occupy it. there was con-
siderable hostility to foreigners, but it was
in no sense anti-missionary or anti-Chris-
tian. The interests of the Christian church
can only be promoted by japanese vic
tory. and the missionaries In Japan are the
least concerned about the cry of yellow
peril.
Japan's Message to America.
Count Katsura, the prime minister of
Japan. learning that 1 was about to re-
turn to the United States, sent for me a
week ago Saturday and asked me to take a
message to our people" continued Bishop
Mckim. He thanked me for the letter l
had written in reply to Mr.. Washington.
and requested me to use my best efforts to
make the situation clear to the people of
our country and to assure them that the
Japanese not only desired our friendship
and support, but had been and still We're
our imitatorS and followers. He seemed to
be very sensitive about the yellow peril
agitation. He said: 1T is true that We Jap
anese were born in Asia, but that was a
matter over which we had no control. 1t
is true also that our skins have yellow
color he added, but that is the way God
made US He used the English word God.
which is very significant. He added that
the civilization of Japan was the civiliza-
ton of the west. and that his government
had definitely and for all time Joined the
comfy Of western nations.
Count Katsura reminded me that the
constitution of Japan guaranteed religious
free liberty and freedom of worship, and
he said that | had been long enough in
Japan to know that this liberty has never
been interfered with. l was very glad to
be able to say to him that even before the
constitution was proclaimed, well as af-
terward, l had never met with anything
but the greatest courtesy from the officials
of the government l went to Japan and
commenced missionary work in March,
1880. The constitution was proclaimed in
1889.
Count Katsura said that the Japanese
government did all it could to avoid war.
present cabinet is a military cabinet, and
that 1t is responsible for the war. but he
declared that no one was SO familiar with
the consequences of the or appreci-
ated them more seriously than soldiers.
And, as a military man himself. who COM
manded the Japanese armies in China ten
years ago, he realized the horrors and
calamitieS quite as keenly as any man Iiv-
ing. and no one more than he deplored the
circumstances that compelled Japan to re-
sort to force. The consequences of the war.
he was confident, would be for the general
welfare of the west as well the east,
and for the advancement of civilization He
asked me to use every opportunity that Of
fered to make the facts known and set
Japan right in the minds of the American
people.
Japan and Progress.
Those are the sentiments of all of the
members of the government said Bishop
McKim, land they are very good indica-
ton of the position of Japan toward the
nations of the west. Wherever that govern
ment has been tested it has been found in
the right place, and willing to do the right
thing. If Japan had not sent her contin-
gent to Picking in 1900 that situation would
not have been saved. Wherever the Japa-
nese have gone there has been progress of
every kind. Wherever the Japanese gov
been well managed. No nation ever made
more rapid progress in civilization. No
people ever showed more anxiety to adj
vance themselves and do their share In the
civilization of the world. There have been
occasional lapseS reactions In the prog
ress of the Japanese, but they have been
only temporary and have resulted in more
healthful permanent growth. Every one of
them has been due to the eagerness and
impetuosity of the leaders of progress. who
went so fast that the masses were not able
to keep up with them and had to be check
ed but in no respect has Japan ever gone
backward. Her movement forward has
been steady, intelligent and permanent, and
the influence of the japanese in China and
Korea and Formosa has been only for good
and for progress.
I'm China hundreds of Japanese are en-
gagged in educational work. There are fifty
six Japanese professors in a college at
Nankin and in Human, the most conserva-
tive and anti-foreign province in all China.
they are doing splendid work. In Formosa
they have made remarkable progress and
are rapidly redeeming that beautiful island.
In Korea they have stirred up the natives
with the spirit of progress. have introduced
modern ideas and industries, have estab-
Iished schools and new methods of COM
MERGE and trade, and are gradually modern
izing that primitive people. Everywhere
the japanese go they take the spirit OF
progress with them. and If they are allowed
to govern Manchuria they will enforce the
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