The Aberdeen Democrat. (Aberdeen, South Dakota) 1???-1909, 1904-05-27
JAPAN'S GREAT
The Gibraltar of the Island E1npire
Is Moi, Best Fortified
Place on Earth.
Moi is the Gibraltar of japan.

Whether you arrive by land or b.
sea, the place gives an immediate i'm
preston OF eliminating majesty, says
the London Daily Mail. Great hills
tower up in every direction, and be-
hind them lie snow-clau mountain
peaks proudly topping them.
Here and there you spy openings on
the rocky shore, a"rtfully concealed
natural harbors. A we'll protected
channel takes you into the bay Of Shi-
monoseki itself, and here, after a short
journey, you come on the twin towns,
Moji and S~himonoseki, on either side
Of the bay.
The hills, black and lined with mist,
stand grimly round. Stacks Of Titanic
chimneys on the low levels of Moi
vomit forth thick smoks, recalling the
horrors of P%ittsburg. Ten thousand
craft, from the S,000-ton Harland &
Wolff steamer to the antique junk, lie
packed around. Stacks of coal, almost
mountains in themselves, are one
great center of work. An almost IN
ceasing succession of trains adds to
them, while myriad workers bear the
accommodating loads to lighters neal by.
The locomotives you notice are Bald
wins, and the coal trucks are the new
est pattern-steel, automatic emptying.
The open fires burn weirdly on the ma
tive boats. There is a feeling of haste
in the air.
In the harbor, both on the Moji and
the Shimonoseki sides, the native
craft are emptying and filing with
great speed. Packages covered with
mating are being swung on the backs
OF tireless coolies or swung on ever
moving crane In the deeper water
the great steamers are lying, surround
ed by coal barges, and an army OF
women and men is coaling them by
hand with a rapidity no machinery al
rival. This is not the sleepy orient, but
has the spirit of the busting west.
1t is hard to realize hat around here
is one of the best fortified spots on
earth. Every trace of the gigantic
military and naval preparations now
proceeding in the n~eighborhood is as
carefully covered as possible. The hills
around are h~oneycombed with forts
and protected by artillery at every
point, but one looks in vain for the
guns. The supplies now being landed
from a thousand junks are, everyone
is aware, for military use. But there
are no men in uniform supervising.
Tens of thousands of troops lie ready
within a brief march; but there is not
a soldier on the streets. The scenery,
at least, is typically oriental.
Those who are enraptured with tho
poetic side of Japan would receive a
shock from the streets Of Moi, or it's
sister town, Shenonoseki. They are as
prosaic and as dirty as those of the
worst parts Of the Black Country.
Everyone bears the traces of toll. The
streets are narrow and t%ortuous, and
have that indescribable "slummy"
smell Ohe nearest approach to a de-
scription can be a combination of the
odors Of boiled cabbage and spilled
paraffin) familiar in the back streets Of
London. The children too often show
plain traces that their mothers are
busy at other work than caring for
them. The roadways are without foot
paths, and OF wet days are anything
but pleasant. Drainage is exceedingly
primitive. Every shop has it's front
open all day, even in these winter
times.
The streets are ever a tangled con-
fusion of pavement merchants, of pa
tient coolies carrying heavy burdens,
of laughing children, of rare horses or
cattle carrying provisions, of shouting
rickshaw men. Even here, in a place
where foreigners are counted by the
units. many Of the men, but practically
one of the m have put on Euro
pean garb.
Shimonoseki and Moji have been the
center for two of the most momentous
events in modern Japanese history. L
was here. in 1858, that The fleets of the
great powers came to punish Japan for
some offenses against foreigners. Many
men still living near by look part in
that conflict, and they say (whether
rightly or not, / have no mea of
knowingly that the Marquis Ito himself
was among the defenders. The fleets
shelled Moji, and the people mounted
lLSll DdItSllSo dllu vigorously lcpllSQ.
But every Japanese shot fell short.
The result of that bombardment was
not merely local ruin at Moji, but
stretched out to the overthrow of the
old japanese feudalism and the incep-
ton of a new ideal of an occidentalized
orient.
1t was therefore fitting that this
same bay, which had witnessed the
of the old should be the
scene of the browning triumph of the
new. In 1895 Japan proved, by force
Of arms, her power to enter the ranks
of the world-nations. China lay de-
before her despised rival, and it
was to Shimonoseki that Ii Hung
Chang, China's envoy, came craving
and obtaining, peace.
Up-to-Date Bath.
Much the worse for alcohol, a
young fellow entered a Washington
bath parlor early the other morning.
He pushed the dents out Of his hat,
walked to the Office counter with
great confidence, and announced that