The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-05-18
A WONDERFUL rEoPLE.

Never, perhaps, in the. history of na- tions. has there been witnessed such an uprising, or rather upcoming. among any people as is furnished by Japan and the Japanese. It is probably true that some of the surprise we all feel is because of the failure to keep up with the history of that people, and thus preparesourselves for what is how so apparent and which has almost the appearance of a miracle If the gem erai reader had studied and read of the Japanese as most of us are accustomed to read of the nations and peoples of Europe, we might feel less surprise at present conditions.
 But however that may be, the fact remains that most people have accus- toned themselves to regard the Ja- panese as they do the Chinese. as a weak and semi-savage people, centuries behind other nations in civilization and in all the arts and sciences: a people strong in imitation but weak in con struction, and entitled to little con- sideration except for mere numbers. whether that is or is not true with regard to the Chinese, it is certainly wide of the mark if we apply 1t to the Japanese. In truth, military and naval achievements of these people are not more wonderful than has been their growth in other respects. That their prowess on land and sea has been a genuine surprise to the world is beyond question. Not only have they shown that they are fully abreast with any other nation in arms and munitions and have also given ample evidence of their capacity as soldiers and sailors. That their guns and their ships are the equals of any on earth is not more wonderful than is their skill in the use of them.
 But all this. remarkable as it is, is hardly as wonderful as is the almost miraculous manner in which they have advanced in civilization. Almost in a day, as 1t were. they have grasped and utilized the intricate governmental problems which other nations have reached through the slow process of ex- pertinent and evolution. In many re- spects they are side by side with the most advanced nations of earth and are fully ready to compete in all that makes a nation or people great. As an observant contemporary puts 1t:
 Of these brilliant ventures into the methods of Western civilization, the 1,A t.,wz s~sn code adopted by The Hague tribunal. How slowly Europe and the United States advanced to those many amelio- rations of wars misery and horrors, by some nations, and by the United States itself only In part is still fresh in memory. But in an hour, so to speak, Japan took up that elaborate product of a thousand years of mili- tary development and in the realiza- tion that 1t represented the best that modern thought could agree upon, wip- ed off the slate of mediaevalism and at a single stroke put into force the re- suit of centuries of evolution. lIC was as if a modern printing press had been produced in a day by some genius of the stone age.
 They are a wonderful people, these little brown men of the orient, both in their actual achievements and In their potentialities. Whether they belong to the Chinese family, as some claim, or have come up from some remote kin dred race. as others hold, Is a matter of dispute. and may be settled, but of one thing the world is assured-they are far in advance eof all other Orien- tai people in all that goes to make a nation. The older civilizations of the world will find themselves put to their metal, if they try to lead Japan. They are truely a remarkable people, and are likely to give the world many sur prises within the next decade.