The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-05-13
JAPANESE CHARACTER.


 Moral Element Dominated by an Inborn
 Philosophy.
 MT. Colgate Barker, in the Indepen- dent (weekly magazine) of March 24
 says:
 That the Japanese are frugal, patient, industrious and calculating everybody well knows, but the possession of these qualities does not account for the won derful progress which they have made lin modern science, art and industry The Chinese possess all those qualities
 as well as the Japanese, and so do the people of other Oriental countries which Japan has left far behind in the march of progress. The Japanese are quick witted and alert to an astonishing de-
 gree, considering they are Asiatics, and these qualities have most elicited Amer lican admiration; yet without that in
 born philosophy of life the Japanese never would have attained to the posi- tion which they now occupy in the worlds affairs
 The leprous spot in the Japanese
 character is the moral element, which is
 absolutely dominated by this inborn
 philosophy
 It has been stated that the Japanese
 have no morals, but this is quite un- Itrue. They have no moral ideals, so cherished by western civilization. The
 beauty of the moral principle-right for rights sake-is quite incomprehensible to the Japanese mind. In the Japa lnese philosophy it is right to do any thing which is wise, and wrong to do anything which is foolish; beyond this there is no right or wrong, good or bad Tn business the Japanese is honest
 when honesty is the best policy, and dishonest whenever it seems advisable. The merchant who does not take advan- tage of an opportunity to cheat by giy- ing short weight or substituting an in- ferior quality of goods considers himself a fool. The man who does not break his plighted word if it is advantageous for him to do so is stricken by his phil osophic conscience.
 I do not think that there is a for |eigner doing business in Japan who will not bear testimony to these facts, which |are freely admitted by the Japanese |among themselves, although they will be indignantly denied as matter of policy by Japanese abroad. American land European business houses import ling goods from Japan do not dare to inn port from Japanese merchants, and for this reason the export trade of Japan will largely remain in the hands of for eign houses. Japanese firms here and in Europe import from native firms in Japan, but in most cases the importing house is only an agency of the home Itirm, as the Japanese merchants know each other too well to trust each other. Orders from Japanese firms for Ameri- can and European goods are generally sent through the medium of some for eign firm in Japan, which assumes the responsibility of payment whether the Japanese customer takes the goods or not, and if the market has fallen while the goods are in transit so he can buy cheaper on the spot the Japanese mer- |chant does not hesitate to repudiate his |order. These facts are well known in Japan and among merchants in this country and Europe who do business
 with Japan.
 Foreign firms doing business in Japan |have always experienced the greatest difficulty in preventing their Japanese |employes from defrauding them by se- |cretly exacting commission from the