The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-06-12
LEAPED TO THE FRONT.
MarveIously Rapid Progress of the
Japanese.
Edward Bedloe, in the Washington


Edward Bedloe, in the Washington
Post.
Uncle Sam is Japan's grandfather.
It is fifty years since Commodore Per-
ny opened the doors of the Island EN-
pire to the Western world, and through
the portals of Yokohama the brown
men of Nippon came to America. We
in turn went to study the strange, but
beautiful civilization which had grown
up there in the twenty-five centuries
of its career. Beyond this we have
for half century supported small
army of missionaries in the land OF
the rising sun, who, besides Preaching
the gospel of Christ, have introduced
our civilization into every district of
the archipelago.
Lafcadio Hearn and other American
professors have aided in raising the
colleges and universities of japan to
the level of our Institutions of learn
ing. AS a result Japan now enjoys
nearly every advantage we possess in
America. Telephones and telegraphs,
railways, and coasting steamers, mod
ern Enthusiastically the Grand Hotel at
Yokohama, the rendezvous of the army
and naval officers and reputed the
best in the Far East-newspaper and
cheap books and magazines, banks and
exchanges, gas and electric lighting are
as much a part of their life as of our
own. To the Tokyo student Franklin,
Fulton, Morse, and Edison are house.
hold words.
In some respect they have surpass-
ed many of their teachers. In our
haste we have neglected to utilize our
water power. Every day we. waste
enough water to replace all the. coal
we consume ten times over. Japan
has rich coal supply, but, neverthe-
less, uses Its water power on a vast
scale.
Wherever you go in that delightful
country you find impounded water,
rushing turbines, whirling dynamos.
and a beneficial application of the
power of water thus put into harness.
What with its steam and electrical
installations Japan is using more me-
chanical horsepower than any civiliz-
ed nation, excepting the United States,
Great Britain, France, and Germany.
Lead the World in Fine Arts.
The material progress of the Japa-
nese has not blunted their love of the
beautiful. The florist and landscape
gardener. the painter, sculptor, metal
smith, keramist, lacquerer. ernbroider-
err, and industrial designer is as busy
to-day as in their golden age. We
have but learned the b G. and are, in
the coming years, to learn so much
more as to exert a peaceful revolution
in our aesthetic world.
In one respect. namely the fine arts,
japan leads the world. Whether Il be
race environment or a special line of
growth, / know not, but the Japanese
lave certainly developed the esthetic
sense to an extraordinary degree. II
there be any truth in the doctrine of
metempsychosis, Japan is the country
In which dead artists find their reincar-
nation. In every city and town are ia
NOUS metalsmiths. art potters, painters.
scuiptors, embroiderers, and florists.
These are not artisans but artists.
Their labor IL poorly paid. so that
they work for arts rather than for
monetary gain. They associate them
selves into guilds and clubs. have spa.
ciai literature upon their own field Of
work: and they live In an atmosphere
Of excluaiveness that IL almost impos-
eible In the Industrial West.
There Is an artist IN Yokohama, un-
der the Grand Hotel, whose speciality Is
iron work. With forge, hammer. an
vi. ard ether commonplace tools, ~
shapes the hard metal with seemingly
the same ease as II be were modelling