The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1904-04-21
TOXIC CONTINUES ITS QUIET WORK OF
SENDING ARMY AFTER ARMYTO THE FRONT
BY FREDERICK PALMER,
Correspondent the

left no aftermath of over-confidence Be
fore the naval engagements the Japanese
asked themselves the question, What Il
Russia should win on the sea?" They took
all possibilities into consideration. NOW
that the sea is clear. now that the first
premise is assured. they do not look to
easy victories on the land. Instead of say
ing. I'VE are going to Harbin, they ask
the foreigner politely, Can We go to Har-
bin?" On their hearts they may be per-
fectly sure they cam for man has yet
fathomed the personalities behind the
Japanese smile) / have talked with no
intelligent Japanese who did not fully real
fze that the land not the sea, was the Rus
slams natural element. The attitude of the
officers themselves recalls the remark of an
ensign of our SQUADRON at Santiago.
When l saw the Spanish ships coming
out he said, Il remember thinking that
in ten minutes the scuppers would be run
ming with blood. When it was all over 1
couldn't realize that L was still alive
The Japanese expect carnage in Man
churia nothing more or less. They
counting upon gigantic battles and heavy
losses. They go to their work with the
grim determination of one to whom the
cost is clear. II they have swept across
the railway behind Port Arthur by the first
of July, many of their admirers expect
that they will, without an appalling list of
dead and wounded, the average officer will
be surprised. Perhaps the general staff will
not be. We fancy that Kodama knows ALL
He knows not only where the landings will
be made, but where the battles will be
fought. The japanese officers dressed as
the general staff informed to every Rus
sian movement. They can slip back into
Korea or Nieu- Chwang with their news,
and once it is in Japanese territory it flies
ment purposes. 1t is impossible for a Rus
sian to be a spy in Japan. He can adopt
no Tbe disguise which will deceive the native
known. If he is at all suspected he Is
never out of sight of the police. If he goes
nad- -uyith f1<.
omnipresent smile, of course. This land
OF 100000 inhabitants is like a club: Only
members can get past the doorkeeper The
intelligence work of the general staff, like
most of the inside history of the war will
never be written. No one knows the names
of the three officers whom the Russians
hanged for an attempt to dynamite
bridge. No one knows how many others
are now playing some hazardous part under
the Russian flag. The most romantic and
human chapters of the which are
daily being enacted are a sealed book to
everybody except four or five responsible
men.
Political speculation is common to all
capitals, and we have our share of ii I'm
Toxic. After the Foreign Office phase and
the naval phase, we come to the political
phase in JapanS attitude to Korea. The
censor does not allow the use of that
naughty word ''protectorate." If no Japa-
uese Will say that the arrangement is a
protectorate, none will say that it is not
The complete occupation of country by
foreign soldiers, its transformation from
Independence to suzerainty, have been ac-
cOmpliShed with dizziness peculiarly lana
nese. Yesterday Korea was Korean; to-
day ii is Japanese. The change seems ONLY
a set part of the programme. You may
read the Japanese papers in vain for any
From Masampo to Ping-Yang there is
absolute peace The japanese soldiers have
stepped into their places as guardians as
softly as a butler into a dining room The
Koreans accept them as matter of course
rather than as the inevitable. Stripped of
! all nicely worded Foreign Office state
ments. the attitude of Japan toward Korea
| is clear. She means to be the same kind
| of friend to Korea that England has been
to Egypt. AS one of the negotiants i'm a.
good bargain, she expects both sides to
profit by it. Both sides will Korea is re-
deemed to order; she is set on the pathway
| to progress. She viii have railroads and
| factories and schools, just as Japan her.
self has. Within month her place has
| been made secure. In the defense of the
| present regime all the strength of Japan
Will be sacrificed.
THE EMPEROR'S GOLDEN TOOTH.
The Korean Emperor becomes what the
| Khedive is in Egypt-the figurehead of a
definite. progressive policy. Is this right ?
In that connection one may only relate the
principal subject which occupied the En-
peror and his court during the present win
ter, when his country was in danger. A
great scandal was aroused by the fact that,
yieiuliS 10 the IdSclnatlOn or the process
and of the prospective yellow CLEAN in his
mouth, the Emperor has had an American
| dentist make him a gold tooth The geo.
mancers, upon whose geometrical wisdom
| the ruler depends for advice said that the
| imperial mouth had been profaned There
| was only one way to restore the dignity
| of the royal house of the empire and that
| was to have the tooth removed. The geo.
mancers had their way. Meanwhile. the
| Emperor of Japan, while considering the
ACCESSIBILITY of war, war measures, and
| the raising of loan, was planning how
| Korea should be brought into the field Of
| active civilization. This contrast of men
| and of peoples needs no comment to a peo-
| pie who educating Filipinos or build
| ing schools in Khartoum.
| What are Japans intentions after she has
taken Port Arthur? In nothing does she
| show her hand before the card is called
| ''Scrupulously, amazingly, exasperatingly
correct" was the description of her whole
attitude in this war by a none too friendly
foreign diplomat. What il she should ga
| to the other nations, after she had driven
| Russia out of Manchuria: 1--WE have en-
| forced the pledge of integral China
| Now, will you maintain it?" Every item
| that comes from North China is read hero
with the intensest interest. At the outset
| of the war il did not suit Japan's policy to
| have China engaged, lest Russia might
| seize naval bases on Chinese territory
| With the Russian navy off the seas. what
| would be the result if the soldiers OF Vice
roy Yaun Shih Kai should dispute the re.
| occupation by Russian troops of the ter
| ritory south of the Lao river which Rus
STA had already evacuated? How many
more trumps has Japan up her sleeve? we
who wait In Toxic have learned to be sur
nriE a