The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-02-21

1t is said to be an easy thing to do 70
make sixty miles day by exchanging
lien every ten miles or so. II one should
land at Yokohama today he would hkelH
count three hundred of these VehlcleS
trcm his landing point, as they stand
lined up on the streets waiting for pas
sengers. At every prominent corner ID
II e cities and in all the villages, Wltnlh
hai1jng distance of almost any door, are
tfese men waiting for fares, their mum
bers for the entire country going up into
the hundreds of thousands
The kago is still used in the hills ana
mountainous districts, but the building
of some three thousand miles of railroad
in the little empire has revoiutlonlz2d
(there is no other word to express III
long distance passenger travel and freight
carriage. These trains are run on con
vcnlent schedules, and collisions and 9TH
er accidents on Japanese roads are very
rare.
he old coasting junk still plies around
the shores and up the rivers some dist
ance. But Japan has built a magnificent
merchant marine of modern steam ship2
which are engaged in foreign and do
nestle trade there being several lines OF
steamers owned and manned by Japanese
that regularly ply between Japan and
European and American ports, not to
mention Chinese ports and those OF the
south seas. Her export and import trade
has grown from nothing up to many mil
lions of dollars a year.
While it was formerly disreputable to
lend money for hire, Japan now has u
number of banks with branches in New
York, London, and other world centers.
From. a cheap bronze coin OF small value
and inferior workmanship, she has devel-
oped her currency to a gold standard and
circulates as pretty a gold coin as comes
from the minis of any country
Japan's progress has looked both to the
FIGURE and the past. While she has
grasEed with avdity the modern inven-
tons of the world, everything within the
realm of scientific invention and discov-
cry being made to contribute to her
growth and development, on the one hand
on the other, she has resolutely reordered
hex manners and customs. Her officials
and leading merchants have adopted our
style OF dress. Her women undertook this
but, in the main, gave it up. Formerly
her men dressed their hair by shaving
Ire crown of the head, end brushing the
hair on the sides and back of the head
Ito a withe which was stiffly waxed and
bent up OH top where it was cut off
smoothly. Now, with the exception OF
some few old-time fellows from the vii
lGees most remote, they cut their hair as
we do. This change was made by order
OF the central government some years ago.
A time limit was set, after which when
the police found man in town with his
hair dressed in ancient style, he was ar
o.,A ..1N.~.
shop and his pate dressed according to.
law.
Formerly the only rest from toll that
the laborer knew was the lew holidays
th&. each vocation has fixed for itself
Now the Christian Sabbath is a legal
holiday in Japan. AS yet but few ex-
cept officials avail themselves of the priv
leges of this sacred day of rest, the great
mass of the people going on with their
business and daily toll as on other days.
Bus the Day of Days has been officially
recognized. The leaven is at work.
AS individuals they are proud, self-re-
specting, ambitious. Their patriotism is
an inherent passion in every breast. L
will venture that on the receipt of the
recent news from Port Arthur the hills
from Shimonoseki to the Hokakido rever-
ECfGlGd WIN lHdl one uHlNeTSdl CHcSI,
Teikoku banzai, Japan forever and ever.
Their national air never fails when sung
TO produce almost wild confusion in II
native audience. Their respect for the
Emperor is most profound. Others may
do wrong, but the Emperor never. His
visits to the cities of his realm are events
III their history and the lives of their IN
kalitants. In Nagoya, l have seen, hours,
Al, ~t H.: tod yrix- =
the streets blocked for miles along the
way selected for him to proceed, AMI
hundreds of thousands of people waiting
patiently to get not more than glance
a the closed carriage in which His Ma
jeaty rode, and to see the gold lace aad
hear the rattle of sabres as his escort Of
cavalry whirled past along the narrow
passage kept open by police in the middle
OF the street.
AZ to the Japanese navy and army 60
much has been printed lately that very
little need be said here. The number ami
classes of the ships, their armament, The
weight of the projectiles, and the compile
rlsnt of men and officers are ali matters
with which the reading public are fa.
miliar. Up to five or SIX years ago the
nt ximum limit of men in the standing
amy was three uuIuI6Q thousand a.
about which time it was raised by law
to five hundred thousand. Whether the
full quota has been enrolled perhaps no
one outside their own official circles
knows. The rules and regulations for
The army are modelled on the German sys-
TEN. Every year at a fixed date the
young men all over the empire must
stand a physical examination and those
wno are not disqualified by ill-health or
interior stature are required to serve three
yt airs with the colors. This three years
is rot mere formality, but is
thorough training school for war.
Roughly estimated one-thrd of the men
with colors are supposed to retire each
year to the reserve list, and their places
to be taken by the recruits. This would
give Japan at present somewhere in the
Ielghborhood of half million men I'M
der arms on peace footing, with hun
dreda of thousands of we'll drilled men on
the reserve rolls not one of whom would