The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-02-14

/
permitting the hairy foreign devils" to
| enter and def1le the sacred soil Of Japan
| was the last straw needed to break the
cameps back. At once the Imperial PAR
| ty, in imitation of Hideyoshi's example.
raised the cry, Japan for the Japanese.
Drive out the foreigner. Crush the Sho-
gunate for this inexcusable breach of e.
! deity and lapse of patriotism For
three hundred years there had been no
| wars. Luxury and dissipation had
wrought nightly among the soldier class
The peasantry rallied to the Imperial
standards They had grudges not a few
! against the soldiers that had accumulated
/ during generations of oppression. Tie
! Imperial forces soon beat the Shoguu's
armies to their knees, and made tina.
naughty successor of bloody Hidsyoshi
sue for peace on any terms His Majesty
might please to accord him.
| Notwithstanding the fact that the IS
| tensible purpose of the Imperialists hal
been to drive out the foreigner and nulli-
/ fly the treaty which the Shotgun had mace
! with him, no sooner had the imperial
forces triumphed than their leaders turned
to the foreigner european and American,
and said in effect: Gentlemen, ne are
glad TO see you here. We will take pleas
ure in ratifying the treaty already made"
And in this as in a thousand other ways
has the shrewd craftsmanship of the jap
anese been illustrated. The young I'M
periallst leaders, among them the present
| Marquis Ito, than whom no statesman
that ever lived has done more FOR his
people and country, recognized their in
feriorlty and Japan's impotence, and they
| resolved In submitting to the inevitable
| foreign intercourse as provided for in the
treaty, not to permit their country to BE-.
come the prey of other nations, hut to
appropriate to their own use and advan-
! tage those very forces before which then
! they stood in awe. How well they have
succeeded is written in the history Of
their progress made in the arts and
sciences in the last thirty-five years, n
| record absolutely unparalleled in the lie
| of any other people.
At the conclusion of the Revolution
which made him a de facto ruler, the
present Emperor, then but eighteen years
old, with the Empress by his side, seated
| in an open carriage, freely gazed upon
| by the multitude, was driven into Tokyo,
| the hitherto military capital, or camp,
which he has since made the one capital
! of his Empire. Everything available that
| is supposed to be of use to Japan has
been freely adopted. Without the she'd
ding of one drop of blood in battle the
government has been changed from an
i absolute monarchy to representative
form, and a constitution guaranteeing re-
ligious liberty and many precious pohti-
cal rights were promulgated just fifteen
years ago this month. The national law
making power consists of an upper ant
Ia -
tie functions and prerogatives were linn
tied as was thought best adapted to the
State of development. Suffrage Is linn
tied by the amount of tax the individual
pays. At first one must pay not less than
fifteen dollars tax, to entitle him to vote.
Later that amount has been slightly re-
duced Each Ken, State, has it's Assem-.
! bly,. The Governors of Ken are appointed
| by the Central, or Imperial, Cabinet in
Tokyo. The entire police force of the
| Empire, in villages, towns, and cities. are
controlled by the central government,
and the chiefs of police are appointed by
the same power.
With reference to national progress in
every department, except home life and
the relations of men and women, to say
that Japan has been revolutionized is TO
express it mildly In former times polite
education consisted in an acquaintance
with Chinese authors, which was largely
matter of memory, one having to be ia
miilar with forty to fifty thousand char
acters, ideographS to be considered at all
proficient, to read well. The study OF
mathematics embraced bare smattering
of the four fundamental rules of arit1me-
tie Civil engineering was not taught,
and the attitude of the government. to
this indispensable branch of knowledge
may be inferred from the relations of an
historic occurrence. Up in the mountains,
not more than ten miles from tina sea
shore, and more than twelve hund I'D
feet above tide water, is Hakone Lake,
a magnificent gem set in the hills, scene
uneXcelled perhaps on this earth, the
paths along its shores lined with tall
cedars centuries Cd and the hills that
tower above it's crystal waters in season,
literally covered with beautiful variety
of the wild tiger lily. The waters of this
lake naturally flow out in a northeaaterly
direction South and west of the lake
rises narrow ridge of mountains, be-
yond which there was formerly d region
of country barren for want of water for
irrigating purposes. Many generations
ago an ingenious Japanese planned tun-
mel under this ridge to the lake for water
with which to fertilize the barren waste.
He went to work and dug the tunnel,
and so made valuable large area Oh land
for the production of rice. The govern
ment at that time arrested this born
civil engineer" and beheaded him, giving
as the reason therefor the statement
that The was too smart TO live II he
should set his head to subvert the gov
eminent he would most certainly accom-
plish his purpose"
Today Japan has good system of pub
lie schools, not enough to accommodate
all her children, but about all who can
possibly attend. She has employed fine
teachers in Europe and America for work
in her schools. Missionaries have rem
dered great assistance in the work of ed
ucation. From her Middle Schools, cor
responding to our academies, the govc.r-
ment has selected the brightest boys in
large numbers, and has sent these 10 to
Tokyo to technical schools and to tie
University, thence many of them have
been sent on at government expense TO
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