The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1904-03-09

Tread before the Social Science Club
at the residence of Judge Sanford B.
Dole, Monday evening, March :, 1904
Where does the West end and the
East begin? 1t is not a question OF
geography but of human characteris-
tics. When Bishop Berkeley wrote
'tWestward the course of empire takes
its way he defined the distinction be-
tween these two terms. The East
stands for the old, the decadent, the
backward moving. The West means
advance, buoyancy;S optimism, larger
life and with it we associate moral
courage, ability to surmount obstacles
however formidable, chivaIric devotion
! to duty, undauntedness whatever the
odds. When the geographic East as
sumes these characteristics it becomes
4 the historic West.
Measured by this standard Japan
deserves 30 longer to be catalogued un-
der the Far East. The last fifty years
] have placed her on the western limit
both of human endeavor and human
achievement. No frontier community
in America ever began to live at the
furious pace which her people have
been making. 1t is the marvel of mar
wells in the course OF mankind Every
tindomitable trait which we citizens of
the Union cherish so passionately in
the story of our own pioneers shines
Il out brightly in the past half century
History of this nation of pioneers
captain Brinkley, who shares with
Prof Chamberlain the honor of being
/ the first living authority on things
Japanese, remarks in this connection in
his new encyclopedia work on Japan:
Her aspirations, her modes of thought,
her impulses, her ideals and her tests
|Of conduct must now be classed, not
main, as Occidental. She may be re-
|garded as a Western nation situated
on the confines of the Far East
If Japan be the New West, then Rus
STA can be classed nowhere except with
'-ne East She is the champion of the
|ceactionary in both politics and re-
igion, and her leading statesmen glory |
N their consciousness of her mission |
10 lead the world back to the past. |
She has astuteness enough to take adj
Vantage of every weapon forged by !
western invention and discovery to aid |
a1er in her struggle to keep mankind |
from moving forward. The war upon I
which all eyes are focused is the open
ing battle in the present day conflict
of West versus East God grant it /
may be decisive enough to call for no /
sther.
HOW THE RIVALS MET.
There has been a strange fatnity /
m the mutual story of Japan and i
russia. In 1887 Japan finally closed
Ter doors to all nations in the vain at
empt to shut herself forever out of the
s,olitics. not only of the Far East but
the Whole world At that very time
ne Cossac:z fur trader, Poyorkoff, was
sushing on towards the Pacific through :
liberia and in 1914 discovered the
piendid valley of the Amur river.
What he saw aroused Russian cupidity
nut in those early days the fierce Mon
sols and Manchus were too powerful
Or their traditional foe; before the
entury ended the Muscovite was
sorced to retreat and the Amur region
Efas closed to the Cars for los years.
The next pregnant date for Russia
nd Japan is 1854. March 81 of that
ear the Sunrise Kingdom broke her
Ieep of centuries and signed the
.reaty which threw open her doors to
he world. She arose, rubbed her eyes,
azed across the sea which bears her
anne and for the first time saw the en-
ign of the Car planted on the shore
Asia. For the purpose of the Great
'eter to extend his domain to the Pa
fffc had never been laid aside by his
Iccessors, so while Europe's eyes We're
xed upon the Crimea, Murayien OBJ
lined from unsuspecting China per-
iission 60 take some soldiers down the
muir river under the plea of defend
sie the region against the allied Brit
n and French 1t was the first use
nat Russia made of this benevolent
Reuse of protection in the Far East
was not to be her last. Four years
ter she was secure enough to wrest
--on the Ceiestials the vast territory
.orth of the Amur and east of the
ssuri. Thus the Rising Sun and the
reat Bear came face to face
VERY early in the Meiji era Japan
ngled out Russia from the mass OF
,reien nations all of whom her time
7nored policy led her to look upon
ith dfstrust. Little by little as famil-
rifv with the world powers convinced t
er that none others We're to be dread
n as menacfng her fortunes she seems !
4 have OWNED instinctively that some
.av she must try conclusions OF life
IA death with the Northern Bear
lth anxious eyes she watched every l
ep of progress towards the absorb t
On of Asiatic territory made by the f
Ear. And this sentiment found re- i
sonsa in the Russians, who came 10 +
ierish a peculiar hatred for those s
sonkeysv as they contemptuoussy I
r1n the little brown men. Until $3.50 T
here was no apparent cause for TINS Il
utual antipathy. Then the colhsloh b
me The circumstances are fresh III i
-any minds. /
de BEAR DRAWS FIRST BLOOD \
Japan had broken the power Of chi
4. and overrun a large part OF Man
. "