Amador ledger., 1904-03-11
AMERICAN SYMPATHY WITH
JAPAN.
WITH


American citizens whose sympathies
are with Russia in the war now being
waged between that country and
Japan. This leaning occasionally
finds expression in the press, al
though it is undoubtedly true that
nine -tenths of the American people
are with Japan. We are told by the
pro Russian element that the United
States owes debt of gratitude to
Russia because of the friendly atti-
tude of that government in our great
civil war. In that desperate strug-
gle for national unity, Russia was
almost alone among the nations of
Europe in wishing for the ultimate
success of the federal cause. 1t may
be that selfish interests more or less
influenced the Russian people in this
direction-the fact that other
powers which stood in the way of
Russian aggressions were leaning to
the southern side of the controversy.
Be this as it may, it is beyond denial
that Russia was prepared in case of
intern national complications to rally
to the support of the United States
at that time The American people
were appreciative of this moral sup
port at the time, and have not for
gotten it up to the present time.
But we fail to see in this any reason
why the sympathy of America
should go ont toward Russia in the
imbroglio which is now being fought
out in the far east. 1t does not fol-
low that we must support Russia in
every move that restless power may
make in its Unsuitable greed for
territory. Let those who believe
that Russia has right on her side in
the present war Justify her if they
can. But certainly it is unreason-
able for this class to preach to those
who deem her course in the far east
nothing less than bold attempt at
the robbery of other nations, that
they ought to applaud the larceny
because of Russia's stand toward
America forty years ago. The truth
is Russia is, and has been for the last
hundred years or more, the most
grasping, Unsuitable power in the
world. Her greed for expansion of
territory is in the nature of mania.
ltdoes not arise from the necessity
imposed by over-population, because
her territory both in Europe and
Asia is the most sparsely settled
portion of the civilized world, and
will remain so probably for the next
hundred years. But the greed for
land afiicts the governing class.
The more she adds to her national
domain, the greater her thirsts for
further acquisition. By diplomatic
cunning, by all the artifces of de-
ception and chicanery, she has pur-
sued the even tenor of her way in
making additions to her real estate
at the expense of other and weaker
nations. And Notwithstanding all
her professions of fair treatment to
other people in the way of open
ports and free commerce, it is a fact
that wherever the Russian standard
is unfurled there follows a studious
and carefully carried out plan to ex-
clude foreigners from trade competi-
tion. 1t is Russian trade for Russian
. people, not by the fostering care of
a protective tariff, as in the United
States, but rather by a system of
oppression of those who have been
induced by her to build up Industrial
interests within her borders. She
first invites foreign capital to ex-
ploit her undeveloped territories,
and when these industries become
fairly established, the foreign arti-
sans are slowly displaced by the
Russians, and finally the owners are
also displaced in the same way.
That is the way her new territories
are Russianized. Russia has really
weakened herself by expansion. She
has expanded until the immensitv of
her land area-all contiguous terri
tory though it be-is source of
danger rather than security. Japan.
the only progressive Asiatic nation,
is also the only power that has dared
to call her hand for the last fifty
years. She does this because she is
convinced, from the settled policy
which Russia has followed in the
orient SO long, that it is imperative
to call halt in her career of in
cooperating the whole of Asia in her
dominions.