The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1904-02-14
WHIRL WIND OF EAST
Japan Forced to Go to War
by Populace.
CHILDREN PRAYED FOR 1T
Letter Written from YOkoma
Before the War

Yokohama, Dec %
The spirit OF change has saturated the
proletariat, and at present there Is but
one stronger emotion in the breasts OF the
masses of Japan-it is war with Russia
Every normal japanese dreams OF teles-
coping the Asiatic section of Russia into
irretrtevable wreck. Even the school chill
dren pray to Shaka for war, and express
the pious wish that Japan may strike
Russia unawares head on, and smash her
power in the east.
Therefore. because the people are so
convinced that their worsening condition
can only be ameliorsted by radical
change in the internal policy of the state.
! the elder statesmen--the good, gray
/ headed veterans who stand like an i'm
pregnable bulwark around the Mikado-
/ have considered war not only alone for
/ territorial expansion, but as safety
valve for popular unrest, which, unre-
/ Iieved, may result in a social explosion
But. again, they consider that Japan, i'm
| poverished by great and protracted
/ struggle. would emerge from conflict
/ harder place for the poor man than ii is
! today.
| oh" cried a Prince of the blood al
recent chrysanthemum party TO an Eng
/ Iish officer. IF Russia only had a Paris
in the east. How quickly we would seize
| it and demand the last ounce CT gold as
! indemnity
And when the time shall come Japan
will not be found unready.
Despite the lesson of the Boer War. the
Japanese did very little open order and
extended formation work in their last
maneuvers. but operated in solid masses
as trim and right-augled as though shaped
with a spirit level. When Field Marshal
Marquis Yamagata was asked if Japan
would not change her field tactics to suit
the conditions of modern fighting. he re-
piled:
Japan will reveal her tactics in battle.
/ Be sure that they will be those necessaI:
| TO insure victory
| This was not the self-confidenCe Of the
unbeaten warrior. but The expression Of
the only spirit Japan knows, for she never
considers defeat even as a remote posi-
bility.
On the sea officers ana men ara spelling
/ for a fight From the crews of the huge
Mikasa and her sister battle ships down
4 10 the Iltu Oh SAIl4 CRAFT DIS AAt " liiNt
mapped Crane and the Dragons Lamp.
torpedo destroyers, they are swearing by
every ancestor that. if let loose. they will
sink or capture each cOnsonantly named
Russian warship in the Pacific. And do
they not contemplate a possible defeat?
Yes, but capture-no. Never will Japa-
nese ship, high or low, go into port a
prize.
When the turrets are damned and the
big guns dumb when the screws are still
and all defense is dead and done. the men
chosen by lot before the beginning OF
action will from their station in the heart
of the ship perform the last fun measure
of devotion in exploding the magazines
and the sXteen-petaled chrysanthemum
on the imperial standard viii go deep
down in welter of blood and steam and
smoke till. "streaked with ash and sleeked
with oil. the lukewarm whirlpools close
Russia" l heard a great officer say the
other day. is trying 70 head OF Japan by
intriguing with the Buddhist powers at
Lhasa. She has agents as close 10 the
sacred city as any foreigner has ever
reached, and the Car has labOred for
several years to consummate all alliance
offensive and defensive with the Grand
Lama. who sees that Tibet can not remain
closed much longer But. despite the en-
bassy from the Grand Lama to Livadia.
Japan has had some influence overland -
dictate terms with the sword and England
is our ally Asian politics are played on a
vast board and there is multiplicity Of
moves. Personally l think. however. that
the day has gone by when any religious
organization can figure as a potential fac
tor in world politics. either in The east
OF west. The sword viii decide the future
Of Asia.
Napoleon remarked that God fights on
the side Of the heaviest battaltons. When
Japan has the 4c000C.poG of China making
common cause with her under her direc-
ton the soldiers Of the Son q Heaven
Will lead battalions whose numbers viii
enlarge all human conceptions IL man
kind at war"
Asia for the As;stics is far from an i'm
possibility The Kaiser some years ago
uttered a prophetic warning against tho
coalition Of China and Japan. His ear
caught the sound OF tho marching mil
lions. and. when they smiled because n
deemed II near ne declared that what
the Monaghan horde had done before u
might well do again. GhenchiF Khan and
TamerIaue were successful through sheer
weight 81 numbers. and China has moro
men TO-DAY than e Rid ther Kskasu
Oksguta the William Morris Il japan, DE-
c.ares that;
Asia is one The IIirnalavss d~v.de.
only 10 aoceuiuate. two mighty civilza-
lions. the Chinese with its comm lr,ern
% Confucius and thu Indian. with Is
indiyidualism 81 the Nedas But not even
the snowy barriers can Interrupt for one
moment that broad expause = Joke far
the ultimate ard the universal which ls
The common inheritance q every Asiatic .
race
If Asia be one. II IS also true that fhe
Asiatic races forr- q single mighty Teb .
Arab chivairg Persian poetry Chimes .
ethics and indian thought all speak ~ a Z
single ancient Asfa1;r pence. ln which 4
there grew up a COMMON 10 besring Dr. 4
different regions different Characterize (
blossoms. hr1t nowhere capable 4 a hart .
ard Fast dividing lire Islam itseit may
~ described - CorfBeiarlsr1 or horse
back. sword ~ hand. or - ta-n again
% eastern Asia from the Sesf. BsisAisr1.
that great cream = ideal1g-n i1 Vhi-h
uerEe all TIE river ss-te-as = casters
Asiztlc thozzhf. - color-d n9t o1iF VIZ
The r-sre xafe- = tse Sa1Ees frr fee
-a-ta~tr nations rhzt sois~s = have MADE
theiy zerius also tTsh--tsrl-. a-laEiaE ~
~~--s.-ltx-n. nex o-Eaa.zzclea ard re~
-.-,v-~-~ = devotion 20 sdE g. the treasures
q H. faith