Weekly Arizona journal-miner., 1905-05-17
JANUS-FACED JAPAN.

The Japanese have taken on civiliza- tion as though it were garment, and the best that can be said is that it fits them like kimono. Japan was nev- CT measured for the modern garb in which it now struts about. It order ed more than sufficient cloth to cover its barbarian nakedness, and let the drapery hang loose. Such an arrange ment was more than comfort; it was a convenience. The garment con ceals a truth, the important truth that the difference between the old Japan and the new Japan is not as startling as historians would have us believe.
 If one cares to investigate he will learn that Japan has sacrificed little in its transition. Other nations in em- bracing civilization gave up the ideals of centuries. Japan gave up nothing that it cared about. It had half a dozen religions; one more did not mat ter. It had outgrown the feudal sys- tem; its loss was good riddance. With the ideals it was different. For in stance, Japan looked upon hari-kari that spectacular kind of self-slaugh ter-as a sacred thing; therefore it did not give 1t up. Hari-kari continues to claim its victims, and all Japan waxes enthusiastic as it applauds.
 During the battle of Liao Yang a Japanese officer, with his sword brok- en and a bullet in his breast, disem- boweled himself while the men of his command looked on. According to the accounts of both the Japanese and the newspaper correspondents, the deed of this self-murderer gave new courage to the soldier behind him, and they pressed forward with vigor and courage that would not be de- nied, and drove the Russians back ward until retreat changed to rout, and the hard-pressed bear would have given all four paws for a secondhand pair of wings. This was the spirit of the real Japan. Civilization could not stamp out the samurai.
 Here in America the people of more than one locality occasionally give way to the desire to lynch somebody. When the deed is done it infreguent ly happens that a bold writer finds an excuse for the particular band of lynchers, but no one ever thought of defending lynching as something en- tirely proper It is different with the Japanese. They believe in hari- kari, and as no argument can be raised at home, they defend it against for eign attacks. Not long ago a Japan ese writer with the distinctively Jap anese name of Adachi Kinnosuke, gain ed access to the columns of The In dependent, and devoted his space to a glorifcation of the officer who com mitted suicide at LiaO Yang. In his opinion the act was praisewOrthy because it counted for "more than the reinforcement of thousand men,
 
 He went on to explain that in the mili- tary annals of Japan the death of an officer at the hands of the enemy has always been looked upon as dis credit to the men in his command, they being blamed for not saving him from such a shameful ending.
 Next the writer gIves the details of the Liao Yang ease. He declares that the officer knew that the bullet had pierced through his heart,' that he knew that ''as long as his breath was within his body his men would cling around him in their desperate efforts to save him from hostile bullets and hostile swords.' There was still an ether reason for his act. Here it is: '1His men looked upon him as a sa- mural of the first water.' This was the real secret. old barbarous Japan held the officer thrall, and he yield ed life to prove his faith in the an tient beliefs. Modern Japan approv- ed, and vet modern Japan boasts of its civilization.
 Napoleon conquered the greater part of Europe without the aid of ramnrai. Wellington conquered Ma 9oleon, and had no samurai in his army. Washington got along without sa--2rai. Grant s great army had no suicide club. The rose and the lily and the golden rod take root in the graves of the heroes who die at the