Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1905-01-28

men in japan must serve in the army
between the. ages of 81 and "a. After
leaving active service, a young
man is for six years a mem
Der Of the first reserves,
and for the next seven years a mem
Der Of the second reserves. Japan could
II necessary, put 1000, 900 trained
soldiers in the field said Mr.. Thomp-
son. "Those engaged in missionary
work in Japan and who are familiar
with the conditions have no fear OF the
outcome Of the war with Russia and
our sympathies are entirely with the
Japanese. Japan is fighting for Its ma
tional existence, for the policy that the
United States and England stand for,
the open door For this reason if no
other, 1t seems to me that the sym
pathy of the people of this country
should be with Japan.
No yellow Peril.
1--WE hear a great deal about the
yellow peril the danger of Japan
leading China against the western
world. | do not believe that there is
any yellow peril. Japan aspires to be
n Of the great powers of the world
and stands for progress and civiliza.
ton In the Orient. Japan was practi.
cally forced into the present contest
and If 1t wins, 1t means that .Manchu.
ria, a country OF 10000 square miles.
will be thrown open to the commerce
Of all nations. -
"The Japanese have wonderful pow.
ers of imitation but no originality.
They took their language from China,
their religion from India, their present
legal system from France. Represen-
tatiyes have been sent to all the for.
eign countries and such ideas were
adopted from each as seemed advisa-
BILE. Seventeen years ago 1 sent a bi.
cycle to the government machine shops
at Toxic for repairs. After waiting
several months and writing a number
of letters I concluded to go to Toxic
after the machine and found that it
had been taken apart and every piece
was being duplicated.
Progress of Christianity.
Civilization, however, will not raise
the people from the darkness of super.
stition. The gospel Of Christ has per-
meated every class Of society in Japan.
we find Christians in the emperor's
court, 1855 of the officers in the army
are Christians. Some years ago there
was a considerable opposition to Chris
tianity because it was thought that
a man If he became a Christian would
cease to be a loyal subject of the EN-.
peror. It was demonstrated during
the war with China that because a man
was a Christian, did not detract from
his bravery or loyalty and the opposi.
ton to the teachings of the mission
aries on the part of the government
has passed away.
"Of the members of the house of
representatives, fifteen are Christian,
and 1t is the custom of these men to
hold q little prayer meeting just be-
fore the diet meets. The effect of
these meetings may be seer in the
laws that are being enacted. No young
man under 20 is allowed to smoke and
laws greatly effecting the social evil
are being passed, twelve thousand wo-
men In the past four years, having
sought release.
Mr.. Thompson Talks.
Rev. and Mrs. Thompson were the
first white people to visit some of the
islands south of Japan and told of
many interesting experiences. They
are stationed at Kobe and have eight
churches under their supervision. One
Of the novel features of the work is a
missionary vessel which visits the
many islands in the inland sea.
At the close of Rev. Thcmpson's
lecture, Mrs. Thompson gave an inter-
esting account Of the condition of the
women in the far east and the growth
and results of the missionary work.
Perfect womanhood depends on per.
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