Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-03-22
PHILIPPINES AND JAPAN.
Territorial Ambition Of Mikado's Sub
jects is Continental.
New York Sun.

New York Sum-
Something like a sensation has been
caused by the assertion. zealously circu-
lated by pro-Russiah newspapers and at
tributed to Mr.. Hull. lately chairman of
the house committee on military affairs,
that the motto of the Japanese Is Asia for
the Asiatics,'' and that when they have
completed the exclusion Of Russia from
Manchuria they will take measures to expel
the United States from-the Philippines. 1t
will not be possible te divert our Sympa-
thies from Japan to Russia by such a bug
aboo. The Tokyo government has done
nothing since the overthrow of the Sho-
gunate that warrants us in thinking 1t ca
pable of such an act of folly The project
imputed to it. however, would be worse
than foolish; 1t would be suicidal.
1t is true that there are two superficial
reasons, one clinical the other geographic
cal, for supposing that the Japanese might
under certain circumstances, such. for in
stance, voluntary cession on our part,
like to annex the Philippines. The Tagals.
the Visayas, the Moros, and in fact all the
inhabitants of the Philippine archipelago
except the Negrito aborigines. are of Malay
stock, and there is undoubtedly Malayan
element IN the composite population OF
Mongel OF the successive invasions by
which the hairy autochthones of the Japa-
nese insular group were exterminated, or
absorbed, Or expelled to the northern island
least came from the south, and seems to
have been an outflow OF the prehistoric.
transmarine expansion of the Malay race.
1t Is also true that the Philippines constf-
tute an important link in the fnsular chain
which girdles the Asiatic mainland. from
Saghalfen to Borneo and of most of which
japan is mistress since her acquisition of
the Loochow Islands and FOrmOsa.
The territorial gains, however. really COW
eted by the Mikado's advisers as the prizes
of their victory over China were not tnsu-
lar. but continental They would have sac
riflced many Formosa had they been per-
mtted to keep the Liaotung peninsula. The
earth hunger of the Japanese points in the
direction whence their written language,
their arts and their religion were de-
rived. Not only historical associations but
physical aptitudes and habits, impef them
to seek ACKNOWLEDGMENT, not in the tropics
or sub-tropics, but in the temperate zone.
Cerea and Manchuria constitute the natural
and congeniaI outlets for their surplus pop
ulation-i In. that direction only an illimita-
bic horizon Is openedsto Japanese ambition.
For Japan, as for Europe. the star of en-
pire westward takes IT'S way. Heirs of Chi
nese lization, the Japanese dream of be-
coming the rulers and redeemers of Cathay.
That dream can never be fulfilled until
so large part of the japanese people has
been transplanted to- the Corean and Man
chur1an mainland that the temporary inter-
ruption of sea communication with the
island monarchy would not be necessarily
fatal to projects of further continental con-
quest. Nobody knows better than the MI
kados counsellors that, owing to its COM
paratively limited financial resources, their
country can never hope TO have a navy
able to face a hostile combination Of the
combination that they were forced to sur
render the Liaotung peninsula, and had not
the alliance with Great Britain rendered a
second combination of the kind impractica-
have ventured to confront the Russians in
for generations. cafdfna1 maxim Of Tokyo
statecraft to avoid with the utmost wari-
ton of inimical cSalition on the part of
European and AmeficaH navies. Such a
coalition would be hey table and sponta-
neous # Japan by the Philip
prehend the loss of yEelzbIai-Wei and Hong
chau. and France I'd fEemble for Indo-
G ha aa II the eyes hs Rreat
States and Great Bfftafn, are and must
long be tabooed. only Russia is vulner-
se s and c ha s waad sG
and efficient navy. Ga:ss'a
Japan being an island empire, circum-
spection Is imposed upon her by the law
of self-preservation. She must conciliate
in order to survive Without some outlets
for expansion under propitious conditions
of climate and soil her distended popula-
ton would soon be stified In its contracted
home. To secure and keep open such out
lets unbroken control of the Strait OF Corea
must be maintained for many generations.
century or two hence, when possibly
a greater Japan shall have arisen ON the
Asiatic continent, as a greater England
has arisen In the Western Hemisphere, and
when perhaps a Japanese shall have sue
ceeded the Manehu dynasty at Pekin. Eu-
rcpeans may be quietly shOuldered out OF
such Asiatic coigns OF vantage as can be
reached by land The fate which has be-
fallen the Russians IN Manchuria may one
day overtake the French in Indo-China and
the Germans at Kiaochau. Even then