The commercial. (Union City, Tenn.) 190?-193?, 1905-09-08
WHY JAPAN MADE PEACE.

WHY JAPAN MADE PEACE.
There was only one journalist in
the world yesterday who knew
why Japan had made such gener-
Gus concessions to Russia fOr the
sake of securing peace. He told
| his story in the New York Com.
mercial. The reason was that
Japan had learned, through an
American journalist, that she must
prepare to engage in death strug-
gle with Germany before 1915.
The intelligence was cabled to
Tokyo, where the Mikado and the
elder statesmen. hurriedly met and
directed Baron Komura to yield
everything for the sake of peace.
This stupendous intelligence,
which rends the veil of the future,
is set forth in detail by the Com
mercial correspondent at Ports.
mouth. He tells how it was i'm
parted and how it was received.
Mr.. Sato, the cheerful spokesman
Of the Japanese mission, sat smok-
ing on the yeranda Of the Hotel
I Wentworth, Every nerve of his
disciplined body was strained al
most to the swapping point, yet he
made no sign when the fire in his
cigarette reached his fingers and
burned steadily"
The journalist approached. Sato
sat immovable, the cigarette cook
ing his quivering flesh. A crisis
was approaching The journalist
opened his lips:
Excuse my candor, Mr. Sato, but
you have been very good to US news
paper naen, and now | want to tell you
something, and you needn't offer a
word pro or con in reply The German
Emperor is the 'nigger in the wood
pile, as we'say in this country. He
is the foe Japan has most to plan
against. Whether you beat Russia or
not, you'll have to fight Kaiser BIZ
before 1915"
All the assembled journalists
stood aghast. ut was grossly I'M
diplomatic something far in adj
vance of any statement an Ameri-
can journalist had ventured to
make to the spokesman of Komu-
ra. /" The correspondents with one
accord glued their eyes upon Sato.
The air was electric. The cruel
barb had sped home the future
had been unveiIedJapan now
knew what she was up against.
''Sato's aspect underwent a startling
change. 1t was as If a galyanic cur
rent had been turned on, and the man
was striving with might and main to
conceal the shock. For the first time
he flushed; the veins stood out over
his temples; his lips closed upon the
cigarette in white line Of pain; the
eyes seemed to see red.
''All the ipdicia of a spasm except
the cry or the moan. The Jap sat
st0lid, staring into the night, Amer
leans and Britlshers looked on Sato
did not speak. Had not the Journalist
said he need not speak? The galvanic
current was turned off; the spasm
passed. Takahira Joined the group
and Sato walked to the water cooler,
drank, and strobe back. They ex.
changed few words in Japanese. IT.
would have been acOup for journalism
to have guessed correctly what they
said.
Why speculate upon the purportl
of those momentous words in ia.
panesel The tyro would have
guessed that they bore upon the
deviltry of the cigarette. Not so
the veteran guesser. He knows
that the information conveyed in
such grossly undiplomatic fashion
flew to Tokyo, and that the Mikado
and the elder statesmen, with all
the indicia Of a spasm, threw up
their hands. journalism may be
undiplomatie, bat it knows how to !
administer galvanic shocks.
Washington Post.