The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1905-09-23
JAPANS SCHOOLS DIS.
CUSSED BY SENATOR SCOTT

our money. But that Is not all. These
servants were required TO board them
selves. What a contrast with the
American girl who finds n home where
she lives in the same house with the
family and eats the same food.
Four Persons to Acre.
Japan has only about twelve mil
lion acres OF tillabIe land, and that
land is forced to support nearly forty.
five millions of people. Think Of It!
The state of people. nearly twice MS
many people Of tillable land, and. at
the same rate as Japan, could support
a population OF about one hundred
and thirty millions Of people, nearly
twice as many people as there are in
the United States. Japan has al
most four persons to every acre of
tillable land in the empire. Think of
this and you may form some idea Of
the manner in which they must live.
Some queer customs obtain among
the Japanese. No one is allowed to
go b~arefooted, and while a great
many have little or nothing on their
feet, yet by edict Of the Emperor no
one a go without his feet covered
in some way. This law was brought
about because of the belief of the
Japanese physicians that the plague
first takes a start In the feet II they
are injured by a cut or sore. OF
course, every one knows that the peo-
pie Of Japan leave their shoes, of what
ever description, at the doors of their
houses and all enter barefooted. In
many of the places we visited we had
to put aapas over our shoes or go In
in our stocking feet. Another pecu-
liar fact is hat the Japanese all OBJ
.ect TO animal labor. There are so
many human beings that they claim
1t takes away from the people work
that belongs to them; then It requires
too much to feed horses and oxen, and
as a result very few animals are seen.
In the city of Toxic, with a population
of nearly two millions, less than fifty
carriages can be found. | presume
from this fact It follows that the Jap.
anese army has 10 good cavalry, and
this explains n remark made to me
by a prominent American officer DO
for l left Washington. He had been
with the Japanese army in its opera
tons in Manchuria. He said to me
that the whole Russian army would
have been annihilated had the Japan.
csc had cavalry like the American
cavalry and handled in the same way;
as 1t was, however, the Russians could
retreat more rapidly that the Japanese
could advance and in that way the
Japanese had lost the greatest fruits
of their victories.
Japs Are Initiative.
The Japanese are very Initiative
and very hard workers. Agriculture,
of course, is the chief occupation of
the people, but silk, cotton and other
textiles are manufactured. It will
only be a short while until Japan will
ihahC al Nv Sottoh SOouo one Cdu use
and she will also be able to supply the
demand in China. Already they have
some large cotton manufactures and
they are preparing to build others.
In Japan you get the best tea that
the world produces. 1t was interest
ing to watch the process of making
tea. and more pleasant to drink the
beverage after 1t was brewed. When
a cup of tea is prepared for you 1t is
made at the table by pouring boiling
water over the tea leaves; in a few
minutes It is ready to drink, and
strange to say 1t is Just as clear as
water and is not at all red like the
tea we drink at home. 1t was very
fine and l might become a confirmed
tea drinker II / had such tea leaves
at home:
Death a Relief.
During the war between Japan and
Russia we all at home read a great
deal about the willingness OF the Jap.
anese to die. We read how sons were
sent to the front by their parents and
told to die for their country. All have
been made acquainted with intensely
interesting stories of devotion to the
Mikado and to their beloved empire.
/ find that all this is true, and that the
japanese look upon death as a relief
from the cares of this world. The
dead are not buried fiat as our dead
are but are placed in a sitting posi-.
ton. In place of black they are
clothed in white. A funeral process
sion is very different from one in our