Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1906-04-12
MADE JAPANESE SHORT.
Mr.. UchIda Tells How Fashion Of Slt
tina on Chairs Went Out.


Custom is responsible for the com.
parative small stature of the Japanese
race, in the opinion Of Sadazuchi
Uchida, Japanese Consul in New
York. Fashion ruled about three
hundred years ago that In sitting up
on a mat ones feet must be crossed
beneath and behind the body instead
of being crossed in front OF the body.
as had been the custom for untold
generations.
Pictures of our forefathers Of four
or five hundred years ago." said Mr..
Uchida, "show that they were con-
siderably taller than my people are
now, and invariably they are pictured
as sitting with their legs crossed In
front of them. This custom of crowd
ing the legs beneath the body Is, !
think, more responsible for the small
Ter stature of the race than lack OF
sufficient nourishment or Of food OF
a proper quality. as Baron Takaki
said in Philadelphia.
Proof of the correctness OF this
theory is found in the remarkable in
crease in stature of our young men
since we began to use seats In the
schools instead of mattings. 1t Is not
at all unusual nowadays to see men
twenty or twenty-five years old more
than six feet tall, and the next gener
alton will doubtless see their number
greatly increased.
But cannot see," he added,
"where any great advantage is to be
gained by having a race of six-foot'
ers. 1t is the brain that counts. A
man six feet tall cannot aim a gun
any better than one of four feet, for
instance, and now that the day OF
fighting at close range Is practically
past, l cannot see where any advan'
tage Is to be gained, in military
strength, at any rate.
"That there Is strong determine
ton on the part of the Japanese to
increase thcier stature, is beyond
question. BY returning to the use OF
chairs, which we're common few
hundred years ago, and even by re-
verting to the old custom OF sitting
with the legs crossed In front, the
Japanese are consciously making
every possible effort in that direction.
My own little boy wrote today to
man who says he can make men grow
taller. Various departments of the
government, especially the Depart
ment OF Education, are working to-
gether to this end. and within a COM
paratively few years there is hardly
a doubt that several inches will be
added to the average height of the
Japanese.
at Is not true, as | have seen stat
ed, that men in different parts of my
country are inclined to be short or
tall The condition there is the same
as in this country. You will see tall
men and short men together in all
sections of the land, but the taller
ones are generally the younger men,
who were brought up in school on
seats instead of on mattings."
While Mr. Uchida is in accord with
Baron Takaki in the belief that the
Japanese are proving successful in
their efforts to increase their stature,
he strongly dissents from statement
by Baron Takaki that in short time
English will become practically the
language of Japan.
Rather let me believe" Mr.. Uchi-
da said, that japanese will take the
place of English in Great Britain and
the United States. The japanese have
no thought of abandoning their
language; their national pride is too
great, aside from the fact that 1t
would be next to impossible to change
the language OF people of fifty mil
lions.
ut Is quite probable however, that
the Roman alphabet will take the
place Of Japanese and Chinese char
acters in writing the Japanese Ian
guage. have seen nothing printed
on the subject in this country, but
commission is trying to solve this
very problem, and l expect report
In a year or SO. 1t will require two
generations before the Japanese al
phabet can be dispensed with in
everyday life and the change must
be gradual, but that 1t will come Is
the opinion Of most educated Japan
ese.
1--WE have forty-eight characters In
the Japanese alphabet and have to
learn about four thousand Chinese
characters, but we would have to use
only twenty-four of the Roman let
ters, having no sound Of Il or " in
Japanese"
Mr.. Uchida is a member of the
language revision commission to
which he referred.