The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1906-06-19
GL|MPSES
IN JAPAN
Will America Hold Her
Trade With the
Orient?

Siberia, bound for Hongkong, we had
voyage devoid of sensational incident,
vet not without interest and~suggestive-
ness. The first landing was made, of
course, at Yokohama; and the inevita-
bic trip to Toxic was made The day
of our visit proved to be some sort of
military holiday in Japan, and the tro-
phies of the late war were on exhibi-
ton in the park and about the palace
entrance. This exhibition was well
able to impress even the American with
the magnitude of the undertakings and
the glory of the achievements of the
japanese army in Manchuria The cap
tured rifles were ''stacked'' in the
park, and just how many acres they
covered it was impossible for me to es-
innate accurately. | learned, however,
that there We're enough of them to fur
nish each soldier of the United States
army with two modern rifles, had these
by any means fallen to us. And each
soldier would require good pack mule
to carry his ammunition, should all the
captured rife cartridges be divided
among our soldiers. l mentioned this
calculation to an educated japanese
! gentleman, thinking it would be wholly
| pleasing to him. His thoughtful and
| almost sad reply was, Yes; your coun-
| try is very fortunate to need no larger
| army 81 hope he added, after a
| considerable silent pause, "that the
time viii come when we shall need but
a small army; but that time is not yet.
We must be prepared to protect our ma
tional life. - ,
But to return to the di lay of tro-
phies, field artillery, mountain batteries
and machine guns arranged in close sim
gle lines surrounded the squares into
which the park is divided, while the
heavy pieces, many of them of 15-inch
caliber, lined the principal boulevard
An unexpected feature of the display
consisted of empty Russian shells in
stacks as big as houses, suggesting what
the japanese army had faced and en-
dured. These heaps of shells We're in
an inclosure made with a picket fence,
each picket being a Russian sword or
lance.
That this display greatly impressed
the japanese people, was very evident. !,
Thousands of them were sfrolling
through the park, looking talking
quietly and pointing out to one an
other the impressive features of the
exhibit. / have no doubt the whole af-
fair was planned and executed with
this purpose in view. This is in keep
ing with the scheme of government
buildings, which impress even the
American with the overwhelming mai
esty of the government. The Japanese
people, of course, personify this maj
esty and identify it with the Mikado
himself. 1t is impossible to believe
that this sort of display is prompted by
vainglorious spirit, and that the patri-
otic fervor aroused is incidental or ac-
cidental. Surely it is all intended and
planned as means of teaching patriot
ism.
/ had the honor of very pleasant
interview with Mr.. Maxine, the new
Minister of Education. He is a man
familiar from personal observation with
the best in education that Europe has
to offer, having just returned from a
mission TO Austria. He speaks English
fuently and with almost perfect accent.
His intelligent interest in our educa-
tional work in the Philippines was as
gratifying as it was surprising His
numerous questions indicated a desire
to catch from our experience and
thought any suggestions which might
be of benefit to Japan S educational
work in Formosa.
At Kobe we had more time to watch
the discharge of freight 1t is easy to
imagine that this dreary and tire
some sight. so easy is it for the imag-
ination to mislead US. In fact it was
intensely interesting. Thousands of
bales of American cotton were here dis
charged for the mills of Japan. Is not
this alone sufficient to set in motion
long train Of thought upon such ques-
tions as the meaning of all this to our
South, to our manufacturers, to our
trade with Japan, Korea, Manchuria
and China? In addition to the raw
cotton one vessel discharged huge guam
titles of canned goods, especially
canned milk What does this signify
concerning the conditions of life among
the Japanese? What does it mean to
our dairy farmers and fruit growers?
How long shall we be able to hold this
trade. and how can it be inereased2