Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-02-12
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Some Japanese Think They
Are So Destined.
special cab,sgram to The Star.

| special cablegram to The Star.
TOXIC. February f2.-Japanese people as
a nation have been rather in the attitude
OF . man carrying a chip around on his
| shoulder. OF course, this is not true OF
the educated Japanese, but of the so-called
lower classes II may be said that they have
| the idea that they are destined to conquer
the earth. Even where ignorant they are
intensely patriotic. and sometimes their pa
| triotism Increases In direct proportion to
their ignorance. But given an ignorant and
warlike people and 1t can readily be un-
| derstood that the leaders of the race might
! be forced into war against their win by
the very war spirit OF the people. Though
the emperor had the situation well in hand
at the time of the signing of the treaty
of Portsmouth when 1t was apparent that
| Russia had not agreed to pay an inden,-
nifty, 1t would have taken but little to
] have overturned the government; the rebels
| themselves promising the people that they
would carry on the war with Russia until
| an indemnity had been secured.
Said one of the leading merchants OF
| Japan. man who has travelled around the
1 world dozen times. and who Is probably
| better informed upon world matters than
| the majority of business men in Europe and
| America:
| ''Of course. I know what your civilization
| or skyscraperS and gatling guns, your won
| derful material resources really means, but
/ cannot explain this to my people. The
! average man In Japan today rea sons 1t out
| this way: China has 100000. 900 of people
and the United States S0OO0,O0O. We
| whipped China. and the United States is
| only one-ffth popufous. We could whip
the United States five times as easy as we
whipped China. Russia has 100, COO COO
and the United States has SOOOOuO We
could Whfn the limited fat
! half times easy we did Russia and
we could take the Philippine Islands away
from them
Method of Reasoning.
This method of reasoning is one that
might be common to the ignorant classes
| of any country. 1t would do little good to
| tell the average peasant of the poorer orders
| that there is wide difference between the
American or the English soldier or marine
| and the Chinese soldier or the Russian
| sailor who was defeated by Togo. To him
| a man Is a man and he counts things by
| number only. and imagines that Japan
could whip the whole world combined In
| case of necessity"
| On the other hand 1t should be thorough
| ~ understood that the Japanese govern
ment is extremely friendly to the United
States This friendliness is not the result
| o. diplomacy or a make believe polfcy-it Is
| genuine and has it's foundation in the rec
| osnition of the fact that the United States
vas instrumental in opening up Japan to
| trade and commerce. and that as a result
| Japan has been admitted to the family of
| nations. and that it's i..fluence on the al
| fairs of the world has been tremendously
| increased.
The educated Japanese have philosophic
| minds. and 1t Is not difficult task for tlIcn
! to reason from analogy and understand the
| differences today between the political
| standing of Japan and China and the causes
which contribute to these differences The
| question. however. which will confront ire
japanese government Of the future IS not
| whether the government of Japan Is friend
| ly to foreigners-that may be taken for
| granted-but whether the poorer Japanese
| can be educated out of their natural policy
| of excluslon-an oriental trait-and taught
| to understand that no nation today has the
| right to become hermit nation" If this
| can be accomplished many things will be
| easy-if this Is difficult to accomplish then
| the Japanese lower orders must be whipped
| into line with world politics in the sad
school of experience.
These points have all come out In corr
nection with the discussion which has been
going on as to whether the Japanese govern
ment Is really behind the Chinese boycott
of American goods 1t may be said right
| here that there Is no evidence to substan-
| tate the widely circulated reports that the
| japanese government is behind the Chinese
| boycott. 1t Isl perhaps true that Japanese
newspaper men. japanese priests, japanese
| in fomenting an antl-foreign and anti-Amer-
| lean feeling throughout the orient And 1t
may be that persons In the employ of the
! japanese government. acting as individuals,
have been foremost in the boycott ag1ta-
| ton. But this is not because the Japanese
government has wanted this to be done. The
| japanese government naturally regards
China as great field for future Japanese
| commerce, but 1t believes that proximity to
| the Chinese markets and the subsidization
| of Japanese-Chinese steamship lines is all
| that Is necessary to enable Japan to COM
pete with the other nations of the world.
| Hence the real leaders of the government
| would never resort to uncivilzed a
| method as the Introduction of the boycott.
Pride in Army and Navy.
| But when 1t comes to pride in army and
| navy, japanese pride is thing which must
be reckoned with. This was seen during the
| recent discussion in the Japanese parlia-
ment when supporter of the government
during a course of questioning inadvertently
| admitted that the fact that the English army
was not up-to-date was giving the Japanese
| government some concern, evidently not
stopping to think that this statement might
! give Japanese diplomats some concern. Yet
| the japanese member of parliament only
voiced his feeling of the average Jap-that
the army and navy of the island kingdom Is
| the finest in the world.
! Some conception Of the task to be per-
| formed by the japanese In regulating the
| finances of Korea may be derived from the
document which has just been officially
| published under the authority of Mr.. Me-
gaia financial adviser of the Korean gov
eminent. Perusal of the document creates
surprise, not that the Koreans found them
| selves perennially in a state of monetary
| confusion. but that they had succeeded in
| getting on at all under the system. At the
\ root Of the many evils which had become
| chronic before the japanese interviewed was
| the habit of farming out the taxes. The
| central government provided that it re-
| ceived a certain sum from a certain locality,
| made no scrutiny into the methods pursued
| by the officials of the locality TO collect the
| money or into the amount collected. Thus
| the taxes that the people had to pay were
| regulated in the last instance by the rapac-
| ity of the tax collector. All this 1t has been
| necessary for TIE Japanese to change, in