Omaha daily bee., 1906-02-11
Put China, Russia, Britain and United
States on Same Level
EDUCATED CLASS sAuws BETTER SPIRIT
Governmental Leaders Are Really Friendly
TO the AmorioAn teOple,
JApAst->. FINGERS IN cHIhtsl sOYCOT
Representatives % MikRdo May Hsve
Been Led to Taking Part an Anti
Foreign Denomination
ON Continent.
LITTLE IDEA OF STRENGTH or NATIONS

TOXIC, Feb. lO-topecIal Cak .
The bee.)-Japanese peopie, as .don' !
nave Deeu ratner IN .Le autuae OF man !
carrying "a cniA, around ON shoulder !
vi course, TINS - not true Of the educated !
Jap nese, out OF the so-caIleu lower cIasses
II may De saIu tnaI they nave the loea !
tnat Iney are destined TO conquer the eartn.
Even Mnere ignorant they are intensely
patriotic, and sometimes tnelr patriotism
increases in direct proportion TO their igno-
rance. But given AN ignorant ana warilKe
people, and 1t can readily be understood
tnat the readers OF the race might be
forced into war against their will 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 indemnity.
it would have taken but II 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, a man who has travelled around the
world a dozen times, who is probably bet
| ter informed upon world matters than the
majority Of business men In Europe and
! America:
"Of course, L know what your civilization
of 5ky-scrapers and gatling guns. your
wonderful material resources really means,
but l cannot explain this to my people
! The average man in Japan today reasons
it out this way: China has 4oo,0ooooO of
people and the United States SO,OOO,0O0.
We whipped China, and the United States
| is only one-ilfth as popuous. We could
whip the United States five times easy
as we whipped China Russia has 10000 0C0
! and the United States has S0,0O000O. We
could whip the United States one and one
/ half times as easy as we did Russia. and
we could could take the Philippine islands
away from it.
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 be-
! tween the american or,-ths -Eaglish soldier
or marine and the Chinese soldier OF the
Russian sailor who were defeated by Togo.
TO him a man Is man, and he counts
things by numbers only and imagines that
Japan could whip the whole world COM
binod in case of necessity"
Government is Friendly.
On the other hand It should be thor
ernment is extremely friendly TO the United
States. This friendlness is not the result
of diplomacy on of a make believe policy
it is gcneuine and has its foundation In
the recognition of the fact that the United
States was instrumental in opening up
Japan to trade and commerce and that as a
result Japan has been admitted TO the fam
ily of nations and that its influence on the
affairs of the world has been tremendously y
increased.
The educated japanese have phflosophic
minds, and 1t is not a difficult task for
; them to reason from analogy and UNDER
stand the differences today between the
political standing OF Japan and China and
| the causes which contribute to these diff
fercnces. The question, however. which
will confront the Japanese government of
, the future is not whether the government
OF Japan Is friendly to foreigners-that may
be taken for granted-but whether the
poorer japanese can he educated out of
/ their natural policy of exclusion-an ORR
: entail trait-and taught to understand that
no nation today has the right to become a
hermit nation" II this can be accom-
q plshed many things will be easy-if this is
difficult to accomplish then the japanese
- lower orders must he whipped into line
with world politics in the school OF ex-
] perience
These points have all come out in con.
nection with the discussion which has beer
going on as to whether the japanese gov,
ernment is really behind the Chinese boy.
colt of American goods. II may be said
, right here that there is no evidence tc
substantiate the widely circulated report:
that the japanese government is behind
| the Chinese boycott.
Japs Aid Boycott.
!, 1t is perhaps true that the japanese news
l. paper men. japanese priests japanese stu
. dents, as individuals, have taken a hanC
a in fomenting anti-foreign and anti
! American feeling throughout the Orient
!. And 1t may be that persons I'm the emplo,
a of the Japanese government, acting as in
q dividuaIs have been foremost in the boy
;, colt agitation. But this is not because tn,
. Japanese government has wanted this t,
a be done. The Japanese government natu
n rally regards China as a great field TO
"a future Japanese commerce. but II believe
- that proximity to the Chinese markets an,
a the subsdization OF Japanese Chimes
- steamship lines is all that is necessary L
N enable Japan TO compete with the othe
II nations of the world Hence the real lead
=, ers OF the government would never resor
10 to so uncivilzed method as the introduo
ton Of the boycott
But when 1t comes To pride in army an
2 navy, japanese pride is a thing whic
- must be reckoned with. This was seen dur
"A ing the recent discussion in the Japanes
Parliament, when supporter of the gov
ernment. during a course OF questioning
inadvertently admitted that the fact tina
the English army WAS not up-to-date wa
to giving the japanese government some con
NJ Germ evidently not stopping 10 think ths
lg this statement might give Japanese diplC
he mats some concern. Yet the Japanes
i'll member Of Parliament only voiced tn
p feeling OF the average Jap, that the arm
ne and navy OF the island kingdom is III
lg finest I'm the world.
n Some conception Of the task to be pei
ht formed by the Japanese in regulating th
finances OF Corea may be derived from III
be document which has just been oficiall
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