Los Angeles herald., 1907-02-25
MISSIONARY SURGEON DIS
CUSSES BROWN MEN
Says Their Moral Standard Is High
and There ls No Danger In Their
Association with Amerl-
can Children

j
controversy and urged the utmost
tolerance and consideration on the part
of Americans In their attitude on the
question.
Dir. Street Is visiting America in the
interest of a hospital which he Is build
ing at Kyoto and is staying at the
hIeinzeman hotel. He Is frequent
contributor to American periodicals.
According to Or. Street. the Japanese
have been much misunderstood and
misrepresented, and he declares the
school issue has been raised to veil a
more serious attack, precipitated by the
labor relations of the two countries.
ut Is entirely wrong and unjust to
advocate closing the schools to the
Japanese on the basis of our meager
knowledge of them and their char
acter" said DR.. Street. I'VE criticise
them on the ground of a supposed low
moral tone, and yet my experience with
them has convinced me that their moral
standards will stand comparison in al
most every way with our own. Their
school system, as l have observed It,
| Is almost ideal. 1t is the equal of the
best systems in the world and 1 can
see no danger of contamination for
American school children in associat-
ing with the Japanese. They are taught
morals constantly in their own schools
own schools, and they bring their moral
training with them to America"
Has Studied Japan
DR.. Street went to the Philippines as
an army surgeon in 1900 and to Japan
in 1904, after he had entered the United
| States civil service. His observations
are based on three years of the most
active work in his profession in Japan
| He was graduated from Harvard uni
versity and applied himself studiously
during his term of residence in the
land of the chrysanthemum to study of
It's life and it's people. He has gathered
mass of interesting data on the orient,
and prefaced his discussion of the school
question with an account of some OF
the early history of Japan.
His residence during the last three
years has been most of the time in
Kyoto, which is spoken of by the
Japanese as the heart and soul of the
kingdom" as Toxic is called the head
and brains"
Much of the life of the country CEN
ters in this city with it's classic and
historic associations" said the doctor
THE city, as well as being an epitome
of the nations past, to great extent
foreshadows it's future, and is the resi-
dence of many of the most cultivated
and progressive men of the country.
THE beginnings of the culture of the
kingdom We're here, when reading and
| writing were first introduced from
Korea The early development of the
country and the formation of the diff
ferent classes have an interesting bear
ing on the more modern problems of
the nation.
Glasses in Fowery Kingdom
with the establishing of the feudal
| tl,rt nfI
classes were formed, the kugi, or
MOBILES; the samuri, the military class;
the agriculturists and last the COM
mercal The last always were as much
despised as the Sans Culotti of Paris
and occupied a similar position. The
upper classes, including the nobility,
had a supreme disdain of taking money
and of commercial transactions of all
kinds. On this account, in their deal
ings with the tradesmen the advantage
usually rested with the latter, as the
purchasers considered it bad taste to
bubble with them over money, and
naturally they took advantage of 1t.
In time they found themselves in much
the same relations to the other classes
as the Jewish money lenders of Europe
and were as cordially disliked. This
position developed in the Japanese
tradesmen the shrewdness in driving a
which has been so severely criticised
and which has won him the name OF
being less honest in a business deal
than the Chinaman. 1t Is true that
there have been grounds for this
charge and so frequently has it been
made that it was alluded to in an ad-
dress made by the japanese minister
of agriculture at Kyoto two years ago
He admitted the reputation of the
Japanese for having lower standard
of commercial morality, but without
condoning it, pointed out that 1t was
the outgrowth of unfortunate condi'
tions and showed that it is rapidly be.
ing lived down.
Japanese Becoming Honest
"I know of my own experience that
the Japanese are rapidly living 1t dowr
and that a Japanese is not essentially
less honest than a Chinaman. With
the overthrow OF feudalism, with the
ascension of the emperor in 1872, the
commercial life of the country begar
to be elevated and every year sees q
better class of men entering commercial
life. The calling is more respected ano
the caste lines are less rigidly drawn
Trade is no longer looked upon as dis
honorable and unworthy of pursuit. Or
this account the Japanese are proving
and doing 1t very fast, that their stan
dard of morality Is really as high as
that of any people in the world. The
, Japanese tradesman received many OF
his questionable methods from Euro
pean peoples. The Portuguese were the
first to invade the islands, and they
were followed soon after by the
Spaniards. The conduct of the ad-
venturers who led the expeditions tC
the east in those days cannot be held
up as an example of shining morality
Later when Commodore Perry opened
their markets for Americans our own
people did not set them a spotless ex-
ample of business probity. l have
seen numerous questionable things
done by American traders which would
have brought forth the severest criti-
cism had they been the acts of Japa-
nese. The Chinese have had fewer
temptations In the way Of dishonest
dealings. Being an older and more
firmly established people they looked
upon the west with more Indifference
and did not reach out so eagerly for the
new civilization. on this account they
4 4 II.