Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1907-11-19
JAPs NOT so WONDERFUL.
Just Suspicious, Initiative, Tricky and
Overrated.


Overrated.
A German merchant, writing from
Toxic, says: IF the men who write
articles from this country for publica-
ton, in which matters of business,
statecraft and civic conditions are dis
cussed would spend more time in ia
pan, If they would go about looking at
things as they are and not as the
romancers who have been here before
them have seen them, the world
would gain a better knowledge of the
japanese.
1T has become so much the rule to
go into raptures over the Land Of
Flowers. so fashionable to stand hat in
hand and bowling to the nation Of Lit
tie Men, who conquered the Russian
bear, 1t is so thoroughly in keeping
with the spirit Of the time to marvel
at the spirit of progress displayed by
the island natives, that when one does
discover that the raptures are hyster
ical and that at close range there Is
little cause for admiration, one Is
afraid to say it.
"One Of the new titles bestowed on
the Japanese and one which they dear
ly love Is Asiatic Yankee 1t Is a
mystery to US who know the Ameri-
cans that they can, for a moment, en-
courage this cousinship. The Yankee,
as we know socially and in business,
has no qualities in common with the
Japanese, who Is only a clever imita-
ton of the successful American.
In business the American strives,
by honest trading mixed with shrewd-
ness, to make and to keep customers,
while the Japanese merchant or man
ufacturer has only one object in view
to make money regardless Of the
method and with never a thought as
to the respect or the good will of his
foreign customers. He adopts, when he
can, the inventions Of others, but he
invents nothing himself, and what he
looks upon as clever business his
European and American patrons call
by different name.
Chinese Are Honest.
1T must be said for the Japanese
that in dealing with their own people
the negative qualities do not show
themselves so much. But toward the
foreigner they are without conscience.
We, who have lived in the far east
and know the people and whose knowl-
edge Is not superficial, can see the
great difference between the Chinese
and their arrogant neighbors.
"A business contract with a Chinese
merchant needs not to be fortified with
signed and sealed documents, because
| II will be carried out faithfully, on
the part of the Mongolian. His or
der Put it on the book is, as every
merchant knows, an unbreakable
promise that when the time comes he
will pay, deliver goods or do whatever
the transaction calls for. But an
agreement with Japanese must be
made iron clad, and even then one Is
never sure as to the ultimate result.
What is true Of them in commerce,
| IL equally true in politics. The nation,
like the Individual, is suspicious and
has confidence in no one. The natives
who emigrate. no matter where they
go or what their condition may become
in the country to which they may 60,
never cease to be Japanese. and al
though money making may be the OBJ
ject of their lives abroad, they never
forget that they are spies for their
own government.
Japan's Spy System.
1T Is because Of this that the au-
thorities are so we'll posted. The spy
system Of Russia, extending as 1t does
all over the civilized world, is as moth
ing in comparison with the Japanese
system. The man who serves you as
butler in London, Paris or New York,
the student in your schools, the helper
in your machine shops and the noble
on a pleasure trip. are all in communi-
cation with the government. They do
not know that they are in all instances,
but what they report to friends. rela-
tives and business connections finally
reaches the people who carefully make
note of all that is noteworthy.
This was strikingly illustrated some
time ago when a man arrived here
with his family from a European city.
His trunks had not yet yet been un-
packed and he had not yet recovered
from the first shock, which one always
receives when the real Japan is seen.
when he learned that his whole busi-
ness and private history had preceded
him, and that he was as we'll known as
though he had published his biography.
He realized that he had been spied
upon as soon as 1t became known in his
home that he was coming here and
over in the Land of Flowers he was
not slow to see that his servants con-
tinued the work. These methods were
a potent factor in the late war, and
together with Japanese fatalism, Rus
sian lack Of patriotism and the inca
pacity Of the tsar's officers, helped to
conquer the Great Bear.
But to US it seems ridiculous to
think that the Japanese Jingoes, who
are making all efforts to frighten the
great powers of the earth, should be
taken seriously. 1t will take many
years of good business before there
will be money enough in the Imperial
treasury to justify new war expenses.
1T is questionable If by that time
the Mikado's subjects will be as tract
able as they are now. The day of the
Tycoon was followed by the advent of
the Mikado, and while he is still a
half deity, looked up to by the people
with feelings of mingled awe and fear,
there Is growing here slowly, but sure
ly, a socialistic party which will some
day cause changes now unthought of
in the land of Magnificent Arrogance"