Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-01-06
Thirteen thousand Chinese
Students, With Plenty Of
Money, Complicate the Sit
cation = Cages Of Human
Beings.
BY WILLIAM T. ELLIS.

BY WILLIAM T. ELLIS.
Copyright 1907, by Joseph B. Bowles.)
TOXIC, Japan.-Tokio is a nest of prob
lens. Here the Far Eastern Question"
has its focus. And an investigator finds
that it is by no means one abstract ques-
ton, but an interviewer mass of perplexi-
ties, each with a relation to the other. Out
of the whole / have tried to extricate the
two that appear to be fundamental-educa-
ton and morality; and both have a direct
bearing upon the missionary and religious
situation which 1 am studying.
Toxic is the greatest student center in the
world, with more than $4,000 students of
the higher branches. Here young Japan,
infatuated with the western learning, has
concentrated its ambitions. The streets
TEEN with young men and women students
The procession of these that may be seen
any day along the moat by the imperial
palace is the most significant spectacle in
all Japan. 1t is the crux of the nations
anxeties; 1 do not wonder that the elder
statesmen are shaking their heads and
looking grave over it, for reasons which 1
shall presently show.
The procession itself is picturesque. The
girls all wear the ungraceful student Dress
which consists Of Japanese kimono tucked
into a red or purple skirt. The girls never
wear hats, and usually their feet are in
cased in high wooden clogs known as
'geta" Their books are wrapped in CLOTH
and their little ink bottles hang suspended
from strings. The male students wear
diversity of dress, frequently an European
uniform, from cap to shoes, and often an
adaptation of the ancient scholars dress
klmono above, with an undershirt in full
n nr,1 oyI ia
skirt or boomers, very full. for trousers.
These usually wear straw hats and clogs,
ana In many cases carry canes. The richer
ones affect dandified European dress, and
are called high collars by their fellows.
So great is the craze for education that
although the rather loose figures Of the
japanese government give 94.43 per cent
of the population of school age as under in
struction Gan American educator here fig
ures it as 69.0o per cent, according to west
ern reckoning), there is not room in the in
situations of higher grade for all the appli-
cants. Japan has only eight colleges and
two universities, but each of these has
very large enrolment. 1 heard the other
day of LOCO students being examined for
entrance into a class that could admit but
90 The rejected students feel disgraced
and this Is one cause of the suicides that
are so common among this class of the
Japanese.
1t is freely stated that much of the mod
ern education is quite superficial. Certainly
plotation of socialists and other agitators
There are not places In the nation for these
educated young men commensurate with
their ambitions. So there is considerable
political as well as social unrest.
One striking result of the craze for educa-
ton is the universal desire to learn English.
which IS regarded as the language of pro-
gress and civilization. There is no similar
zest for French German. The higher
public schools teach English, and tens of
thousands are learning it privately. Train
boys, railroad men, walters, shopkeepers
editors, students, fellow passengers in trains
all sorts of Japanese have come to me
since l have been here for help in English
Any good-natured foreigner could keep
busily employed twenty-four hours a day
instructing the Japanese in the mysteries of
English. Recently 1 visited a mission night
school in Kobe which was literally jammed
with young men employed during the day as
teachers, clerks etc. Not only were the
rooms crowded, but outside of the doors and
windows stood clumps of eager students.
each having paid the tuition fee. The mis-
sion force was inadequate, and two out
side helpers, Englishmen, had been engaged
temporarily. 1t was highly edfying to
hear an enthusiastic young man teach his
class. as model sentences, There are many
dogs in England. 1 have got dog" 1t is
only fair to the missionary force to say that
they themselves are college bred men and
women.
By the way, have been surprised to
find that the educated Japanese are inter-
ested in the reform spelling of English and
eager for its adoption. They speak feeling
ly of the inconsistencies and incomprehensi-
bilities Of our photography. Allied to this
mentioned the desire of Japanese men to go
to America. l have talked with scores,
ranging from boys to college presidents,
whose supreme ambition apparently is to
cross the Pacific.
In this connection come in the mission
schools. They have higher percentage of
foreigners among their teachers than the
government schools; and besides they are
generally willing to teach English to any
body who will study the Bible along with it,
1t was the missionaries who introduced
higher education into Japan. One of them
DIR. David Murray, was the government
educational adviser and led in the organiza-
ton Of the present school system. The
first of the Japanese institutions of higher
learning was the Doshisha founded by the
runaway youth, Joseph Hardy Neesima, who
was trained in home and is now esteemed
by the nation as one of its great men. The
Doshisha, which is located at Kioto. is the
most famous Of mission schools In this
country; and It is still doing successful
work. with about 900 students. The aver
age age of the latter is lower than former
ly, as seems to be the case with all long
established mission schools.
The Doshisha has passed through dra-
matte experiences. Established In 1879,
with American board money, by Neesima,
who was actuated by only Christian mo-
tives, the school became a center of great
religious influence in Japan. Then after
Neesima's death, the wave OF nationalistic
and rationalistic reaction swepte over the
country and the Christian features were
eliminated from the constitution. The prop
erty had been In the legal control Of the
Japanese, although really this was meant
to be but nominal. in order to conform to
Japanese law. When the anti-foreign re-
vulsion came the japanese trustees exer-
cised their legal functions and completely
divorced the Doshisha from Its original mis-
sion Trying months followed. But Rev.
DIR. J. d. Davis, who has been In japan
thirty-five years, and was a co-founder
with Neesima Of the Doshisha. and one Of
the great men of the Christian mission
force here, led a struggle for restoration
of the old ideals that was finally successful.
During this time the Doshisha ran down
considerably, but now 1t Is again filling a
great place in the educational work OF
japan Like practically all the other mis-
sion schools. II has japanese management.
| but DIR. Davis remains the dominant per-
sonalty.
L The nfapeeIv national spirif among the