Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1907-11-20
FRANCE OF THE ORIENT
DR.. EDWORDS LANDS AT YOKOHAMA,
JAPAN,
An Interesting Letter Describing the Jap
anese Ports. the Anti.Foreign Senti-
ment, and the American
War Scare.

IcdCHcu SIOIo ycstcIudy dItoIuOuu anu
was glad that I had not taken chances
on one of the small boats before the
captain said it was safe. One pas
senger. very stout lady with equally
stout determination, disregarded the
advice of the captain and insisted on
going ashore one of the steam
launches. The boat rocked so terribly
that it was with greatest difficulty
she was got aboard. and then she
could not get into the cabin, but was
compelled to lie down ON the top,
clinging to the rail. and washed con-
tinually by the spray. She finally
reached shore completely drenched
with salt water, and when l saw her
this morning she was bewailitg the
ruin of her tailOr-made gown which
she wore during the trip. She evil
IDENTIFY thought more of the gown than
of the danger she ran of losing her
life, to say nothing of the ludicrous
figure she cut sprawling on the top of
the boat.
Japan has six ports in which
enter into business. Yokohama is the
chief one. the others being Hakodate,
Nagasaki. Niigata. Osaka and Kobe
The small number of places where
Americans can live struck me as
rather odd when 1 remembered the
great to-do Japan made over the fact
that San Francisco authorities wanted
Japanese pupils to go to school to
themselves. In Japan an American
cannot own property. his children
cannot go to school, he cannot enter
into business alone, being compelled
to take japanese partner If this
partner decides to make away with
the business and everything connected
with it the American has no recourse
at law. He is told that if he does
not like Japanese ways he need not
come to Japan. 1t is just as well that
these facts be known to Americans, for
there is general idea that the Jap
anese are greatly mistreated in San
Francisco.
Japan is called the France of the
Orient because the people are SO
polite. This politeness is but skin
deep. They do vast amount of
bowling and saluting, and say a lot of
words expressing esteem, but it is
| h0 81
his house is yours, but will not even
let you take piece of fruit from the
trees in the yard.
have been at the hotel twenty-four
hours and find that among the people
there is a strong anti-foreign feeling.
/ thought at first that this feeling was
especially pronounced against Ameri-
cans, but find that the displeasure is
shown against any nationality. The
reason for this attitude is that the
Japanese have conceived the idea that
they are the greatest power in the
| world and that all nations are afraid
of them. There is no question in the
minds of the people of the ability Of
Japan to whip the United States on
land or sea, and 1 was told in all
seriousness by Japanese merchant
4
across the United States examining
the forts in the interior. The dis
tance, according to his idea. was
about that of the width of California.
The government, however. is not
deluded with any idea of its power.
l will say that much for the upper
classes. They have studied the con-
ditions of foreign countries in most
thorough manner and | am sure those
close TO the throne are better
acquainted with the actual conditions
| in America than most OF the Ameri-
cans themselves.
Japan is not going TO seek a war
with the United States. and her
government is of such nature that it
will never be forced into war by
the clamor of the populace The en-
peror (do not call him "Mikado" for
they have had no Mikados in Japan
for fifty years. is deep student of
affairs, and he has for advisors men
who have been educated in the best
colleges and universities of the world.
They know just how small Japan is,
aud just how large the United States
is and how enormous are her re-
sources
| There are number of newspapers
in Japan which emulate those we call
yellow" in the United STATES, and
these people are doing everything in
their power to stir up the lower
classes TO feeling of resentment
against tine United States in order
that the emperor and his advisors may
be forced to declare war Several
serious anti-foreign riots have been
fomented by these newspapers, and "a
number of people have been killed
during the disturbances. but the gov
ernment has quelled the riots and is
holding the reins with firm hand.
The censorship of the press is some
thing wonderful, and little of the
true condition rs permitted to go ont
TO the newspapers. The only way to
be sure that your letters are not tam
pered with is to give them to the
Il nnrcar Of cn,na Apnarioan nr Rriticb