Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1907-09-14
JAPANESE SAYS THEY
MAY BUY PHILIPPINES
MIkApo's COUNTRY DOES NOT
WANT WAR
Declares Disturbances in Japan Are
Due to Party Not in Power
Which Wants to
Get In

NEW YORK, Sept. 13.-Shun Morimato,
member of the Japanese parliament from
the province of Hoyogo. the chief city
of which is Kobe, is at the Hotel Bel
mont on tour of the United States and
Central America, undertaken to observe
the conditions under which his people
live and work abroad and the chances
for their advancement He is of a
wealthy family, an engineer by profess
sion and a graduate of the Imperial Uni
versity of Toxic.
Mr. Morimato is a member of the peace
or government party, and since arriving
in this country in the spring has visited
the chief cities of the Pacific coast and
the gulf. as well as Panama. After a
fortnights stay in this city he will pro-
coed west, sailing for home in December.
AS a member of the peace party he
takes the ground that there Is no basis
for fear of war with his country, which
he says is prosperous, developing her
trade and anxious to continue to do so.
In this connection he approves the send
ing of the American fleet to the Pacific,
asserting that it is a peace move, as it
will demonstrate the mobility and power
of the navy and thereby diminish the
chance of war with any power.
Mr. Morimato describes the movement
of the fleet as a maneuver, calculated
to test the vessels and the men and bring
out any weaknesses that may be in
either, adding that Japan's success in the
late war was very largely due to the
lthoroughness with which the officers and
men of her fleets understood their ships
and the working of them as units.
Feature of Navy
Frequent maneuvers, he pointed out,
were a feature of the work of the Japan
ese navy Russia he said he had been
informed, had not taken the trouble to
so school her fighting men, a neglect, he
thought, which might have been serious
factor in the results of the war with
Japan.
1.-THE people of Japan do not want
trouble with the United States any more
than your people want trouble with u.s.
said Mr.. Morimato "All the disturbances
in Japan are due to the attempts of the
party out of power to get in. We of the
dominant party are radically opposed to
anything that may even look like war
| like intent"
| What is the chance of Japanese labor
being employed on the canal?'
None. The only Japanese who will GO
there are engineers to study. I saw Mr.
Owayama, a graduate of the Imperial
University at Toxic, there. He is an en-
gineer and is on the work. To me IL
seemed as though you could get along
there without the help of our labor. Our
laborers are needed at home to build our
own railroads"
OF the trouble between Japan and
China over the seizure by the latteR oil
the island of Kwanto Mr. Morimato saio
he only knew what was in the public
dispatches and did not take them seri.
ously.
81 am afraid the reports are exagger,
ated" he said. TOO much Importance
should not be given the affair, at least
at this time and until we know more
about it,"
%'Does Japan want the Philippines
Would 1t buy them If the United States
were willing to sell? How much do yor
want for them? When we trade that is
the first thing asked. Perhaps if yor
marked them down cheap enough an6
made the bargain an attractive one
Japan might buy. Nations look for bar.
gains like individuals sometimes. But
Japan does not want them so badly thai
she would fight for them"