The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-01-19
JAPANESE INVADE
 AMERICAN SCHOOLS
Significance of the Little
 Army's Movement
GOVERNMENT IS HELPING
Is Payng Large Sums for Best Stu dents to Study Abroad-Hunt for Efficiency-Japanese
 Girls in America.

New York, Jauary s.-6Speeial.)-An English university professor who was re- gently delivering a series of lectures at a great American university. remarked the presence of several attentive Japanese students.
 II have lectured or attended lectures at universities in five or SIX European countries during the last few years he said, and always there were one or tw" Japanese faces in the audience. The Japs are the constant element in the educa- tional Aux. Wherever there is anything to be learned you will find your Jap sit ting with serious face, steadily absorbing And from all four corners of the globe the Japs are taking back to the home country today the latest knowledge in all branches, the best that is thought in the world
 This international invasion of Japanese students has been quietly going on under subsidies from the Mikado's government for the past 40 years and it has been par ticularly directed, of late years, toward the United States. where, according to the best statistics obtanable, there are today some 300 Japanese students studying at the various universities and colleges. These students form about 1.2 per cent of the Japanese population of the United States, a percentage of students un- eaualled in any other foreign element in our population. Of our general popula- ton only one-quarter of one per cent, about 100000, are students in universities, colleges or professional schools.
 
 The Japanese students in America are significant of Japans world wide hunt for efficiency. The Japanese government spends upwards of $150,0O0 year in send ing it's best students abroad to America and Europe to learn the latest educational methods and to garner the most advanced results of the scientific research of the world There are about l50 of these gov ernment-subsidized students studying in various countries today, and each year they carry back to their native land not only great stores of scientific knowledge, but also the latest information about manufacturing processes of all kinds Each student has a maximum allowance from the government of S90O year. and in special eases this may be increased by as much as $750 more for touring or spe- cial study. In all cases an allowance of S100 is made for outfit which probably accounts for the fact that every Japa- nese student owns frock coat and a silk hat In addition $350 is allowed for trayeling expenses each way to students who go to study, in the western states, and s400 to those who go to our eastern universities.
 This little company of seekers for eff eiency is supplemented by a larger army of Japanese who go to foreign universl- ties at their own expense, either with the idea of going back to Japan with the ad- ditional advantages that foreign educa- ton gives. or of training themselves for special occupations in the country in which they study These men and women form the greater part of the Japanese uni Versity students in America. Some Of them are the scions of wealthy Japanese families who will go back to Japan to conduct great commercial enterprises. An example of these is Eniki Ri, son of one of the three wealthiest families in Japan whose grandfather was the Rockefeller of the Formosan oil trade Mir. Ri is study ing foreign trade, business organization, accounting, commercial law and econom- ics at New York university.
 But d large proportion of the students are drawn from poorer classes and fre- quently they toll at some form of manual
  courses at some university at night. A number of New York families have found that the Japanese servant was studying economics and finance at the university in the evening.
 These ambitious young Japs, though they may have been graduated from high schools or universities in their country, purposely select some form of manual labor to support themselves here, in order that they may have their minds clear for the university work.
 The largest university contingent of Japanese in the east is at New York university, in this city, where there are 36 of the busy little yellow men and women Five are studying the law school three are in the School of Pedagogy, three take regular evening college courses, and 9 are in the school of commerce. The large number of Japanese in the school of commerce is attributable to the voracity with which the Japanese gobble up Amer iean commercial theory.
 "They are among our best students, keen, alert and conscientious" declared an officer of the school. "But it is curi- ousffact that they do not flock to the more practical courses, such as those in &C., counting. They take more general work than any other class of students. The theory and philosophy of business is what they appear to want. and courses in business management. IlIldHct, tcOHOulCS, railroad management and similar sub jects seem to attract them irresistibly."
 1t is interesting to note that the two women students in the university, one, Miss Nobu Foruya, is of semi-royal fam fly, and is taking courses in literature, languages and philosophy simply as mat ters of general culture to enjoy in her home life when she returns The other woman student, Miss Ume Kitagawa of Tokio Is studying advanced subjects in the School of Pedagogy with the idea of ap- plying her knowledge as a teacher in Japan
 In all the other larger universities of the country one can find, similarly, seri- ous little groups of Japanese steadily ab- sorbing knowledge Far sighted educa- tors see in their work the phenomenon of a great national ambition, for, they say, just as the island Kingdom devoted years of study in military science toward the task of conquering rne power of Rus sia and enforcing a sort of yellow Mon- roe Doctrine in the far east, so now she is training her sons to conquer the world, aot by brute force of arms, but in com- rerciaI effectiveness and the force of Ter advancing science and philosophy.