Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1908-01-09
LET Us TAKE NOTICE

| NAAe"N'o W AAAN CAiiAtQ anu Ills OWL
country toward the mercantile COM
mand of the Pacific. No American
writer has furnished a more powerful
argument in favor of federal aid for
American shipping than has this caustic
critic from the island empire Of the
orient
In 1870. we are told. Japan had thirty
five steamers in her merchant marine,
their tonnage aggregating 15,49s. In
1907 she had over 1000 steamers with
an aggregate tonnage of over 100000
And already" dares this writer, there
are prophets abroad telling us that the
light that we see upon the Atlantic to-
day is the splendor of a sunset" And
probably without malice aforethought
he adds, a little further on. after re-
citing the benefits derived by Japan
through her wars: "It is a rather sin
gular comment on the affairs of men
that so many of their achievements are
either the direct or indirect fruit of a
war, the most destructive of all human
endeavors."
Adai,hi Kinnosuke regrets that the
war between Japan and China gave to
his country "a mild and whimpering
recognition, half smiling, half patroniz-
ing, and not at all free from touch
Of contempt, from the great powers of
the world" But in spite of the half
nod of recognition which this pushing
child among nations received, she kept
bravely on, recognizing that her sorest
ne, / was a great merchant marine.
The figures illustrating the develop
ment OF this necessary adjunct of ma
tional success are amazing. In 1898
Japan had 1882 steamers with a total
tonnage of 43s,779 Inasmuch as her
tonnage figures for last year were above
a million, it will be seen that her ner-
chant tonnage more than doubled in
these nine years. During this period
she established her American, Euro
pean, Australian and other foreign
lines. Here is a summary of the prin-
cipal development work done during
these later years;
THE Nippon Yusen kaisha nippon
Mail Steamship company, by far the
greatest steamship company in the far
east. which has greater tonnage than
any ocean steamship company in the
United States, opened it's London line
In 1900 In 1901 the same company es-
tablished the Seattle line; the Sydney
line, touching at Hongkong, Thursday
island and Brisbane, and the Bombay
line via Singapore and Colombo. Be-
sides these, in the period under review,
the same company opened the Shang-
hai-Suchau, -Hangchau, Yoko-
hama Shanghai, Kobe-North China.
Kobe Korea and -Vladivostok
lines, and these In addition to a number
Of newly established coastwise lines.
In 1900 Togo Kisen kaisha (Orientai
Steamship company established its Yo-
kohama-San Francisco service, touch
ing at Honolulu, Shanghai and Hong
kong: while the Osaka Shosen kaisha
OSAKA Commercial Steamship company
opened in 1898 and 1899 its Yangtze
lines, Shanghai Hankau and Hankau-
Ishang. In 1900 it opened its Kobe
Korea line. which touches at Fusan,
Mokupo, Chemulpo. At the same time
the minor steamship companies were
cobwebbing the Nippon and the Yellow
seas, as we'll as the coastal waters of
the Pacific, with newly established lines
of service" From 1898 to 1904 the chief
iron works and shipbuilding concerns
have turned out thirty steamers with a
tonnage above 1000 each.
This writer informs us that during
the period between Japan's war with
China and her war with Russia the
Nippon government did everything it
could to assist in the creation of a
great mercantile marine. THE solicit
tude of Tokyo was more than paternal;
it was feverish. But why all that
touching enthusiasm of the Tokyo gov
eminent? Why did it act like ner-
vous hen over chicks newly Matched?
What did the government want? Did It
already read in the early light of the
long ago the real significance OF the
coming of a new era in the far east,
and did it wish to create a powerful
mercantile marine that it might COM
mand the markets of continental Asia?
Was it for the famous 'bloodless war
of commerce of Beaconsfield that 1t
wished to cover the Pacific with the
merchant flag of Nippon? Nothing Of
the kind. Here is the reason; very
simple and very black-it was for war;
Tokyo saw, and that too on no distant
horizon, the coming of the storm of a
Russian war which was inevitable;
war, that was the chief, abiding, all
solicitous mother of the expansion after
the Chinese war" But the motive Of
today, he adds, is not the same. 1.-THE
rivalries are different, and the talk of
war between America and japan is
foolish There is too much sense on
either side of the Pacific"
The meaning of the expansion of
Japan's merchant marine at this time
/ is nothing more nor less than a desire
to master the commerce of the Pacific.
What is being accomplished at the pres
ent time is indicated by the following,
taken from an interview in a Japanese
newspaper with the manager Of the
Nitsubishi Dockyard company. in which
he outlined the work of his company
for 1907 as follows;
LAS for the work mapped out for the
Nagasaki shop for 1907, there are in the
first place two steamers for the Togo