The Hawaiian gazette., 1908-05-29
JAPANESE WAR
OPERATIONS

of the japanese nation. 1t is in war
that it has excelled; it is by war thai
it has come to its present diplomatic
rank among the powers; and it is to-
ward war that every energy of its
greatest men is bent. Those who rule
the government are themselves vet
Grams of successful wars and they are
today preparing for other wars-with
whom and for what no man knows.
Every cent that can be squeezed from
the poverty-stricken people of Japan
is being turned into engines Of war.
No matter how industry, education and
agriculture may suffer, the military
and naval establishments must be ex-
tended, exalted, perfected.
Notwithstanding this warlike spirit,
| it is seriously to be doubted if Japan
can measure up to the somewhat
romantic ideal which many Occidentals
have created in their own minds. 1t
cannot be disputed that japan has
fought two wars within fourteen years,
that it was victor in both, that these
wars were fought with the two most
populous nations on earth, and that in
the last one all records of modern war
1
gagged, were excelled. Yet it is equally
true that this first war was fought with
country absolutely without military
prowess, and that when the end of the
second war came, Japan was almost
exhausted and quite willing to accept
peace propositions which were a dip
lomatic victory for it's vanquished
enemy.
But the alarmist who sees an all
conquering Yellow Peril will exclaim
that Japan can put into the field at a
moments notice an army of a million
fre-tested soldiers. 1t can do nothing
of the kind. AS a matter Of fact, in
its army of 10000 men today there are
not more than 10000 who saw service
| in the campaign against the Russians
The same alarmist will say that the
japanese soldier is possessed of brav-
cry that is more than human, that he
holds to the ancient code of Bushi-do
and would rather die in battle than to
live in peace, and that therefore the
Japanese soldier is more than match
| for any man who has natural ideas
about self preservation. Even the
Japanese themselves laugh at this no
| ton. 1t is true that all japanese are
patriotic and that most of those of the
lower classes believe in the divinity of
the Emperor, but they are not any
more anxious to die than other people.
The Japanese officers who forced their
own men to fight at the point of re-
volver know that the Japanese soldier
is brave, but that like all other human
beings he is fallible, and sometimes is
afraid.
The Japanese navy has the advan
| tage, so it is said, of having fought
the greatest sea battle of modern
times, of having won that battle, and
therefore is ahead of all other navies
in actual experience. The fact that
Japan's present navy has fought
great sea battle is not so great an
advantage when it is remembered that
big guns are soon worn out. Many of
the guns on Admiral Togos ships were
already useless when he won his great
victory. After that battle was over,
more than half the armament of the
Japanese navy was worthless. 1t is to
refine or to replace these guns, and to
repair these ships, and to restore the
captured Russian ships that the Jap
anese government is taxing its people
to the extent of one-fourth of their
total earnings. Japan knows that it's
navy is not as strong as its paper
presentment indicates.
The same condition is true of the
army The Japanese army rife used
in the war with Russia, called the
Arisaka rifle, was almost an exact copy
of now obsolete Mauser rifle, with
the barrel cut off two inches and the
stock shortened to fit the shoulder of
the diminutive Japanese soldier. This
rifle was an admitted failure in many
ways, and before the war was over
many japanese troops were using
rifles captured from the Russians, not
withstanding the difficulty occasioned
by using a different ammunition. The
high-power modern powder burns out
rifle in a very short time and the
Japanese military men know that the
present equipment of their army is
practically useless.
Preparations are being made to COM
pletely re-equip the army, and it is
with view to this end that the Jap
anese arsenals are now working night
and day, employing over $4,000 men,
1t is said that the Japanese have
adopted new rifle, and that arrange
ments are being made to manufacture
it on large scale at home. The pres
ent standing army is provided with
the rifles of the type used in the war
the best of the lot that was left. The
army reserves, corresponding to the
German Landwehr, are equipped with
those slightly worse, and thousands
and thousands of the rifles which ended
their usefulness in the Russian war
have been sold at auction.
Since firearms were invented there
has not been time that revolution
airy or insurrectionary body could not
find a way to get guns. The larger
portion of the japanese army rifles sold
at auction have been finding their way
into China to equip revolutionary
forces, the Chinese being satisfied with
anything that looks like a gun. This |
trade in contraband arms, manufactur-
ed by the japanese government, used |
in the Japanese army and shipped from |
japanese arsenals, is one of the reasons |
for China's intense distrust of it's
neighbor. The recent Tatsu Maru affair |
was only one instance, it is said, of |
this thriving trade.
The purpose of the japanese govern /
ment in rushing with such feverish |
haste this work of repairing the dam |
age to it's armament resulting from the
war with Russia does not appear on