The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-02-09

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calmly atood by and refused to assist
In arresting the criminal. and this pot
withstanding that the circumstances
were explained to them They evil
IDENTIFY regarded the whole thing ~
most trivial AFFAIR that ought to have
been beneath the foreigners notice.
Recently In q Kobe tramcar because
the conductor, who was mere boy.
insisted on being paid the fare. two
roughs fell upon him and beat him
mercilessly, while the whole carful Of
men sat by without Offering any fn-
reference. This sort Of thing IL so
common as to be q marked feature
Of the country, and a serious refiec-
| tion on the civilization that can toler-
ate 1t.
Relic Of FeudaI Days.
A further astonishing Characteristic
OF the japanese civilization is the
thug" system that Is allowed to donn-
mate It under certain circumstances.
This is. Of course. a relic of savage
customs OF feusiai times. when certain
bands of roughs called "soshi" were
hired by discounted warriors or by
citizens that had been insulted. to
avenge their wrongs and get even"
with their detractors. The ''soshf
were to the common man what the
retainers were to the feudai lord. his
avengers In time Of need. only they
were open to hire. And even today II
any man wants to punish his enemy
he may employ these thugs to UNDER
take 1t for him, and they will perform
II with an Responsibility and ven
geance that he could not at all COM
mand.
A forcibie example Of the effective
ness of this barbarous system was
- Il .H~ - -
the city OF Kobe not long ago. Dur
ing a confiagration there, q big ware
house belonging to the Mits Bishi
Company was burned, and large
quantity of damaged rice saved from
the rs was afterwards offered at
auction. A merchant from Nagoya
came down and, bid the rice up to a
figure beyond what the Kobe men
wanted to pay. and the rice was
knocked down to him. The others ap-
parentiy acquiesced. but not because
they intended to let him have the
goods. The disappointed merchants
simply hired a band OF thugs to do
him up. and he was soon inundated
into abandoning the sale.
To us the most remarkable thing
about this incident is that the law
seemed unable to protect the man or
secure him his rights. 1t simply
means that In Japan, when the thugs
are on the warpath, the police are out
OF 1t; 1t was so during the riots con-
Quoted by these thugs In Toxic last
year. as well as in those that recently
recently resulted in such loss Of life
and property in Japanese mining re-
gions.
A further illustration Of this system
may be seen In the case OF foreign
missionary named Murphy to whose
house a japanese slave girl ned Tor
protection; her owner forthwith hired
a number Of rowdies who broke into
the missionary's house and took the
girl away by force. The secretary of
appear on the scene before the su.
thorities could AFFORD the foreigners
any protection from the mob.
On the occasion of the disbandment
of the Korean army in Seul recently
the Japanese authorities engaged q
gang OF these "soshr to capture the
deserving Korean soldiers. who were
taking refuge in private houses; and
the spectacle of these men going into
the houses of citizens. seizing any.
whom they might suspect, beating him
almost to death, tying the victim up,
and carrying him of for reward, con-
stituted an exhibition OF savagery that
foreigners in the Far East will never
forget. When 1t is remembered that
under certain circumstances matters
of course. the social status that 10
thereby represented must be Justly
discredited.
The peculiar attitude Japanese civ-
ilization assumes toward crime is well
illustrated In reference to the man
who some years ago attempted to as
sassainate Count Olxuma and thea
committed suicide 1t will be remem-
bered that the bomb of. the would
be assassin blew of ono of fhe Counts
legs and manned him for life. Yet
the Toxic Historical Society has not
only decided to raise a monument to
this criminal as a nation hero. but
asked Count Okuma to acQuierce in
this laudable desire: and, moreover,
the Count felt Obliged to comply with
the request for he could never lift
his face as q knight of sBushido had
he refused. In Japan patriotism cas-
lily overlooks the crime of murder. The
shrine of the Forty-seven Bonins,
where thousands worship fFom year to
year in Toxic, is simply the tomb of
assassins.
The other day a citizen heard that
q certain other citizen had been Q
Russian SPY; he Immediately set about
to deceive the offender in an interview
when he dispatched the spy with Q
sword. The sick wife Of the murdered
man was Immediately elected from her
fathers house, and not hotel or pri-
vate house in the whole capital could
be found to take her in; It would be
contrary to Bushido to show any kind
ness to one whose relation had been
a spy. Evidently the spirit of Bushido
is not what can be universally re-
great civilization.