Albuquerque citizen., 1908-03-30
AS|A'S MASTERY
ONLY CHANCE
FOR JAPAN
Island Empire Must War or
Repudidte Her DebtS--Cdn
Not Fight United States.

West Newton, Mass, March 30
That Japan must either disarm or
fight some other power. or repudiate
her debts. was the remarkable state
ment Of Congressman Edwin DENLY
of Michigan in an address delivered
before the Newton Republican club.
DENLY is congressman from Detroit.
and a member of the foreign affairs
committee. He spent many years in
China while his father was minister
TO that country. He speaks Chinese
and Japanese, and is regarded as the
best informed man in Congress on the
politics Of the far east
Early in his speech he said: "A
study of the conditions in Japan leads
almost inevitably to the conclusion
that three courses are today open to
the Island empire. and only three.
These are:
81. Disarmament
"2. War.
"S. Reputation"
The first two were impossible, and
he proceeded to show that Japan
could war with no other country than
China.
showed from the official records of
the financial redbook of the Japan
ese government that the people of
Japan are staggering under a weight
of taxation never approximated by
any other civilized nation. He assert
ed that 80 per cent of the total in
come of the people of Japan is paid
to the government in taxes for the
purpose Of maintaining her enormous
military and naval footing.
The national deOt of Japan" said
Mr.. DENLY. amounts to about S24
per capita, the greater part of which
is owed abroad. Her debt has more
than doubled since 1905. Her re-
sources are meager. Fifteen per cent
only of the superficial area of the
country is under cultivation, and as
rule considerable quantities of food
must be purchased abroad. Her
standing army now numbers at least
100000 men. Her navy has increased
since the war with Russia from six
battleships of the first class to eleven.
The empire is literally staggering un-
der this burden.
Everything Taxed
ITO meet it the people have to pay
n land tax. an income tax, a business
tax, liquor tax. tax on soy, sugar
excise, a consumption tax on textile
fabrics. a mining tax, a tax on bours-
es, a tax on the issue of bank notes,
tonnage dues. customs duties, a trav-
cling tax, a succession tax. a stamp
tax, and so on. Then there are the
post and telegraph the salt monop-
oily, the camphor monopoly. the to-
bacco monopoly. the railroad and a
variety of other and special forms of
extracting money from the people.
The annual land tax rate alone is
per cent of the assessed value. while
the income tax runs from 10 per cent
of incomes of $50 a year to 55 per
cent of incomes of $4,000 or over.
The only exceptions are the salaries
of army and navy officers. pensioners
and certain other special cases, and
the patriotic people pay without a
bubble or a murmur.
But it is evident that however
much imoued with a high sense of pa
triotism no nation can long continue
to carry 50 dreadful burden.
I'VE find. then. a country already
taxed To the limit OF human endur-
ance, yet continuing to maintain an
enormously expensive army, and, so
far as we of the west can see maxi
ing every possible effort to increase
its military strength. The Inevitable
deduction follows that war is thought
10 be imminent. 1t cannot be a de-
fensive war, for we seek in vain
among the nations for an aggressive
foe.
What, then, are the plans of To-
kio?"
Certainly she will not disarm. Her
people, drunk with success, would not
permit it. if the wiser statesmen