Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-12-06
ARE DRAWN TOGETHER
Effect on Japan and America
of Recent Events.
TALK OF WAR UNFOUNDED
Influence of Visit of Commissioner
General LOOMS.
WARM WELCOME TO wARsHIPs
Demonstration Of Friendship Great
est Affair of the Kind Ever Wit
nessed-One Question to Settle.
special Correspondence Of The Star.


with the reception of the American expo
stiOn commission. the American battle
ship fleet and the California business men
are over it is possible to speak with
some degree Of precision as to the exact
effect these various events have had upon
the relations of the United States and
Japan.
In the first place. it may be emphatic
ally stated that Japan has shown there is
absolutely no foundation for the talk of
war which has been repeated to such a
large extent in newspapers, not only In
Japan and America, but in Europe. The
officials of the Japanese government.
from Marquis Katsura, the premier.
down. have insisted to Commissioner Cen
eral Loomis, to Admiral Sperry and to
other American Representatives. that. SO
far as Japan was concerned, there never
has been the slightest thought of precipl-
tatng hostilities with the United States.
Even when the emigration question was
at its height, IL is asserted, there was not
a single preparation of military charac-
ter made with the American republic as
the prospective enemy.
Demonstration Of Friendship.
But whether this be true or false, the
conduct of the Japanese government dur
ing the month of October has demon
strated there Is no purpose to pursue any
other policy than that which contemplates
the cultivation of the most cordial rela-
tons with the transpacific power. The
government always has realized the tinan-
cial and military strength of the United
States. The people, perhaps, have not
done so. They have looked backward
upon their easy conquest of China fifteen
years ago and upon their victory over
nxrtI fI,nt,-
conquer any nation in the world. with
the United States they are friendly by
tradition; but the utterances of. Repre-
sentative Hobson, predicting war with
Japan. which are printed by the japanese
press, necessarily have provoked some
slight resentment, and there were few
Japanese and many foreigners who re-
garded the dispatch Of the battlesh1p
fleet as distinct menace to the far east
ern power. 1t was certainly regarded by
every one in the far east as an emphatic
assertion on the part of the United States
of its interest In the Pacific and its pur-
pose to safeguard 1t. Included in this
interest were the integrity of China and
the open door throughout the length and
breadth of that empire, principles first
enunciated by the late John Hay when
Secretary of State. enforced by President
Roosevelt and proclaimed by Mr.. Taft In
speech he made at Shanghai year ago.
Effect Of Presidents Action.
The Japanese very tactfuly officially
saw no menace in the dispatch of the
fleet. Whatever impression to this eff
feet prevailed in some quarters was dis
sipated by the action of the President
in sending the exposition commission to
Toxic prior to the arrival Of the fleet,
even after the pOstponement of the great
fair had been announced by the katsura
ministry. Promptly appreciating the
~ MIN Of To
commission. and particularly Commits
sioner General Loomis automatically
sought to dissipate the Idea that there
was any disposition on the part of the
government people of the United
States to threaten Japan There is no
question as to the success OF their eff
forts in this direction. The Japanese
government had intended to spend half
a million dollars upon the entertainment
of the fleet. but in view of the Pacific
policy of the Roosevelt administration,
as shown by the dispatch of the commits
sion. and the declarations Of Mr.. LOOMS,
the katsura ministry and the entire jap
anese people threw themselves with
hearty enthusiasm into the work Of max
ing the reception of the fleet the grand
est affair of the kind which the world
had ever seen. The entertainment of Of
ficers and men now is a. matter of history.
When the fleet departed every member
of it's personnel realized that the jap
anese had no intention of firing a hostile
shot, but were animated by a sincere
purpose to remove all cause Tor ILL
feeling and to promote good relations
with the American people.
This attitude on the part of Japan Is
important to the United States for
numerous reasons Every student of af-
fairs realizes that a war between the
United States and Japan would be in
furious to both countries. II japan were
victorious. she might take Alaska, the
Philippines and Hawaii. She appreciates
fully that she could not acquire per-
manently any of the mainland Of Ameri-
ca, including Alaska. If the United
States were victorious. it could seize For
moSa and cut off Japan from Korea and
Manchuria. In the meantime the COM
merce of the two countries would suffer
tremendously.
Japan's Declaration.
Japan declares emphatically that she
does not want either Hawaii or the Phil
ippines. Indeed, she prefers that the
United States remain in the Philippines
in order to assert an interest in the
future of China. Japan needs powerful
help in that direction. She looks upon
the Chinese market as peculiarly her
own. because Of her geographical proX-
unity Although she controls the south
ern half of Manchuria, it is her inten-
ton religiously to observe the open door
in that region. During the military oc-
CupdtlOH VI MducnuTld 1OllOW1nS Ine
close of the war with Russia, American
business men complained that the Jap
anese were enforcing Determinations to
their injury. AS a result of the ener-
getic measures adopted by the Toxic au-
thorities, these Objectionable practices
have ceased and business men now seek
ing trade in southern Manchuria declare
they suffer no handicap other than that
which the law of competition naturally
develops. That Japan ever will abandon
permanently southern Manchuria is not
to be expected, according to her officials,
since the railroads are owned by the
Japanese government and the region may
be said to constitute a zone of Japanese
interest.
This would seem to be a flaw in the
Japanese declaration Of purpose to respect
the integrity of China. The Japanese
claim it Is not In the first place they
have no definite territorial hold upon
Manchuria, and do not propose to acquire
any. In the second place, neither Japan
nor Russia ever has considered Manchuria
to lie within the scope of the declara-
tions referred to. By China ordinarily
is meant the Middle Kingdom which
does not comprise Manchuria, Mongolia.
Chinese Turkestan or Tibet. 1t Is to
Japan's interest not to permit the aliena-
ton of any Chinese territory, and for this
reason it may be safely assumed she will
take no step to exercise sovereignty over
southern Manchuria, and will act with
the United States to prevent any other
country from taking Chinese soil.
The Exclusion Controversy.