The Washington herald., 1908-04-07
By FREDERIC ]. HASKIN.

can 20 into your country and work on
such terms that the American cannot
compete with him. The same thing Is
true Of Chinese coolie who would come
10 Japan. Therefore you viii not have
our coolies, and we Will not have the
Chinese. It is merely an economic ques-
tion, and the Americans have right to
protect their own domestic system from
a dangerous economic element We de-
plore the fact that the race issue has been
brought into the question. for while the
causes leading 20 the agitation were pure
ly economic, the difficulty may extend
and cause III feeling between classes Of
the two countries which would otherwise
be the best Of friends We are hurt that
some Americans have judged our whole
nation by the conduct Of a few of its
biackest sheep, but We haTbOT no resent
ment and feel that It will all come out
right"
This opinion Is that which the American
will find among those Of the governing
class with whom he comes In contact
here. and il is the opinion Of the more
sober japanese journals. However, it
does not at all consist with the action of
this same class Of men in the San Fran
cisco school question, wSere there was no
economic issue and the whole affair re
suited from a segregation OF races, IN
which the japanese were placed with the
Chinese instead OF with the whites.
The radical opinion is entirely differ
ent tt is the thought OF the more numer-
Gus but less influential portion Of the
thinking peOpsc-the military faction
which Is still drunk with sight of power
and blinded by the blood of the Russian
bear. 1t Is the opinion Of the majority
Of the vast body OF students in the uni
versities. most OF them more or less in
fected with socialistic ideas, and all Of
them swelled up with that peculiar con-
ceit which runs in the blood east of Suez
These classes, guided by the newspapers
and leaders OF their side, believe that
loyalty to the honor Of Japan compels
them to protest against the action Of the
inferior Americans in snubbing their su-
peTiOTs from the realm of the MikadO.
Their leaders declare that jealousy OF
japanese industry Is the immediate cause
OF the anti-immigration agitation. but
that under it all Is the race question.
Their newspapers detail the attacks made
upon the Japanese In American cities
extending the reports Of mobs and
dwelling on the utteTances Of public men.
The bill In the California legislature TO
prevent foreigners from acquiring land
was declared to be aimed at the jap
anese, and one writer who has a degree
from an American university, informed
the people Of Japan through the columns
OF a magazine. that this bin aimed to
confiscate the property Of the Japanese
landowners in California The sober
journals pointed out the untruth of this
statement but the two journals reach
different class.
The stinging poverty of the people in
the throes Of a panic has quieted the
war talk Of these radicals. and many
pens that wrote with vitroi year ago
are silent before the oncoming Of the
great American armada. but the feeling
is still there. The closest students OF the
japanese people are inclined to think that
this anti-AmeFican and anti-Canadlan
sentiment is not directly resultant from
the issues raised by the emigration
question, but that it is only an express
sion of the old anti-foreign hatred which
Kept Japan under lock and kev for 1000
years. II is not to be expected that the
habits of thought of twenty centuries
can be wiped ont In a few decides. The
smouldering em5ers of this OLD anti-for-
eign feeling, freshened by the victories
of the war against Russia, are yet alive
and may be famed into flame despite
the efforts Of the governing class TO
keep them covered up.
II is this sentiment which is behind
Japan's movement for an Asiatic Monroe
doctrine And IL is this same sentiment
which will rule in the event that Japan
does come into predominant influence in
China. Then 1t would possess what it
now laeks-unlimited natural resources
and great wealth. II il gets to that posi-
ton. the goal Of the ambition of every
Japanese, then the old feeling Of super
iority TO the Occidentals. the union OF
japanese and Chinese hatred for foreign-
ers, the cry of Asia for the Aslatics,"
will have more force behind It than Il
has now, falling from the lips of ire
spOnsbile Tokyo students.
Copyright. 1908. b. Frederic J. Haskln)
TO-mOFFOw-FrenEi Finance in
Japan.