The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1908-06-05
JAPAN AND HER
ENGLISH ALLY

VANCOUVER, b. c. May 1S.-It i
! Japans proudest boast that she ha
for her sworn ally the mightiest nava
power in the world, and that between
them they can command the tw,
greatest oceans. Indeed, many Japan
csc statesmen base their assertions tina
there will be no war in the near feature
on the fact that the United State!
would not dare to champion an issu,
which would mean a struggle witt
England and Japan, and point to thu
fact that the recent treaty between
England and Japan binds them t.
make common cause the one with the
other when either is involved in wal
with another nation. 1t viii be recalled
that prior to the close of the Rus
so-Japanese war the treaty agreed thai
the contracts should each be bound tC
support the other in case of war with
two or more foreign nations. The
treaty made since then binds the one
to fight for the other if even only one
nation is opposed.
But would Great Britain stand by her
treaty in case war should be brought
about between the United States and
Japan? To answer this question there
are many conditions and circumstances
which tend to point to one conclusion.
To begin with it is a fact known ot all
men who read current history to good
purpose that Japan has lost ground
in the English heart. England re-
allies that if she is to keep her place
tas the Mistress of the Seas, and her
primacy in the commercial world she
must hold on to every bit of interna-
tional trade she now has, and lose
none of the opportunities that the
/ future has in store for her.
! But Japan, sworn ally that she is,
/ is just now waging a commercial war
against British interests that is pro-
voking many an cutlery from British
traders. She is going into India, into
China, into Korea-everywhere that
British trade opportunities are to be
found, and is there converting war al
lies into commercial enemies. That the
result is a diminution of England's
respect for her side partner in the East
is as plain as day. Already the NUT
terings of discomfort are heard and
evidences are multiplying that Japan's
unfair commercial policies are begin
ming to react against her. A promin-
ent British author states that English
public opinion is fast turning against
the Japanese. He says:
England and Japan are in alliance.
But it would be foolish to ignore the
fact that the imperial and commercial
policy of Japan must inevitably, if
maintained, strain this alliance to the
breaking point within a single gener-
Of
Japanese coolies will inevitably create
problems involving choice for Eng
land between a cordial friendship with
our colonies and a partnership with
Japan; we viii have to decide in China
between offending our ally and main
tanning our treaty rights, and CONNER
cial opportunities unimpaired; and in
Korea we are already facing the al
tentative of protest, or the limitation
of a great future market.
For years England and America
were obsessed by the vision of great
Russia, all powerful and all knowing,
moving forward into the Far East al
most with the resstlessness of fate.
Men marked what was thought to be
her campaign of silent, exclusive and
apparently unceasing self aggrandize-
ment, and the growth of Russia was
witnessed with dread, for it was the
belief that where Russian power spread
the prestige and commerce of other
y y ~ ~ - - ~ y y y y y y - y y y
rejoicing. The newspapers issued spe-
cial cable editions and for the first
time in it's history Honolulu knew what
was going on in the world on the same
day that it happened. But the same
newspapers which made so much of
the cable news had been using press
specials by wireless for many months.
In fact, Honolulu had the first paper
in the world to employ the wireless
telegraph as a news-gathering agency. |
OF course. the cable did much for
Hawaii. Until five years ago when a
steamer came into Honolulu from San
Francisco, almost the entire town |
would be down at the dock yelling to
the passengers on board ship, Whats |
the news?" and the passengers would
take delight in surprising the islanders
with their six-day-old San Francisco |
Now there are few Ha- /
waiians to meet the boats, and the |
What has happened in the world dur
ing the six days we have been at sea-"
The traveller who comes from the
Orient finds Honolulu the beginning of
the Occident.. A party of fifty Japa-
nese, merchants and bankers, who had
never been away from their home
before. recently started on "a
trip around the world. The first for
eign soil they touched was the Amer
lean port of Honolulu. The Alexander
Young Hotel was an eye-opening crash
which showed them the difference be-
tween the Occident and the Orient.
This is the largest building in Homo
lulu. 1t is six stories high, and has
large electric elevators manned by
thoroughly reckless young Americans.
The Empire of the Rising Sun does
not boast of an elevator in it's entire
domain. About fifteen Japanese crowd
I'd into the elevator and asked to go
10 the roof garden. They never had
been in an elevator before and the
elevator boy knew it. They went 10
he roof garden at express schedule,
screaming and yelling and holding onto
he iron work on the inside of the cage.
When they got to the top they de-
lined to get out and asked to go 20
he basement. For practically half the