The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-05-07

men OF the country are trying to do.
They are nominating their own men
for the Diet, and if the government
will permit them to be elected by a
fair count, the next parliament viii
contain at least a respectable number
of actual representatives of the people
who will set themselves into strong
opposition to the plans of the military
oIigarcE1y.
| A Toxic bank president who has
been earnest in his endeavors to point
out the dangers of the present spend
thrift course, is now candidate for
the Lower House. Notwithstanding his
high position in business. his protests
have not only passed unheeded, but
have been smiled at. He is telling his
people now that If he can get into the
Diet he will thunder the protests Of
the taxpayers in such a fashion that
| they cannot be ignored.
| The family, not the individual. Is
| still the unit in Japan. The family.
consisting perhaps of a score or more
of households and of hundreds of mem
bers, is responsible to society as a
whole. The decision of a family coun-
ell in rural Japan is of greater force
and effect than the decision of a legal
ly constituted court. These families
have their ancient clan connections
and the individual members now, as
for a thousand years, take their opin-
ions from the chief of the clan.
The japanese rule of life is exactly
the opposite of that which obtains in
America and out of which our ideas
of free government arose. Anglo
Saxon liberty means the liberty of the
long as he respects the rights of others.
Japanese liberty means the gracious
and benevolent permission, granted by.
a higher and superior power to the in
dividual, to do as he thinks best until
the higher will is changed. The Amer
lean and English idea of popular gov
eminent is that the power is granted
from the people to their representatives
to govern in the interest of the people.
The japanese idea of constitutional
government is that the Emperor per-
mits the people to select representa-
tives to assist him in managing affairs
for the glory of the state.
This difference obtains throughout
all forms of government, national,
local, family, and household. A Japa-
nese son is subject to his fathers will
until he establishes a household of his
own, no matter if he is fifty years old. |
One Japanese father the other day de-
cIared that if his son went to the
theater he would disown MIN. The son
was twenty-five years old, but as he
had not set up household of his own
he cannot do the simplest thing against
his fathers will This father, in his
turn, is absolutely subject to the VIII
of the head of family council. II IL
directs him to disown his son, ne mas
no recourse but to obey. The family
is sacred, it must be maintained, ana |
its mandates may never be disregard
ed. For thousands of years these peo- /
Pile have submitted TO discipline Of this /
kind. The law has told them what |
kind of clothes to wear, how much food |
to eat, and how to comb their hair. |
When a question arises as 10 poIcy' !
the japanese does not ask what is best /
or what is right; he looks t0 the power
above him for regulation and direction. !
This method Of daily life has not
changed by the adoption Of constl-
tutional form of government. The con- (
stitution itself bows TO the law OF the
supremacy of the family council, and
thereby recognizes a higher power. 50
it is that the forms of popular gov
eminent in Japan are merely eonFe-
nient administrative fictions. The real
power is stiH in the hands of the oil
garchy of ruling families, and will be
until such a time as the Japanese
mind grasps the fact that in those
forms Of government they have a wea-
pom which will enable them to over