The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1909-02-23

. piaeS-HOW American Capital a 81
. Money In Japan-His PEG =
= pie as Inventors and
= turer-A Remarkable Talk With.
+" One OF the Worlds Greatest s.
> Statesmen.
- s , , = = = = " g . s. i = y = =
Copyright, 1909, by Frank G.. Car
penter.)
TOXIC. 1909.
I have just returned from a morn
ing spent with Prince Ito, the Grand
Old Man of apa He IS the BIS
marck, Gladstone, John Sherman and
Ulysses S. Grant of this empire. and If
he should write a book telling the his
tory OF his country he should a to
begin it as Caesar did his common
taries on the Gallo war. by saying,
Magma pars xfur" CA great part of
which I Was).
In connection with Marquis Inouye,
Prince Ito was the first to see the alb
solute necessity of Japan's adopting
the western civilization if she would
hold a place among h nations Of the
world. AS a boy he fOughtsagalnSt the
Shotgun in order to put the emperor IN
power, end when the new government
was constituted in~186S he was one of
the chief organizers, being vice MIN
lister of finance and public works. Al
that time he was only twenty-seven
wears of age. Two years later he was
sent to the United States to study our
financial system, which he
here; and at the age OF thirty ne was
sent abroad as a special envoy TO ar
range treaties with the European pow
erS.
\. little. later, we find him in Eu-
rope studying the constitutions Of the
principal nations. and after that back
in Toxic writing. the constitutions
which now governs Japan. In one
of the rooms of the villa where l
was prepared, and as I talked with
the prince / could hardly realize that
the new Japan, with its wonderful
system Of finance and banks, its par
lament elected by the people and the
machinery Of it's government, which
is one of the best in the world. was
largely formed by him, now more
than a quarter of a century ago.
Prince Ito Before the Mast.
Prince Ito began his life young
He was only twenty-five when, after
trying In vain to drive the foreign gun.
boats out of Yokohama, he slipped
away one dark night and got a shiI
for Shanghai, having tc
visit the western world and spy ou1
the secrets of the barbarians who Their
threatened the very existence or nj:
country. He and Marquis 1nOuye tooF
passage on another ship at
and by it made their way arOund tht
Cape of Good Hope to Europe. The,
had arranged for money beforehand
but in some way there was a miSun
d~ersranding. The captain Of the shil
did not realize that he had two yOunt
mobiles going off on a tour Of investi
cation. He treated them as sailor
and. made them work during a grea
part of their passage The two boy
knewsno English, and when they Wer'
dumped out on the streets of London
h were a. a loss where to &C
They had letters of credit on Jardine
Mathieson & Co, a great Englisl
trading firm which still has it
branches all over China; but they ha'
only a dollar in actual cash, and the
lost hat before they had gone man
blocks. I referred to this story dur
ing my talk with the prince this morn
ing, and he told me it was a true one
He said that Inouy had picked u
Il loaf Of bread from a bakers counter
and had laid this. their last coi1
down, expecting that the man woul
give them some change. To thei
surprise, the baker threw the coin int
the till and motioned to them to g
on. They could not speak English
and. they had to submit. They 500
made their way to Jardine, Mathieso
q Co., and there oun the nom
waiting for them, as they had expect
ed. Their prince had forwarded
credit of $4,000. and from hat tim
on they had plenty.
A Landmark of the New Japan.
Prince Ito said that he and Marqui
1nOuye were amazed at the wonders {
u civilization and that they had NJ
Z been in England three months befo1
they realized that Japan must be thor
oughly ~,ereorganized and educate
along modern HEes before it coul
hope to compete With the forces abo,
That conclusion Of these tW
Japanese boys marks the real begir
ning-of the New Japan. The prime