Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1909-01-16
A CHAT WITH JApANS GREAT ! T
GENERAL ABOUT WAR AND PEACE

rolled as non-commissioncd officers.
Such men. however, must possess an
education equal 90 that OF the grady
atcs OF tho middle schools.
The service expected Of every man is
at regular intervals from the ages OF
20 60 co. and this service Is such that
the greater body Of the people may be
made ready for active war at any time.
The number OF trained and partially
trained men available az the beginning
OF the Russian war was about 6OO.OOo.
This was added 10 as the struggle went
on: and when the war closed, notwiih-
standing the heavy losses, Japan had
more than 100000 men in the field. ]
am told that 600 900 men could now be
masscd without trouble, and that with
in a short time an army Of not less
than 1.000.0O0 could be called forth.
In addition TO the many soldiers here,
there is now a garrison in formosa,
and there are 10000 or 10000 men I'm
Korea. constituting a permanent force
OF occupation FOR that country
A NATION OF FIGHTERS.
From this it win be seen that tn,
japanese are a nation OF fighters and
that In a war with them the whole
people must be taken into account
Every man. woman and child IS
patriot and every one esteems Ii
glory to die for his country During
the war with Russia the women
worked almost day and night to add
to the army funds, and they frequent
~ expressed their regret That they
could not go TO the field. I had a talk
the other day with an American pro-
fessor who has been teaching in the
japanese schools at Shizuoka, one OF
the largest cities between Toxic and
Osaka. during which he gave me an
instance illustrating the war spirit
among the school girls. Said he:
"lt was In one OF our girls schools
The American teacher was discussing
the war situation. Some bad news had
arrived that morning, and the teacher
said she feared Japan would finally be
defeated. Upon this one little Japan
| ese girl burst out: oh. no. Japan
will never be DEBATED for when the
men are all killed we girls viii take
the guns and fight for the emperor
JAPAN's WAR FUND.
at the time Of the war Japan had
a serious problem TO face continued
the professor "She had ier standing
army OF 100000 men, who were all
sent TO the field. Then the reserves
were called out, numbering hundreds
OF thousands more. All Of these came
from the ranks Of industry. They
were taken from the farms and fac
tories from the workshops and gar
dens The population mere is com
ryey small. and It was "A question
how the war could go on and the fac
tories not stop and the fields not lie
uucultivated. This question was solved
by the people jumping IN ana sacrittc-
| ing themselves without pay The men
in the mills worked overtime 20 make
up the loss Of the force watch had
80. ~ llHfHr
their overtime wages were given TO
| the families OF the soldiers. The
| farmers. clerks and mechanics com
bined together TO til the lands left va
cant. OFTEN they worked at night aad
sometimes together in gangs. The
children worked after school nouns to
help the families OF soldiers, and I'm
/ some places farms were let out free TO
soldiers families and capital was sub
| scribcd for them. in one village tine
families Of the men absent at the war
we're given the monopoly OF selling
matches and soap, and I'm others thcy
/ had like privileges Many landlords
/ RENTED rent TO such people, ard the
doctors treated their sick witnOut
| charge. A relief association with a
| capital Of a million dollars was then
! formed to support the widows and or
1 phans Of soldiers. The Red Cross So
| ciety. which was so efficient In the hos
| pitfalls and on the field. was supported
| by all the people. That society has
! o. 900, 900 members, and one in every
45 OF the japanese population belongs
/ 20 e and has pledged himself to pay
| $3.50 for o years toward its mainto-
| nance The japanese Red Cross So
| ciety was organized with the idea OF
paying the country's debt by nClpiag
its soldiers. and it has done an enof-
nous good"
The money raised for the war. while
I some OF It came from abroad, was
| largely supplied at home. The action
| OF the people in this regard shows that
the emperor can call on his subjects
for the last sen in their pockets at the
time Of any national struggle Every
] one subscribed to the bonds, and they