Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-01-16

cannot believe that there Is any sucl
sentiment in Your country against ours
We Japanese have always looked upor
YOU as our great and good friend. YOr
are sort of mother country to lis. The
Japan of today is q child Of America |
was YOU who opened our ports to tn,
World and 1t was from your teachers that
we took our first lesson in the arts of
modern civilization. Throughout our new
national life you have always stood by
us. and we have felt that We could rely
upon you. We feel so now. and | cannot
believe but that the general sentiment OF
Your country is friendly to us.
Besides. continued his hishness.
Japan Is not anxious to be considered a
Warlike nation. Our military establish
ment was created for defense and not for
conquest. We hope to continue our ma
ilonal life along the lines of peace. not
OF war
But your military establishment is so
large that other nations fear that YOU
may need to make war to occupy it, Do
YOU tnlnk a big army a necessity in these
modern times?'
AS your President has said. the best
guarantee of any nation against war is
the fact that that nation is prepared for
war II II should come. This we believe to
be the case, and j see the United States
believes likewise, for it is now talking of
increasing Its army and navy"
will the time ever come when war
VIII be done away with? When such
peace conferences as that of The Hague
VIII settle all international difficulties by
arbitration and conciiiation?"
4
Yes. | think So but that time will he
distant. When all the nations of the
world are equally civilized and they have
united in their efforts to benefit them
selves and humanity as well we NAV be
able to dispense with our great armies. 1
hope such day will some time come,
How about the new inventions i'm mod
ern warfare? May they not be so terrible
that small nation might destroy a
great one?'
Yes, | can imagine inventions which
would make warfare mean annihilatjon
Some OF the new explosives are terribly
destructive. Take the balloons and the
flying machines in which your people are
now so widely experimenting If they
should be successful they would change
the conditions of battles and fighting. 4
rev such machines and some bushels of
dynamite might wipe out an army. There
might be charges from the clouds Which
lhe FORCES On the ground, however greate
could not resist. Inventions of that kind
would very likely put an end to war
How about the yellow peril, your high
ness: Is there not danger that the
Chinese may become great fighting ma
ton. and that by combining with Ianan
Ihere is no such thing as yellow
peril. replied Prince Yamagata, land no
reason why Japan should be so asso-
Grated With China in the minds of the
west. The chief difference between the
nations of the west and ours is that of
color. We have the same ambitions along
the lines OF civilization, and the same de-
slres toward the betterment of mankind
and Of the world. There is no reason
why we should be set off aside bv orr
selves
AS to China" his highness continued.
what 1t will be in the future / cannot
predict. except to say that in the past
its power has been greatly overestimated
and that today it is in no position to have
a war with any great nation At the time
of the Chino-Japanese war there was
generally supposed to be in the neighbor-
hood of one million troops in China. Ii
Hung Chang had 5000 men, who were
reported to be well equipped and trained
by German officers, and he had also
800. 900 soldiers in the north. Upon inves-
tigation we found that a great number of
these men were enrolled only that their
pay might be taken by the officers They
had no existence except men of straw
and both army and equipment were of a
low order. 1t will be long time before
China can put great army into the
field. AS l look at it, the Chinese empire
today has very little strength in itself,