Arizona republican., 1909-10-27
Hirobumi Ito.

fIHopdHlf ito.
 The news that Prince Hirobumi Ito has been assassinated will startle and shock the people of all civilized lands. Ito was the greatest statesman that Japan has produced. and it is doubt full whether there was a contemporary statesman in the world who could be justly termed his equal. In thinking of him the mind instantly reverts 10 Bismarck-the man he most admired, and with whom he was most often compared. Having constructed the German empire from a host of petty, independent and quarreling German states, and having left behind him as his handiwork the strongest nation of Europe. Bismarck of course stands out a familiar figure in modern his- tory. and the greatest figure in the old world since Napoleon. Ito did a work as great as that of Bismarck, although it is less well known to the world al large
 It would seem that he was born with a mission to raise Japan from 6 condition of heathenism and obscurity to its present position as one of the most powerful of all civilized nations. Determined to study abroad, he only succeeded in getting out of Japan when he was a boy, by evading the termined that none of its subjects should visit the western nations. Hav- ing studied in England two years, he hurried home in the hope of dissuad- ing his countrymen from engaging in war with the combined powers of the United States, Great Britain, Holland, and France, in 1863. The Choshui clan governing the seaport of Shim- onoseki (every island of Japan in those days was ruled by a separate clan) had persisted in firing upon the merchant vessels of the nations men, toned, and their warships were as- sembling for the purpose of chastising the Japs. Ito was unable to convince his people that war with such power full nations would be idiotic. but his advice was more readily received after 17 foreign warships had properly chastised the clan.
 Thereafter Ito devoted all his ener- gies to directing the eyes of his peo- pie to a new goal-the unity of all Japan under the mikado, with a civ ilization patterned after western mod els Coming to the United States Tn 1871 to study the coinage system of this country, he returned to Japan and secured the adoption of the deci nal system, and got a national mint established. As one of the ambassa- dors of Japan he travelled around the world in 1872, to secure notifications of treaties between his country and western nations Entering the home office on his return. he again visited Europe in 1s7s-7s, and made a spe- cial study of Bismarck's methods. In 1886, when the cabinet was formed on modern models. he became minis ter president of state. With restless energy he carried out economic re- forms in all directions. Under his di- rection Japan rapidly grew into a great nation. He constructed rail- roads. He repealed old laws, based on those of China, and instituted new codes. He persuaded the court to adopt modern dress. So rapid was his progress in "modernizing' Japan that the conservatives engineered a reac- ton, and he was thrown out of office in 1888. But out of office he was not idle. He prepared a written constitu- tion. which was later adopted. after prolonged debates in which he took a leading part This constitution be- came the real foundation of modern Japan. His commentaries on the. Jap anese constitution have led students to call him the Japanese Hamilton. He was called to the premiership again in 1892. and it was under his leadership that Japan fought the sue cessful war with China.
 At the close of the war he called the humbled Ii Hung Chang. China's greatest statesman, to Shimoneseki, and there. as Bismarck had done at the gates of Paris, he dictated a peace treaty which opened the eyes of the world to the fact that Japan had be- come, overnight, as it were. a giant among the nations. It was this fam ous treaty of Shimonoski. by the way. which eventually caused the war between Russia and Japan. Ii Hung Chang was compelled to cede to Ja-