The San Francisco call., 1910-08-24
MERCHANTS PEN STRAYS
FROM LEDGER TO FICTION
George 7. Marsh Writes Novel Dealing
With JOpOniS Thirst for Power

have neglected their golden pOpportuni-
ties
The Pacific is a virgin water-vir-
gin for commerce. The western sea-
coast of the United States is a virgin
land. constantly increasing in trading
propensities. America is. and for years
to come will be. absorbed with her vast
interior development TO the exclusion
of all else. We. having no interior in
terests to claim the bulk of our atten-
tion. must use those years of the
giants sleep to our own ends. secretly
and swiftly.
The humOristic view with which the
foreigner regards us-even yet-is and
will continue TO be of material benefit
TO us From little children. which is
their conception of US. and the efforts
of babies. they can have nothing to
fear. This luIling of their suspicious
by themselves and self-fostered blind
ness as to our real intentions natur-
ally extends the scope of our activity
and obviates the necessity of a careful
plan of secrecy on our part. and Il
would be a national shame TO us if we
failed to avail ourselves of every ad-
vantage they offer us. Therefore, just
as long as they persist in regarding
us in this light can we go on unOb-
served and unsuSpected, perrectlng our
final preparations. Let our people,
therefore, encourage this by all means
in their power. so that the foreigners
may continue to laugh themselves 10
sleep. Yet while laughing they know
not whether the man they laugh at Is
peasant OF noble. coolie or statesman
for our people must not talk. but lis
ten
Toward this end the foreigners
should be perpetually convinced that
they do not understand us and I'M
pressed through the medium or our
press-which. controlled in the main
by our government, may easily dissem-
mate only such knowledge as we desire
to the foreign preSs-that We are, In
reality, but a modest. unassuming race
of ortentals rather flown with our sud
den accession to world recognition, but
utterly harmless and without elements
necessary ever to become menace
And the foreign press, my son, ever
greedy for what comes TO It's nav
whether or not it bears the stamp or
truth, will jOyfully hail the opportu-
nifty Of pandering to the gulllbihty or
it's reading public.
The letter continued TO express the
ment and conquest-the plans for the
Korean railroad terminals and the rail-
road through Manchuria, which the
Russians were 70 construct and COM
pIete for "Dai Nippon (great Japan
In his book Marsh outlines a Splen-
did prospect for Japanese ambition to
nourish and f1aunt. There must be al
iiances with "Our two greatest trade
rivaIs-Eng1and and the United States.
Rice must be replaced with another ce-
rea1-wheat grows in Manchuria and
sugar in FOrmOsa. There should be "a
national life insurance project to pre-
vent the evils of privately controlled
life insurance as the United states ex-
periences.
The immi grafton question is dis
cussed by Marsh. through the mouth
of the dying samurai.
AS the years have fallen from me.
one by one" the epistle to his son
reads they have taken with them into
the past to which they have gone. cor
responding scales of conservatism, Un-
til I have come to regard the classes
which constitute the fabric Of our na-
tionaI existence with more sympathy
and wider vision From this has grown
upon me the conviction that undoubted-
ly the most important factor OF our
national existence is the laboreF-the
backbone of the nations life. The COun-
tries of Europe. with what now seems
TO my clearer VISION a snort Sl2nLcQ
policy. regarding this class as the least
important to their national fabric. have
allowed IL TO emigrate in vast numbers
from their shores. and il is these same
emigrant labOrers who have been most
material in upbuilding the alien re-
public of the United States OF America
While we must. of necessity. send forth
many of our people abroad. for th1
requirement of necessary knOwledge.
we must strive to retain our laborng
class intact at home, or within our
immediate possessions. Essential is the
laborer as is the working bee TO the
hive Therefore. instead OF initiating
the short sighted policy of other ma
tions which force their laborers into
exile. or the adoption of citizenship
among other and perhaps inimical peo-
pies, let us bend every effort toward
the retaining of our laborers at home.
Every labOrer lost to a nation Is ma
tion's distinct loss
The message of Asano Sengami had
not been finished. AS his grand
daughter concluded reading what had
been written he shook off the bonds
of his paralysis with mighty strug-
gle ard wrestled with his most irl-
portant message
He took his halting thought between
his clenched teeth, it reads. and shook
his speech from him with a wrench
China he gasped. must-nev-er
be -by-the-forefgner-
And Asano Sengami fell back upon
the futon-dcad"
IL is a slight on the narrative OF
Marsh merely to quote economic and
political views expressed in the book
While IL is for those views and the
rare insight into Japanese characte'
that the author displays that will make
the work handbook for American
diplomats and students of statesman
ship. yet there is complete story pie
turesquely told. with the life of the
japanese, so different from our expert
ences. mirrored in the pages. with the
domestic and social life OF the Nippon
men and women reflected for American
and English readers. The yoshiwara.
the quarter of the Japanese women OF
the might life," is not neglected. nor
is the life of the palaces Of the samuraL
The full story is told-but, in entering
the ranks of novelists, Marsh points the
political moral of the Japanese situa-
ton as we'll as adorns his tale with the
graceful cherry blossoms Of japanese
legend
The Lords of Sengami' is expected
10 appear soon from the presses of an