The San Francisco call., 1910-08-24

nese art. clubman and dilettante,
turned author in his few moments
of leisure and has written a novel of
Japan-of Nippon. 1t is a novel in the
sense that it carries tale OF love and
duty. of Intrigue and plot. of passion
and of climax. but the tale itself is
used in the main as graceful Japa-
nese bridge over which Marsh drives
his matured ideas on oriental life, of
Japanese ambitions and thirst for
world power, of politics and economics.
bridge over which he deploys his
views on oriental character and the
oriental situation.
Having lived in Japan more than a
score of years ago, when that insuIar
country was only beginning TO breathe
a world atmosphere. and having been
a. constant visitor to the island empire
during the intervening years, and all
the time closely associated with the
Japanese through trade relations.
Marsh is we'll qualified to write of the
people of Nippon. Associated with him
in the prepa aration of the book is Ron
aid Temple. a young English writer
Whatever of Japan is in the book. how
ever has come through Marsh. for his
cola aborator. who is a skilIful writer,
has never been in the land of the Ris-
ing Sun.
Marsh knows more about Japan and
the japanese than he has been able to
| put between the covers of book, but
he has crowded into his story all that
it will hold. The title of the work is
| The Lords of the Sengami-The Dawn
| of an Empire. The book is in two
parts. Part l is The Foreword of
Meiji." and part , is The Afterwards
of Meiji." Meiji is that period of Japa-
nese history dating from the accession
| of the present mikado.
The scope of George Marsh's book
! does not include a discussion of the
criminal nature of the japanese. as re-
Gently came to the attention of Cali
fornfans through the triple murder of
| the Kendall family at Cazadero. who. it
| is believed, were killed by a Japanese
| student-laborer named Henry Yamagu-
| chi.
| OF Yama guchi and his reputed crime
Marsh spoke incidentally yesterday
while talking of his book II do not
| believe that Yamaguchi will ever be
| captured said Marsh, chiefly, be-
| NdQSC nO JdpdHoSC Is likely TO OeJTaE
| him into the hands of the police A
! japanese has stronger patriotism
| than any other man. That patriotism
| is centered about his mikado. The
| japanese dynasty is the only one in the
| experience of the world that has never
been contaminated by the intrusion of
pretender. The japanese trace
| their mikados lineage back to a god
| The first mikado was the son of a god.
| Toward that ruling line there is the
| utmost loyalty among the Japanese.
Now if the crime of Yama guchi
were a crime against the government
| of japan he would be made TO atone
| for his misdeed by the Japanese. They
would either surrender him or, If he
! could not be found, some Japanese.
| would come forward as a sacrifice in
/ his stead. But the crime of murder
committed in California is not crime
against the government of Japan, and
| so there is little chance that the per-
| petrator of the crime. if he were
| japanese, would be surrendered by his
| countrymen- Then again. as long as
Yamag guchi is at large there is a pos
sible doubt whether he committed the
murder, and the Japanese are spared
| the shame that would come in the
| event of his conviction of the crime
! That fact would be a strong argument
| to move them not to betray him TO the
| authorities
To Marsh the Japanese are the deep
! est, the most subtle of all the races
| They achieve their ends by ostensibly
striving for the opposite point. In the
| conclusion of his novel Marsh has
| clearly expressed the Japanese aim for
world supremacy and power, through
! the medium of the lord of Sengami,
! the hero of his story. The hero is rep
resented as supersubtle Japanese
who is the statesman most responsible
for the overthrow of the shogun and
samurai control in Japan and the re-
| establishment of the mikado in abso-
| lutte imperial power. Before his death
| the old statesman. who was a samurai.
wrote out his views for the guidance
! of his son, Tokiyori. Tokiyori died be-
fore his father. leaving a daughter,
Aysia Aysia had been educated in
! America. On her the dying marquis
| looked his instrument in carrying
out his plans for the magnificent de-
| the venerable Sengami had the girl
read the message he had prepared for
/ his son. The marquis had written:
80, as the other nations of the
world had put aside their blood lust
! for their gold greed, saw 1 that Nippon
must shed the environs of the Bushido
and enter the arena of commerce with
| the sword relegated to the third estate
the servant and protector of our
! trade
Il thought that the United States
with its enormous seaboard and har-
bors and the fame of it's fast sailing
! ships would control the commerce and
traffic of at least the Pacific. AS time
went on and the foreign trade of the
Pacific waned and dwindled to a mere
| cipher, 1 foresaw that the worlds
| greatest ocean, literally thrown away
| by America, could be made the lake OF
Japan-the highway of our trade and
our ocean. Therefore. we must develop
| to the full our mercantile water power
! before the people of the United States
| shall awake from their self contained
! lethargy. For when that day shall
| come-as come it aSsuredly will-they
must find US the masters of the lake of
| Japan-the Pacific-too strong in trade
| power TO be disturbed on our water
| throne. My son, if the life tenure of
statesman of Japan was more precari-
Gus at the birth of our newer country
l. who faced daily in those times the
swords of political assassins, would not.
| for all the power and rank since gained