Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-12-18
Japanese Consul at Chicago
Makes Light of War Scare.
HIS COUNTRY WANTS PEACE
Says It Has No Wish to Capture the
Philippines.
PUZZLED BY HOSTILITY TALK
Gen. Hodges Admits That It Is a
Question Whether a Big Standing
Army Will Ever Be Needed.

Special Dispatch to The Star
CHICAGO. ILL.,. December 17.-Japan's
representative in Chicago, Consul X.
Yamasaki. makes light of the war
scare" He said today that the present
agitation, so far as his country was con-
cerned, was talk-nothing more-and he
emphatically denied there was any matter
up to the present time which is calcu-
lated to disrupt the friendly relations of
the two countries.
This talk-mere talk-about q war be-
tween Japan and the United States is alb
Surd,' declared Mr.. Yamasaki. 1T makes
all Japanese laugh. Japan wishes to
compete with the United States. We all
believe that competition is a fine thing,
but the competition should be friendly
and of a purely commercial nature, and
not on the battlefield, with rifles and
swords, trying to see which army can
kill the greatest number of its opponents.
Not Aiming at Philippines.
1.-THE Japanese are at a loss to under
stand the reason for all of this talk. This
is an era of peace. Japan thinks 1t best
that the United States holds the Philip
pines; it is to her advantage CONNER
cially, and she has no intention of at
tempting to capture the archipelago. My
Information on this point comes from a
man high up in the military service In
Japan
1--WE Think said Mr. Yamasaki. that
this war agitation is being forced by GER
tain American business men, to whom a
war scare would be an advantage in a
business way. We can see no other rea-
son for it.
'.Do Won remember a report from, the
west that certain American girls had re-
fused to dance with visiting Japanese Of
ficers? Well, that report was absolutely
groundless. 1 have it from high Japanese
authority that my country is sending out
no spies and intends to send out none.
Japan Is for peace. There are no rea-
sons why the two countries should fight
each other and they will not
Our Army Too Small for War.
ANY army man will declare that our
army is too small for war with another
powerful natiOn,'' declared Brig Gen.
Charles L. Hodges. in command Of the
Department of the Great Lakes. today
But when We so declare people think
we are just hulling our own profession
and that IL really doesn't rneao~ Much.
We should have a larger army just as
other great nations have
But as to this nation being at the
mercy of an attack by q foreign power
and being practically defenseless, that Is
question Of many considerations. For
instance, a great Japanese force might
land on the Pacific coast If they had an
open sea and nothing to oppose them.
But that would depend on where our Pa
cific fleet was at the time. on how well
informed the United States War Depart
ment might be as to the movement, ard,
IL We were informed. how large a force
would be rushed to the coast for defense.
''As straight military proposition. our
army is to small for the size of our
country and our popuIatiOn. But whether
there will ever be great war between
this nation and another in which we
might need a great standing army is a
question"