Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1910-09-24
Japan Is Preparing for War
Why?
by, m In ud Times
Why !?
BY. $. yamnknna, In saturday Times.

lOOk O'luIf lnN idllOWA lltnNSln gaze |
There wert sHine Chinbse, not many
at that-behind the said gate, fht
allies did not wish but they had TO.
rest in nervous "unptace."
Your Chnaman Ia not afraid Of
death. China is the only country
where you can buy With money men
TO give up their lives for you ~
ste why YOU make such brave SOL
dlers," IN Athenian Is reported TO
have said to Il tacedemonian,l c,bur
life is 50 wrttched that ! do not see
why yod should nit throw II away
with pleasure A h0detn trRnsla-
ton of this saying may be written
about large proportion Of the Chi
nese. Their Oriental stoicism the
basic philosophy Of life which Is COM
mon To All the East would naturally
give the Chinese soldier decided Cd
vantage over u prosperous lifc-lovink
soldier Of the wrist,
Moreover there is BnH Thug which
counts good deal In war besides
money. II is numbers Qualify count
ed In the Russian war and viii likely
count In Il future contest But the
japanese were taught d ldstlns las
son on such battle fields as the LAO
yang and Mukden that much depends
on the number of men
And the number China certainly
has. To some people four hundred
millions sounds like Chinese joke
in the sober realm of census. That
is where scientific conservatism goes
wide of the mark. The population of
China Is more than four hundred mil
lions. For the present Chinese con-
sus Is largely based on the figures
given by tax gathorers, to whom the
Government farms out the several sec
tons of the country. II is never to
the interest of the taxgatherer to be-
come too imaginative on the number
OF the people in his own harvest field.
II Is human nature to see such figures
as small MS one possibly can. And
of all men, the Chinese taxgatherer
Is most human. II Is, therefore, safe
to say that China mt least has ten
us say nearly four hundred and eighty
millions. II IL something to get
enough powder and shot TO wipe out
four and eighty. millions OF men
even In an open field with shrapnel.
In the late war tho Russians lost
something like one hundred thousand
men. And we came out with debt
of something like six hundred million
dollars, Al that rate Japan would be
ten times bankrupt before she could
. send one million Chincse TO Join their
revered ancestors. And In this | am
not taking into account the number
of men we should have to sacrifice as
a dear price.
But what about the Chinese war Of
fifteen years ago?
Ask any self-respecting Chinese
about II and he will say, OH. you
mean that little affair of Iii Hung
Chang? Safely three hundred mil
lion Chinese knew nothing about IL
throughout the progress of that war.
And millions of the Chinese who
read about II looked upon It "as fire
across the river"
All Is different now. II is getting
more and more different every day
There Is the rub. Especially for Japan.
AT the close of 1908 the new army
of China was made mp of eight di-
visions, sixteen brigades and three
, regiments, based on the Japanese
German brigade and regimental sys-
ten, and numbered i46.252 officers
. and men. This was, az all the world
knew, bare beginning of the new
army of China that Is to be. Still,
, one must admit that il Is about three
times as big as the regular standing
army of the United States. When
, China shall have completed her pres
ent army programme she will have
4O2. 800 officers and men In times of
peace, and on war footing her army
will number l,00l,3O officers and
men. She has already mapped out n
definite scheme for the education. OF
the future soldiers of the empire. To-
day all over the empire the youth of
the country are actually attending the
provincial training. schools for
youth" China has opened four diff
ferent grades of schools for the mill
tary education of her people. Begin
, ming with the provincial schools for
youth, she has the central military
preparatory school, and above that,
Z the military academy and the military
university
Now the graduate from these mill
tary schools may come out covered
with horror-inspiring masks and try
to frighten MS away from a battlefield
with soul-curdling shrieks, but I
rather doubt it,
And yet we hear from the western
wise men that Japan is about to ally
herself with China, that the world is
on the verge of seeing stupendous