Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1911-04-18
Johns Letter.

Il QOtlC6 Oy the sun tnat the JAPANESE
orator, Kiyo S. lnui, gave q very interest
ing lecture before large audience at
Lewiston the other evening in the inter
est of universal peace. Subject "The
East vs. the West" In the lecture he
scorned the idea of war between his
country and the United States. He said
that the time when there will be uni
versal peace between all countries of the
world is not far away. "Mr. Inui is a
talented speaker and uses good English.
His illustrations were plain and most of
them humorous, SO that the audience
was kept interested throughout the en-
tire lecture"
In the beginning he told the reasons
why the East and the West have become
separated. The greatest reason is the
lack of understanding and exaggeratiOn.
He then went on to tell other reasons
which had caused the separation, and of
those things which should tend to bring
the East and the West together. He
spoke of the difference of the two coun-
and such. 1.-THE Americans are humor-
Gus, entertaining, cheerful, social and
optimistic, while we are apt to be serious,
sober and sedate. While csrefulness is
the wstchword of our people, hope is
the watchword of your country. We
have different ways Of getting to the
front, but we both get there just the
same" America has been progressive
because she has pushed ahead, China has
not been until lately, for she has been
looking backward, but Japan has been
progressive because she has been looking
around.
In speaking Of the attitude of the
American people towards his country he
said: "Only a short time ago an Ameri-
can congressman took copy Of q Sacra-
meuto paper which was three years old
and contained an article regarding the
attitude Of the people of that place
against the Japanese and sent ii to one
OF our congressman. This, he told him,
Expressed the attitude of America against
Japan, as II that article in one paper
represented the sentiment Of the whole
country. Recently one Of your con-
gressmen who says he knows what he is
talking about says that Japan is increas-
ing her army and navy and that war Is
sure to come between the two countries.
And yet does this gentleman know in
LILO past year Capau hao hctoNOu WV
navy appropriations $4,000, 900 and the
army appropriations 1900, 900, aud yet
this gentleman says he knows what he is
talking about"
He said: "You will notice that these
war scares always come up few weeks
before the annual appropriations for the
navy are made, and are brought about
by men like Congressman Hobson. This
Idea of war will gradually go away as We
begin to know each other better. Japan
will never come over here To give trouble,
and II there be trouble America will
have to come TO Japan to start 1t. With
her defenses there are no two or three
nations in the world who could defeat
America in four or five years"
In closing he said, "In two or three
years the two greatest countries OF the
world will sign treaty OF universal
peace, and their action will DO followed
by all civilized countries Of the world. !"
/ suppose there are those who see a
bear in every stump by the wayside, and
can see that this Jap is here TO spy out
the land, and is marking out the way
that leads TO the nations vitals. ap-
prehend that Japan il hardly in condi-
ton to undertake the contract aud never
will be. And / apprehend that she has
as much common sense as the rest OF US.
The greatest peril to our country that
has come into our line of mental vision
Is within our own borders. The outside
peril hasn't shown up, nor the shadow of
1t.
Oh, your Uncle Sam has the jim jams
all right and sees snakes where there are
no snakes, and wastes millions Of the
peoples money on warships that will be
obsolete in a score OF years, and only fit
for large, practice, to be shot TO pieces
by some up-to-date projectile that will
be evolved from the brain Of some
future Maxim.
You notice that the cock and bull
story Of the compact between Japan and
Mexico has met with an explosion. Oh,
newspapers will lie like folks. We have
read that tho little Jsps have been
providing along our coasts map making.
Another hair-lifling story like the other,
no doubt. Wonder il that story was
flashed upon the screen to hasten up the
appropriations. Probably the little fell
lows were looking for good places to set
mink traps in the open season.
JOHN.