The Celina Democrat. (Celina, O. [Ohio]) 1895-1921, 1915-07-16

fHIH,I ABia FOR the Ablatlcs'
Hesl There has been little
k discomfort at the "compro-
mise" with China. This
was bound to be so in the most war
like nation on earth. But Japanese
who are better Informed know there
has been no compromise. Group V
may have been left for later discus.
sion," but the Japanese leaders will
exact every demand embodied In It
from time to time
Thus Okuma, the one-legged grand
old man Of Japan, sees his great idea
coming to fruition He knows the
Japanese people will willingly spend
their blood like water. All Japan has
needed for conquest is money. Japa-
nese strategy is not of the year or the
decade, but OF the century and the
millennium. Money. but not enough,
has come out of Korea and South
Manchuria, Money-money for bat
tleships and siege guns, for sub
marines and aeroplanes-will now
flow from China into Japan.
NNANhAAIo dbO uHluLbitu japan
made conGuests on the mainland and
adopted Chinese culture. Sixty years
ago she threw off the culture of Japan
for the efficiency of the West Now
she will go a step farther and with
iron fist Impose western efficiency on
China.
Mod9rn wars are fought with fac.
tories. With 4OO0O0,000 Chinese la
boring to supply munitions of war in
her rear, sixty millions of Japanese
will present the front of their warrior
nation to the white race and tell II
to get out Of the western Pacific
and some day will tell the French to
get out OF Cochin China and the Brit
dsh to get out of India.
These are the aims of Okuma. They
are not hazy national aspirations, but
active policies that Japan is working
every minute of her time to carry out.
Okuma proclaimed them openly and
loudly when he was of the party of the
opposition. On this platform of mill
tarism he won his campaign in the
spring of 1914 and ousted the Yama.
moto party. For year he has been
in control and his hold is stronger
than ever
Being at the head of the nation his
words soften. He exudes honey to
Great Britain and sends messages
breathing the spirit Of peace to the
United States. Japan is not deceived.
They have long seen these two ir-
reconcilable currents of expression
flow from Okuma's mouth-and they
know which one to believe. They be-
lieye only the one which accords with
che spirit of the samurai, the two
sword man"
In japan both the mobiles and the
commouers are militaristic. Okuma
is a noble, but he has chosen to lead |
the comnoners Perhaps this is be-
cause he came from neither of the two
leading clans which for many years
controlled Japan, but of a weaker
clan the Hizen. Throughout his life |
he has fought against the clan sys-
TEN and in favor of the constitutional |
monarchy, uow for years strongly es
abolished
At seyenty-seven, Okuma is still |
fiery and energetic. He was a boy of |
twenty, living in a small Japanese
town, when the visit of Commodore
Perry and the granting of treaty
rights to foreigners by the shotgun set
all Japan to talking about the red
haired" barbarians. Okuma had a
great curiosity to learn about the
world outside Japan. He heard of an
American missionary, Doctor Veer-
beck, and went to him secretly-not to
embrace Christianity, but to learn.
First of all he learned to read the
Bible, Then came the one political
document the devoted missionary pos
sessed. the Declaration of Indepen-
dence
His soul was set on fire. When
seventy years old, he said: The read
ing OF the Declaration of independence
when I was boy made such an i'm
preston upon my soul that the doc
trines proclaimed by it have ever
been my guiding rule in life" Thomas
Jefferson became his model and he
studied everything he could find about
the American statesman.
In his youth came the great Jap
anese civil wars between the mikado's
party and the old feudalists. Okuma
left school and plunged into the thick
of the fray. The mikado's party, hav-
ing adopted western military tactics,
won its battle, and the mikado was es-
tabished as supreme in Tokyo. Oku-
ma was put in a position in the Office
of foreign affairs
The intricacies Of Japanese politics
in the last half of the nineteenth cen
tury are difficult for an American to
without long study. Suffi-
cient to say that Okuma was in the
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FAMOUS IN ENGLISH HISTORY T.