Valdez daily prospector., 1915-03-19
FRIDAY, MARCH 19, 1915.
THE WAR AND JAPAN.

in Europe can be clearly seen the economic considerations which are it's fundamental causes, but with which we here have nothing to do. The small and widely scattered colonial dependencies of Germany were quite easily seized by her adversaries, but the more difficult task of reducing kiaochow fell to Japan, with Eng lands cooperation. This was a Ger man protectorate, with an area of 200 square miles, on the east coast of the province of Shantung, which was formerly leased until 1898 to Ger many by China as compensation for the murder of two German mission aries. Surrounding the leased zone is neutral area of 2,500 square miles in which Germany had certain priv ileges which gave her commercial ad
 vantages. The German government spent considerable sums in fortifying the seaport of Tsingtao, at the term
 mus of the railroad connecting with the interior and the main line be-
 tween Ranking and Tientsin, and in improving the harbor until it became one of the best of the few good har
 bors in China. These improvements and privileges now have passed into the hands of Japan, which will un- doubtedly retain them. Some of the economic advantages which will ac- crue to that country are obvious, oth. CTS may require further explanation,
 It has always been the ambition of Japan to hold in the Pacific the posi- tion which Great Britain holds in the Atlantic. Unfortunately she lacks two of Great Britain's national assets:
 coal and iron. Japan has no iron ore deposits of importance, and her coal fields, while yielding a large present it can be clearly seen that at the pres ent rate of mining the coal fields will be exhausted at no very distant date. One estimate of the coal resources of Japan corresponds to less than ten years of the present annual produc- tion of Great Britain. The govern ment iron works at Wakamatsu has been operating for years on imported iron ore and pig iron, chiefly from bS Japan might occupy in the event of war doubtless has been a source of concern to her far-seeing statesmen. As a result of the series of events following the war with China in 1894 and with Russia in 1904, Japan has now secured possession of Korea and a lease on the southern half of Man churia extending to 1923. Intelligent prospecting work has disclosed iron ore deposits of fair quality in Korea: the ore from these is already being shipped to the plant at Wakamatsu, and a blast furnace will soon be erected in Korea to produce pig iron for shipment to Japan. Manchuria has proved even more productive. The coal mine at Fushun, which was worked in a small way by the Rus sians, have proved with adequate de- velopment to be one of the big mines of the world, and this one property will yield over 1O0,000,00O tons of coal
 a notable addition to the resources of Japan. At Pensihu both coal and iron occur. Coke ovens have been erected and the first of the blast. furnaces was to have been in oper ation this fall while two more have been contracted for This is just the beginning of developments by which the economic position of Japan has been greatly improved. If now there is added to this the lease on eastern Shantung a further improvement will
 be made The Germans had the right to develop mines for ten miles on each side of the railroad from Tsingtae to Tsinanfu, and although their ven lures Fangtze and Poshan have not far proved profitable, it is quite probable that valuable mines may ir time be developed. A great variety of minerals have been reported from Shantung and there are two gold mines of great promise which have not been worked for variety of req sons not connected with their rich ness. Quite a few diamonds are pick ed up in Shantung each year and the province may prove very productive of mineral wealth if intelligently de