Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1916-06-28
HOW ABOUT N?--III.

WASHINGTON. d. e.. June 27.-Thc
statesmen Of Japan have announced
that the ambitious Japanese program
for military aud naval expansion is
fiXed and unalterable. 1t is beyond
human power to change or amend. be-
cause the late Emperor sanctioned IT,
and now that the Emperor is dead, no
man may modify a line OF IL.
The people OF Japan take this for
an adequate explanation OF the gov
crnments course. The more intc!!i-
gent may see that the nation is already
staggering under IA bigger debt than
she can carry. that the people arc be-
ing taxed 10 the limit. and under the
projected program w!l have to be
taxed still morc-but when the states
men arc called TO account, they have
only TO fall back ON the sauctity Of
the imperial approval for their battle
ships and battalions. The incident is
Significant. II is worth careful con-
sideration. because II brings out a con-
diti"n running all through Japanese
society, that constitutes one OF the
principal safeguards Of the japanese
state in it's present form. as Well as
one of the greatest menaccs 10 any
nation which willingly or u~nw!!lingly.
il forced TO opposc Japan.
No country whose relations with ia
pan promise to be as complex and
delicate as those OF Tho United states
can afford 10 be ignorant Of the i'm
mense part played in japanese HE by
the sentiment o. loyalty 10 the EN-
peror. 1t Is more than loyalty. il is
worship-not ;hc worship men pay TO
a hero. but the worship men give 10 a
god. The Emperor ia "a direct descend
ant from heaven. He cannot be said
TO rule by divine right, In the old En-
ropcan sense OF the term. for ne him
Gall = itHf, - a. A,.n - a..
imperial line has all the combined force
Of patriotism and religion. The Jap
anese citizen exists for the greater
glory OF the Emperor. Service OF the
people is no program for a Japanese
politician. Service Of the Emperor must
be the main plank in his platform.
II Is possible 10 serve the people by
lowering taxes. by introducing indus
trial reforms. by sticking TO "A policy
OF peace and quietude. Such a pro-
gram makes a POOR sort OF glory for
the Empire m the Mikado. TO mag
Nifty him before the nations OF the
earth. to carry his flag supreme over
the Pacific, 10 make his army and his
navy invincible, 10 make him the won
der and the master OF the Orient
that Is the sort OF thing that makes an
Emperor's glory. and a consideration
OF Japan's history. ever since she grew
big enough 10 night shows that she has
stuck to il closely.
The exaltation OF loyalty into the
chief OF the virtues has other signih-
cant results. IT explains a great many
things about Japan. 1t throws light
on the marvelously rapid way in which
Japan took on all the trappings OF
Western civilization. and AT the same
time il casts Il certain doubt on the
old idea that her progress in Western
ways entities her to infinite credit.
Japan tool up the industrial cul--
4 II ~ ~ thn Nrciffant harntIGa thn iittla
group of men who ruled her fifty years
ago. as a little group of men rule her
to-day, had the Intelligence to see that
she must either join the procession or
be trampcd underfoot by IL. The peo-
pie were never consulted. The igno-
rant and SuperStitious masses regarded
railways and telegraph lines with all
the fear and hostility that might have
been expected from them. They Of
fered no appreciate opposition be-
cause they had been trained for cen
turtles. as no other people ever have
been trained. in the custom of yield
ing to authority. The relation of
every rank to every other rank was
fixed and ironbound Retainer owed
allegiance to his lord, and the lord
bowed to the mandate of his overload.
MIkadO Stood mt Head.
At the head of the complex system
stood the Mikado whose word was law.
When that word went forth, to dis
obey was not only a civil and political
crime. but a moral offensc of the
blacklist, and a sin against divinity.
Ages of this form of government made
the japanese nation the most docile
and tractable people on earth where
their own authorities were concerned.
So when the statesmen at the helm
used the imperial rescript to back UP
a scheme for railways, the nation
swallowed its objections and built
railways. In the same spirit. il ac-
copied all the new things. The creed
of loyalty had robbed it of the privi-
lege of protest. by making that pro-
test a sin. Even so to-day. the creed
Of loyalty makes 1T a sin to tamper
with things so mundane as plans for
Dreadnoughts and half q dozen new
army divisions. The late Emperor
gave them his approval. There is no
more to be said.
She is determined to appear before
the nations in the best possible light,
and to that end she conducts press cam
paigns. grants great subsidies to her
enterprises, covers up her real indus
trial conditions and her industrial in
a. - tlN tk-