Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1916-08-17
HOW ABOUT JAPAN?
The Imminent Issue
BY Frederic ]. Haskin

LAS the European war, along
II with the guerilla fighting in Mex
leo. served to turn American at
tention from the issue most vital to
American we'll being-vital, even. to
American safety? Have we become so
absorbed in the European drama that
we stand all unconscious while in the
Orient a stage is set for a drama where
we may no longer be spectators but
leading players with a life-and death
interest in the issue of the plot?
That such is the case is the sober
opinion of some of the keenest and
most experienced students of the Far
Eastern situation. Their reiterated as
sertions as to the dangerous state of
our affairs in the East is causing Amer
leans to turn their eyes inquiringly
across the Pacific, in spite of many as
surances from other authorities, who
ridicule any talk of serious trouble as
a hybrid creature of the jingo and the
yellow press.
If we are faced by the necessity of
action, to avert a situation where we
shall have to choose between war and
surrenderng certain of our rights,
then such action Will have to be mott
waited primarily by the attitude of the
American people. 1t follows that a
knowledge of the actual state of af-
fairs is essential to every citizen; but
for a variety of reasons that knowledge
is one of the hardest things in the
world to get
1t is hardly possible for any Euro
pean country long to keep secret the
state of it's public opinion toward the
United States. Take the case of Ger
many, for instance, when from time to
time there arises the question of
strained relations over points OF inter-
national law. A score of correspond
ents keep us posted on every new
shade of feeling In the German national
mind. We know how the German people
receive our suggestions and offers al
most as soon as we know how the
American nation as whole regards
them 1t would be impossible for Ger
many, or any other European nation
to adopt a national attitude that would
| take us by surprise. With Japan the
case is fundamentally and fatally diff
| ferent.
Japan is a nation that speaks a Ian
guage so totally different from ours
that IT is an immense task for an
American to learn II, and one that
comparatively few undertake Japan's
written word is built on a system basic
ally opposed to our script; 1t is ever
| harder for an allen to master than the
language. As result Americans who
speak Japanese are few and far be.
tween. Americans who read 1T fewer
and farther. Add to this fact thai
japan has to-day the strictest anc
most effective of press censorships. ant
two facts become evident.
First, that behind the wall of ar
alien tongue reinforced by the censor.
ship, almost anything might be goins
on in Japan without our knowledge
and, second, that whatever does gef
published in Japan, even in the "vel.
lowest section of the press. has a Ger.
tain smack of the authoritative that Z
similar utterance in this country woulc
lack, because every Japanese paper ha.
been passed by the official censor.
The significance of this state of ar.
fairs as applied to the United States
lies in the fact that IT obliges us tc
give different reception to news from
Japan. which at first glance seems al
most incredible. than we would give te
similar news from any other country