New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-03-27
AN IMAGINARY JAPAN

England is Al. in Holland before the war =
was 50 per square il, and prooaoiy ho" "
,,ore than that. The average population pei
,,,,aro II in Belgium before the war was
q Turning to Asia, the average popuia'lon
nor SQUARE Ii in Japan is IS; IN lndia the
average population is 20 What IS the aver
a,,o population per square Ii in emma IL Is
only II. What We are accustomed 10 - We
crowdjnc in the cities and the crowdlhg III
the mains. but there are vast tracts OF ia"o
in different parts Of this country when are
no, nopulated. either because OF wrong use
Of natural resources or for otner reasons
but there is still room in China. taken as
whole. for many millions more thah 'hei'
are at the present time
4 Ii is about . half mile square-or 'e'
CITY blocks on all four sides. Eleven emma
men would scarcely be a crowd on tns'
mace. Mr.. Rea. There might be three times
rs many Cinnamon in China and not d
nearly as crowded as Merry England.
Fut the birth rate absurdity does not sat
isfy Mr.. Rea as subject matter Tor one let
Ter; he makes Japan's imagined trightluI
ness" "A religious question. using with lrreN
erent audacity a prayer form OF "'
Ruddhists to back up his warning againS
Japan and his underhand attack on tn'
Democratic Administration. Wonderful VT
Rea. who in one article can combine so many
divergent things; can be, as Thackeray sai'
Of Charon's three-headed dog so many
gentlemen at once"
II is doubtless part of Shainghai's goot
manners TO sheer at the Asiatic religions
from the elevated viewpoint Of the club
house smoking room. Hence 1t seems e
Mr.. Rea no breach of good taste to tak'
DuJIbispn That faith has
been disestablished in Japan as state re
ligion. but its devotees are counted by mill
ions and millions; its temples are amoni
the greatest in the land Deprived OF u
state revenues and depending wholly on VOL
untary contributions, its arch-prlests, aboot
and clergy generally have been awakened u
the need of an active propaganda with many
of those high-pressure assemblings which oul
Protestants call "revivals" and our Catholic
emissions
II is undeniable that among the mass o
their fellow believers in China and, above all
in Corea. the faith has become a mere shell
incrusted with many deteriorations, and tina
the popular church attendance is either lack
ing or perfunctory. The Japanese Buddhis
leaders could help this Chinese condition b!
a missionary revival which in addition t
uplifting the faith would supply medica
aid and sanitary advice to all who came u
them-in the latter copying Christian propa
panda in the Orient with its benefcent medi
cal outfits. To put this movement on foot
ing with the European Christian missions II
China. the Japanese priests desired the priv
lcge of owning land for religious and .charl
table purposes. Japan sought to INCLUDE
such feature in its latest treaty Will
China. but the cutlery from the Christian
missionary centres in Peking and the loudi!
shouted warming" from Shanghai made thu
Chinese government unwilling TO concede 1t
"The mission houses of Japan in our mids
would be rallying centres for Japanese In
trigues" was the form of the warning.
II is, therefore, on what did not take place
that Mr. Rea bases his dragging of Buddhism
into the current of his bitterness. Thi
rather spoils his mental effort TO make pan
Buddhism a menace-knocks galley west hi
creation Of a Buddhist A. p. A.
And then. searching around for fgment
instead Of facts. we find our old friend "th'