The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1917-03-30

Sionaries and Seamen's homes through
out the world, signed by Captain Bickel
end bearing a hundred or more adj
canal to the capeS.
kobayashi San speaks English better
than most Japanese, though he has lit
tie chance to practice. His work is on
the little island Of Yugeshima, whittier
the English-speaking traveller seldom
comes, but he has kept With him these
40 years the knowledge of English
which he gained from an early mission
airy in Niigata.
With his sweeping panama., his
heavy beard and muStache, his yivaci-
Gus manner, he would look as much
at home in the Place de rOpera as in
this lonely island Of the Inland sea.
where one has storms for companions
and indescribably delicate sunsets for
friends. He is like no other japanese
I have ever seen. Frank, full of fun,
| witty. and, as he says, having "a bit of
American in his head" he is rs inter-
esting in the way he acts us in the way
he talks.
In the harhor Of this out-of-the-way
island we We're discussing the extern
sion OF The American navy. Imagine a
cowboy in the West giving thought to
whether Japan built one more battle.
ship or adopted q new foreign policy !
"When you get these new ships,
| where will you get the men TO handle
them?' aslsed this principal Of q school
in which a hundred young men are TAX
| ing the first three years of a nine years
course to fit them to be captains Of
merchant ships. You can build ships
in 4 short time. but it takes much long
er to build officers"
How Captains Are Trained.
He ought to know, for III the school
| which we had visited, from fencing
| mask to sextant, chronometer, COM
| pass and bowline, the whole equipment
IS for the training Of officers III Japan's
| constantly growing commercial feet.
The school grounds are spick and
| span. The school garden contains no
| weed. When a visitor enters the study
| room, there is a quick command by the
| student in charge, and every white
clad student is erect and at attention.
"Prussian Methods you say. Yes.
and al directed to the development of
individual worth and responsibilities.
| These students are not to be stokers
| but captains. No discipline is too strict
for the training Of those who are to
command.
After three years Of training in one
| Of the ten schools, or in the college In
Tokyo, the young men go to sea to
! serve three years more. They would
become stiff and too old for training il
| they stayed in school long. Three years
they serve as apprentices in active
service, with study every day and fire.
quent examinations. They then have a
second mates certificate. Three years
more of examinations and tests, and
| the apt scholar can become a captain
at twenty-eight.
The merchant marine in Japan Is not
a trade or a last resort for drunken
ne'er-do-wells. 1t is a career. The
apprentice in training expect1 to be
treated as q gentleman.
Japan's shipping is on the boom.
New lines are reaching out for trade
with the continents and islands of the
seas. Japan is the coming Britain OF
the Pacific, the Phoenicia Of the far
East. Heavy subsidies are pouring
profits into the pockets Of ship own
ers. and each vessel, from tug to liner,
is paying for itself every day the war
lasts.
Commercial connections are being
made in new territory. Many say that
these markets will revert to those who
held them before the war broke out.
But the japanese are persistent n
polite. A passenger on II OF thelr
liners knows what 1t Is to he looked
after. They are branching out in In
dustry. and wages IRE almost rs low
as i Japan Is sacrificing woman
hood and manhood to win world mar
kets. other nations will be slow to
nay the same price for gold.