Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1917-12-15
AMER as SPEED In VAR
big SURPRISE TO JAPAN
Active Participation Despatch of Troops to France Conscrp
ton and Other Radical Courses Prove Revelation to Nippon
ese, Who are Now Chided BY Own Writers for inactivity

, whom We thought would never fight
! the United States which We thought
had no army at all! And we who ar
! rather prouder than not Of our fight
! ing men and fighting spirit, We, why
We are right here at home. And Il
Is not because We lack invitation.
from Europe to come over and do on,
bit either. Why"
This Is not the first time that thE
! question Of sending the JspaneSe arm
. to Europe has been discussed amons
our people. Never Before, however
! has il been seriously discussed oil
widely as a practical possibility. 1t i!
90 discussed now and by people whc
had laughed at the very thought o.
the thing.
/ Feasible to Transport Troops?
In its enthusiasm the Ashai goes 81
far as to cry down the objection &c
the whole scheme based on the lact
! OF transportation facilities tit to carry
| anything like an adequate body OF
the Japanese army over to Europe
II reminds the reader that several
thousands OF Russian soldiers were
transported to Europe through the
japanese port of Tairen-the old
Dalney of the Russian memory-it
points out the present and living fact
that many thousands Of the Chinese
coolies are even this very day being
transported, from Shantung to Europe
In this, of course, the Ashai allows
the quick witted popular editorial pace
10 run away with the sombre logic OF
the actual fact. Because less than
100000 Russian soldiers-at the out
side-have been successfully trans
ported from a Manchurian port over
seas to France, or because few thou
sand Chinese coolies have been car
ried in a similar manner to the fight
ing front in Europe, it does not in
the least justify a0ybody, even the
popular newspaper editor, to jump to
the conclusion that 100000 soldiers
Of Japan, with all their fighting equip
ment-arms. munitions and food, yes,
food, large portion Of food anyway
flor the Japanese would find it almost
impossible to fight up to his high
standard on anything but the food II
which he has been accustomedl-can
be transported over 10000 miles OF
seas. =.
1t does not seem to occur to an edi.
toriaI writer on a fpopular newspaper
like the Asahi that it takes ships to
carry an army Of 100000 men from
Japan to Europe. But it should. 1t
does not seem to occur to him to look
into how much tonnage Japan can
command for any such enterprise, but
II should
At the end Of last year the official
figures of all the Japanese merchant
fleet were 2119 steamers, of the aggre,
gate tonnage of l,6a6,6S1. But of the
number there were only Az vessels
above 1000 tons. with the total ton.
mage of 1,431,077. A liberal estimate
OF the ships which the Japanese gov.
eminent can commander at present
for transporting its army to Franco
would not exceed 5000 tons. Allow.
ing less than5 tons Of shipping per
soldier with all his equipment, it would
take more than two and a halt years
10 transport a Japanese army OF
100000 men from the Far East to the
fighting front in Europe.
What about the trans-Siberian line?