Licking Valley courier. [volume] (West Liberty, Ky.) 19??-current, 1918-08-15
WORKING in UNITY
Japan and the United States EX.
change Ideas.
Island Empire Owes Its Systems OF
Technical Education to an Ameri-
can, and in Return Has
Taught Us Much. nd


The arrival here sometime ago Of
mission of eight officers Of rank and
distinguished record from Japan is
proof Of at least two things. 1t wit
lesses to the steadfastness Of the ma
tional character, In seeking progress
siveness as well as progress; and to
Japan's purpose to keep in the fore
ground of invention and achievement,
remarks New York Sun. No other
nation realizes more keenly that in the
rivalry of civilization the old must per-
petually be renewed. There can be no
standing still.
From the dawn Of history Japan has
excelled in fine and dainty work. Her
museums illustrate the fact that her
craftsmen invented and adapted. A lit
tie more than q real, not a pOetical,
"cycle of Cathay," that is, sixty years
ago, according to oriental reckoning,
the hermit nation suddenly found her
self in the market place of the world
Though at first dazed, resources OF
mind and material were not lacking.
Age-old taste, skill, experience and
reserve armies Of trained craftsmen
were at hand. Foreign teachers con
ferred no gift Of brains or secrets Of
cunning. They simply pointed out thu
new paths and taught the modern
methods Of meeting the nations needs
AS early as 1S61-G3, after three years
labor, our own Raphael Pumpelly, still
among us in vigor, revolutiOnized min
ing methods in Japan. When, In 1SGS
the intense inward political struggles
between the old and the new were over
and Japan had truly national govern
ment, the alertness Of her people to tn
new situation supplied a striking fea
ture in the history of modern educa
ton.
At a date when in Europe manun
and technical training was still new
and among us the Rensselaer, POlytecf
mic school at Troy was a lonely vel
eran, Yale and Harvard were at be
ginnings in this form of education, an
even the Massachusetts Institute Q
Technology baby, Japan had starte
In the race. Even before the depar
ment Of education had been created
the necessity of Japan's training he
own engineers, chemists and masters {
applied science was pointed out to tn
important government. The newl
elaborated scheme dividing the emplr
into eight great educational district
was, with the curricula, submitted
an American for criticism. He note
the serious defect of no provision Il
technical education. A long letter gu
lining courses Of technical educatlC
and addressed to the Dali 10 Kuan, Il
supreme council, fen as spark upC
powder. The department of educatiC
was created ada dtecnnofogicat seho
started simultaneously in Tokyo. TT
s system has ever since that time had
healthful development.
0 In addition to the eight universlti
and $3.50 lower schools of all sort
{ there are now In operation under Il
. government eighteen technical schOC
Of the higher order, requiring TO
: years course after graduation from t
{ middle schools, while those under
I cal or private auspices number ma
7 more. 1t was settled at court, by [
c United States minister in Yeddo, in I
+ case Of Raphael Pumpelly, that an {
I glneer, civil, mining, or mechanic
was a gentleman and eligible to au
D ence of both the president Of the Un
4 ed States and the emperor Of Japi
Ever since, the official and social stat
4 of q man trained to use his hands q
{ brain In unity has been secure in
c mikado's empire. At least two sec
c of Americans have received imper
decorations for promoting technl,
science In Japan.
Nothing but good can come of II
r tual exchange Of ideas. What the ];
:. anese have borrowed from us Is in
q llmelight, and we boast of IL; wi
; hundreds of American inventors a
Is seekers for knowledge have found
e Japan and taken as loan is cryptic O
e untrumpeted. Yet our debt is none
$. less real. 1t is well for the two civ
D. cations to enrich each other. II, in
7 mirlng legend, King Solomon set
It mechanic on the throne to signify
% basis Of his realms wealth, none
y less should both republic and emp
honor the techniclan who unltes po,
Of brain and the discipline of educat
to dexterity of manipulation. Ho
n to the technical workers of Japan ,
j. Amerlcai