The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1918-12-05
CHAPTER Vii.
The Japaness.

According to the talk of the German
diplomats before the war the expecta-
ton was that Japan's power would be
used against America at the first OPP
pOrtunity. Whether the object of this
campaign was to stir up trouble be-
tween Japan and America or only to
awaken this country to a sense of the
danger which the Germans professed
TO believe threatened her l don't know.
/ do know, however, that prospect of
a Japanese-American war seemed to
worry the Germans considerably more
than it worries US.
The day England declared war
against Germany. August 5, 1914, the
Prince Won PIess called to see me pro-
fessiOnally.
There will be two wars fought" he
said, oracularly. ''The present one, by
which we shall gain control of the con-
tinent of Europe forever, and then a
war with the yellow races, in which
we shall probably have your country
to assist us -
That this opinion was more or less
general in Germany may account for
the fact that from the time war was
declared until August 23, 1914, when
Japan declared war against Germany,
the japanese residents in Berlin were
made the subject of the most sicken-
Ing attentions. 1t was reported that
Japan was going to attack Russia, and
the Germans could not do enough to
show their newly born admiration for
the yellow race which they had hither-
to so deeply despised. The Japs were
carried through the streets on the
shoulders of the populace and kissed
and cheered wherever they appeared
In public
And then Japan declared war against
Germany Instantly there was a wild
demonstration in the streets of Berlin,
which would have resulted most disas-
trOuSly for the JapS who had so recent
ly been hailed as friends but for the
astonishing fact that every single Jap
had succeeded in getting away from
Berlin before the news of Japan's en-
try into the war became generally
known.
In the absence Of Japanese upon
which to vent their spleen, the Ger
mans did everything they could to
make life miserable for those who re-
sembled Japs. The few Chinese who
were there were terribly treated either
because they were taken for Japs or
because they were of the same race.
The Siamese minister, Prince Traidos,
who was one of my patients, told me
that when his wife and children went
out on the streets the crowds followed
them and jeered, referring to the jap
aneSe as monkeys and using other op-
prObrlOus epithets. They even went
so far as to spit in Princess TraidOs
face, and the minister finally decided
to send her and the children to Switzer-
land, although he himself remained at
his post.
1 saw the kaiser shortly after the
Japanese declaration of war, and he
was very bitter against the United
States because of that development.
What is your president thinking of
to allow yellow race to attack a
white race! Now the Japanese are at
1aeking kiau-Chau, and America could
Fhave prevented it. All that America
had to do was to raise a finger and
Japan would have known enough to
keep her placer
He spoke in this strain on several
subsequent occasions.
When Kiau-Chau fell he again crit
1cized the United States for not having
stopped Japan.
How can your president allow
Japan to increase in power at the ex-
pense of a white racer" he asked, in
dignantly. "Now China is lost to the
world forever. America is the one
power that could have prevented it,
but now Japan has got her fingers on
China and she is lost to us foreyer!'
After we were in the war, the kaiser
expressed to me his opinion that our
object in taking this step was four
fold:
First" he said, ''Wilson wants to
save the money you have loaned to the
allies. Second. he wants to have a
seat at the peace table. Third, he
wants to give your army and navy a
little practical experience nfortu-
nstely, at our expense. And fourth,
and principally, he wants to prepare
for the war with Japan which he
knows is inevitable. The Japanese are
the ones which your country must look
upon as its real enemies
A German officer of high standing
told me just before left Berlin that
America had made the great mistake
of sending ammunition, guns and sup
plies to Russia, via Japan, because
Japan had just retained the nnely
made American articles and had
dumped ON Russia a lot of gOod-for
nothing material of her own in theil
place. my advice to America he de
clared, sis to cut the throat of every
japanese in America and get rid OF
the internal danger" He did not sug
gest cutting the throats of all the I'm
desirable Germans who were in Amer
lea and who had already demonstrated
that they were far more dangerou:
than the Japanese had ever been.
CHAPTER Viii.