The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1919-06-07
AMERICANIZING JAPAN.

The advice gwen by hOnZo Adacnl, a IheLf
Der of the Japanese house of representatives
Ito his countrymen, that they should ''do every
thing possible to Americanize themselves, has
something to be said for it-and also something
to be said against it. Mr.. Adachl has just ar
rived at New York City on has way to Europe
where he intends to study economic and pohtl-
cal conditions, and in an interview he advocat-
ed s'an open friendly alliance" between the
japanese and Anglo-Saxons. He thinks that 1t
lis one of the faults of the Japanese to cling to
habits, customs and old traditions" lie says
THAT some of the sold school" in Japan have
/ the island spirit.
| But there is an advantage in adherence to ma
tional ideals SO long as those ideals are noble
and admirable One fine japanese ideal is OF
bushido, the code of chivalry which inculcates
patriotism and self-sacrfice. At the same time
Mr.. Adaehi is right in advising his country
men to acquire thorough understanding of the
economic, SOCIAL and political conditions" OF
occidental countries. He points out that racial
equality and immigration are distinct questions.
MANY of the Japanese are very enlightened and
would prove excellent citizens in any western
land But even prejudice, when it is sincere,
must receive some consideration, and IN Cali
.fornia there is certain prejudice-whether 1T
fbe lust or uniust-against Japanese imm1gra-
ton
In Japan itself democracy is making only
slow progress No citizen can vote who does
not pay FIVE dollars year or more IN taxes, and
the result is that out of population OF fifty
five million people only one million, four hun
dred and sixty thousand can vote. Evidently
much is vet to be done before Japan Will be
really democratized.
Mr.. Adachi includes in what he calls the
clark forces" in japanese public life the
"elder statesmen and the military faction. In
thus stigmatizing these elements he may or may
not be right. stable aristocratic factor Is
useful in a growing country so long as its in
fluence is only conservative and not demoraliz-
ing. This japanese reforner believes in uni
versal suffrage-but is Japan ready for univer-
sal suffragef A great portion of the japanese
masses may be said to have their energies alb
sorbed in making living. Happily the condi-
tons prevailing in Japan not by any means
Favorable to bolshevist propaganda.
| Viscount Ishii s principle Of radical equality
is accepted by Mr. Adachi az an ideal-but a
country which has not reached the summit of
political perfection land what country earth
'has9) cannot live up TO an ideal whose realiza-
ton needs an advancement far from being at
tanned.
Tn the whole, the eVoIutlon 81 Japan as a ma
ton depends on the improvement OF that coun-
try's political life from within and not on
.Slavish adaptation To the ideals 81 other lands
whose history and whose conditions are entire
ly different.
u It has been suggested that the proper pun
} ishment for the former kaiser would be putting
him on the rock pile. Is there any objection to
t putting him under iti
. After July first Americans VIII have 10 keer